I know a lot of people ask this question, but I did some research and didn’t find any really clear answers on how this works.
What I want to do is create a new partition on my openSUSE machine here, onto which I will install Windows 2000 or XP. My main concern is of course the bootloader. What exactly needs to be done to get it to work correctly? Any input would be greatly appreciated. I could do it as a virtual machine, but I would rather have it actually on the drive. I know that I could later run it as a VM if I wanted with VMware.
Install windows to the correct partition. It will overwrite the MBR.
You then need to use the suse install dvd to restore grub
Adding a option to windows too (if it doesn’t work first) we can edit menu.lst later
BUT I have never installed windows 2nd, always first, giving it the 1st partition, so I’m NOT sure how it will like being say on sda3 or sda4 - Maybe someone else will reply too.
I have XP in Virtual Box an it is super quick, works better than a normal install I have. I should say though I don’t play games - so VBox is fine for me.
My Normal XP install hasn’t been used for months
Do you already have unpartitioned space free to install windows? If not
you’ll need to add a hard drive to do this install.
The main problem with installing windows after Linux is that it does not
care what you already have installed and just overwrites it assuming it
is the only OS on the machine. The windows bootloader doesn’t have
options to boot other OS’s like Grub and Lilo so typically it’s a lot
easier to just install Linux after windows as it will configure multiple
OS’s all at once.
So how do you get around this? Personally, I’d go with a VM. It’s
easier, significantly more-flexible, and doesn’t require you to reboot
your box every time you want to do any little thing between the two
boxes. It would take more resources to run both systems at once but it
should work properly and be fine.
Another option could be backing up your Grub installation and putting it
back after the windows install and then configuring Grub to have an
option for windows. This is a fairly complex process depending on where
you have your boot loader installed. It can be on your boot partition,
in your master boot record, an active partition, etc. Fixing this after
the fact is possible and may be easy if you have everything backed up
properly and you then use the suse installer to perform a repair but it
could also take a lot of time and result in a reinstall of suse which
may or may not be a problem. The repair feature of the installation
does a good job of this so that may be all it takes but without seeing
the system it’s hard to say.
Good luck.
dbsoundman wrote:
> I know a lot of people ask this question, but I did some research and
> didn’t find any really clear answers on how this works.
>
> What I want to do is create a new partition on my openSUSE machine
> here, onto which I will install Windows 2000 or XP. My main concern is
> of course the bootloader. What exactly needs to be done to get it to
> work correctly? Any input would be greatly appreciated. I could do it
> as a virtual machine, but I would rather have it actually on the drive.
> I know that I could later run it as a VM if I wanted with VMware.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
>
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I can see how a VM would probably be the way to go, then. Here’s my one VM question then: suppose I’m using VMware server, and I want to work in my windows VM in fullscreen. I happen to have a widescreen monitor. Will the VM actually match that resolution (after I install VMware tools), or will I have black bars all around? On my laptop I have an XP and Ubuntu installation (dual boot), and I tried to use XP as a virtual machine after the fact. Aside from the fact that whenever I boot XP in Ubuntu it says I need to “validate my installation”, it also doesn’t use the full screen size when I go fullscreen (my laptop is widescreen too, as most are nowadays). Any suggestions on this? Also if you might know how to get around the windows validation thing that would be nice, too.
I have xp in a VM on my Dell D630 (1440x900) and use vmware server 1.0.7
(previously 1.0.6) and my VM’s window is wide as well. I run without
the auto-fit enabled on either side once it is setup and also use ‘Quick
Switch’ mode so I have minimal space lost to vmware’s screen itself.
Full screen, I assume, would work similarly. Anyway, it works for me
(yes, I have VMware tools installed though you can set resolutions
manually without it… just not automatically which is really a nice
thing to be able to do) on SLED 10 SP2 x86_64.
Good luck.
dbsoundman wrote:
> I can see how a VM would probably be the way to go, then. Here’s my one
> VM question then: suppose I’m using VMware server, and I want to work in
> my windows VM in fullscreen. I happen to have a widescreen monitor. Will
> the VM actually match that resolution (after I install VMware tools), or
> will I have black bars all around? On my laptop I have an XP and Ubuntu
> installation (dual boot), and I tried to use XP as a virtual machine
> after the fact. Aside from the fact that whenever I boot XP in Ubuntu it
> says I need to “validate my installation”, it also doesn’t use the full
> screen size when I go fullscreen (my laptop is widescreen too, as most
> are nowadays). Any suggestions on this? Also if you might know how to
> get around the windows validation thing that would be nice, too.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
>
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