Ubuntu & dual booting with XP

[Daveski17]

Hello, I have an Ubuntu live disc & I plan to install it on my old Tower. I have run the 'tour' for a bit but then my old monitor went a bit crackers & I couldn't finish.

As soon as I get a new monitor I will install Ubuntu. What I want to know is can I delete the Windows XP1 that's already on the computer & still be able to make a wi fi connection to a hub/router? (The XP has never been online) I am fairly sure Ubuntu can use the XP drivers & my Belkin wi fi card is for Windows predominantly.

Second question, I have been told that when the dual boot is installed when the computer is switched on there is a countdown & if you don't specify which OS you want it automatically opens in Windows. Is this true?

[reed9]

Boot Ubuntu up with the Live CD before the install. If you're wireless doesn't work, read the wireless setup sticky for help on getting it working.

Linux has drivers for many wireless cards included, some have proprietary drivers or firmware that for various reasons can't be or isn't distributed with a distribution, and some can use Windows XP drivers with a program called ndiswrapper. It is helpful to have a wired connection to resolve some wireless issues, as you often need to download software.

When dual booting, there is a countdown before it starts the default OS. Both the length of the countdown and the default OS can be changed.

The definitive dual-booting guide: Windows 7, Linux, Vista and XP step-by-step

[Daveski17]

OK, thanks a lot. That makes a lot of sense. When I get a new monitor I will see if I can get online with the live CD first. Thanks for the info about being able to choose the default OS.

[allein]

Hy everybody.I just installed Ubuntu 9.04 desktop version on my pc.I have a little bit of problem with the boot.I have 4 hard drives.I have a 320 gb hdd,I have here already installed 2 windows.First Xp 32 bit,the other one is Win 7 64 bit.I have the Xp 32 bit installed because of my tv-tuner card that does not support yet win 7 and 64 bit.So I have right now 4 partitions on this hdd.Xp,Win 7,Swap and Ubuntu.When I start my pc before boot I have a f11 option that allows me to choose from which hdd I want to boot.So this way I can boot the Ubuntu,my guess is that the grub was installed on another hdd.If I start the pc I get two options to boot: XP or Win 7.Earlier I had debian installed,had the same boot problem.How can I solve this boot problem?

[yancek]

You would probably be better off starting your own thread on this problem.

In any case, it seems you did not install Grub bootloader to the master boot record of the drive and you only have the windows bootloader. You didn't indicate which bootloader you were using or wanted to use? You have xp, windows 7 and Ubuntu with a swap partition on the 320 GB drive, is that correct?

The best thing for you to do would be to use your Ubuntu install CD, load it in the drive, open a terminal window and enter the command: sudo fdisk -l this will give partition information which you can post here to get help.

You may have Grub installed on another drive or just to the root partition.

[allein]

Thany you for your quick answer.I will try to do as you suggested.