tlogank Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I am writing this from my Inspiron 6000 laptop. I just installed Ubuntu Dapper beta2, and it worked PERFECT straight from the download. Even my front hardware keys (volume, play, etc.) worked...heck, even my wireless drivers worked straight from the install. I really am impressed. Now, what I want to know is, can I dual-boot to Windows Vista? I am an MSDN member, so I get to test the Beta versions of Vista, and I would love to have about 10GB's allocated to running Vista so that I can use both. Is this possible, and if so-could you explain how in noob-friendly terms to me? Thanks a lot! I look forward to my new venture's using Linux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
505 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Yes, it possible using a boot loader like GRUB. You need to install Vista on a second partition. Then install GRUB in the MBR. After that edit in Ubuntu /boot/grub/menu.lst Mine looks like this title Windows XP root (hd0,0) savedefault makeactive chainloader +1 title Ubuntu root (hd0,2) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-10-386 root=/dev/hda3 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-10-386 savedefault boot There's enough documentation on this subject. Dual booting Vista is not different then booting XP and Linux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted May 3, 2006 Administrators Share Posted May 3, 2006 It is possible to dual boot with Vist (on it's own partition or on a separate drive) but the recomended sequence is to install Vista first, then Ubuntu second. The Grub (or LILO) bootloader will get corrupted if you do it the other way around. If you only have one hard drive, simply free up some unpartitioned space, then let Ubuntu install itself on that space. :yes: Barney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogank Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 It is possible to dual boot with Vist (on it's own partition or on a separate drive) but the recomended sequence is to install Vista first, then Ubuntu second. The Grub (or LILO) bootloader will get corrupted if you do it the other way around. If you only have one hard drive, simply free up some unpartitioned space, then let Ubuntu install itself on that space. :yes: Barney Alright, that's not a big deal, I will go back and give Vista about 6GB's and do it first...then proceed with Ubuntu after that is finished. Check back throughout the next couple of hours in case I need any help doing it. Thanks a lot guys! Glad to know some people are interested in helping the noob's out with Linux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted May 3, 2006 Administrators Share Posted May 3, 2006 Alright, that's not a big deal, I will go back and give Vista about 6GB's and do it first...then proceed with Ubuntu after that is finished. Check back throughout the next couple of hours in case I need any help doing it. Thanks a lot guys! Glad to know some people are interested in helping the noob's out with Linux. Any time, my friend! :yes: Barney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Note, in the final version there will be some 'changes' to the way Vista boots - if you happen to use the 'BitLocker' technology integrated in the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogank Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Note, in the final version there will be some 'changes' to the way Vista boots - if you happen to use the 'BitLocker' technology integrated in the system. Well, it seems as though that 'final' version is a ways off, so I will deal with that when it gets here...but thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogank Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Well, I did it...it worked great with absolutely no problems @ all! I have it setup as: Windows Vista: 15GB (it's the least Vista would install on) Media (music, etc.): 40GB Ubuntu/pagefile: 25GB I am really happy to have this working so well. Thanks for all your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimy Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Did you have to partition the linux part of your drive or did the ubuntu installer do that by itself? If I understand correctly, you'll need to reinstall ubuntu everytime you update the build of vista, unless there is an alternative? I'm thinking off doing this with vista 32 bit, xp 64 bit + ubuntu wtv. bit. Maybe I should start a new thread :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogank Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Did you have to partition the linux part of your drive or did the ubuntu installer do that by itself? If I understand correctly, you'll need to reinstall ubuntu everytime you update the build of vista, unless there is an alternative? I'm thinking off doing this with vista 32 bit, xp 64 bit + ubuntu wtv. bit. Maybe I should start a new thread :blush: As far as reinstalling Ubuntu everytime there is a new Vista build, that may be true, I am not sure. Unfortunately, MS only releases a new build to the MSDN users like once every 2 or 3 months...last one we had was February...plus, the new Ubuntu only takes about 10 mins. to install...but I am betting someone has a workaround for that. Regardless, this is what I did: 1-Completely formatted 80GB drive 2-Booted to install Vista -Gave it a 15GB partition to run on (left the rest unallocated) -Installed Vista 3-Booted to Ubuntu CD -Allocated 40GB to FAT32 (for my music to be read by both Vista and Ubuntu) -Gave the remaining 25GB to install Ubuntu/swap 4-Rebooted machine (it is Linux by default since it was installed last) 5-Edited /boot/grub/menu.lst file as stated above in 505's post 6-Rebooted, went to Boot list...tada!-there it was...and it worked! Not really that hard, just looks harder typed out than it really is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted May 3, 2006 Administrators Share Posted May 3, 2006 Excellent! And welcome to the Linux side of the house! :yes: Barney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thagame Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 your definitly gonna need more then 6gb to put vista on. i have a 250gb vista drive, a 250gb gentoo linux drive, 250gb music and movies drive and 250gb random crap drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karma_police Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 He already installed Vista and Ubuntu :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogank Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 your definitly gonna need more then 6gb to put vista on. i have a 250gb vista drive, a 250gb gentoo linux drive, 250gb music and movies drive and 250gb random crap drive. As I said above, I gave 15GB to Vista. That was mainly for when I work on other people's computers, I can hook their hard drive to my laptop (via IDE to USB)and run virus/spyware scans from within Vista on their hard drive since there are more of those type apps made for Windows. Other than that, I won't really plan on using Vista at all... ...yea, I could have installed WinXP for that, but I figured it would be cool to go ahead and learn Vista anyway...although it doesn't seem to functionally be too different from WinXP/2K...just a little prettier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madd_matt Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 To the people saying you need to re-install ubuntu with each upgrade of vista: no. Vista will overwrite grub though, so that will need to be re-installed. You should make a ubuntu boot disk, and then when you upgrade vista, you can boot into ubuntu, and use grub-install (or some other method, ie, grub shell) to install grub back to the MBR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogank Posted May 5, 2006 Author Share Posted May 5, 2006 To the people saying you need to re-install ubuntu with each upgrade of vista: no. Vista will overwrite grub though, so that will need to be re-installed. You should make a ubuntu boot disk, and then when you upgrade vista, you can boot into ubuntu, and use grub-install (or some other method, ie, grub shell) to install grub back to the MBR. awesome stuff...thanks for the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcclellan Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 How much space does Ubuntu need to install? I only have 20gb available, and want the smallest possible partition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted November 23, 2006 Administrators Share Posted November 23, 2006 How much space does Ubuntu need to install? I only have 20gb available, and want the smallest possible partition? On the Ubuntu website is says "Ubuntu doesn't take up very much space. The minimum system requirement is 2GB"........I would use 10-15 GB if it were me . You need the room in case you want more programs... Barney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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