How do you dual boot SuSE 11.1 with Windows 7 installed?

I have tried several different ways to get the latest release of SuSE to install on a separate partition which I created in Windows, but the SuSE installation says the partition is too small. This is simply not true. I have 150GB partition for the installation, but the auto-configuration wants to shrink my Windows partition. This is something which I don’t want as there is more than enough room on the empty partition.

When I try and edit the setup I can’t seem to remove the shrinking of the Windows partitions or selecting that empty partition. The partition has been left in a RAW state along with being formatted FAT16; with the same results. It says the partition is too small and will not let me use it. And I can’t remove the shrinking of the active Windows partitions; one of which is just data.

How do I install on that supposed "Too small partition" and create a dual-boot system?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

When you write “install on a separate partition which I created in
Windows” I think that is part of the problem. Linux does not run on
windows partitions; instead you need to either let the installer resize
windows’ partitions to make room for itself or you just need to leave some
space unpartitioned. For example if you currently have a c: drive in
windows for everything and you created a d: drive for Linux then when
you’re doing the Linux install delete that d: drive (or do it in windows
first) so you just have a c: drive and a bunch of unpartitioned space.
Linux will create its own partitions from the free space on the drive
(free space meaning unpartitioned space) but currently it is probably
trying to create a partition with whatever is unpartitioned (since you are
preventing it from resizing things) which could just be a couple spare MB
that were unpartitioned by windows and clearly not big enough to use for a
full OS install.

Good luck.

Aterman wrote:
> I have tried several different ways to get the latest release of SuSE to
> install on a separate partition which I created in Windows, but the SuSE
> installation says the partition is too_small. This is simply not
> true. I have 150GB partition for the installation, but the
> auto-configuration wants to shrink my Windows partition. This is
> something which I don’t want as there is more than enough room on the
> empty partition.
>
> When I try and edit the setup I can’t seem to remove the shrinking of
> the Windows partitions or selecting that empty partition. The partition
> has been left in a RAW state along with being formatted FAT16; with the
> same results. It says the partition is too small and will not let me use
> it. And I can’t remove the shrinking of the active Windows partitions;
> one of which is just data.
>
> How do I install on that supposed -“Too small partition”- and create
> a dual-boot system?
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
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=jZSa
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

With your help on this matter I was able to figure out the problem with my partitions. I had a Windows “Back-Up” partition along with the “C” not to mention the 150GB unused space for SuSE.

What SuSE was doing was taking more than half of my “Back-Up” partition to create a Swap partition along with taking some of my “C” space as well. I solved this issue by moving the data on the “Back-Up” partition to my “C” and expanding the current “C” to include this “Back-Up” partition.

After doing that SuSE went on fine without shrinking a thing. I also left the unpartitioned space as just that; unpartitioned (unused) for the SuSE install. Everything went smooth after that.

Thanks so much for the help!!! Kodus

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Neato. Thank-you for posting back your results.

Good luck.

Aterman wrote:
> With your help on this matter I was able to figure out the problem with
> my partitions. I had a Windows “Back-Up” partition along with the “C”
> not to mention the 150GB unused space for SuSE.
>
> What SuSE was doing was taking more than half of my “Back-Up” partition
> to create a Swap partition along with taking some of my “C” space as
> well. I solved this issue by moving the data on the “Back-Up” partition
> to my “C” and expanding the current “C” to include this “Back-Up”
> partition.
>
> After doing that SuSE went on fine without shrinking a thing. I also
> left the unpartitioned space as just that; unpartitioned (unused) for
> the SuSE install. Everything went smooth after that.
>
> Thanks so much for the help!!! Kodus
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJK610tAAoJEF+XTK08PnB5Fe8P/R+xloqrW5eoI1NixTFX9Ql8
v+sIb0OpsDE0/OZiD+jTfbbAiHY+xQlNbq8ufwv0KJUeRpOlpfraQ4159SkPltyw
WxUP3kdeJww0m72ybpQNlSJdliiJFaIW7s8Zt4sWkNxhuD4QwhoksAeaOB4IeQTv
ztMTn7g5FAjysMjK8I5BQQKJklBEr9JuBN5GzmDSUu1PChnWoo2I284Y+CmjLNDx
B+TDRiqeNwFQ3q6sGKsAPglu8SHJe9sN+DI5HCkkBDl/iTWwgPZErLLQJU27uADe
iRBc4Ib1dcQBRGuPHxhr/9IofbwoMfTeOc2eD4ZGhcjQu9V+BLQ8Q0XQTnmKvGwz
3Fybi7hmZdNK6VIOR56SDuOM/wuIACGfMQIQToS+0sDVS6Ttq6xgHA6CAvjI3fr0
CXEvs2njaeeilK4DxKL/VXHoguigidGAzFj2/lV9cJlvlxzzf7X39Dvtic4uhFok
yVl6UWNG0npYv1EOwmrhkGep26nsZoUkZ4YoGK9ZA3ScpX5gKMgnYtrv6eCzZQZb
cQxjzGFzIPNipGc1HdORJflupUzgr5NXvqoU++R9IGrmzWQoL10/iLxmetR91tk8
KW/UmXq8+i4ISyeOQggUcil6Hf7HgSUwN6D/oKxY2eT3xY0ieX5oXy5UpqOI+2EH
xVT6RH+1SNpqZ1JkOGVW
=ragh
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----