My first post in the forums and I’m very happy to finally become a part of the community.
I’ve been wanting to start using Linux for years now and after doing some research on which distro to use, I’ve decided to give it a try with openSUSE and ordered a DVD copy from Novel last night.
Needless to say, I’m a newbie to Linux. I’m building a new computer with two identical hard drives and I’d like to install openSUSE and XP on them and hence make a dual boot system. This is also going to be my first time setting up a dual boot.
So, while I’m waiting for the openSUSE DVD to arrive, can you please tell me how to actually set it all up?
There are many ways, but your having separate disks for the OSes does make things a bit cleaner.
One way, which is what the openSUSE installer will suggest, is to set up GRUB (the Linux bootloader) as the master bootloader and then you have both Linux and XP in the menu. You should install XP first as it will overwrite GRUB when it’s installed. Though you can reinstall GRUB from the repair mode of the boot DVD whenever XP does that.
The other way, which is less often seen but works too, is to install GRUB in its own partition (and disk in your case) then add the Linux boot sector to the XP bootloader menu. Here’s a typical howto:
You can only have one boot drive configured in the BIOS at a time. So at least a part of the OS that is controlling the boot will need to be on the first (boot) drive.
Windows is anti social and refuses to recognize the possibility that any other OS exists. So you need to install Windows first or it will mess up the Linux install.
Suse Linux uses a program called grub to control booting and to allow selection of which OS you want to start.
Each hard drive reserves the first sector of the first track to start the boot process. This is called the MBR. Windows will install its boot code into the MBR then when you install Linux grub will take over the MBR and chain the boot process to the OS that has the rest of grub code that is to then control the boot.
So it is important that grub gets installed to the MBR of the first (boot) drive. This will the chain to the second drive where you presumably have install the rest of Suse. But there is slight problem with this in that now if both drives are not present then nothing will boot. So it may be better to install just one drive install Windows. Make that drive the second drive and install the next drive as the first drive and then install Linux. You can then fix the grub menu to boot Windows from the second drive and both drives will still be bootable, each to it’s own OS. This is not hard but can be intimidating for a nooby. We can help with that here if you should decide to do it that way.
Oh, thank you so much for the answers. Looks like I’m going to need all the help I can get from you guys.
Okay then, I will go ahead and do the XP installation first (with just one drive connected to the MB) as per your recommendation. And when my SUSE DVD arrives, I will remove the XP drive and pop in a new blank drive and install SUSE on it.
I have a few questions right about at this point:
Does GRUB get installed by itself during the general openSUSE installation or will I have to do that seperately?
It is my understanding that you want me to connect my SUSE-installed drive to SATA port 1 and XP-installed drive to SATA port 2, right? So, when I turn on the computer BIOS will attempt to read the boot sector of the drive on port 1 (based on default BIOS priority settings) and that’s when GRUB will kick in and ask me which OS to load?
Do I connect the XP-installed drive (on SATA port 2) before or after installing openSUSE on the second blank drive (on SATA port 1)?
No, don’t remove the XP drive when you do that. You want the drive configuration when you set up Linux to be just the same as for normal running. Otherwise the installer will think the Linux drive is the primary one and things will go pear-shaped when you actually use it.
Does GRUB get installed by itself during the general openSUSE installation or will I have to do that seperately?
It’s part of the openSUSE installation.
It is my understanding that you want me to connect my SUSE-installed drive to SATA port 1 and XP-installed drive to SATA port 2, right? So, when I turn on the computer BIOS will attempt to read the boot sector of the drive on port 1 (based on default BIOS priority settings) and that’s when GRUB will kick in and ask me which OS to load?
I disagree with my colleague. XP prefers to be on on the first drive. Humour it.
The most straightforward way, if you don’t mind GRUB being the master bootloader is this:
Connect both drives.
Install XP on the first drive
Install openSUSE on the second drive
At the GRUB step, specify that the the boot sector goes into the MBR
Also add Windows as an additional OS to the GRUB selection (you will get a chance to specify this)
Always have both drives powered up (not difficult if they are both internal drives)
It’s when the second drive is external that it gets tricky when GRUB wants to read it and it’s not plugged in and powered up. That’s what gogalthorp had in mind.
Not everything you have read here so far is exactly right! In brief, you do not have to have only one drive attached when installing windows or Linux. True you can only have one drive as active for booting, (actually only one partition can be marked as active), but you may have multiple drives attached with multiple partitions too.
Word of wisdom: Windows XP while it assumes you want 1 huge partition on 1 harddisk as your system like the cra**y one size fits all paraded by M$ and the local stores, you may choose other organizations which work equally well.
I would recommend 20 to 40 gigs of drive 1 for windows main OS and balance of drive 1 as a separate data partition so when windows crashes or drive fails you don’t stand as much of a risk of loosing your data/music/video etc. Under this structure, c: would be first partition, and d: would be the second, e: would be the cd/dvd drive. (drive letters may change for d: and e:)
In a single drive system, one would normally make 2 - 4 or more partitions for Linux, but as you have a second drive you can easily install to that one and Windows won’t see the drive at all if it is formatted for Linux.
You may find the quickest way to do things is:
install XP on first hard drive
insert openSUSE CD/DVD and proceed to installation
look what openSUSE is suggesting - my guess is that it will suggest taking over the second hard drive; if so
enable booting from MBR
enable /for bootloader
If not, review the suggestions above and edit the installation to make it do what you want in the light of the suggestions above.
You can always abort the installation and start again/ask more questions if you need to but you may save yourself a lot of trouble by seeing first what openSUSE is proposing to do and accepting that if it is what you want.