Adding a second O/S?

Del · 20-01-2009, 00:11

I've just bought an HP netbook, which is great, except it comes with Linux and it's difficult to get any of the 3G mobile broadband modems to work on it.
So, as I have 120GB on the HDD to play with, I was thinking of adding WinXP to it. I've installed an O/S onto a formatted disk before but never when there's one already on it.

What's the best way to do it? I have a copy of WinXP SP2 on CD (although the HP has no CD drive, I have one I can plug in to USB) and I also have the HDD I took out of my old Dell laptop that also has WinXP SP2 on it.

Is this quite easy to do, using one of these sources? Do I have to worry about partitions and stuff? How do I give one O/S priority over another when I boot up? Or can I set it so I select one?

Thanks...

danielf · 20-01-2009, 00:47

I've not looked at this in ages, but basically you're looking at dual-booting. Linux actually comes with the tools you need for creating and resizing the partititons, and it also comes with a bootloader that allows you to set options such preferred OS to be booted. There's loads of guides out on the net. Just stick 'dual booting linux into google, and it comes up with pages like the following:

http://apcmag.co/the_definitive_dual...stepbystep.htm

I'm not sure how good that one is, but it should give you something to read until someone comes along that actually knows about dual booting

xpod · 20-01-2009, 13:46

Quote:

I've just bought an HP netbook, which is great, except it comes with Linux and it's difficult to get any of the 3G mobile broadband modems to work on it.
So, as I have 120GB on the HDD to play with, I was thinking of adding WinXP to it. I've installed an O/S onto a formatted disk before but never when there's one already on it.

What's the best way to do it? I have a copy of WinXP SP2 on CD (although the HP has no CD drive, I have one I can plug in to USB) and I also have the HDD I took out of my old Dell laptop that also has WinXP SP2 on it.

Is this quite easy to do, using one of these sources? Do I have to worry about partitions and stuff? How do I give one O/S priority over another when I boot up? Or can I set it so I select one?

Thanks...

Normally it would just be a case of shrinking your drive/partition(if being shared) and installing XP then re-installing your bootloader,grub in your HP`s case i believe??
It`s actually easier to install Windows first then allow the subsequent Linux install to find Windows and create the boot menu
(grub?)option at startup but it`s not toooo difficult to do things the other way round.

Either way you would need a Linux live cd of some sort to shrink your drive/partition and then re-install the bootloader(grub?) after you`d installed XP.
You may well have access to a partitioning program from within your Linux install but you cant change mounted (in use)partitions hence the live cd option is the best bet for that job too.

Back to your 3G broadband though,there are options apparently.
http://itechlog.com/easy-tips/2008/1...ngle-on-linux/

lauzjp · 20-01-2009, 13:52

Del, when I was looking at a netbook - that was linux and it did state somewhere or the other that you would have to download patches for mobile dongles?

Taf · 20-01-2009, 13:54

Give Windows Virtual PC a go... I have a Vista machine, but have virtual PCs for XP, 98SE and dos6.22... great for old games and programs.

It's free too!

xpod · 20-01-2009, 14:30

Quote:

Give Windows Virtual PC a go

Wont that require a Windows host to run it from??

There is always virtualbox though,amongst others.

Graham M · 20-01-2009, 14:31

Yeah Virtualbox does the job nicely

20-01-2009, 15:36

stuff linux use windows if you want to use Linux after use wubi