Ubuntu

Ubuntu and windows on the same hard drive.

Asked by anotherps

i have a laptop. i tried the Ubuntu from the CD, i just have a couple of questions.
.......can i use Ubuntu and windows XP on the same drive? and if so, how? i mean, will i have the option to start in Ubuntu or XP when i start my laptop?
Any help will be appreciated.

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Rodrigo Donado (frezeeer) said : 		#1

Hi:

Yes of course, there is actually a wiki that explains how to do it:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
and there could be even a video, look in google, or youtube

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Rodrigo Donado (frezeeer) said : 		#2

Hi:

I found you the video:
http://screencasts.ubuntu.com/Installing_Ubuntu_with_Windows_Dual-Boot
I think it will tell you how to do it, I can't check the video.

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anotherps (sood-prag) said : 		#3

the second link does not work and i looked for the video on youtube and couldn't find any. the first link worked and that seems to be the answer. but if you have anything else, let me know. i will keep this open just incase the first option doesn't work. i will post later, if it worked or not.
thanks.

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anotherps (sood-prag) said : 		#4

i used wubi. which didn't work either

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lg5productions (lg5productions) said : 		#5

I have had the same issue with my Dell. BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA FIRST BEFORE YOU TRY THIS!!!! It sucks if you have to reinstall WINDOWS all over again as it is time consuming. Believe you me, I know it. Lot's of time just getting it JUST RIGHT. The way I solved it was by:

1) In WINDOWS, compress your drive to save space. This way, you optimize the Hard drive space but still a valid partition smaller version of it.
2) Booting first from the Live CD. Start the session but DO NOT INSTALL.
3) Using Unbuntu's Disk Partitioner to resize your original partition. It's located under the SYSTEM menu by ADMINISTRATION in version 6.10 LTS.
    Now be careful to RESIZE and not DELETE the WINDOWS partition. If your running XP like myself, that will come up as the only one marked NTFS.
4) Now my hard drive is a rather small 10 GB, so I resized the main partition to about 6 GB. This left me with just over 3 GB for UNBUNTU installation. Your's will depend of course on your hardrives total size. Mine works fine even under these small spaces.
5) When you finish resizing, then install UNBUNTU from the desktop icon. You should get something telling you to INSTALL IN LARGEST CONTINUOUS SPACE. That should work just fine, as UNBUNTU will install a SWAP drive by itself. (Approx. 255 MB).
6) Grab a cup of coffee as this may take awhile. Give about an hour of time to complete everything, but make sure that GRUB is intalled, This will let you choose your boot after the install, and everytime you start the laptop up.
7) Load up WINDOWS and let it check for consistency. Start WINDOWS to make sure all is running well.
8) Reboot and start UNBUNTU from your hard drive and your good to go!

Hope this helps!

LG5Productions (Windows Self Taught Techie and Unbuntu Wanna Be Techie)