Reformat computer and install 11.2

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi,

At the moment I’ve got dual-bootable machine with WinXP (25GB on hard disk) and openSUSE 11.2 (20GB on hard disk). After saving the important files on my ~/home I want to wipe off all data from both my partitions and then install WinXP (with 15GB) and openSUSE 11.2 with 30GB.

The problem is I’m not sure how to go about doing this? I’m guessing the problem will be the boot process. I installed openSUSE on a machine that already had WinXP and I didn’t change any boot settings so it must still be controlled by XP. So presumably I’d have to:

  1. Remove openSUSE first and then remove XP using the XP CD.
  2. Install XP again
  3. Install openSUSE on another partition as I did before but with different partition sizes.

Or should I install openSUSE first before XP? I think I’m more confident on installing XP first since I’ve already done it earlier.

The only other complication is that this is my ‘laptop’ screen is broken so I use an external monitor. This is what prevented me from formatting my computer earlier.

Thanks.

2

Hi,

since you’re ready to throw everything away, perhaps yu might want to expermient a little.

What I’d do would be to

  • save everything important
  • Go into windows and defragment the windows partitions(s) totally.
  • Reinstall opensuse and,whilst doing so, resize the windows partition to the 15 GB you want, and let the rest of the installation go as is.
3

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. The thing is I actually want to reformat Windows as well as I think I’ve got too much bloatware on it at the moment and want to install it with minimal software.

Can I reinstall openSUSE with the changed partition sizes and then later remove Windows? Wouldn’t this mess up the boot process?

4

A bit of prep work woul’d take You a long way:

  1. Garther up needed disks a. Suse (maybe 11.3?), b.Windows (if You have SATA drive - floppy with apropriate driver) c. partitionig software (many available - my favorite PartMagic - Google it, download,burn on CD)
  2. Look up all data that You want to keep from both systems, gather it burn to CD or DVD
  3. Now scary part - repartition Your drive, You WILL loose everything on the hard drive - reboot Your machine with partitionong software, delete exsisting partitions, create 15 GB partition and format it to NTFS, laeve remaining unpartitioned
  4. Reboot with Windows and install it on NTFS partition (Windows needs to go on first, otherwise it overwrites GRUB and You loose dual boot option), after this install - be prepared for close to a hundred Win updates sic!
  5. Reboot again, now with Suse disc, go through all install motions, Suse will suggest all needed partitions, go with it, they are very appropriate
  6. Reboot and now You are presented with nice GRUB startup screen with three choices: Desktop Suse xxx…, Failsafe Suse xxx…, Windows. You are done!!! Have fun!!!

When, or if things change later You can remove Windows. Futrther repartitioning is involved, but booting proces is OK. It would also require edit of GRUB to reflect change

5

No, removing windows shouldn’t mess up the boot process - you can just delete everything from the windows partition. If you re-format it, take care first where your Grub lies. If it’s on that partition it will be gone after a format.

HTH

Lenwolf