stevewatts70

After completely wiping my laptops hard drive (40gb) i was forced to install ubuntu to get it operational again.Now i need to install xp again and also keep ubuntu as i quite like ubuntu, but my wife cannot get to grips with it so needs to be able to use xp again.Can some one tell me how to do this easily without having to reinstall both from scratch ie just add xp .Can i install xp to an external hd and keep linux on the internal hd? Easy on the tech talk with your answers as i am a bit crap with computers hence the original wiping of the hd in the first instance.Please help if you can. Many thanks if you can. Steve.

wmorri

Welcome to TSF!!

Hi,

I will try to keep the higher level tech words to a minimum, as we were all there at one point or another so don't worry. What I would like you to do is login to ubuntu. Then I would like you to open up a terminal window. To do this go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal. Then I would like you to type sudo gparted.GParted is the Gnome Partition Manager, it is what we will use to partition your hdd. Typing 'sudo' first will let you use root without logging in as root, this will let you know if it is installed yet on your computer, too. If GParted is installed it will start up. If it isn't then we will need to install it.

If you need to install it then you will need to type in teminal sudo apt-get install gparted. Then you will be asked for your '[sudo] password for user:' Just enter that. It won't appear when you type it but that is ok. Then the computer will go through the process of installing the program for you.

I will stop here for know and let you reach this far. Let me know when you are ready to move forward.

Cheers!

stevewatts70

if you are reading this then i must be doing something right.have followed your instructions and so far so good,gparted seems to have installed okay.many thanks so far.

Bartender

I don't know what wmorri is cooking up, but installing Windows after installing Linux is generally considered to be a hassle.
Really, how difficult was it to install Ubuntu?

Blue445

Go ahead, look for G parted in one of the menus up top...It should be somewhat self explanatory how to use it. Just make a new partition, then install windows on it. Don't forget to format it as NTSF (you will get the choice when partitioning)

wmorri

Hi,

Blue that was exactly what I was thinking. I am glad I am not the only one that is thinking the same thing.

Bartender, I am cooking up some oatmeal if you like some. I could send it in the mail, but it might be a little stale when it gets to you.

Cheers!

Tux

Send me some of that stale oatmeal, I am hungry, by the way that is pretty useful I wish I would known that several weeks ago I could have saved myself allot of time, so can you do the same thing but while using vista 64-bit.

Bartender

OK, I'm waiting to see how you guys are going to get around the GRUB/boot problems. Unless someone's come up with some new tricks, I still maintain it's easier to start over, install Windows, then Linux.

Rome5

@bartender: Don't forget that grub is just a package included with Ubuntu. It works on it's own and can be reinstalled or reconfigured if necessary without starting over from scratch with Ubuntu. Reinstalling Ubuntu/Linux in most cases (including this one) is unnecessary and should be a last resort. Plus, it doesn't really teach anyone how to attack problems in Linux when there are usually multiple alternatives.

For grub, you can use it's command-line to setup and modify the mbr without ever reinstalling. Typing 'grub' at the terminal prompt will get you to the command-line. Just a few commands after that. Menu.lst will need an additional entry for the new OS, but that's pretty basic for Windows.

wmorri

@stevewatts: What you need to do is start GParted. Just go to System -> Admin -> GParted or Partition Editor. You will be asked for your admin pw, then the program will start. You should see a list of the partitons that are on your hdd.

Rather than me telling you how, I found this walk-through GParted documentation. Go down to the #2 and it will show you how with pictures. When it talks about Primary, Logical, extended, choose Primary, and then the file system is NTFS.

After that we can move on the next step.

Cheers!

JaxMax

Howdy folks,
Just a quick chime in as I have recently been through the patition/install process (with generous help from wmorri, Bartender and Rome5), and I am a rank newbie as well. It seems that at first stevewatts70 wanted to use an external HD to use for XP, which, on the face of it, seems to be the simplest answer.

Using GParted to create a NTFS partition should work also unless there is something I don't know about GRUB and which OS was installed first. If the entire HD is dedicated to Ubuntu, you would just section off however much you want for NTFS and then install XP on that.

I've been reading and I came upon an interesting note. If stevewatts70 re-partitioned his entire drive and intalled XP, he could then use the Ubuntu installer (or download sofware at www.vmware.com) to create an independent, or "virtual" file system within XP to run Ububtu on. That's what the book says anyhow (Beginning Ubuntu Linux by Keir Thomas and Laimie Sicam). Maybe this helps. Adios.