How to turn your Windows XP into a Linux dual-boot...
Windows XP
Level : Advanced
The ntfs partition is the resized Windows partition. The ext3 partition is where you want to install Ubuntu. Make sure you set the mount point to / for this partition, set the bootable flag to on, and let Ubuntu format the partition. For the FAT32 partition, specify a mount point such as /share. When the configuration settings are correct, select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk. The installer will format the ext3 and swap partitions.
The remainder of the Ubuntu install is straightforward, until you must choose whether to install the GRUB bootloader to the Master Boot Record (MBR). To be extra protective of my working Windows installation, I chose not to install GRUB to my MBR, which led me to a screen titled Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk. Here, I identified my Ubuntu partition:
(hd0,1)
In GRUB’s zero-based drive identification convention, this indicates the fi rst disk drive (drive hd0), second partition (partition 1).
After installing GRUB, Ubuntu will request a reboot to complete its installation running from the hard drive. On both of my systems, the reboot produced the ominous message “Missing operating system.” This message is the result of Ubuntu having set its own partition as the active partition. The Windows bootloader, which is still installed in the master boot record, cannot boot Windows, because the Windows partition is not fl agged as active; the Windows bootloader also has no knowledge of the Ubuntu operating system, so that cannot boot, either.
To make the system bootable into both Windows and Ubuntu, reboot into the System Rescue CD. Run QtParted, select the Windows partition (for example, /dev/hda1), and select Operations→Set Active. Select Device→Commit to commit your changes. The QtParted progress window will display the operations, ending with Operations completed successfully. Exit QtParted, but don’t shut down.
Now you must copy data from the Ubuntu partition to a file that the Windows bootloader can use for booting Ubuntu. The FAT32 partition, which is accessible to both Linux and Windows, is useful. At the System Rescue CD command prompt, mount the FAT32 partition:
# mkdir /mnt/share
# mount -t msdos /dev/hda4 /mnt/share
Make a fi le containing data copied from the boot sector of your Linux drive (substitute your Linux drive designation if it is not /dev/hda2):
If you enter:
you should see the file ubuntu.bin with size 512 bytes.
Now configure the Windows bootloader. Shut down the system and let Windows boot. Copy the ubuntu.bin fi le from the FAT32 Windows drive to drive C:\. Next, edit the system startup settings. Open the Control Panel, select System, and go to the Advanced tab. Click the Startup and Recovery settings button. Click the Edit button to edit the startup options file manually (Figure below ).
Clicking Edit loads the boot.ini fi le into Notepad. Add a new line at the end of the fi le:
C:\UBUNTU.BIN="Ubuntu Linux"
Save the file and close Notepad. Make sure the “Time to display list of operating systems” has a value of at least 5 or 10, to give yourself plenty of time to select the operating system at boot time. Click OK to save the Startup settings.
You now have a dual-boot XP/Ubuntu notebook computer. Reboot the computer and select Ubuntu Linux to complete the installation and configuration of Ubuntu. Linux configuration issues vary for different computers.
Accessing the Shared Partition from Ubuntu
Ubuntu mounts the shared FAT32 partition at boot time:
kevin@lyrahpnx:~$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2 30233928 1766828 26931288 7% /
tmpfs 517816 16 517800 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 517816 12588 505228 3% /lib/modules
/2.6.12-9-386/volatile
/dev/hda1 19451896 3548380 15903516 19% /media/hda1
/dev/hda4 25916224 160 25916064 1% /share
By default, the root user owns the partition:
kevin@lyrahpnx:~$ ls -l /share
total 48
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 2006-02-09 11:03 Recycled
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 16384 2006-02-09 11:03 System Volume
Information
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 512 2006-02-09 10:56 ubuntu.bin
You won’t be able to access the shared partition from Ubuntu Linux using your normal login name unless you change this.
The simplest solution is to have the /share partition mounted at boot time specifying your login ID as the owner. First, display your user ID record from /etc/passwd (substitute your user name for kevin):
kevin@lyrahpnx:~$ grep kevin /etc/passwd
kevin:x:1000:1000:Kevin Farnham,,,:/home/kevin:/bin/bash
The third and fourth items are the user ID and group ID; these are necessary when you modify the mount command in /etc/fstab.
Because fstab is a critical Linux system file, make a backup copy of your working version before you edit the fi e. Then, edit fstab (use sudo, because root owns the file), and change the options section for the /share entry to defaults,uid=uuuu,gid=gggg, where uuuu is your user ID and gggg is your group ID. Here’s my revised /etc/fstab (note the /dev/hda4 /share entry):
When you reboot into Ubuntu, the /share partition will be mounted with your user name having full ownership and full access.
