In the coming weeks i plan on going to 32-bit vista business bu i would also like to have a small partition with a linux operating system running on it. So i have two basic questions. 1. how do i install two OS's on one hard disk, i realize i must create partitions, but then do i install vista then linux or what?? 2. Which Linux version do you guru's reccomend. The only two i know of are fedora and kubuntu. Thanks for any help.
1) Install Linux first. Installing Linux second will overwrite your MBR and could make Vista unbootable. 2) Fedora and Kubuntu/Ubuntu are good, as is SuSE.
that doesn't sound too good i don't know if you know but howcome installing linux second will overwrite my MBR, could someone please explain. Thanks for any help. Also when i install linux it is the same in booting from a cd, correct, can i create an hdd partition when installing ubuntu or fedora so that my Vista install will have the proper space.
Linus will overwrite Vista's default boot manager without adding a Vista entry into Lilo/GRUB (depending on your preference). Also, every Linux distro I've used had a graphical partition manager (usually Disk Druid).
If you pay close attention while installing, both fedora and U/Kubuntu have options to leave the mbr as it is. I installed vista first, then fedora second, vista's boot loader was fine, and was left untouched, as the default. I then used easyBCD to add an entry into vista's boot loader for fedora. Most distros have tools for resizing partitions, but for safety's sake, I prefer to set the partitions up while installing windows, rather than altering the size of the windows partition after the fact. I just don't trust ntfs enough to use window's built in resizing tool, and I am always wary that linux might mess up windows files. Personally, I like fedora over u/kubuntu, but I can't really explain why. However if you are very new to linux, then I would recommend that you cut your teeth in Ubuntu. here's a link to easyBCD: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1
so basically i install vista then use this easy bcd program to create a new boot loader entry(which is what exactly?) then can proceed to install ubuntu( i am going with this one cause i have read a little more about it).
I have installed Vista first and then Ubuntu, I choose to not to change boot files so Ubuntu was installed but not bootable so i went to Vista and using EasyBCD added Ubuntu to Vista boot and now i can boot for both of them.
I don't know what version of Ubuntu everyone installed, but you guys made it so much more difficult on yourselves. Vista came pre-loaded on my Lenovo ThinkPad. I booted into Vista 1x just to make sure my laptop wasn't DOA, and then put in the Ubuntu 7.10 cd. Ubuntu will install the GRUB bootloader. On my laptop, it recognized both my Vista partition and also the Lenovo backup partition (which is used to re-install Vista if there is an issue). I didn't have to change anything.
sounds like you got lucky or something but i am still a little iffy about the process, will i be able to tell if linux ubuntu will overwrite the bootloader when i install ubuntu. I think i will probably just install the linux first create the partition and then install vista taking out all chances of any problems, does that sound good.
It will overwrite the bootloader, and instead of using the Windows bootloader, you use GRUB (which is just as good). I mean how much better can you make a simple bootloader? No matter what you do, you will be overwriting a bootloader. If you install Linux then Vista, Vista will overwrite GRUB and use the Windows bootloader instead. I am not sure if the Windows Bootloader will recognize all of the partitions. It might only recognize NTFS? No idea. When I installed Ubuntu AFTER Vista, when I booted up the next time, GRUB had all of my partitions mapped. The list looked like this: Linux Ubuntu 7.10 Linux Ubuntu 7.10 debug (i cant remember the exact name) Memtest 86+ (Ubuntu installs memtest for you on a separate partition) Windows Operating Systems: Windows Vista Home Premium Lenovo Recovery Partition Everything was automatic, I didn't have to change a single thing.
The latest version of ubuntu has a windows program which does all the install for you, if you want to use any other distro, there are pretty good guides on easyBCD's website.
