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#1 2009-02-05 15:07:21

spotdart
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Registered: 2009-02-05
Posts: 10

dual boot Arch and Windows XP (arch installed first) [solved]

I recently moved over to arch from Ubuntu, and would like to install Windows XP so that I can dual-boot between the two. However, my arch install created four partitions on my disk, and I can not create another one.
I would rather not have to reinstall arch, as setting it back up would take days on my current network connection. Is this possible? While I have installed XP over Ubuntu in the past (and am more than able to reform the MBR after the XP install) I have absolutely no experience with disk-partitioning, so concise instructions would be very much appreciated.
errata: my laptop has 4 gigs of RAM, so I don't think I need the SWAP partition. I am hesitant to delete it outright however.

this is a Gparted screenshot, running off of a Ubuntu live CD. The 60 gigs of unallocated space is where I was hoping to install windows.
gparted.jpg

Last edited by spotdart (2009-02-05 17:13:55)

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#2 2009-02-05 15:21:47

samuraitux
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From: Cashville
Registered: 2009-02-04
Posts: 9
Website

Re: dual boot Arch and Windows XP (arch installed first) [solved]

I would delete the swap partition. that way it would free up one of the primary partitions on your drive. I have ran a system with 2 gigs of ram and no swap and it ran just fine. If you need a swap you can always create an extended partition and assign the swap space there. Just remember that you will have to edit your fstab to point to the new swap space parition. will probably be /dev/sda5 or 6

Last edited by samuraitux (2009-02-05 15:22:52)


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#3 2009-02-05 15:24:56

bgc1954
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From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 2006-03-14
Posts: 1,160

Re: dual boot Arch and Windows XP (arch installed first) [solved]

What's on /dev/sda4?  If you can blow away the last partition, turn the whole thing into an extended partition and then you can set up as many logical partitions as you want inside the extended partition.  I suppose Arch is probably on sda4 and if that is the case you could move arch to sda3 first--there are lots of posts in the forum about how to move an installation of arch from one place to another.

Edit: Beat to the punch again.  Yeah like he said you might want to delete the swap partition and then incorporate it into the 1st or third partitions so you can free up that last one.

Last edited by bgc1954 (2009-02-05 15:27:21)


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#4 2009-02-05 17:13:31

spotdart
Member
Registered: 2009-02-05
Posts: 10

Re: dual boot Arch and Windows XP (arch installed first) [solved]

Fantastic, deleting the swap partition worked like a charm. I wasn't sure how Arch would react if the swap suddenly vanished, as it turns out: very gracefully. Thanks for the help.

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