On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 09:39:27 +0100
Jochen Schulz <kannstmichma@gmx.net> wrote:
* Christian Evans:
I will be completing a build in the next couple of days and have
decided to install Debian on my new system. However, I also need XP
installed, and I am not sure which I should install on my hard drive
first.
Install Windows first, then Debian. Otherwise Windows would overwrite
your boot manager (lilo or grub). The installer for sarge should even
enable you to resize an existing Windows partition, but I would
carefully plan the partition table before installing anything (takes
less time, involves no risk). Since you are reinstalling everything
from scratch that shouldn't be a problem.
Just use the Windows installer for creating an NTFS or FAT partition
and leave the rest of the disk empty. When you're finished, use the
Debian installer to partition the rest. You may want to have a 'shared'
partition, on which Windows *and* Linux can write (mp3s, movies...).
The best way to do this is to create a large FAT partition because
Linux has no (free) NTFS write support. You can do that at install time
and select a mount point for it (eg "/data").
I have installed different distributions of Linux before, and you can
usually setup a partition table. Is it similar with Debian?
Yes. Although sarge is not yet stable (and it may even take a while to
get there) I suggest you use the new sarge installer. Most people think
it is more user friendly, especially for new users. The drawback is
that you may run into minor or (very unlikely) major problems because
there are still some changes made to sarge. On the other hand, you save
the possible headache of updating from woody to sarge. And remember:
the woody installer cannot resize partitions.
If I use a setup like this, will I be prompted for which partition I
wish to boot to?
The installer will search for existing operating systems and ask you
whether Windows should be included in the boot menu. Say 'Yes' and
everything will be fine. Of course, if you miss that opportunity, you
still can add Windows to the boot menu later.
J.
I've installed win98 on a vfat partition (first of cource) and after
that ( 1 year later) i've installed win200 + professionnal on the same
partition !
So, win200 is a ntfs filesystem, do it ?
I can write/read without any problem to win.