Dear Linuxers, I wish to install Mandrake Linux 7.0 I have partitioned drives C and D on which I have WIN ME. I tried 2 install Lnx4win on drive D but the msg say that since WIN ME does NOT hve REAL MS DOS, the installation CANNOT proceed. For that, I need Win98 for Lnx4win to be installed. The other option is to install it directly by rebooting. Since I dont knw much about partitions etc. I cannot proceed because I get stuck at the installation dialog box that aks me to choose the drive where I wanna install Linux. However, it also warns that UNLESS I'm comfy with Partitions etc I should not fiddle around because all data might be erased. And the confusion about Mount point, Resize precludes me from going ahead with the installation. I wish to retain WIN ME and other important data on drive C and yet have Mandrake on D. How do I go about it? I wud appreciate any help in this regard.
Thanks in advance. Linlov.
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On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Linlov L wrote:
installation. I wish to retain WIN ME and other important data on drive C and yet have Mandrake on D. How do I go about it? I wud
Delete the D partition using Windows. The concept of C/D/E drives was introduced by MS DOS since they didn't understand mount points :D
You need an empty area of your disk (unpartitioned) on which to install any other operating system. Deleting D will create this unpartitioned area. You will also lose everything that used to be on D, so back that up if you need to.
<Disclaimer> I have never installed or used Mandrake Linux. I am not responsible if something goes wrong by following my instructions. </Disclaimer>
Then, when installing Mandrake, you could probably go through automatic partitioning. If you're not sure, make a note of the options that you have available, and post back to this list.
[You should probably stop reading here]
If you go for manual partitioning, you'll have options like /dev/hda1, /dev/hda2, etc. /dev/hda1 is your Windows C drive, so leave it alone. /dev/hda2 is (most likely) what is known as an extended partition - one who's only purpose is to contain other partitions.
These other partitions will be numbered /dev/hda5, /dev/hda6 and up. You will probably not have anything other than hda1 and hda2, so choose to create new partitions inside hda2. As a beginner, you'll prolly want to create just one partition (it is hard to change later on, but nevermind), until you understand the concept of partitions.
HTH
Philip
Phillip, Linlov,
The problem you are likely to face may still remain after you follow the standard practice of installing duel boot os. This is because LILO in Mandrake 7/8 (I dont know about grub) looks for a standard DOS partition in the system and puts the lilo in it. For some reason, it can not do that if the partition on "C Drive" is using NTFS. Since you have WinME, chances are that you have a NTFS file system in the first partition. You need to have the first partition using FAT. I have faced this problem before.
One solution is to create a new partition as the active partition which will have a small (100 MB or so) space, let winme reman the in the second partition and linux in the thrid and fourth partitions. The problem for you now may be how to create a new partition on "C Drive" without deleting the data on it. I dont know how to do that :-(
As to why it works this way, I dont know. Hope someone on the list can enlighten me.
Regards Saswata
PS : Phillip, before you start commenting on "bad practice", please note that this message is top posted since there is no effective place to put this in between your reply.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip S Tellis" philip@ncst.ernet.in To: "GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India" linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 11:26 AM Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] Help 4 Mandrake 7.0 Installation
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Linlov L wrote:
installation. I wish to retain WIN ME and other important data on drive C and yet have Mandrake on D. How do I go about it? I wud
Delete the D partition using Windows. The concept of C/D/E drives was introduced by MS DOS since they didn't understand mount points :D
You need an empty area of your disk (unpartitioned) on which to install any other operating system. Deleting D will create this unpartitioned area. You will also lose everything that used to be on D, so back that up if you need to.
<Disclaimer> I have never installed or used Mandrake Linux. I am not responsible if something goes wrong by following my instructions. </Disclaimer>
Then, when installing Mandrake, you could probably go through automatic partitioning. If you're not sure, make a note of the options that you have available, and post back to this list.
[You should probably stop reading here]
If you go for manual partitioning, you'll have options like /dev/hda1, /dev/hda2, etc. /dev/hda1 is your Windows C drive, so leave it alone. /dev/hda2 is (most likely) what is known as an extended partition - one who's only purpose is to contain other partitions.
These other partitions will be numbered /dev/hda5, /dev/hda6 and up. You will probably not have anything other than hda1 and hda2, so choose to create new partitions inside hda2. As a beginner, you'll prolly want to create just one partition (it is hard to change later on, but nevermind), until you understand the concept of partitions.
HTH
Philip
-- You may be infinitely smaller than some things, but you're infinitely larger than others.
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- GCS/ED/MU/TW d- s+: a- C+++ UL+++ P++++ L+++>$ E--- W+++ N- o-- K- w--- PS+ PE Y+ PGP+ t* X- R* tv b+ DI+++ D+ G++ e+++>$ h* r y ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Saswata Banerjee & Associates wrote:
PS : Phillip, before you start commenting on "bad practice", please note
No comment on bad practice, just on spelling. It's Philip - with one l.
;)
Philip
----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip S Tellis" philip@ncst.ernet.in To: "GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India" linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 12:04 PM Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] Help 4 Mandrake 7.0 Installation
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Saswata Banerjee & Associates wrote:
PS : Phillip, before you start commenting on "bad practice", please note
No comment on bad practice, just on spelling. It's Philip - with one l.
Eeeeps !!!! I have done that 2-3 times already before :-( Sorry
But do you agree with what I wrote about needing a DOS (not NTFS) partition to install the boot loader ?
Regards Saswata
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Saswata Banerjee & Associates wrote:
But do you agree with what I wrote about needing a DOS (not NTFS) partition to install the boot loader ?
No idea. I've only seen FAT and FAT32 on that side of the fence, and the grass isn't that green there.
