Dual booting WinXP and Linux on brand new T61

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sbm08 · #1 Post by **sbm08** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:38 pm

Dual booting WinXP and Linux on brand new T61

Lenovo T61, Win XP Pro

Hi,

I am new to Linux and want to set up my T61 to dual boot WinXP Pro and Linux Mandriva.

(My main OS is still WinXP for now, but my plan is to gradually switch to Linux as my primary OS.)

Note: On the "preview.tinyurl.com" links referenced below, please follow through to the second link by clicking "proceed to this site" on the first page you are directed to. This will bring you to the second (target) page--the tinyurl preview feature is only a way to offer transparency as to what the final url is.)

From advice I have received from knowledgeable users in this newsgroup thread http://preview.tinyurl.com/23jdwp--and from my own research--it seems that because of the way the T61 boot process is setup in BIOS and how ThinkVantage uses the Recovery partition (which I would like to keep on the HDD if possible); letting a Linux distro install GRUB the "normal" way, to the MBR, will trash the T61, interfere with the boot process, and make the Recovery partition unusable.

See this page: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Rescue_and_Recovery

For some reason, my version of TVT (ThinkVantage) does not seem to have the menu option to "create Recovery Disks" so I have ordered the CD's mailed to me which Lenovo has assured me they have done.
I can also image/clone my HDD using a program such as DriveImageXML http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm and backup the image on an external drive.

I really want to have a proper dual booting T61 that allows me to run WinXP Pro and Linux and would like some advice on how to achieve that without trashing/damaging my laptop.

My knowledge is fairly limited.

Here is the current partitioning scheme of my T61 http://preview.tinyurl.com/ytc6zs

The screenshot was taken with gparted Live CD.

My plan is to use gparted Live CD to allocate 90GB to WinXP--so reduce the size of sda1 to 90GB, and then either create the partitioning scheme for the empty space myself using gparted live CD or let Mandriva do it during install process. However letting Mandriva do it as part of install process is fairly dicey as, apparently it is NOT advisable to let GRUB be installed the "normal"way. IMHO, this spells *custom install* all the way.

I would be extremely grateful for any advice to help me get to a properly setup T61, smoothly dual booting WinXP and Linux.

I have also looked at GAG http://gag.sourceforge.net/, Ranish Partition Manager http://www.ranish.com/part/ and BootPart http://preview.tinyurl.com/yo42la, all of which I am willing to use if it will get me to where I want.

Some specific questions:

0) Is the assumption that dual booting on a Lenovo T61 is a very tricky affair true? And warrants the necessary precautions described in http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Rescue_and_Recovery?

1) While I figure out this issue, can I at least resize sda1 from 143+GB to 90GB, leave empty space, and leave the TVT Recovery partition as sda2 at the end of the disk?

1 a) IBM hardware tech support has told NOT to move it--even if not changing its name as would prevent using recovery procedure. True or false? If false, I could slide the partition without renaming it, so that it would be adjacent to the resized sda1--but again, my belief is that it would interfere with the TVT recovery scheme, and perhaps, even with the overall boot process.

2) How to set-up my T61 (given my skill level which I would call intermediate in general but newbie with Linux and MBR) so that it properly dual boots WinXP Pro and Linux Mandriva?

Thanks so much for your help.

#2 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:14 pm

Before you do anything to your partitions make a set of recovery discs first. That way if anything goes horrible wrong (likely) you can easily get back to your starting point, where you are now.

Before installing Mandriva (or any linux for that matter) I would suggect that you search the respective support forums for your video chipset, sound chipset and wireless chipset. Make sure they are working in your distro of choice before leaping into an install.
For instance the Intel 4965AGN wireless card is workable but the procedure is pretty complicated while the 3954ABG is working right out of the box on most distros.

Almost all of your questions can be answered better at the mandriva forums. I'm not trying to blow you off but they know mandriva way better than I do and most of your questions are going to be more mandriva specific than Thinkpad specific. The video, sound and networking drivers are going to be your major hangups. If the forum guys have those things worked out you will have smooth sailing.

sbm08 · #3 Post by **sbm08** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:26 pm

carbon_unit:

Thanks for your reply.

