An Easier Way To Install Linux On A Machine Containing Another OS?

[phil_saunders]

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Hi everyone.

I am a newbie so please be nice!

I've been thinking recently...

If a PC is running another operating system (I'm thinking of a Windows machine) is there any way Linux could be installed onto that machine without the need for repartitioning?

More specifically I'm thinking... Could Linux create a (large!) file on that machine therefore reserving part of the disk for its own use and then be installed to, and run from that part of the disk?

I know we already have plenty of "live" distributions and distributions that are pretty good at repartitioning disks but wouldn't this be even better?

No repartitioning and a complete doddle to remove if you don't like it...

I'm sure there are lots of reasons why this might be difficult or problematic but is it *possible*?

[techieMoe]

You could get a separate harddrive and install Linux on that. If that's not an option, try a project like CoLinux that claims to be able to run Linux *inside* Microsoft Windows without emulation. If money and fast performance isn't an issue, you might also consider virtual machine software like VMWare or VirtualPC.

[phil_saunders]

Thanks for that info on CoLinux techieMoe - I'll look into that...

I'm really thinking for the cautious, non-techie with a bog standard Windows machine to be able to try Linux - it's still too difficult.

They don't want to spend any money to get it working.
They don't want to repartition their hard drive because someone told them once, or they read somewhere that this isn't a good idea.
They've perhaps tried a "live" CD and found it slow and were frustrated that they couldn't save any files etc. etc. etc.

If they could install Linux on their machine without all this hassle wouldn't it be great?

[deek]

Hmmm...

I don't know. I haven't had trouble with LiveCD performance, but I have always loaded it to RAM. I was never bothered with not being able to save files, as usually, a LiveCD is just a "look/preview" of the distro or just some little messing around, plus by connecting to the internet, there are a variety of ways to save data if you want.

In your example, I think techimoe's suggestion (a second harddrive) is really the easiest and safest way to go. You can pick up a harddrive for under $40 (actually cheaper, but let's use $40) and then you can play til your heart's content...

Slackware comes with a thing called ZipSlack, which I believe runs from a normal windows partition...

[truoc444]

windows has virtual PC that has a 45 day free trial. it's a little slow (at least last time i used it) but it works. and hey it least for a month and a half it's free to try. maybe that's long enough to just migrate or built the confidence to dual boot for real. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx
it helped me learn enough to move over.

[budman7]

I have used many of the distros that have good partitioning tools.
Suse and Mepis have Qtparted which can non-destructively resize NTFS.
There are other distros that can resize NTFS, but these are a couple of the most popular.
And they will by default set you up with a dual-boot.

[drtvasudevan]

if not ready to install, not happy with live cd and want a linux environ try
puppy linux
www.goosee.com/puppy/
a very small distroe, no frills, runs off RAM
check the RAM avbl before trying.

tv

[a thing]

They don't want to spend any money to get it working.
They don't want to repartition their hard drive because someone told them once, or they read somewhere that this isn't a good idea.

Prove to them it's a good idea. If they still don't like it, then they really don't want any other OS.