Does dual booting Linux and Windows Vista require special treatment?

Question

I'm planning to install Linux on a computer that is currently running Windows Vista. Vista needs to remain functional after the install. I've been reading and it sounds like Microsoft changed the way Vista boots compared to previous versions of Windows.

Preferably, I'd like to use GRUB to do the dual booting. Is there anything in particular I need to do differently from dual booting with XP? The computer is a friend of mine's and I really, really don't want to kill it.

Answer 1

There are some special considerations, but many Linux distributions have installers that will handle the partitioning and install the boot loader for you (I recommend Ubuntu).

Another alternative is to try Wubi. It's an Ubuntu Linux installer that allows you to install Linux as an application on a Windows machine. Beyond that, I would recommend using VMWare Player to install Linux on a virtual machine. Both options are easier alternatives to installing Windows and Linux to dual boot on the same machine.

Answer 2

It's about the same as XP in my experience. I've done 3 installs & only 1 of them crapped out on me. Vista wouldn't boot (i forget the error msg) so I had to download a vista cd to run the 'repair' command.

Answer 3

Okay. So what you are saying is that IF the install breaks Vista, I just have to run the repair thing on the Vista cd (Which my friend says she has).

That makes me feel alot better about it. All of the guides I have found on the internet made it sound alot more difficult than that.

Answer 4

Not at all - install Vista first, then Linux, or you'll blow away the bootloader (easy enough to fix using grub-install, but it's annoying)

Answer 5

Can't say anything about the partition resizing; but I installed Ubuntu (7.10) onto the second partition of a laptop where Vista was pre-installed, and IIRC there weren't any problems at all. Both Ubuntu and Vista can still be booted. Luckily the vendor had partitioned the drive already, with a data partition which I used for Ubuntu.

Answer 6

If you only have a single partition on the drive resize it using Disk Manager in Vista and create a new partition using the new empty space. Then you should have no problem install any *nix distro you want.

Answer 7

on ubuntu 9.10 grub 2 requires different configuration http://grub.enbug.org/grub.cfg

Answer 8

What ever anyone says, whatever tool you use, resizing partitions is dodgy, the tool you use might be perfectly sound, but the hard disc might not be. Maybe I'm very unlucky but, for me, it has gone horribly wrong more times than it worked. Always, always back up everything. That goes tipple if its not your computer!

But backing up an entire hard drive is a massive pain. Which is why no-one (including me, I'm ashamed to admit) ever does it. If you just want to introduce your friend to the wonder that is Linux, you should check out VirtualBox, create a virtual machine on your Windows box. 1GB of free hard disc space should be plenty. You can also look up stuff on your Windows version of Firefox, while you Gentoo system is compiling. (If you want to whine him off Windows, Ubuntu is a better choice. )