However, the questions in my original post are focused on T61 characteristics; they are not really specific to Mandriva.

Any Mandriva-specific issues such as the ones you have mentioned in your reply (e.g. drivers, wireless card, etc.) will be addressed in the Mandriva forums or NG's, IRC, etc.

My original post does revolve around the T61 TVT, R&R and boot process, etc. The questions are specific to the T61 and Linux and independent of the distro I choose.

I still need answers to my original questions and concerns and would really appreciate any that could be provided.

Thanks again.

#4 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:34 am

OK. I missed the part about you not having the option to make recovery discs, sorry

. I see you have them coming, good. I would wait until they get there before proceeding, they usually deliver them quick. If you blow something up these discs will blow all your partitions away and restore the hard disk to the exact configuration it is in right now, 2 partitions, one for recovery, one for windows. Running the rescue partition will restore windows in whatever partition it is in without affecting any other partitions.
DriveImageXML seems to work OK but it makes a large file size and is fairly slow. You could use it to backup your customized windows install.

It depends on which version of grub Mandriva uses as to your ability to access the recovery partition. Some versions of grub will completely ignore the recovery partition while some will label it as another windows installation. For about 6 months my recovery partition was unreachable but with the latest distro I tried it was labeled as another windows install. I edited the /boot/grub/menu.list file to call it "Rescue and Recovery" after I booted into it by mistake. Grub won't destroy the hidden partition but may limit access to it. You can always edit the grub menu.list file to add things it does not add itself.
Here is the windows section of my grub menu.list:

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery (loader)
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title Windows Vista (loader)
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

The way to destroy the rescue partition is to resize it, rename it or otherwise alter it.
I am evaluating 3 different linux distros on my R61 while still having windows and the rescue partition "just in case". So what you want to do can be done.
If you were running Ubuntu or a derivative I could help you in more detail.

sbm08 · #5 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:40 am

Thanks for sticking with it--I really need the help

Let me take a look at what version of GRUB the Mandriva distro I will install uses. I will post back here and hopefully, we can continue the thread.

The way to destroy the rescue partition is to resize it, rename it or otherwise alter it.

In your opinion, does this include moving the R&R partition without renaming it (leaving it as sda2) or changing its size but only its physical location? I would imagine the answer is "yes".

#6 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:07 am

I never moved mine but it shows up as sda1. Mine is a Vista machine so it might be different than your XP machine. I am not sure which grub version I am running or any of the previous I have ran. I only noticed the behaviour.
I tend to look at the overall picture and not dwell a lot on the details until I get the big stuff sorted out. Right now I am in the evaluation phase of choosing a new distro. Part of the evaluation is how well it works right out if the box (hardware). Part of the eval is how easy it is to get the apps I need running (software). I have spent most of my time in Debian based distros and that is where I am the most comfortable. YMMV
Each distro has it's own personality. It is all about finding the right fit for you.

sbm08 · #7 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:38 am

carbon_unit:
Thanks for your reply but, while you do make valid points, with all due respect, you are going off topic again in the last part (2nd paragraph) of your reply.
The choice of distro has little to do with this post.
This post--as I see it--is about dual booting without trashing my T61, due to its unique features that TVT R&R creates.
How do I dual boot WinXP/Linux and still keep the R&R partition functional? You believe it is possible.
I need to know how to accomplish that.
If too complex, can I completely delete that partition, thus removing the liability (I do have the recovery disks now), and just do a "normal" dual boot setup?
My understanding is that even that is dicey on a T61, due to the boot process setup in BIOS.
That is my concern at the moment--how to properly set up the dual booting. That is what I need help with.
The subject matter is focused on MBR, bootloaders, partitioning, etc.
Again, due to TVT R&R and Thinkpads boot process, I am led to believe it is an extremely sensitive issue for Thinkpads in general, and for the T61 specifically.

Volker · #8 Post by **Volker** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:46 am

I also kept the RnR partition (T61), just create a different partition for your linux install (without altering the first partition=RnR in any way). Grub can then boot into pretty much everything.

