So I have to get a retail XP to do dual-boot?

[bessel]

Is it possible to partition the hdd like (4 partitions, linux boot & xp are primaries):

[linux boot][linux swap][linux root partition][windows xp, fat32]

and then let the R & R tools from either harddrive or CD/DVD to restore the Windows OS to the new windows xp fat32 partition?

I asked this question here instead of Linux because I saw the new R&R tools on T60 different from before. Usually what it does is just erase the whole harddrive. I am hesitating to experiment with it before I hear someone could actually do it...

Thanks again; please don't remove if possible.

[jdhurst]

I am working with an earlier T (41) and I have done it the other way around.

Windows XP (NTFS [FAT - are you joking? ]) as imaged by IBM.
Partition Magics to shrink the partion and add new ones.
Then Linux (or whatever).

I don't think your way will work.

BTW - Your post was a well done post, and we don't remove well done posts. Someone might move it, but I think it OK here.
... JD Hurst

[nhidog]

I dual boot with Ubuntu 6.06. It had built it partitioning management during the installation that allowed me to resized the IBM imaged Windows partition. I resized it to give my Linux ~19GB and let the installation automatically partition the swap size. I believe all the newer distribution can resize partition during installation, just make sure to defrag your Windows install a few time prior to installing Linux. Oh by the way, I had Linux install Grub onto MBR, Grub can access the Thinkpad RR correctly from boot.

google thinkpad t60 linux, and it'll bring you to a nice Wiki with all information needed to get going.

Nhi

[bessel]

Yes, this one would work, but you will have to either overwrite the original MBR (which boots to R&R if necessary) or have windows bootloader deal with the booting instead of grub (it's said that the original MBR does not care about which partition is active).

The truth is that I tried things but failed. Not anything directly related to the topic, I guess the qtparted (from gentoo) I used was just buggy and wrote me a bad partition table. Luckily I am still able to recover things... I guess I am giving up for the time being.

I am working with an earlier T (41) and I have done it the other way around.

Windows XP (NTFS [FAT - are you joking? ]) as imaged by IBM.
Partition Magics to shrink the partion and add new ones.
Then Linux (or whatever).

I don't think your way will work.

BTW - Your post was a well done post, and we don't remove well done posts. Someone might move it, but I think it OK here.
... JD Hurst

[Hamid]

You can dual boot with XP/Linux and change the partiotioning layout, however you have to be carefull with partiotioning.

A safe way to go with is to make your last partionting changes in the linux installer. After installing Linux, Windows Disk Manager may change the partition orders that may lead to corrupting your linux installation. (disk geometry changes)

MBR: I decided to go with the MS OS loader. In this case you have leave the MBR intact and install grub on the linux partition. After installing, you could open the shell or alternatively boot via the install CD into "Linux Rescue Mode" and and copy the first 512 bytes of the linux partition into a file. ex:

Linux Partition: /dev/sda3
dd if=/dev/sda3 of=/tmp/CentOS.lnx bs=512 count=1

Then move the CentOS.lnx (or any filename you have choosen) to your C partiotion and change C:\boot.ini and add a line like :

C:\CentOS.lnx="CentOS v. 4.3"

Reboot and enjoy !
HTH,
Hamid