Installing Linux as second OS on an XP machine?

Question

I have XP on my system and am wondering if I can install linux. Can I partition my hard drive even though it is over 40% full and install linux on the new partition?

Answer 1

Yes you can!

Before you do anything BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP :)

Method 1:
If you install something like OpenSUSE it will auto shrink your Windows partition and create an additional one for you.

Method 2:
Or shrink your Windows Partition with something like Partition Magic (Easy) or GParted (Expert). Freeing up enough space to install Linux (whatever flavour you want).

Method 3:
Download a Live CD/DVD like Ubuntu and see if it right for you, just boots from teh CDROM no need to install Linux at all, runs everything in memory (RAM)

Method 4:
Ditch Windows completely and install Linux from Scratch.....do you really need Windows?

Hope this helps.

cheers!

Answer 2

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At a time when some organizations are investigating the possibility of running Linux instead of Windows on some or all of their desktops, support departments face the possibility of having to support both operating systems. While there are many ways to do this, one that I think works well involves installing both operating systems on a single machine and dual booting.
There are several reasons why it's a good idea. First, you're going to need a Linux machine to run tests on before rolling out Linux company-wide. Second, once Linux has been rolled out, you'll also need a machine that you can use for troubleshooting problems when they occur. Third, if your help desk has multiple techs, each will probably need its own Linux installation for troubleshooting purposes. To save money and space, you can use one machine to boot both OSs. Enter the dual-boot computer.

In this article, I'll explain how to configure a dual-boot Windows XP and Red Hat Linux 7.3 system.

Installing Windows XP Professional
To dual boot, you can install Windows XP exactly as you normally would, while making sure to leave room for the Linux partition.

Installing Red Hat Linux 7.3
Once Windows XP is installed, you can install Red Hat Linux 7.3 by inserting CD One of three and letting it boot. Then, just follow the instructions on the screen. When it's time to partition the disk, I chose the default option to Remove All Linux Partitions On This System since I had no Linux partitions (see Figure A).

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Dual-Boot Setup
Following are the steps to get dual-boot working with GRUB; I figured out how to do this by looking at a similar procedure for LILO. I've verified that this works for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and this should work on Windows NT (all 3 OSs use the same booting architecture).

Install GRUB on the first sector of the /boot partition. DO NOT INSTALL IT ON THE MBR!.
If you are performing the Red Hat installation, for the "Boot Loader Installation" screen:
Select "Use GRUB as the boot loader"
Select Install Boot Loader record on "...First sector of boot partition".
After finishing the Red Hat installation, reboot into Linux. If you don't have a boot disk, try booting in linux rescue mode
If you already have Linux installed:
Run the following command (e.g. assuming /boot is /dev/hda2): grub-install /dev/hda2.
If you don't know which partition contains /boot, run the df command and check the output.
Edit /etc/grub.conf and make sure there is an entry for your version of Windows. For reference, here is a copy of my /etc/grub.conf file.
Determine which partition contains the /boot partition by running the df command. You'll see output like this:
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3 8665372 1639580 6585612 20% /
/dev/hda2 46636 5959 38269 14% /boot
/dev/hda6 513776 189504 324272 37% /osshare
none 256624 0 256624 0% /dev/shm
From this output, we see that /boot is on /dev/hda2.
Make a copy of the Linux boot sector onto a floppy or onto a FAT32 partition. We'll name this copy linux.bin.
To make a copy onto a floppy:
Mount the floppy drive if it's not mounted (assumes /mnt/floppy exists): mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
Run the following command: dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/mnt/floppy/linux.bin bs=512 count=1
Substitute the path for the if= parameter (the input file) with the appropriate partition from the previous step. E.g., set if= to /dev/hda2.
To make a copy onto a FAT32 (vfat) partition:
Mount the FAT32 partition if it's not mounted yet. If it isn't listed in the df output, it hasn't been mounted yet. Check out steps 3a-3c for mounting a FAT32 partition on the "Share Partitions HOWTO".
Run the following command: dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/osshare/linux.bin bs=512 count=1
Substitute the path for the if= parameter (the input file) with the appropriate partition from the previous step. E.g., set if= to /dev/hda2. Substitute the path for the of= parameter (the output file) with whatever is appropriate for your system. The example here (of=/osshare/linux.bin) is for copying onto a FAT32 partition called osshare.
Reboot into Windows
Copy the linux.bin file to C:\
Run notepad and edit C:\boot.ini. Note that C:\boot.ini is a hidden system file, so it probably won't show up in Windows Explorer. To edit the file, try: Start->Run and enter: notepad C:\boot.ini. Add the following line at the end: c:\linux.bin="Linux"
If your C: filesystem is NTFS (not FAT32), you must edit C:\boot.ini as a user with administrator-level privileges.
To make C:\boot.ini writable, you can either :
Use Explorer:
Go to Tools->Folder Options->View and select Show hidden files and folders and deselect Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).
Right-click on the file, view the Properties and uncheck Read-only. You can now edit the file.
After editing the file, restore the settings to their original state.
Use the command-line:
Make the file writable: attrib -R -S -H C:\boot.ini.
After you've finished editing the file, put the settings back: attrib +R +S +H C:\boot.ini
For reference, here is a copy of my boot.ini file.
Reboot again. You should be able to pick either Windows or Linux. Selecting Linux will start GRUB

http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/windows/installing-windows-xp-second-hard-drive-xp-machine-58083.html

http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/Windows_XP_Virtual_Machine_On_Linux_using_only_Opensource_software