And having played around with the HPA partition before, I find the new RnR on the first partition much nicer to work with. I haven't encountered a single boot-related problem with my T61.

whizkid · #9 Post by **whizkid** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:56 am

I am dual-booting Fedora 7 and Vista on my T60. I let Windows boot first, and put Linux in as an OS choice. The MBR is not changed from factory. Be sure to back up that sector too. Put it on something like a USB flash drive.

Have your Linux installer store its bootloader on the root partition. Copy that sector to a file. When in Windows, copy that sector to a file on your hard drive. Edit boot.ini to add that as a choice.

Oh! If you boot into RandR from the recovery partition, you cannot make recovery media. You have to use the program installed in Windows, and that will make one full set of recovery media for you. It will also make as many rescue discs as you want, but those will only let you try to rescue what's on the drive, not restore to factory state.

sbm08 · #10 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:57 am

Volker:

Thanks so much for your reply.

Let me make sure I understand you correctly.

Did you look at my current HDD config by the way? Here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/ytc6zs

You can see how the R&R is sda2, at the very end of the disk.

My intention was to resize sda1 to 90GB, LEAVE sda2 (the R&R partition) as it is--at the end of the disk to avoid creating problems-- and format the now empty space of 50GB for Linux.

Is this OK, or will this be a problem with the partitioning naming scheme? I am asking because if I have sda1 NTFS (WinXP) as the first partition, then next to do that in second position, the new partition for Linux--what will that Linux partition be named? sda3, even though it is placed before the R&R partition?

That is part of my confusion....

sbm08 · #11 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:14 am

whizkid:

Thanks for your reply. And your patience.

Oh! If you boot into RandR from the recovery partition, you cannot make recovery media. You have to use the program installed in Windows, and that will make one full set of recovery media for you. It will also make as many rescue discs as you want, but those will only let you try to rescue what's on the drive, not restore to factory state.

Let's get this out of the way first. Recovery CD's have been made so all is fine here. I didn't realize the distinction between "recovery" and "rescue" discs but Lenovo does mention about WinXP's license only allowing for one full set of recovery discs. So the distinction makes more sense now.

Let's move now to the more technical details:

Have your Linux installer store its bootloader on the root partition.

This I understand: during Linux install process, just choose the option to install GRUB in /root--in Linux partition on T61.

Copy that sector to a file.

This one, I don't really get....what sector exactly? To what file? For what purpose?

When in Windows, copy that sector to a file on your hard drive.

Same, can you please explain?

Edit boot.ini to add that as a choice.

How?

Find, boot.ini in windows, then use a text editor to add what line(s)?

Actually, I am thinking that it may not be possible to modify boot.ini while booted in windows and perhaps require a DOS boot and command line editing? (I have no idea....)

#12 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:48 am

I believe that you are trying to make it much more difficult than it needs to be.The Thinkpad is not all that tough to dual boot with. Just do not bother the restore partition and use grub to access it or windows or linux. The BIOS has absolutely nothing to do with it. I installed grub to sda and then use grub to select the OS I want to boot. But then as my ramblings above indicated, I do not run the same distro as you do and each on has it's own caveats. That is were the distro specific forum comes into play.
Good Luck.

whizkid · #13 Post by **whizkid** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:51 am

If you install grub on the MBR, that will disable ThinkVantage functionality at startup.That's not usually a big deal, but still some find it nice to have.

sbm08 · #14 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:33 pm

carbon_unit:

I could very well be making things more complicated than they need be.

However, it does not seem that I can leave the R&R partition as sda2 in its present location as, after resizing sda1 from 143+GB to 90GB, there will be empty space on the HDD, which I will allocate to Linux and which needs to be formatted, etc.
In all likelihood, this would change the naming scheme and rename the R&R from sda2 to sda3 (or sda4, 5 or 6, etc.); and I am led to believe that this may prevent use in recovery. Perhaps that is an incorrect assumption?
That is one my key questions and I still do not have a definite answer on that.
IBM hardware Tech Support has indicated it would create problems, but they didn't really know themselves.

If it does not alter the functionality, then I can just resize sda1, create new partitions sda2 thru sda5 and the R&R will become sda6 (for example).

If renaming the R&R partition kills its functionality, but moving it without renaming it does not then all is solved. I can slide the R&R sda2 so that it becomes adjacent to the resized sda1, and then create Linux partitions after that, starting with sda3, etc.
I also need a definite answer to this.

