boardbreaker Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 hey what do i have to do if i want to run linux and windows vista on the same machine? i already have vista installed and i want to be able to boot linux at the startup but im not sure how to set that up so if someone could help me out that would be awesome thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loony Guitarist Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 A quick google search should net you a bunch of tutorials that will go into greater detail but basically... You need to have some unallocated space available for your linux install. since you already have vista installed you are halfway there so find a linux distro that you want to install. run the installation and it will ask you where you want to install linux... choose your unallocated space. next it should ask you about the boot loader... install that to the MBR of your master hard drive (probably the one you have vista installed on.) you can also create names for your different OS' but you might want to just leave them at default. make sure that there is enough time in the delay for you to be able to choose which one you want before the default is auto loaded. choose which one you want the default to be. finish the linux install and reboot. you should now be able to dual boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boardbreaker Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 what linux distro do you recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keiyentai Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/ this is a test that will help you pick a distro and give you links and info on the ones that would suit you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 hey what do i have to do if i want to run linux and windows vista on the same machine? i already have vista installed and i want to be able to boot linux at the startup but im not sure how to set that up so if someone could help me out that would be awesome thanks You install Vista first, leaving a chunk of space free on the HDD (say 30GB, nothing major). Then install Ubuntu (linux with training wheels and a large community of people who can help you with common issues*), opting to use the remaining free space on said HDD. Reboot, Windows is the last choice in the boot menu. This will work with the big-brand distro's, use the built in partition shrinking tools in vista to give you space for a Ubuntu install. *Un-trained monkeys can operate Ubuntu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loony Guitarist Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 what linux distro do you recommend? It really depends on your level of experience with Linux and what you are planning on using it for. If you just want to try it out I recommend using a live CD of ubuntu. this boots off the CD and allows you to play around with Linux without having to install it on your machine. If you want or need to install it and dual boot then ubuntu is good for basic desktop stuff like word processing and internet and games. if you are looking to play with the various servers like FTP or HTTP (web server) then I prefer the latest Fedora Core. if you are wanting to dabble with some hacking and other fun forensic tools then backtrack is the best... it comes on a live CD but their are some tutorials out their for installing it. There are alot of flavors out there You'll be lucky to find anyone that has tried them all and everyone has their own prefrence of what they like. I would start with the live cds and maybe a small VMware enviroment to test them in and see what you like. Also the test that Keiyentai mentioned is pretty accurate and can help you narrow your selection to a few options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeless Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 You install Vista first, leaving a chunk of space free on the HDD (say 30GB, nothing major). Then install Ubuntu (linux with training wheels and a large community of people who can help you with common issues*), opting to use the remaining free space on said HDD. Reboot, Windows is the last choice in the boot menu. This will work with the big-brand distro's, use the built in partition shrinking tools in vista to give you space for a Ubuntu install. I can confirm that this works with windows xp / ubunti 9.04. Once you install linux, it presents you with a grub menu that allows you to select between linux / windows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 It works with most distro's + several BSD varients ime. As long as windows is installed first its generally simple to dual boot with no prior linux knowledge. Another thing to consider is using virtual machines to test things. I know its not quite the same, but you can at least listen to music and google stuff while your playing with a different OS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWFu Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Just a quick note to say that you should be able to shrink the Vista partition using the management console. Then install whatever distro (i would recommend Ubuntu for beginners) to the unallocated space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Well, I have to say this all sounds great but if you don't want to mess with a VM (Virtual Machine) or worry about messing up your data, give Wubi a try: http://wubi-installer.org/ -It installs Linux on your hard drive but as a file in your windows partition and keeps everything in that file. -It's completely uninstallable from within Windows -Does not add a bootloader OR tamper with your MBR (master boot record); uses the standard Windows Boot Loader. -You download the Wubi installer and run it, and it installs Ubuntu for you (no interaction needed for the actual install) -The only downside is hard drive performance from within Linux. But for you, it should not be a problem at all. Also if you already have an Ubuntu live CD that is 8.04 or higher, it comes with Wubi on disk, and just pop the disk in while in Windows and there is a link in the autorunning application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boardbreaker Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 ok cool but by doing one of these things will i lose any programs or data that i already have on my vista? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 No, Vista can shrink its partition and you will just have less free space on your drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boardbreaker Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 ok that sounds good so i am going to try out ubuntu and see how it works out thanks for all the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boardbreaker Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 i put the linux ubuntu on a disk and i ran it from there but it wasnt giving me a partition on the hard drive to install it on i was able to get to like step 4 i wasnt sure what to do from there can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWFu Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Did you resize the partition from Vista first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miT Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Just a quick note to say that you should be able to shrink the Vista partition using the management console. Then install whatever distro (i would recommend Ubuntu for beginners) to the unallocated space. I second the Ubuntu choice for linux beginners, i started off with it and i'm very pleased with it. Vista does let you resize the partition via management console. No more partitionmagic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chelen Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 i put the linux ubuntu on a disk and i ran it from there but it wasnt giving me a partition on the hard drive to install it on i was able to get to like step 4 i wasnt sure what to do from there can anyone help? did you boot from the cd, or put it in while vista was running? for Loony's method (classic dual boot) you must first resize windows partition with the management console, then boot using the cd here is one good guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDu...after%20Windows for the alternative wubi install mentioned by h3%5kr3w, windows should be running and no partition resizing is needed, because the installer will create a virtual filesystem inside a large file in the windows drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boardbreaker Posted June 15, 2009 Author Share Posted June 15, 2009 how much space will it let me resize? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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