windows and linux

i am gunna put windows and linux on my computer. i was just wondering how i could start up in either one without switching hard drives.

[bigandy]

I personally don't know since I've never done it. But you may want to read this article.

[Dangermouse1]

If you want to dual boot put windows on first then load Linux most of the distos will do the partitioning for you and you can shrink your windows partition to any size you want to fit linux on. I started with windows me on one partition on a 40 gig hard drive and shrank it to half and put linux on the other half. Thats what I did when I put RedHat 9 on the same drive as win me. I have now changed to Mandrake9.2 as support for RedHat is ending. This again was simple just a case of putting the first Mandrake cd in and it askes where you want it to go. It took about 20 mins to change from dual boot win me and red hat to dual boot win me and Mandrake with no problems. When you start your comp you will have the choice of running windows or linux.

[Karnevil9]

Ditto to Dangermouse1's reply.

ok thx i have 2 HD's so there isnt any problem

[Karnevil9]

I thought you and dangermouse1 were refering to installing two systems on one hard drive. The procedure may be different if you are going to run each OS on it's own hardrive since each hardrive would have it's own boot sector. I've never done it that way so I don't know if there is more involved.

[kilgoretrout]

There's no problem with two hard drives. In fact, it's probably the best way to do it. Just install windows first and linux second. Select the unused/nonwindows drive for the linux install. You can leave the second drive unformatted and unpartitioned. The linux install program will automatically partition and format the drive for you.

The important thing is to install the linux boot loader(either lilo or grub) to the mbr of the windows drive. This is usually the default on most linux install programs. The linux boot loader will automatically detect the existing windows install and create a boot entry for it.

The linux distros vary in their installation programs but they're all pretty straight forward. It's usually easier than installing windows. Post back if you have questions on a specific linux distro.

[LocoCoyote]

I agree, install Windows first....it has this ugly habit of overwriting your boot sector...........

got ya

[raff]

kilgoretrout... i dont know if its a bug in mandrake 9.2 but if i try to run both win2k and mdk9.2 both in individual hdd, mdk9.2 happens to erase NTLDR aand even though it lists windows in lilo/grub, win2k wont boot, im not saying your wrog im sying this just for other people to be careful with those things, you dont want to miss NTLDR unless you realy now how to get it back on the MBR.

it works fine i installed it and works like a charm. only problem is i cant connect to the net

[Karnevil9]

Keeble, Sent you PM.