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Howto Install Windows XP and SuSE Linux on the same PC

Howto Install Windows XP and SuSE Linux on the same PC

Ron Boyer

I have Windows XP Professional and SuSE Linux Professional, 8.0 installed on the same PC:

Architecture:CPU:
i386Intel Pentium 4 1.60GHz
Boot Architecture:RAM:
liloDDR 128

I searched the SuSE support database myself before attempting the installation of both OSes on my PC and found the following information in regard to the installation of Windows XP and SuSE Linux on the same PC. (This is the only trustworthy information that I could find to reference).

Using the following information I have installed both OSes and have had no problems to speak of.

Applies to:

SuSE Linux 7.0 + (I am using 8.0 professional)

Situation:

You want to run Linux and Windows XP on the same computer.

Procedure:
  • Linux on a separate hard disk

    You can simply install Linux on the free hard disk and configure the bootloader.

  • Linux on the same hard disk as Windows:

    1. First of all you must make room for Linux.

      Computers with preinstalled Windows XP usually employ the NTFS file system Version 2. Unfortunately, there is no documentation available about this file system at the moment, so currently Linux cannot read or write in NTFS. Resizing the partition with YaST2's Windows resizer is not possible.

      You may use either a commercial partitioning program or reformat the disk, after which you can install SuSE Linux and subsequently Windows XP.

      Please note that computers with preinstalled XP may have a separate partition containing recovery data. This partition must not be deleted in any case!

      1. First create a primary FAT32 partition for Windows. This can be done with SuSE's installation program. Leave the rest of the disk free. If you also use an extended partition, it should occupy the remaining disk space. Please notice that some laptops require a special partition that must not be deleted.

      2. Install SuSE Linux behind the primary partition and copy the bootloader LILO to a floppy disk.

      3. Install Windows XP on the primary partition.

    2. For more information on the further configuration of the bootloader check the article Linux and Windows NT

      Further information on Linux and NTFS is available at Linux NTFS Project

Note

Note that the size of the partitions here are only my 'guesstimates' in light of my own hardware/software.

I offer this information in hope that it may benefit someone, or inspire some constructive thinking.


Updated: Tue, 03 Feb 2004
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