XP pro and linux...

[mark thorpe]

If i install XP pro on my laptop, will it uninstall/disable the dual boot system of linux?

if so, is there any way to avoid the uninstillation of linux? if it will uninstall linux and there is no way to avoid it, i will just not install XP pro, i dont really need it, but it would be usefull if i could have XP pro...

any help is usefull and appreciated
Mark

 

[iamroot]

I take it that you already have an existing installation of GNU/Linux on your PC? In that case, installating XP will NOT uninstall GNU/Linux but it will replace the GNU/Linux bootloader with the Windows one which does not have support for other OSes other than Windows so you will not be able to boot into GNU/Linux at start-up. Your installation will still exist however. You need to reinstall GRUB from your GNU/Linux install cd. I can't tell u how to do that as I don't know which distro you are using but it is a relatively easy task;-)

 

[mark thorpe]

i have FC3 on my laptop. so if i upgrade from xp home to xp pro it will uninstall the bootloader? how difficult is this to reinstall? i dont want to have to re upgrade FC3, it took 4 hours doing the upgrades last week... dont want all that to have been a waste. if its going to be too much trouble i wont install XP pro....

 

[iamroot]

So you have a dual-boot config now on ur laptop consisting of FC3 and XP Home and now you want to upgrade XP Home to Pro? Im afraid to say the GNU/Linux bootloader will be uninstalled. It's not difficult to reinstall the GNU/Linux bootloader but some might find it complicated.

 

[mark thorpe]

yeah thats what i have, the FC3 disk that i used to install is my teachers at school so to do anything with that i would have to borrow the disk again, can you just install the bootloader? or do you have to completley reinstall FC3 on there? i really dont want to have to reinstall FC3 because im just getting to grips with it, and ive nearly got the wireless internet working as well, ive been working on that for ages, and think that i would have trouble re-doing what i have done so far...

 

[iamroot]

You will need the cd again. Here are some instructions which my friend told me. I personally havent tried them out though so i cant confirm its reliability.

chroot (change root) to the partition your original root was on (e.g. /dev/hda1) and to make sure the right /boot partition is mounted

$ umount /boot
$ mount -a /boot
then reinstall grub with
$ grub-install /dev/hda

Hope this helps=)

 

[David Lindon]

Just install them on seperate partitions,

 

[mark thorpe]

so i would have to reinstall the linux from the CD again? thats a shame, oh well i dont think i will bother about it... i dont really need xp pro, i was only going to get it to keep the ict department at my school quiet...

thanks for all you help, but i dont think that i will be able to get the disk again, so i will leave it as it is... thanks for the help anyway
Mark.

 

[iamroot]

Haha. No prob. Enjoy your time with GNU/Linux =)