I have a custom built PC with 2 HDDs, Is it possible to install open SUSE on a separate HDD? Without partitioning the same HDD with my XP on it.
Thanks.
P.S. Excuse me if I am a bit UN-technical , I have never used Linux , me ----> Major Newbie.
I am downloading the distribution 11.1 , still got a while to go.
sure that is the way i’m setup.
a coustom pc with xp(only used for a few appz.)
on my first hard drive, and suse11.1 on the second hard drive.
everything runs fine.
when you are installing suse just it mount points for the first
drive say windows, and let suse take up the entire second hard drive.
good luck:)
Sure. Just at the “suggested partitioning” step, you probably will have to enter the dialog there and instruct the installer which disk to use, or even go the “expert” route and thru the gui specifically select the disk and do the partitioning.
Be advised that unless you direct the installer otherwise, it will by default install the grub boot loader to the first disk’s MBR with a pointer to the grub boot files on the second disk. So grub will provide the primary boot control for the machine and will provide a menu selection which will “chainload” back to XP’s ntldr on the first disk for booting Windows.
Not to but in but I am wanting the same exact thing. When I started the installer, it suggested this:
Shrink Windows Partition /dev/sdb1 77.69g
Create extended partition /dev/sdb2 155.19g
Create swap partition /dev/sdb5 2.01g
Create root partition /devsdb6 20g with ext 3
Create partition /dev/sdb7 133.18g for /home with ext 3
Set mount point of /dev/sda2 to /windows/c
Am I on the right track? I just want to keep XP and OS as totally seperate as I can. I too am a major noob here with Linux
You don’t need it to shrink the Windows partition. Click on where it asks you to change the partitioning or do a custom set up or whatever (sorry, I can’t remember the exact wording but I’m also a newbie and just did this). Then it will show both of your hard drives. Click on the second one (or the non-Windows one) and just tell it to use the whole drive. Then it will proceed with that one and leave your Windows partition alone.
What is the command or part that tells the computer at start up which Op Sys i want to boot from?
It should automatically include GRUB when you install. Then, every time you boot the computer you will get a screen that lets you select which OS you want to use. The default OS (which will be SUSE) will select when the screen times out. You can change that, as well as the length of time the boot screen stays up, by editing your menu.list file (if you end up wanting to do that we can tell you how).
But initially it should take care of setting up your boot options automatically, and then when you boot the computer you can just make your selection.
OK, I’ll give it a try
Cool. On all but one of my machines, GRUB was written to the MBR and the dual-boot selection worked perfectly from the start.
I have seen it happen that you can’t boot into Windows after, but it has been a problem with how the GRUB menu.list file was written. If you find you can’t boot into Windows, we can tell you how to find that file and help troubleshoot. In the one instance I had where I couldn’t boot Windows, it was just a matter of changing one number in that file and then Windows worked fine.
Well OS 11.1 went on fine. When I restarted I got Error 21 in GRUB. I had to fix the MBR in windows and delete OS. I am back at square 1. In the install there were a lot of Q’s I didnt know how to answer. But the internet worked and all so it must have not been that far off!!!
Which OS did you delete (I presume openSUSE from the 2nd disk)?
What do you have, the openSUSE DVD, LiveCD, or both?
What did you use to repair the Windows MBR (the XP install CD)?
I deleted OS 11.1 from the HD. I have a DVD boot disk for the install. I used my XP recovery disk to fix my MBR. It was very easy
OK, so do you want to give it another try? If you do, boot from the DVD into Rescue System, login as root, and do:
fdisk -lu
Post output back here. Windows is on the second partition; we need to see the first partition and actually it’s best to see the whole table for both disks.
i dont think you deleted the os.only the boot loader must have been errased (unless you deleted the partitions from the windows disk manager)
in any case just post the output of the above cmd.
in my view only the grub must not have installed correctly.you can fix that and everything will be fine.