Windows XP
Level : Advanced
Installing Ubuntu Linux
To install Ubuntu Linux, reboot the system with the Ubuntu boot CD in the drive. At the Partition disks screen, select “Manually edit partition table.” On my systems, Ubuntu found these partitions:- ntfs /media/hda1
- ext3 /media/hda2
- swap swap
- fat32 /media/hd4
The ntfs partition is the resized Windows partition. The ext3 partition is where you want to install Ubuntu. Make sure you set the mount point to / for this partition, set the bootable flag to on, and let Ubuntu format the partition. For the FAT32 partition, specify a mount point such as /share. When the configuration settings are correct, select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk. The installer will format the ext3 and swap partitions.
Installing GRUB and Making Ubuntu Bootable Using the Windows Bootloader
The remainder of the Ubuntu install is straightforward, until you must choose whether to install the GRUB bootloader to the Master Boot Record (MBR). To be extra protective of my working Windows installation, I chose not to install GRUB to my MBR, which led me to a screen titled Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk. Here, I identified my Ubuntu partition:
In GRUB’s zero-based drive identification convention, this indicates the fi rst disk drive (drive hd0), second partition (partition 1).
After installing GRUB, Ubuntu will request a reboot to complete its installation running from the hard drive. On both of my systems, the reboot produced the ominous message “Missing operating system.” This message is the result of Ubuntu having set its own partition as the active partition. The Windows bootloader, which is still installed in the master boot record, cannot boot Windows, because the Windows partition is not fl agged as active; the Windows bootloader also has no knowledge of the Ubuntu operating system, so that cannot boot, either.
To make the system bootable into both Windows and Ubuntu, reboot into the System Rescue CD. Run QtParted, select the Windows partition (for example, /dev/hda1), and select Operations→Set Active. Select Device→Commit to commit your changes. The QtParted progress window will display the operations, ending with Operations completed successfully. Exit QtParted, but don’t shut down.
Now you must copy data from the Ubuntu partition to a file that the Windows bootloader can use for booting Ubuntu. The FAT32 partition, which is accessible to both Linux and Windows, is useful. At the System Rescue CD command prompt, mount the FAT32 partition:
# mount -t msdos /dev/hda4 /mnt/share
Make a fi le containing data copied from the boot sector of your Linux drive (substitute your Linux drive designation if it is not /dev/hda2):
# dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/mnt/share/ubuntu.bin bs=512 count=1
If you enter:
# ls -l /mnt/share
you should see the file ubuntu.bin with size 512 bytes.
Now configure the Windows bootloader. Shut down the system and let Windows boot. Copy the ubuntu.bin fi le from the FAT32 Windows drive to drive C:\. Next, edit the system startup settings. Open the Control Panel, select System, and go to the Advanced tab. Click the Startup and Recovery settings button. Click the Edit button to edit the startup options file manually (Figure below ).
 |
| Navigating to edit the Windows bootloader startup settings |
C:\UBUNTU.BIN="Ubuntu Linux"
Save the file and close Notepad. Make sure the “Time to display list of operating systems” has a value of at least 5 or 10, to give yourself plenty of time to select the operating system at boot time. Click OK to save the Startup settings.
You now have a dual-boot XP/Ubuntu notebook computer. Reboot the computer and select Ubuntu Linux to complete the installation and configuration of Ubuntu. Linux configuration issues vary for different computers.
Accessing the Shared Partition from Ubuntu
Ubuntu mounts the shared FAT32 partition at boot time:
kevin@lyrahpnx:~$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2 30233928 1766828 26931288 7% /
tmpfs 517816 16 517800 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 517816 12588 505228 3% /lib/modules
/2.6.12-9-386/volatile
/dev/hda1 19451896 3548380 15903516 19% /media/hda1
/dev/hda4 25916224 160 25916064 1% /share
By default, the root user owns the partition:
kevin@lyrahpnx:~$ ls -l /share
total 48
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 2006-02-09 11:03 Recycled
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 16384 2006-02-09 11:03 System Volume
Information
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 512 2006-02-09 10:56 ubuntu.bin
You won’t be able to access the shared partition from Ubuntu Linux using your normal login name unless you change this.
The simplest solution is to have the /share partition mounted at boot time specifying your login ID as the owner. First, display your user ID record from /etc/passwd (substitute your user name for kevin):
kevin@lyrahpnx:~$ grep kevin /etc/passwd
kevin:x:1000:1000:Kevin Farnham,,,:/home/kevin:/bin/bash
The third and fourth items are the user ID and group ID; these are necessary when you modify the mount command in /etc/fstab.
Because fstab is a critical Linux system file, make a backup copy of your working version before you edit the fi e. Then, edit fstab (use sudo, because root owns the file), and change the options section for the /share entry to defaults,uid=uuuu,gid=gggg, where uuuu is your user ID and gggg is your group ID. Here’s my revised /etc/fstab (note the /dev/hda4 /share entry):
When you reboot into Ubuntu, the /share partition will be mounted with your user name having full ownership and full access.
Conclusion
Converting a single disk-drive notebook computer into a dual-boot Windows XP/Ubuntu Linux system requires advance planning and careful execution of multiple sequences of steps. However, the benefit of being able to boot either Windows or Linux on a portable system, and to share data between the two, is well worth the effort for people who work in both realms.
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