Newb trying to dual boot openSUSE 11.3 and Vista

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Okay, so I have a Sony Vaio with a 250 gb hard drive, and I want to try Linux…I’ve been reading tons of material on Linux, and openSUSE in particular for the last three days. I’ve been learning a TON of stuff about my computer (I’m not really computer savvy, but I’m not afraid to dig in to stuff). SO, I’ve completed step one…downloading 11.3 and creating a DVD. I’m defragging my computer right now, because I read that this was a necessity.

So, to the point. My problem is that when I follow the default install openSUSE is saying that it’s going to delete all existing data on my partitions. Which is NOT what I want. When this is all finished I’d like to be able to choose whether to run Vista or Linux on this computer.

This installer is setting up my partitions like this by default.

(this is a rough outline, like I said…I’m defragging my computer right now, so I can’t look at it atm)
Shrink /dev/sda3 to 127Gb (Windows)
New partitions: /ded/sda3 (94.91 Gb), /ded/sda5 (swap…2.01 Gb), Root Volume /dev/sda6 (20 Gb), and volume /dev/sda7 (72 GB).

I don’t know if I got the terminology right…I’m new to this. But I’ve got started on this Linex track, and I’ve put enough time into it that I really want to finish it…I’VE GOT TO TRY LINEX!!! :stuck_out_tongue: But I really don’t want to mess anything up. This is going to be my college computer, so it’s crucial that it stays in good working order. :slight_smile:

So…how can I get Linux on my computer without deleting my existing OS, or any of my data? (When I go to drive C: on Vista it says the hard drive has 147 Gb of free space and 76.4 Gb of used space…if that’s helpful)

#2

It actually sounds OK.

As I read it. SUSE will shrink windows to 127GB
You say it currently uses 76.4GB so you will have about another 50GB free in Vista
SUSE will create a 95GB extended partition and then 3 partitions inside that: swap 2GB, root 20GB, /home 72GB

It does not say it is deleting windows at all, just shrinking it. But the installer does warn you are deleting data, because it is formatting part of your drive.

Make sure you do this
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/11.3%20Install/1.jpg

Look at both of these:
Picasa Web Albums - caf4926 - 11.3 Slideshow
Picasa Web Albums - caf4926 - openSUSE 11.2…

#3

Oh! I didn’t understand that it was displaying the 95 GB partition twice (as in, just showing me the 95 GB partition, and then showing me how it would divide THAT partition) I was counting up all of the partitions, and I was like “MY HARD DRIVE ISN’T THAT BIG!!!” :stuck_out_tongue: I thought openSUSE was going to try and dominate my entire computer. Thank you for clearing that up. :slight_smile: I’ll try it again, and I’ll post the warning on here if I still feel uncomfortable with it.

Thanks! lol!

P.S. I’m checking out those websites right now. :slight_smile:

P.P.S. Just because I’m curious…what are the swap, root, and home partitions used for? Why isn’t there just one chunk of hard drive used for openSUSE? Does Vista have multiple partitions like this?

#4

P.P.S. Just because I’m curious…what are the swap, root, and home partitions used for? Why isn’t there just one chunk of hard drive used for openSUSE?

‘/swap’ is used by the OS when your RAM is filled and the OS needs more, windows has something similar, but they use a file. the root partition or ‘/’ is where all file systems are mounted from, ‘/home’ is kept on a separate partition to make upgrading easier, there are also other advantages.

Does Vista have multiple partitions like this?

The vista systems I have had anything to do with have had more than one partition,but they seem to be put there by the vendor to save the cost of a rescue or reinstall disk.And wast GBs of space.

#5

Sorry, but I’m still just a bit uncomfortable with this for three reasons.

#1. Under Booting there is a red notification that states, “The bootloader is installed on a partition that does not lie entirely below 128 GB. The system might not boot.”

Is this something I need to worry about? I don’t understand how this can be the case when I don’t have any partitions OVER 122 GB (I deleted some stuff off of my computer and defragged it, so it’s making the Windows partition a little smaller now.)

#2. I decided to see what happened when I clicked “Install” (yes, while I still had the booting notification) and it says this, “Confirm Installation…All information required for the base installation is now complete…If you continue now, EXISTING PARTITIONS on your hard disk will be DELETED or FORMATTED (ERASING ANY EXISTING DATA in those partitions) according to the installation settings in the previous dialogs…Go back and check the settings if you are unsure.”

Will it really erase all the data on my Windows partitions? (While I’m at it I may as well ask… What is a recovery?)

#3. (I just noticed this) Under Partitioning the "Shrink Windows partition /dev/sda2 to 122.04 GB is in RED. So is that a warning? What’s wrong?

