Is dual booting XP/Linux possible?

I'm running XP & FirstDefense on a hard drive set as the C drive and master in my PC.

I'm thinking of installing Linux on an empty slave drive (D) on this machine. Do you know if the Linux boot manager that will install itself will cause any problems with the operation ofFirstDefense or its boot time manager on the C drive?

Thanks.

 

im wondering the exact same thing myself- worst comes to worse i guess i could image the c drive with paragon and then just give it a try

 

I'm wondering this myself too. Maybe not the same way, I don't really know.

I would install Linux in an empty snapshot OR
1. Install Linux on a blank harddisk with FDISR and create an archive of the primary snapshot to get a Linux-snapshot.arx
2. Install winXP and then copy/update from Linux-snapshot.arx to new snapshot.

I don't know if this would work, but in theory, it might.
I never tried this, because I'm not interested in another OS, but it would be interesting for me to know if it is possible or not.

Of course Linux isn't listed as a compatible OS with FDISR, so it might become a TOTAL disaster as well, but you had at least fun with it.

Only these OS are possible in FDISR :
1. Win2000pro
2. WinXPhome
3. WinXPpro
4. WinVISTA (only build 202)

 

Oh my! I don't think I'm brave enough to do this.

I suppose what would happen is that the Linux boot manager would/could overwrite the FD MBR making it impossible to boot into a different snapshot. I can't aford to mess up this machine on an experiment, though.

Perhaps I'll think about this!

 

Yes, it's possible. (I tested it in a virtual pc)
You need the latest beta release of FD-ISR for this, because that release doesn't modify the MBR anymore.
This let you install GRUB or LILO as bootmanager in the MBR. When you select Windows you will still get the FD-ISR pre-os screen when the bootcode of the Windows partition is loaded.

You need to install Linux/FreeBSD in a separate partition.

Some screenshots (VirtualBox 1.3.8):





@ ErikAlbert

FreeBSD and Linux can't be installed in a NTFS filesystem.
They have there own filesystems (UFS/EXT2/EXT3/Reiserfs are a couple of the *nix filesystems) and for that reason they need there own partitions.

 

Thanks. This sounds just what I'm looking for and seems to address the concern I had about not being able to boot into another snapshot in my Windows partition if I installed Linux on the system. When this version of ISR is out of beta, I'lll take the plunge.

Regards

 

@CliveT

Wilbertnl has posted a great insight there.

Be careful with the Linux boot managers: do a bit of checking re conflicts with other utilities: for one, I know of for example, is issues with BootIT NG: this is another boot manager and imaging/partition manager.
Here is a little lead in info re BootIT:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=164

There have been lots of issues with RollbackRx and MBR conflicts

I think even ATI ?? ( have no experience with this just recall something somewhere)

Be careful with other imaging apps or any tools that may want preboot access.

Obviously this may have no relevance whatever but just be careful with the MBR.

regards

PS there are tools to create a copy of your MBR for recovery if you need it: I suspect most peeps have a copy of their mbr "somewhere": if they could just remember where LOL

PPS: make sure you do have a good recovery strategy and an utd image if you want to really reconfigure your system.

 

You are correct with your warning, Longboard.
I didn't want to make the information more complicated, so I didn't mention 'other bootmanagers'.
The way to go with other bootmanagers is basically identical to the process of booting DOS/Windows:

The Linux boot code (Grub or LILO) should not be installed in the MBR, but in the bootrecord of the freeBSD/Linux root partition (freeBSD doesn't work with partitions, but with slices. But again... Let's keep it simple ).
Then the other bootmanager (Acronis bootmanager, for example) gets installed in the MBR and it makes a call to the bootrecord of the freeBSD/Linux partition for booting that OS. Which starts GRUB/LILO and that can set to automatically load the kernel. (No boot menu needed at this point in the process)

It sounds abstract, but that is the way it is.