You are not logged in.

#1 2010-02-17 22:56:21

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Hello Arch users,

I have got a PC with Vista, and Im trying to get the best linux distro onto it, however I think I need some help as it is turning out a bit harder than I thought.

Vista has 2 partitions, a 10gb recovery partition, and another partition taking up the rest of the hard drive (310gb - of which 150gb is used).  I have tried to shrink it, but ntfsresize returns errors, and Vista's own partition manager only shrinks it by about 18gb.  So, I thought that I could perhaps install Arch as Ubuntu users can install their distro- to the same partition as Vista.  But I dont know how to do this, and Google wont help me much ( the only tutorials i find are ubuntu-specific).

So my question is, how can I install Arch on the same partition as Vista? Is their some tool/s I can use to do it?

Any help is appreciated smile

Last edited by Deuterium (2010-02-18 02:30:32)

Offline

#2 2010-02-17 23:55:21

pickboy87
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2010-02-12
Posts: 84
Website

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

I would suggest backing up your files first. Not doing something right when partitioning a drive can lead to erased files or systems not booting properly.

As for installing it to the same partition...it's not possible (as far as I'm aware). You would end up overwrititing Vista with Arch. I would suggest using Gparted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php) once you have backed up your files and partition or split the drive from that. Download the live ISO. Work from there.

Offline

#3 2010-02-18 00:02:41

toad
Member
From: if only I knew
Registered: 2008-12-22
Posts: 1,775
Website

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

You appear to be talking about a wubi install. Perhaps not a bad idea if you are totally new to the world of linux... However, without wanting to sound bad, arch is most probably not for you (yet). Get Ubuntu or Kubuntu and click on the exe and see where it takes you. You're in for a great ride smile


never trust a toad...
::Grateful ArchDonor::
::Grateful Wikipedia Donor::

Offline

#4 2010-02-18 00:07:03

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Yeah, backup your Win install. Then nuke the partition, create new partitions as required, reinstall Windows, install Arch.

Arch doesn't provide the equivalent of that launch-Ubuntu-in-Windows thing, and I don't think anyone has implemented it unofficially either. If you're not ready for a full Arch install, install it in a VM on Windows - that will give you a flavour of it anyway.

Offline

#5 2010-02-18 00:46:59

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Thanks for the replies guys, as it happens Ive used ubuntu before, then I moved to fedora, then to arch(the top of the food chain) (installed on my other laptop), however, normally I partitioning 'just works', or I remove windows.  I've backed up my C drive, but I'm not sure if it'll work if I reinstall windows and overwrite it's C drive?

Maybe I'll try making a virtual machine of windows, overwrite its C drive, and, if it actually works, then do it on my laptop.. Sigh, uni starts in a few days...


[Edit]
Also, I have gparted live CD, however, it fails to shrink the partition, the 'test' run works (ntfsresize -s 150G -n, and another parameter).  However it fails on the actual run :'(

Last edited by Deuterium (2010-02-18 00:51:19)

Offline

#6 2010-02-18 00:54:02

donpicoro
Member
Registered: 2009-04-10
Posts: 42

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

1) Be sure to get all the drivers you need (video, wireless, etc)
2) What about nuke your vista and recovery partitions?
3) Partition your hard drive as you want
3) Get a Windows 7 installation Disc (If you REALLY need windows, you better upgrade to 7 instead.)
4) Install Arch natively and dual-boot !!!
5) Have fun !!!! (with Arch at least)

Offline

#7 2010-02-18 01:01:14

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

I need to keep the C drive contents (various installed programs, which we can't find installation disks for :S ).  So I can't "upgrade" to win 7, (system files different I bet).

If I deleted the partition, and created another ntfs partition which was big enough for C but still small enough for another 100GBish partion, would C drive be corrupted or formated?

Offline

#8 2010-02-18 01:22:37

pickboy87
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2010-02-12
Posts: 84
Website

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Deleting a partition would destroy the data on it. And copying C:\ to another partition and attempting to run Windows from there would destroy the MBR and cause all sorts of problems.

Your best bet would be to either resize your partition (by shrinking it) or starting fresh and wiping your drive, partitioning it properly, then installing Windows first and then Arch. As for the gparted live cd, do you have the newest version? I've had a pretty good sucess rate with it, but I've also run into problems with it too.

Offline

#9 2010-02-18 01:27:42

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Thanks for your help, I won't try replacing C drive then.  I downloaded it from their sourceforge sight, a few days ago.  I'm currently trying to find a way to disable hibernation, pagefiles, and 'snapshots' to let vista shrink the partition better... Will this help?

Offline

#10 2010-02-18 01:52:06

pickboy87
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2010-02-12
Posts: 84
Website

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Disable Hibernation (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730), the pagefiles and "snapshots" should be in the My Computer settings. You have to open the start menu and right click on My Computer and select Properties (if I remember correctly). It should be floating around in there somewhere. As for this helping Vista shrink the partition, I have no idea. You could always try Partition Magic, but that's not free... It works, but after Symantic took over it, it became bloated and didn't work very well.

I've never been very good with partitioning, but you could always check out this article (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- … -problems/) and see if that adresses some of your problems. I would look into partitioning your drive anyway, even if you don't end up installing Arch. Having a seperate partition for files/documents is wonderful and helps in case you screw something up with Windows.

Offline

#11 2010-02-18 02:24:22

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

thanks pickboy87 and everyone else, after disabling pagefile, it didnt work (tested that a little while ago), but I just disabled the system restore (which i believe disables the snapshots) and the hibernation file (chkdisk.exe -h off) i then booted into fedora live and ran ntfsresize, low and behold I  believe it is working big_smile

Its only passed 10% so far, but before it wouldnt work at all, Ill update if it fails, but it looks like itll work.  (for googlers: Gparted would probably also work as im using the same ntfsresize command Gparted uses, i think).

Thanks everyone!

Offline

#12 2010-02-26 14:23:44

fileunderwater
Member
Registered: 2009-11-08
Posts: 21

Re: Dual boot Vista and Arch on same partition [SOLVED]

Hope that it worked out, but I though I'd mention Easeus Partition master (http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm) as an option for doing the partitioning through windows. It's free, easy to use and I've used it alot recently when migrating to Arch from Windows with dual boot on 3 computers (XP and windows7). No problems so far. Disabling pagefile and hibernation is also a good idea and doing thorough defragmentation to compact the disk contents (I've been using Mydefrag, http://www.mydefrag.com).

Last edited by fileunderwater (2010-02-26 14:29:26)

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB