I am dual booting Windows 7 with openSUSE 12.1
Just a quick question.
Would this partitioning table keep windows on my hard drive and allow me to choose between Windows and openSUSE upon boot up? Cant live without videogames 
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So you say you are already dual booting, so I am not sure if this is a different configuration. I see nothing wrong with it except that:
- Grub Must be loaded into the MBR for openSUSE to boot …
- /dev/sda1 must be marked active for booting so Windows can do a backup or load a Service Pack (which is OK if grub is in the MBR),
- 20 GB is kind of small for /. Limit yourself to a single desktop of your choice. Limit any development work (like doing kernel compiles) to keep system files size down.
- Consider keeping media files on the larger Windows Partitions …
- Consider modifying (as root) the /etc/fstab file for the NTFS partitions ONLY, change the settings to using the word defaults.
(Example: /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST31500541AS_5XW14NDQ-part1 /Software ntfs-3g defaults 0 0)
Hope this is helpful to you.
Thank You,
Aborted installation and restarted. I tried to increase my swap space, I have 4 gigs of RAM, I dont think 2 gigs of swap space would work. I still have the same partitioning table from the picture in the first post I made but I have a couple questions.
/dev/sda2 is my C drive in windows and /dev/sda1 is an NTFS partitions, is labeled SYSTEM RESERVED, and has a boot flag on. What is this? Also, it says that if I were to use this partitoning table, /dev/sda2 would have the mount point /windows/C. What will that do? One more: how do I extend my swap space, without messing up this partitioning table?
**/dev/sda2 is my C drive in windows and /dev/sda1 is an NTFS partitions, is labeled SYSTEM RESERVED, and has a boot flag on. What is this? **
With Windows 7, the Windows boot partition is small and starts Windows loading and then transfers over to the larger partition. This is normal for Windows 7. My only comment is that the 100 MB size is small (but was done by Windows) and in some cases, unable to allow Windows to properly backup unless it is made larger (up to 499 MB, but always under 500 MB).
**Also, it says that if I were to use this partitioning table, /dev/sda2 would have the mount point /windows/C. What will that do? **
Yes, that is correct. You do not mount /dev/sda1, but mounting /dev/sda2 gives Linux access to your Windows partition. Consider an edit of the /etc/fstab file (as root) and change the mount options to say only defaults.
(Example: in KDE do a Alt-F2 and enter: kdesu kwrite /etc/fstab and edit the Windows mount like this:
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Hitachi_HDS723020BLA642_MN1221F305BDDD-part1 /windows/C ntfs-3g defaults 0 0
Your Drive name will be different than mine.)
One more: how do I extend my swap space, without messing up this partitioning table?
If you have already created the Partition, you need to remove something or shrink it down first. If you have not actually installed openSUSE, you can use custom partitioning to first remove sda6 & sda7, increase the swap size and then recreate them, but smaller I guess unless you are taking more room from Windows. I think I would just go with a 2 GB SWAP if I had to redo everything.
Thank You,
So if you were in my situation, where I am trying to increase the size of my swap space because it is 2 GB and my RAM is 4 GB, you wouldnt change anything and just go ahead and install openSUSE? Would that be enough swap space for me? What I would use Linux for is browsing the web, playing a game every now and then(probably Battle for Wesnoth, a strategy game), and programming(Editing KDE, creating programs in C++, etc).
Oh, and I think I’ll change /etc/fstab to what you told me to do. No matter what.
So if you were in my situation, where I am trying to increase the size of my swap space because it is 2 GB and my RAM is 4 GB, you wouldnt change anything and just go ahead and install openSUSE? Would that be enough swap space for me? What I would use Linux for is browsing the web, playing a game every now and then(probably Battle for Wesnoth, a strategy game), and programming(Editing KDE, creating programs in C++, etc).
SWAP space is used when you start to run out of memory and when you hibernate your computer. In hibernation, memory is compressed and could still fit. 4 GB might be ideal, but I would not make it bigger at the expense of making the other openSUSE partitions smaller. If you are going to further shrink down Windows and start the partitioning over, then go for 4 GB, otherwise 2 GB should be just fine.
Thank You,
Ill go ahead and install openSUSE without editing the partitioning table. Thanks a lot for your help.
You might get a warning about the partitions being beyond the 128GB limit
I have all my Extended space beginning before that point. SUSE would normally put the boot flag on the Extended and even if your / is way down from there it will still work fine.
I did have that warning, and after the installtion I rebooted, booted straight into openSUSE, it did some configuration thing, I logged into my account, rebooted, and then I had 4 choices:
openSUSE 12.1
windows 1
windows 2
openSUSE 12.1 (Failsafe)
Which leads me to another question(sorry when I said I was done, I thought I was). Which windows do I choose to boot into Windows 7? I dont wanna pick the wrong one and something bad happens.
I did have that warning, and after the installtion I rebooted, booted straight into openSUSE, it did some configuration thing, I logged into my account, rebooted, and then I had 4 choices:
openSUSE 12.1
windows 1
windows 2
openSUSE 12.1 (Failsafe)
Which leads me to another question(sorry when I said I was done, I thought I was). Which windows do I choose to boot into Windows 7? I dont wanna pick the wrong one and something bad happens.
You would be using windows 1 and can remove windows 2 after you find that indeed windows 1 works. (To edit go to: YaST / System / Boot Loader ) I would remove the one not needed and you can edit and rename windows 1 to Windows 7 Home Premium, or what ever version it might be.
Thank You,