The answer to these key questions have been elusive so far.... But I feel I need them to make a proper and informed decision.

sbm08 · #15 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:37 pm

whizkid:

Yes, I would like to keep the TVT functionality, if I could.

Any chance you might be able to answer my earlier questions?

#16 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:51 pm

whizkid wrote:If you install grub on the MBR, that will disable ThinkVantage functionality at startup.That's not usually a big deal, but still some find it nice to have.

True, I cannot use the blue button at bootup but it boots right into grub which has an entry for "Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery".

#17 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:08 pm

sbm08, it seems that my disc is partitioned differently than yours as my rescue partition is sda1, I never had to do anything to it so it remains functional.
I believe that if the drive designation(sda*) gets changed it will prevent the blue button from working but if grub is installed in sda (mbr) you should either have or be able to create an entry to access it.
Once you have the recovery discs you can experiment because if it does not work you can run the recovery discs and be right back to the "out of box" condition, rescue partition, blue button functionality and all.

louieb · #18 Post by **louieb** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:38 pm

The most dangerous to your data part of setting up a PC to Dual Boot is shrinking your existing windows partition. I have rendered 1 machine unbootable and could not repair the XP installation. Finally had to reinstall XP. I just got lazy and did not defrag the drive. See the prepare partition section here

Now looking at your partitions love those GParted screen shots. Belive it or not sda2 does not have to change either in size or name.
1st shrink sda1 by whatever. I think you said to 90 gig. That is going to leave you with 50 gig or so of unallocated space between sda1 and sda2.

Since Linux doesn't care if its a primary or logical partition. you can use the whole of the unallocated space and create an extended partition. It will get labeled sda3 by GParted.
So your #1 and #1a question this takes care of that.

Now you can slice up sda3 into logical partitions. What you will notice is logical partitions start with #5 so inside sda3 will be sda5, sda6, ...

I am a Ubuntu user so don't know the Mandriva install process.
But both can use GRUB or LILO for their boot loader. When you come to the boot loader part of the install you should get an option of where to put boot loader pointer. If you want to use the XP boot loader NTLDR then you will have to install the grub pointer in the boot sector of the Linux / (root) partition. Then you have to jump through some hoops to get NTLDR to boot your Linux installation.
I see you have looked at GAG and another boot manager. Personally I find GRUB to be the most flexable of them all. None of them are easy to set up until you learn them.

My favorite dual boot site http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/
Ubuntu orientated install info but the boot loader part applies to any Linux distro.

sbm08 · #19 Post by **sbm08** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:41 pm

OK guys, now we are getting somewhere.

carbon_unit: I think that we must have different versions of TVT. Mine is Version 4 and I guess that setup puts the R&R partition as sda2 at the end of the disk.

I didn't realize that GRUB would have an entry for the ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery partition.

louieb:

I would never shrink my existing Windows partition (sda1 in my case) without a proper defrag. But since I just got the T61, there is AMPLE space available that has not been written to; so things should be fine. More than defragmenting 3 or 4 times, I don't know what more to do.

I will create an extended partition, with logical partitions inside, as you suggest; but I am surprised that having sda1 as the first partition, sda2 R&R as the last partition, and inserting another new partition in between would not automatically rename sda2 to sda3 and that it would assign sda3 to the newly created "in the middle" partition, instead of sda2.

Can you confirm??

#20 Post by **carbon_unit** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:16 am

sbm08 wrote: I didn't realize that GRUB would have an entry for the ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery partition.

carbon_unit wrote:For about 6 months my recovery partition was unreachable but with the latest distro I tried it was labeled as another windows install. I edited the /boot/grub/menu.list file to call it "Rescue and Recovery" after I booted into it by mistake.

If grub sees the rescue partition it may require some manual input to distinguish the recovery partition from the windows install. They may be initially labeled the same.

louieb · #21 Post by **louieb** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:32 pm

sbm08 wrote:...having sda1 as the first partition, sda2 R&R as the last partition, and inserting another new partition in between would not automatically rename sda2 to sda3 and that it would assign sda3 to the newly created "in the middle" partition, instead of sda2. Can you confirm??

