dual boot vista/laptop

[pedora]

Hello, I am considering getting a laptop and installing Fedora on it.

I mentioned Vista in the title but this question could apply to any dual/multiple boot of Windows and Linux?

Anyway, please assume that I buy this laptop and try to dual boot Fedora 8 and Vista (which would already be pre-installed). Or should Vista be re-installed? I am not sure how that works but I think only a recovery disk is given?

I am considering a HP dv6000 series laptop with following specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 5450 cpu
Intel 4965 AGN wireless
Nvidia 8400GS video chip

I would like to know how to install the various components (wireless and video drivers/graphics) but first, the actual install of the OS in a dual boot configuration.

Could anyone point me to links (FAQ, Tutorials, posts etc. etc.) or explain exactly what to do to have a dual boot option between Vista and Fedora 8?

I assume I use Grub boot loader and that I have to somehow 'activate' Vista for dual booting.

Anything else? Please, if possible, go into detail or link me to the directions.

Thanks. If I go with a different laptop or distro, the answers might still be helpful for others who have similar hardware. ;-)

I did research the laptop and the hardware components quite a bit though and it sounds like it is supported by Fedora and other distros with more recent kernels.

[kadambi]

I found this tutorial to be somewhat helpful: Even though it talks about FreeBSD boot loader, it should apply to GRUB too.

http://www.clearchain.com/wiki/FreeBSD_&_Windows_Vista

Please note:

I've had success _and_ failure with this. One computer dual booted fine after this approach. Couple others wouldn't boot vista. Make sure reboot after you apply the clobber scripts. YMMV.

Also, please make sure you have a _retail_ copy of vista and not one of those back-up DVDs. I've found that the backup DVDs won't work!

[pedora]

Are you serious? I don't even want to use Vista but as much as I hate to say it, I think that Windoze is a fall-back situation for me since I'm too much of a newbie to get things working quickly in Linux. Most issues turn out to be projects for me.

I thought it would be good to not have Windoze to fall back on but I receive all my info and advice/reference from being online and right now, I can use wireless in Windoze (XP). I didn't really want to invest in Vista so I am wondering how these 'recovery cds' work. I've been told if you manage to hose your Vista OS, that you can re-install with the recovery CD. I got the impression it's almost like an 'imprint' or pre-install that you are stuck with and can't easily configure. Everything is already installed and you have to un-install the bloatware.

I guess if I could find a cheap copy of Vista, I could go that route since it is probably difficult to find drivers for XP since Mikeysoft wants to convince ppl to go to Vista. The other method could be to just lose Windoze entirely and hope that I can get the laptop working with whatever distro. I would need to be near a Windoze computer, though, that is online so that I can refer back to FAQs, explanations, and be able to google.

[kevmif]

Get the laptop you mentioned with Vista installed.
Shrink the partition using the Vista partition manager.
Install Fedora 8, dual boot and be happy.

Dual boot with Fedora and Vista is not an issue. I am doing it on my Acer laptop and have never had a problem - cept I did have to boot to the Vista recovery CD and run a chkdsk after shrinking the partition

That lappy will run sweet with Fedora. Much better then my ****house Acer.

[psiahu]

I just installed dual-boot Vista and FC8 on my cheap Compaq laptop. I didn't have to resort to my Vista recovery CD (lucky me!). Basically, first I shrank the NTFS partition using Vista Disk Management. Then I just installed FC8 on the new partition with GRUB as the boot loader. It was all smooth.

[psiahu]

Of course, by FC8 I meant Fedora 8 (can't seem to get rid of the old habit...)

[pedora]

What about if you want to install another distro? Does the Vista Disk Management shrink the NTFS partition for space for only one distro or? I'm not sure how it all works.

The laptop has a HDD of 250GB SATA 5400rpm. I think one or two distros won't take up much space. If they are around 10-15 GBs each, that should be sufficient? That would leave tons of space left?

[daviddoria]

Most of the time with Windows XP and Vista both it is much more of a process than simply shrinking the partition. You also have to do things like turn off the paging file, turn off hibernation, etc.

The reason is that windows (or linux for that matter) cannot resize the partition because there are unmovable files at the end of the partition created by both paging and hibernation that do not allow the partition to shrink.

I believe with windows xp you can't resize the partition that windows is installed on from windows, but I've had success using GParted once I get into the fedora installation. You still have to turn off the things in windows first, and shutdown cleanly! If windows doesn't exit cleanly I believe more junk is written that prevents messing with the partitions.

Good luck!

[kevmif]

Originally Posted by daviddoria

Most of the time with Windows XP and Vista both it is much more of a process than simply shrinking the partition. You also have to do things like turn off the paging file, turn off hibernation, etc.

The reason is that windows (or linux for that matter) cannot resize the partition because there are unmovable files at the end of the partition created by both paging and hibernation that do not allow the partition to shrink.

I believe with windows xp you can't resize the partition that windows is installed on from windows, but I've had success using GParted once I get into the fedora installation. You still have to turn off the things in windows first, and shutdown cleanly! If windows doesn't exit cleanly I believe more junk is written that prevents messing with the partitions.

Good luck!

Hey mate!

Vista provides partition resizing functionality via the disk manager.
As I said, the only problem I had is that I needed to do a chkdsk from the recovery console afterwards. But that normally should not happen.

[psiahu]

pedora
What about if you want to install another distro? Does the Vista Disk Management shrink the NTFS partition for space for only one distro or? I'm not sure how it all works.

Once Vista shrinks its partition, the left-over space is basically an unformatted partition. Which means you can use fdisk to further split that partition into two or more.