How can I install Fedora Core 7 alongside Windows XP on one hard drive?

[ziad1985]

I already have XP on my PC, And I want want to install Core 7 too.
I have only one physical Hard drive, few hours ago it was partitioned into 3 NTFS drives ( C D E ).What I just did is that I removed the partition of E: ( it was already empty ), so now I have about 40GB of unpartitioned space.
How can I proceed from here to install it ?
I been surfing around net for some time now and the more i read about this, the more confused i get...

 

[las3rjock]

If you have unpartitioned space, it should be pretty straightfoward to install any Linux distribution for dual-booting. The exact details with vary from distribution to distribution (e.g. Fedora Core vs. Ubuntu), but the bottom-line is that you should boot your computer from the install CD/DVD, and when you get to the part where you configure your partitions, you should issue the appropriate commands to create two partitions:

1. A Linux-formatted partition (I personally prefer ext3 format, but ext2, reiserfs, or zfs are other potentially valid formats) for '/' (the root directory of a Linux installation), comprising most of the unpartitioned space (i.e. all but 1 or 2 GB of the unpartitioned space). This is where the actual Linux operating system will go.
2. A Linux-formatted swap partition of 1 or 2 GB.

More advanced Linux users will use more partitions and put specific directories on different partitions (e.g. a small partition for '/' and a large partition for '/usr'), but this is obviously more complicated and less flexible than keeping everything on one partition.

If you are really this new to the Linux operating system, I would also suggest that you get a book about Linux in general or your distribution (e.g. Fedora Core) in particular to use to teach yourself how to install and use Linux. Online documentation and HOWTOs are great, but there are so many different documents and HOWTOs for any given task, and it's had to distinguish between useful and useless documents, or current and obsolete documents. Published documentation will more helpful to someone who is just learning to use Linux, and once you get things up and running, you will be better prepared for reading online documents about performing a specific task with your Linux distribution.

 

[Rogerio]

A Linux-formatted swap partition of 1 or 2 GB.

Be sure to create a partition as big as your physical memory (RAM).

 

[ziad1985]

I'm not really new, I've used Linux before and really liked it, but it was the only OS on the pc.I've recently got a new Desktop, if it was for me it would only have Linux, but I'm not the only user, so XP is an obligation, beside I'll need it to play my Games.
I thought about just trying different options to see which will work( I have everything backed up ), but it will take time, patience and luck..

 

[kocher]

Fedora is very nice, the bootloader shouldn't be too hard to figure out

 

[NoUse]

I, personally, would go with Ubuntu. It's probably THE easiest Linux distribution to install. I honestly don't even have to mention any installation/partitioning process because IT IS that easy to install. It also has a startup screen that allows you login to Xwindows and/or change the Windows Manager that you use. Someone could argue that this, in essence, is taking away from the whole feel of Linux. But I say as long as you switch the WM to Fluxbox and learn to use the command line to navigate and install files then you still get that superior feeling that Linux users generally get when they tar -xvf files.

here's my slack 10.1 box wif flux box

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/6327/despairshot5ou.png yes i have a boner

 

[Aquafire]

Seriously guys,

Reading your complex replies... anyone would have to be forgiven for thinking your trying to scare Ziad1985 off of Linux for life.
If I may step into the breach Ziad, I want to ask you why you partioned your drive into four NTFS sectors ? There is little benefit given the way XP is constucted.

The best thing you can do (and the easiest) is to defrag your drive and then allow Fedora 7 to automatically partion the drive into two sectors. One which will retain your original NTFS set up and the other for Fedoras' needs.

Although the below is for Fedora 6 it works equally well for Fedora 7.

It is illustrated through-out and very easy to follow.

http://www.hentzenwerke.com/wp/dualboot_fc6xp.pdf

Enjoy.

Aquafire

 

[ziad1985]

Not 4 Drives , It was 3 Drives and then I removed one.
Course of habit actually, I always had 3 partitions, don't know that's how i used to organize my stuff on the PC, since the 6GB hard drives :P ( looks like it was only yesterday ).
I'll be reading the Document now , and see how to proceed.
But I got a new problem, the DVD I had, it turned out to be burned with tones of errors, and since I don't have much Bandwidth , I'm looking to see how will I get a fresh copy.

 

[Aquafire]

But I got a new problem, the DVD I had, it turned out to be burned with tones of errors, and since I don't have much Bandwidth , I'm looking to see how will I get a fresh copy.

Not all is possibly lost.

Try burning at a slow speed.

If you have a Linux partition set up... then try burning it from within it's KDE setup.
CD/DVD burning tools do 'checksum' checks...as the image/dvd is actually being burned.

If it burns successfully on Linux you should be fine.

To that end, I recommend Granular Linux which is very easy to use.

http://www.granular-linux.com/


Aquafire

 

[hitman47]

correct me if I'm wrong, but Fedora (same goes for other Linux distros) need(s) 3 partitions for installation. You say you already have deleted your E: drive leaving 2 partitions. That leaves space for only 2 more, because when I tried to install Fedora it wouldn't create more than 4. So I had to resize and integrate the first two partitions into one, and then Fedora was able to easily use the free space for installation.