Once my laptop was ready, it was time to try out the LiveCD. I’d contemplated waiting for Jaunty to be released just so I could have the latest release but then decided to go with Intrepid. After all, if things go well, I can always upgrade later.

I downloaded the .iso image from the official image, burned it and popped it into the laptop’s CD-ROM drive after changing the boot configuration so it would boot from the CD. In my first attempt, the CD failed to boot. At this point I’m not sure what the problem is so I put in an old version of the dyne:bolic LiveCD that I’d burned over a year ago.

This time the laptop booted from the CD so I figured that my Ubuntu CD wasn’t burned properly. Since I had already booted dyne:bolic, I decided to play around with it. Everything worked fine for five minutes and then my machine hung. Nothing I did would fix it so I just let the battery drain out. Note to self? Find ‘ctrl+alt+delete’ equivalent in Linux.

By this time, I re-burn my Ubuntu CD but I insert it into the CD-ROM with some trepidation. The CD takes a while to boot and for a few moments I think it’s hung again but then I get the welcome screen and I calm down. I select the ‘try Ubuntu without installing’ and wait for the CD to finish booting.

The first thing that greets me is the brown-toned screen that I’ve seen in most Ubuntu screenshots. Not that I have anything against it but I don’t think I could look at it day in and day out and not be able to change it. I fire up Rhythmbox and to my Winamp-accustomed eyes, it does not look like a great media player. However, I’m not complaining and I try to play a few songs through my attached pen-drive. Yes, I know mp3s are not supported out of the box but it was a bit of a rude awakening.

I decide to shut down my laptop and work on it later, But first, I need to disconnect the pen drive. In Windows, I’m used to the ‘Safely remove hardware’ option but I don’t see something similar here. So I right-click the drive and select ‘unmount’. It disappears from my screen but the drive light is still on. I do a quick search on the net and find that everything’s okay. Unmount is the right option and with some drives, the light stays on after that.

All in all, I’m pretty satisfied with my first Ubuntu run. It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t a disaster either. I’m planning to experiment some more with the LiveCD over the weekend and see what else Ubuntu has to offer. Any tips for me?

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Before I get started I want to issue a warning. I have never had a problem using GParted Live CD, but that doesn’t mean the system is immune to problems. Problems can happen. To that end make sure you back up your XP data and even create a restore CD. This way, just in case GParted Live wreaks havoc on your data, you can restore it easily.

With that warning out of the way, let’s take a look at how GParted Live works. The screen shots you are about to see are from a VMWare installation on a Linux installation. I created a Fat32 partition in order to show you how simple GParted Live is to use.

Step One

The first thing you need to do is to defragment your XP drive. This will make sure your data is where it needs to be as well as keeping your data from the end of your drive. Once your drive is fully defragmented you are ready for step two. Of course, before step two you will need to download and burn the iso image onto CD to use.

Step Two

Put the GParted Live CD into your cd drive and reboot your machine. Getting GParted Live is simple to start. You will be asked a few questions about your keyboard, your language, and your graphics. As for the graphics, the default entry should work fine.

Once you are booted into GParted Live you will find yourself in what might be a familiar desktop. GParted Live is based on Fluxbox and is even more minimal than the standard Fluxbox.

Full sized Fat32 partition

Step Three

Select the partition you want to resize and click the “Resize/Move” button. When you click that a new window will appear asking how much you want the partition to be resized.

Set the amount to resize

You want to make sure that you are resized the space FOLLOWING the XP partition. Once you have entered the amount you want to resize the space FOLLOWING the parition hit enter and then click the Resize/Move button.

Step Four

The next step is to click the Apply button. Once you click this button the resizing will take place. Depending upon the size you have chosen to free up, this process might take some time.

Click Apply

Once the resizing has taken place you will notice the partition names will change.

A Resized partition

That’s it. click the Exit button (the red square at the top left) to shutdown GParted Live. Take the GParted Live CD out of the CD drive and let your machine reboot. Make sure XP will boot properly before you continue. Once you are sure XP will boot properly, reboot with your Linux distribution CD in the drive and install Linux.

You can follow my Illustrated Guide to Installing Ubuntu Linux for a simple Linux install how to. Another article to read, that will get you up to speed on dual booting, is my How To Dual Boot Windows Vista and Linux.

Final Thoughts

Dual booting XP and Linux doesn’t have to be difficult. Using GParted Live CD will make this task far simpler than you thought it could be. But do remember, BACK UP THAT DATA!

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Of course I have to make mention to back up your data! You never know when something could happen to cause you to lose precious files.

So, without further adieu, let’s begin.

Fundamentals

Before we go into the how to on this it is best to discuss what dual booting is and how it is possible. I will mention that the most important issue with setting up a dual booting machine is that Windows MUST be installed first. Because the Windows boot manager is a very single-minded boot manager, it will not recognize any other operating system. To that end, the Linux bootloader must be used.

Now dual booting is exactly as you would expect: A single machine with multiple, working operating systems installed. Upon boot of the machine the Linux boot loader (typically Grub) allows you to select which operating system to boot. This set up is very nice for those wanting to make the transition to Linux or want to use Linux but have Windows to play games on.

Getting Vista Ready

Vista did some things right. One such thing is hard drive partitioning. With Vista you are able to resize a parition, on the fly, without damaging data. Microsoft hid this tool a bit, so you have to know where it is. To open up the Computer Management tool click on the start menu and then right click the Computer entry.

Click on the Manage entry from this new menu to open up the Computer Management tool.

Now it’s time to click on the Disk Management entry. Once you click on that you will see your machine’s hard drive in all its partition’d glory.

There are two parititions on this drive. The larger partition (141.61 GB) is the partition to resize. Right click on that parition to open up a new menu. From this new menu select the “Shrink” entry.

Partition managing menu

Once you select Shrink a new window will appear asking you how much to shrink the drive.

Shrink window

The amount of space to shrink will be the partition your Linux installation is on, so make sure you create enough space.

Once you click the Shrink button your machine will go to work resizing your partition. Once the partition has been resized there will be unallocated space on your drive.

In the image above I only resized the parition a small amount. You will need to create a much larger portion of unallocated space to install Linux.

Once the partition has been resized, it’s time to load Linux.

Installing Linux

Since there are numerous distributions I will only touch on the key aspects you need to watch for. Most likely you will be installing from a LiveCD so boot the LiveCD up. Once the LiveCD has finished booting click on the Install icon to begin the installation process. The first section you need to pay close attention to is the partitioning of the hard drive. What you need to do is make sure the installation uses the free space on the drive. You most likely will have to select the Manual partitioning, but don’t let that scare you. Once you select Manual you will have options to select. There should be the equivalent of using only the free space on your hard drive. Do NOT select anything remotely equivalent to Use Entire Disk. If you make this selection your Windows installation will be erased.

Once the installation partitions the drive it will install all the files it needs. Upon completion of the system installation it will be time to install the boot loader. Just accept the defaults because the Linux boot loader must be the first thing to load on the machine.

Once the boot loader is installed it’s time to reboot. You will notice when you boot (again the exact wording and look of this will depend upon the distribution chosen) there will be a few boot entries. The default entry will be the Linux operating system. If you do nothing within 10 seconds Linux will boot. You can use your arrow keys to select the Windows choice and hit enter to boot into Windows.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations, you now have a dual booting Vista/Ubuntu machine. It’s really that simple.  If you need to have a guided tour of a Linux installation, take a look at my Illustrated Guide to Installing Ubuntu.

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