Windows XP installation when Linux already installed

[littlewenwen]

dear all,

i already installed linux. is it possible to install Windows XP as the 2nd OS?

i know people usually install Windows XP first, and linux 2nd. Is the reverse possible?

[infoshirish]

Hey,
Yes you can install WinXP but you have to install grub after installing it.
So that your linux boot image gets activated. But for a safer side make a boot disk for linux. And take your grub.conf file backup. You can install your grub by
going in rescue mode and firing below commands:-
#chroot /mnt/sysimage
#root (hd0,1) /* Depends on your slash partition */
# grub-install "file name"
#exit

After rebooting you will see linux boot image in which it will give you another option to boot which is your windows XP.

Feel free to ask if any probs..!!!

[devils casper]

i already installed linux. is it possible to install Windows XP as the 2nd OS?
i know people usually install Windows XP first, and linux 2nd. Is the reverse possible?

Reverse is possible but its a bit tricky. in most cases, GRUB doesn't work or boot up Windows and one has configure Windows Boot Loader to setup dual boot.

[Oxygen]

It's perfectly possible, there isn't a first/second setup, either there is Windows with Linux, or there isn't.

Get yourself a LiveCD, anything will do, doesn't matter what distro so long as it's live CD. Install Windows. Then put in your LiveCD and (as root) run grub

In grub, run find /boot/grub/stage2 and it'll tell you what HD the setup is on, it'll look something like this: (hd0,1)

Now type: root (hd0,1) depending on what output you got from the last command. Finally type setup (hd0) to put grub back on your MBR.

That should work, however if I remember correctly, Windows will be an arse if it's not on your primary drive. Unsure about that though.

[devils casper]

It's perfectly possible, there isn't a first/second setup, either there is Windows with Linux, or there isn't.

i disagree.
if you install Windows after Linux, you have to take care of a lot of things. Window must be installed in Primary Partition, BIOS version should be latest and should support 1024+ cylinder limit. in most cases, as i mentioned earlier, GRUB refuses to work. its a known BUG. success rate is 10% only.

solution: use Windows Boot Loader.

[littlewenwen]

thanks for all your help.

Maybe the most reliable way is to format my HD and install Windows, and then install linux.

Can some one suggest some good software to format my HD ( it is in linux format right now)?

[oz]

The Gparted LiveCD is a great tool for formatting and partitioning drives:

GParted -- LiveCD

It's a small download and burn, and it's easy to use. Good documentation for using it can be found on their website.

[littlewenwen]

thank you

The format of my HD currently is for linux. I want to format the whole HD so that I can install Windows XP on it. For this purpose, will Gparted LiveCD work?

[devils casper]

yes. its a partition manager and thats its whole purpose.

[littlewenwen]

Thank you, thank you all so much.