The primary and extended partitions are numbered according to their position in the partition table. Not there location on the disk. (The partition table only holds 4 entries thats why the extended partition was created).
In Linux if you want to list the partition table you run the command sudo fdisk -l (lowercase L)
Here is an example I grabbed off of Ubuntu form note the last line. Indeed if you look at the start block partitions 3,4 and 5 start before sda2.

Code: Select all

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

	Device      Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
	/dev/sda1   *           1       29451   236565126    7  HPFS/NTFS
	/dev/sda2           37759       38913     9276120    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
	Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
	/dev/sda3           29452       37414    63962797+  83  Linux
	/dev/sda4           37415       37758     2763180    5  Extended
	/dev/sda5           37415       37758     2763148+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

BTW in this listing sda4 is an extended partition and sda5 is a logical partition.
Example from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... rs%2Ftrack

mgo · #22 Post by **mgo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:41 pm

sbm08 wrote:Dual booting WinXP and Linux on brand new T61

Lenovo T61, Win XP Pro

Hi,

I am new to Linux and want to set up my T61 to dual boot WinXP Pro and Linux Mandriva.

I hope you will pardon me for jumping in here, but maybe my experience will be helpful. I installed a Linux distro and set up my R52 to dual boot, and it was quite easy.

Since I have purchased the Acronis True Image and Disk Director programs and use those program's respective boot CD disks, hard drive management is easy and safe.

1: Using the Acronis True Image program, I imaged my Windows installation over to an external USB drive. This gave me a protected backup should things go wrong.

2: using Disk Director I created a FAT32 partition right next to C: (which contains the XP partition (or Vista if you like) and then created a third partition in the EXT3 file system to accomodate my Linux choice.

The reason for the FAT32 partition is so both Windows and Linux can read my documents and other files, since Linux often balks at NTFS.

I then installed my Linux distro from the live CD.

Doing things this way allowed Linux to find the EXT3 partition and take up residence on it. The Linux swap partition was created automatically by the Linux distro during install.

The IBM recovery partition was not affected in any way.

Upon booting, I got a GRUB menu to select the OS that I wanted. Worked fine for me.

By the way, once the Linux distro was installed, I was able to use Acronis to create an image of both operating systems at the same time with no problem.

Maybe my experience will help.

sbm08 · #23 Post by **sbm08** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:09 pm

mgo:

Your experience for sure will help

Based on what you are saying--it seems that I could just go ahead with the following procedure:

0) do not touch, rename, alter or change in any way the current R&R partition

1) resize my Windows XP NTFS primary partition from 143GB to 90GB

2) create a 10GB FAT32 extended partition adjacent to the downsized Windows partition

3) adjacent to the FAT32 partition (to its right) create an extended partition of 40GB (or 43 GB) and 3 logical drives in it for /root, /home and /swap either ext3 or reiserfs, etc.

And that is all.

4) It would seem that I should not install GRUB to MBR but in /root

Wouldn't 1 through 4:

a) work more or less safely (provided I made no mistakes during procedure)
b) not mess up my boot process
c) keep the R&R partition functional
d) let me dual boot WinXP/Linux

mgo · #24 Post by **mgo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:59 pm

sbm08 wrote:mgo:

Your experience for sure will help

Based on what you are saying--it seems that I could just go ahead with the following procedure:

0) do not touch, rename, alter or change in any way the current R&R partition
-correct. the R&R partition will not be removed unless you intentionally delete it. At least that is what happens when I resize my partitions using Disk Director.

1) resize my Windows XP NTFS primary partition from 143GB to 90GB

-why so big? Do you have some huge programs on there? I always run my documents and personal files from a second partition so they are isolated from the root directory incase I need to re-image. For me, a 20 gig C: drive is plenty big. If you are running Vista, go for 30 gig to accomodate the pending SP1 which is pretty darned big. (It's like 7 gig)

If you have very large personal files on drive C: go ahead and create the FAT32 partition first, tell windows that My_Documents (or Documents if using Vista) is now on the D: drive (Or E: if your CD drive resides on D:, and tell Windows to move your personal files over. If you decide to move things, create a folder for them first so Windows will know where to send them. Otherwise those files will be scattered willy-nilly on the new partition, making things confusing later on.