I’m uncomfortable now! Here is a more in-depth description of the partitioning when I click “Edit Partition Setup”:

Device: /dev/sda Size: 232.89 GB Type: Toshiba-MK2552GS

Device: /dev/sda1 Size: 9.08 GB Type: unknown FS Type: NTFS Label: Recovery

Device: /dev/sda2 Size: 122.04 GB Type: HPFS/NTFS FS Type: NTFS Mount Point: /windows/C

Device: /dev/sda3 Size: 101.77 GB Type: Extended

Device: /dev/sda5 Size: 2.01 GB F: (…guessing this means format?) F Type: Linux swap FS type: swap Mount point: swap

Device: /dev/sda6 Size 20.00 GB F: F Type: Linux native FS type: Ext 4 Mount Point: /

Device: /dev/sda7 Size: 79.76 GB F: F Type: Linux Native FS type: Ext 4 Mount Point: /home

I’m just being super careful, because I am very new to this, and I CANNOT afford to mess anything up.

Thank you again. :slight_smile:

#6

Look at this
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2151/pic4.png

Now notice in your info you posted, you also have a mount point for your windows
Device: /dev/sda2 Size: 122.04 GB Type: HPFS/NTFS FS Type: NTFS Mount Point: /windows/C
This means the installer is making your windows install accessible from Linux

I’m sure this is OK to proceed from the info you have posted.

This
Device: /dev/sda1 Size: 9.08 GB Type: unknown FS Type: NTFS Label: Recovery
Is a partition belonging to windows. You might not be able to see it in Vista, they sometimes hide them so you can’t Jeff it up.

#7

Device: /dev/sda1 size: 9.08 GB Type: unknown FS Type: NTFS Label: Recovery

This a partition put there by the vendor for restoring windows.

Device: /dev/sda2 size: 122.04 GB Type: HPFS/NTFS FS Type: NTFS Mount Point: /windows/C

This is your windows partition.

Device: /dev/sda3 size: 101.77 GB Type: Extended

Because you can only have 4 primary partitions, if you need more partitions, one of those needs to be the extended primary, this holds your logical partitions ( any partitions from sda5 and above ). There can be many logical partitions in the extended.

Device: /dev/sda5 F: (…guessing this means format?) F type: Linux swap FS type: swap mount point: swap

This is the ‘/swap’ partition I mentioned earlier.

Device: /dev/sda6 size 20.00 GB F: F Type: Linux native FS type: Ext 4 Mount Point: /

This is the ‘/’ partition mentioned earlier.

Device: /dev/sda7 size: 79.76 GB F: F Type: Linux Native FS type: Ext 4 Mount Point: /home

The ‘/home’ partition mentioned earlier.

#8

So…I got Opensuse on here, and I’m liking it so far, but Amarok isn’t playing my music…it’s spending all of it’s stupid time looking for lyrics and stuff. I could care less if it tells me what the lyrics are. I tried to download Itunes, but that didn’t work, even after I downloaded a bunch of support stuff Opensuse said I needed…what’s going on? Is there a different, good media player I can get?

Thanks.

P.S. Most of my files are MP3

#9

There are lots. But to play MP3 any player is going to need the codecs.

Don’t know what you did with “I downloaded a bunch of support stuff Opensuse said I needed.”

Did you follow instructions here?

Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide

mp3 is a restricted format ie it has patents and thus is not distributed with OpenSuse.

vlc is a good sound player and video player

#10

You are just about to bugger up a good install by trying to install all and sundry. STOP and read my guide just quoted for you. Follow it carefully. If you can’t figure it - ask for advice.
You actually need this part of the guide!
http://forums.opensuse.org/english/information-new-users/new-user-how-faq-read-only/407184-multi-media-restricted-format-installation-guide.html#post2180319

#11

I’m done with Linux. How do I uninstall it and let Windows have my computer again? I’ll definitely try this again someday, but with college I don’t have time to play with it anymore. Thanks!

#12

In windows computer management section, you can delete the Linux Partitions and give all the space back to windows. If you still have the grub bootloader you need to use your windows dvd to fixmbr
If you don’t have a proper windows dvd make sure to get this before doing anything to the partitions
Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download — The NeoSmart Files

#13

How does one go about giving Windows all the hard drive space back? I have 6 partitions total. I think two of them belong to Windows…

#14

Once you delete the partitions it becomes unassigned space, you then re-size the main C partition to take that space.

#15

Hello,
I just tried installing openSUSE 11.3 in my Dell Inspiron 1525, which in which I already run Windows Vista. I followed the tutorials and the installation seemed to be pretty simple. Installation completed and it went for a reboot. After booting up, GRUB shows me only Windows. I couldn’t find any options for openSUSE.
While installing, I configured the boot loader to be installed in MBR and set openSUSE as my default entry.

Any help will be appreciated.

Edit:
My Windows is safe though :stuck_out_tongue:

#16

You need to burn and boot this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/pmagic-4.5.iso

Post the result of

fdisk -l