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Saswata Banerjee & Associates spake thusly:
But do you agree with what I wrote about needing a DOS (not NTFS) partition to install the boot loader ?
I was under the impression that the default for LILO was the MBR not the partition boot records. In which case I dont see why _any_ first partition should matter ...
quasi
Regards Saswata
SuSE's partitioning program allows you to resize NTFS partitions (and probably FAT/FAT32) with live data on it. Before repartitioning, it relocates the data from that partition to other free areas of the shrunk partition. Although this has worked smoothly for me, I'd stay under Philip's disclaimer.
Vale
Saswata Banerjee & Associates said:
second partition and linux in the thrid and fourth partitions. The problem for you now may be how to create a new partition on "C Drive" without deleting the data on it. I dont know how to do that :-(
As to why it works this way, I dont know. Hope someone on the list can enlighten me.
Saswata Banerjee & Associates wrote:
The problem you are likely to face may still remain after you follow the standard practice of installing duel boot os. This is because LILO in
^^^^^^^^^ Wow! That's a pretty interesting PoV ;)
PS : Phillip, before you start commenting on "bad practice", please note that this message is top posted since there is no effective place to put this in between your reply.
Umm... you could've posted it at the end of the whole message. It's just an exploration of possibilities, not a suggestion / advice / admonition :)
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Saswata Banerjee & Associates spake thusly:
the standard practice of installing duel boot os. This is because
^^^^ LMAO !! :-)
On Wednesday 13 August 2003 11:26, Philip S Tellis wrote:
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Linlov L wrote:
If you go for manual partitioning, you'll have options like
/dev/hda1,
/dev/hda2, etc. /dev/hda1 is your Windows C drive, so leave it
alone.
/dev/hda2 is (most likely) what is known as an extended partition -
one
who's only purpose is to contain other partitions.
that would be /dev/hda4 afaik.
These other partitions will be numbered /dev/hda5, /dev/hda6 and up. You will probably not have anything other than hda1 and hda2, so
choose
Also his d drive will most likely be a normal dos partition /dev/hda2.
rgds jtdsouza@softhome.net
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, J. T. D'souza wrote:
that would be /dev/hda4 afaik.
no, 1 - 4 are primary partitions. 5 onwards are logical partitions that must reside within an extended partition. An extended partition is a primary partition.
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, J. T. D'souza wrote:
On Wednesday 13 August 2003 11:26, Philip S Tellis wrote:
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Linlov L wrote:
If you go for manual partitioning, you'll have options like
/dev/hda1,
/dev/hda2, etc. /dev/hda1 is your Windows C drive, so leave it
alone.
/dev/hda2 is (most likely) what is known as an extended partition -
one
who's only purpose is to contain other partitions.
that would be /dev/hda4 afaik.
These other partitions will be numbered /dev/hda5, /dev/hda6 and up. You will probably not have anything other than hda1 and hda2, so
choose
Also his d drive will most likely be a normal dos partition /dev/hda2.
I seem to recall from my early days that the deleted D: will show up as /dev/hda5. Something to do with windows fdisk only being able to create one primary partition. I *may* of course be wrong. I presently do all my partitioning using linux fdisk.
Sharukh.
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Philip S. Tellis spake thusly:
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Linlov L wrote:
installation. I wish to retain WIN ME and other important data on drive C and yet have Mandrake on D. How do I go about it? I wud
Delete the D partition using Windows. The concept of C/D/E drives was introduced by MS DOS since they didn't understand mount points :D
You need an empty area of your disk (unpartitioned) on which to install any other operating system. Deleting D will create this unpartitioned area. You will also lose everything that used to be on D, so back that up if you need to.
I will just like to add : if your D drive (extended partition) is large, you /can/ create a new D (after deleting the old D) which is of size smaller by what you would like to leave for Linux. You could also resize your D if you have one of the few commercial packages available. This is because you can install a GNU/Linux system on a logical partition as easily. You may not want to keep all your large D drive for Linux in the begining. One more suggestion is that until you are comfortable with the GNU/Linux system, you may want to keep your data on a FAT32 partition as it will be accessible on both the systems (Linux has r/w support for FAT32).
quasi p.s. your data, your responsibilty : always backup. ;-)
<Disclaimer> I have never installed or used Mandrake Linux. I am not responsible if something goes wrong by following my instructions. </Disclaimer>
Then, when installing Mandrake, you could probably go through automatic partitioning. If you're not sure, make a note of the options that you have available, and post back to this list.
[You should probably stop reading here]
If you go for manual partitioning, you'll have options like /dev/hda1, /dev/hda2, etc. /dev/hda1 is your Windows C drive, so leave it alone. /dev/hda2 is (most likely) what is known as an extended partition - one who's only purpose is to contain other partitions.
These other partitions will be numbered /dev/hda5, /dev/hda6 and up. You will probably not have anything other than hda1 and hda2, so choose to create new partitions inside hda2. As a beginner, you'll prolly want to create just one partition (it is hard to change later on, but nevermind), until you understand the concept of partitions.
HTH
Philip
-- You may be infinitely smaller than some things, but you're infinitely larger than others.
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- GCS/ED/MU/TW d- s+: a- C+++ UL+++ P++++ L+++>$ E--- W+++ N- o-- K- w--- PS+ PE Y+ PGP+ t* X- R* tv b+ DI+++ D+ G++ e+++>$ h* r y ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
-
Dr. Sharukh K. R. Pavri. -
Gnana Vadi Vale -
J. T. D'souza -
Linlov L -
Philip S Tellis -
q u a s i -
Saswata Banerjee & Associates -
Tahir Hashmi