Hi,
I am trying to dual boot windows 7 and openSuse. I have shrunk my main partition and it is now unallocated.
When running the DVD at the disc section I got the message
Delete partition /dev/sda1 (199.00MB) This is my windows system partition (NTFS)
Delete windows partion /dev/sda2 (261.49GB) This is my main partition C: (NTFS) (Don’t want to delete this
Resize impossible due to inconsistent fs. Try checking fs under windows.
Delete windows partition /dev/sda3 (16.31GB)This is my recovery partition.(NTFS) I also don’t want to delete this.
Resize impossible due to inconsistent fs. Try checking fs under windows.
Delete partition /dev/sda4 (103.34MB) HP tools (FAT32) (Not sure about this, but would rather keep it.
Create swap volume /dev/sda1 (2.01GB)
Create root volume /dev/sda2 (20GB with ext4)
create volume /dev/sda3 (276.08GB for /home)
I also pressed created partition and clicked on the unallocated space but I got an error telling me that I either didn’t have enough space or hadn’t selected enough partitions. (The unallocated space was 20GB)
Thanks for the help,
Jonathan
You need to delete one of them.
I say sda4
The you can resize sda2 (defrag it first)
here:
Install openSUSE alongside Win7/Vista - A Guide
When you have some space form sda2, create an extended partition in ALL that space and then your Linux partitions inside the extended.
As I have created a recovery disc using can I delete the recovery partition
Indeed
In which case leave sda4, delete sda3, shrink sda2 and create the extended in the free space, then your Linux partitions in the extended
I use Parted Magic for this kind of work
I suggest you put the boot flag on the new extended, take it off any other partitions such as sda1 or sda2
How much of sda2 261.49GB is free?
Sorry was busy and still haven’t partitioned About 160GB but I was only going to use 20GB for openSuse. Why bootflag?
Booting is a chain of programs that start in the MBR. Linux does not in general care about a boot flag. It is really only useful if you put generic (ie Windows) boot code into the MBR. Grub boot code in the MBR simply goes to the location of the Linux /boot to start Grub. If you do use a generic MBR then you do need to put the Grub boot code in the partition containing /boot and set a boot flag to it. The boot flag simply tells generic boot code where to go next.
I’m a little confused. Is this so that I can keep the windows boot loader in case I want to get rid of opensuse?
Well lots of reasons. Windows is finicky about things and some update may try to rewrite the MBR which if it has Grub code will no longer boot Linux. Note it is not that hard to fix but you do need to understand this stuff. Also you may have more then just 2 OS’s so things can get complex. By default the Linux install will load the MBR with Grub which is fine until windows decides to change it. It totally depends on how you plan to setup and use the machine. It does make it a bit simpler to drop Linux if you keep a generic boot code. You just move the boot flag back to Windows erase the Linux partitions and it is gone.
So when I install openSuse I untick the option to overwrite the mbr.
Yes and no. Been a while, I forget the exact options, but I think you need also to check another box that says to the effect write MBR to /boot or some such. Also you may need to manually change the boot flag with a CD boot able Linux like Part Magic.
Thank you. I have downloaded parted magic and will do the above. But do I change the boot flag before or after installing openSuse?
After the partitions aren’t there until you install 
I feel so stupid now. I shoul’ve known. Ok one last question. Is 20GB enough? I’m only going to be installing a few programs.
Just to help people with the same problem. The installer puts grub in the right place and changes the boots flags automaticly if windows is detected so there need to change boot flags or change grub install. Checked with parted magic.
On 04/06/2011 05:36 PM, RabbidRabbit wrote:
>
> I feel so stupid now. I shoul’ve known. Ok one last question. Is 20GB
> enough? I’m only going to be installing a few programs.
I have 9 GB of stuff in / and 90 in /home, but I’m a heavy user. With 20 GB, you
should be able to get the flavor of openSUSE.
I know it does, most of the time. I was giving a Belt and Braces approach.