For example, create a folder called My_Documents on the second partition. If using Vista, create a folder named Documents on the second partition.

WARNING! I you have any encrypted folders or files on C: decrypt them before moving them to FAT32 or you will lose them because FAT32 will not talk to NTFS encryption.

2) create a 10GB FAT32 extended partition adjacent to the downsized Windows partition

-you can make the FAT32 partition much larger than that. Say 50 gig or so, depending on any multimedia files, pictures, etc.
Once your personal files are moved over to the new FAT32 partition and settled in and looking good, you can create the 3rd partition for the EXT3 file Linux file system.

3) adjacent to the FAT32 partition (to its right) create an extended partition of 40GB (or 43 GB) and 3 logical drives in it for /root, /home and /swap either ext3 or reiserfs, etc.

-Create just one partition in EXT3. The Linux distro will know how to deal with that. (again this is what I did using my Disk Director program. I cannot speak for any other programs or techniques others use to partition. I bought those 2 Acronis programs to make it easy on myself as I experiment with things.

And that is all.

4) It would seem that I should not install GRUB to MBR but in /root

-GRUB was simply self installed when I did my work. I cannot tell you how or why it showed up where it did.

BUT! I discovered that if I deleted the Linux distro from the drive's EXT3 partition I would get a GRUB error screen at next boot up, and a frozen machine, and the only way to fix that was to use a XP install DVD and then Recovery Console to do the FixMBR command.

If you don't have one of those XP install CDs then you may be left in the lurch. This is why that even though I have successfully run dual boot XP/Linux and dual boot Vista/Linux on two different machines, the best way is to use a separate hard drive for Linux and just forget the dual boot idea. But then, I'm a "simple thinker" and that in the end, works best for me.

Wouldn't 1 through 4:

a) work more or less safely (provided I made no mistakes during procedure)
b) not mess up my boot process
-boot will be changed. (see above) GRUB will intervene during boot and ask you to chose which OS you want, or if no response from you, it will default to Linux and boot that OS.

c) keep the R&R partition functional
-R&R would be ok.

d) let me dual boot WinXP/Linux
-yes.

whizkid · #25 Post by **whizkid** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:30 am

sbm08 wrote:mgo:
0) do not touch, rename, alter or change in any way the current R&R partition
1) resize my Windows XP NTFS primary partition from 143GB to 90GB
2) create a 10GB FAT32 extended partition adjacent to the downsized Windows partition
3) adjacent to the FAT32 partition (to its right) create an extended partition of 40GB (or 43 GB) and 3 logical drives in it for /root, /home and /swap either ext3 or reiserfs, etc.
4) It would seem that I should not install GRUB to MBR but in /root

Wouldn't 1 through 4:
a) work more or less safely (provided I made no mistakes during procedure)
b) not mess up my boot process
c) keep the R&R partition functional
d) let me dual boot WinXP/Linux

You could do a, b and c but not d. Do then dual-boot, you need to edit boot.ini to make Windows present you the option to boot Linux and save the boot sector of your root drive, as I wrote above. I don't have instructions handy and don't have time to do it again, so use Google, or look at thinkwiki.org for examples.

sbm08 · #26 Post by **sbm08** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:41 am

mgo:

Tx so much for the feedback. Very helpful!

(I am using WinXP Pro, by the way.)

-why so big? Do you have some huge programs on there? I always run my documents and personal files from a second partition so they are isolated from the root directory incase I need to re-image. For me, a 20 gig C: drive is plenty big. If you are running Vista, go for 30 gig to accomodate the pending SP1 which is pretty darned big. (It's like 7 gig)

Why so big? I may be overdoing it but: WinXP has to stay my primary OS for now as I HAVE to run very large programs (due to the industry I work in) that are only compatible with the Windows platform. (These programs are very "expensive" in terms of HDD space, CPU and RAM--but such is life in my industry; what can I do....)

I guess I could still reduce the WinXP partition to 80GB perhaps....

If you have very large personal files on drive C: go ahead and create the FAT32 partition first, tell windows that My_Documents (or Documents if using Vista) is now on the D: drive (Or E: if your CD drive resides on D:, and tell Windows to move your personal files over. If you decide to move things, create a folder for them first so Windows will know where to send them. Otherwise those files will be scattered willy-nilly on the new partition, making things confusing later on.

I am planning indeed to create a FAT32 partition to hold my data such as My Documents. Excellent point regarding the encryption. Are you saying that I can no longer use encryption programs such as Blowfish, etc, to encrypt files that reside on a FAT32 partition? I hope that is not the case.

I will tell windows to move the My Documents once I have created the FAT32 partition--as you rightfully suggest.

So, 0) check. No changes no alterations to R&R
1) resize Windows primary NTFS partition (down to 80 or 90GB)
2) create 10 or 15GB FAT32 partition to be used for "data"
3) create an extended partition in the remaining empty space to allocate to Linux; Linux install will do the rest of splitting that into logical drives, etc.
4) This is the only point where we differ in that I will definitely not install GRUB to MBR but choose the option to install GRUB in /root (I believe) during Linux install process. I still need to do research on that. But in the meantime, I can get started with 0) through 2) above.

Sounds good?

sbm08 · #27 Post by **sbm08** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:44 am

whizkid:

you need to edit boot.ini to make Windows present you the option to boot Linux and save the boot sector of your root drive, as I wrote above

Do I really need to do that? Even if I install GRUB to /root?

mgo · #28 Post by **mgo** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:08 am

sbm08 wrote:mgo:

Tx so much for the feedback. Very helpful!
(I am using WinXP Pro, by the way.)

Why so big? I may be overdoing it but: WinXP has to stay my primary OS for now as I HAVE to run very large programs (due to the industry I work in) that are only compatible with the Windows platform. (These programs are very "expensive" in terms of HDD space, CPU and RAM--but such is life in my industry; what can I do....)

I am planning indeed to create a FAT32 partition to hold my data such as My Documents. Excellent point regarding the encryption. Are you saying that I can no longer use encryption programs such as Blowfish, etc, to encrypt files that reside on a FAT32 partition? I hope that is not the case.

I will tell windows to move the My Documents once I have created the FAT32 partition--as you rightfully suggest.

So, 0) check. No changes no alterations to R&R
1) resize Windows primary NTFS partition (down to 80 or 90GB)
2) create 10 or 15GB FAT32 partition to be used for "data"
3) create an extended partition in the remaining empty space to allocate to Linux; Linux install will do the rest of splitting that into logical drives, etc.
4) This is the only point where we differ in that I will definitely not install GRUB to MBR but choose the option to install GRUB in /root (I believe) during Linux install process. I still need to do research on that. But in the meantime, I can get started with 0) through 2) above.

Sounds good?

Ok on the larger C: partition. If you need a lot of room there, that will still be fine.

My reference to encryption was with the -native- Windows folder encryption (which hardly anybody uses since it is rather clunky). If your other third party encryption programs (PGP, etc) support FAT32 - and I think they do- then you will be able to use them on the FAT32 partition. I am assuming that your encrypted files are within containers created by your encryption program. Of course Linux would not work with any of those containers that were created with a Windows-based encryption program, but you would still have access to them on the Windows side.

On the GRUB topic, I have only limited understanding of how the "GRUB thing" works, so I simply let the Linux distro handle that task, and worked with what it gave me. Other users may be more helpful with GRUB.

whizkid · #29 Post by **whizkid** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:29 am

sbm08 wrote:whizkid:

you need to edit boot.ini to make Windows present you the option to boot Linux and save the boot sector of your root drive, as I wrote above
Do I really need to do that? Even if I install GRUB to /root?

It depends on what you want. If you want the ThinkVantage button to work at startup, then you need to do it. I did it, just to see how, mostly.

If it's OK that GRUB boots first, and you can add a section for RandR, then go that route. It's easier. Heck, it's easier still if you just remove the recovery partition and just use the recovery media.

sbm08 · #30 Post by **sbm08** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:19 am

whizkid:

If you want the ThinkVantage button to work at startup, then you need to do it.

Any links as to precise instructions of what to do, lines to edit, etc., for the above?

Dual booting WinXP and Linux on brand new T61

Dual booting WinXP and Linux on brand new T61

Re: Dual booting WinXP and Linux on brand new T61

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