Dual Boot WinXP (NTFS) and Knoppix

Hi All,

I am running Knoppix off the cd and I love it. I really want to get into linux and php and I learning quick. However, I am looking for a truly idiots guide to installing Knoppix for dual boot.

I am running WinXP Pro (NTFS partition) on my laptop. I am going to get partition magic (as I need it for work as well) so I can partition my 40Gb harddisk into two 20Gb partitions.

A link to a COMPLETE IDIOTS GUIDE would be appreciated.

Many Thanks
A.T.O.B

ps. Do I use ext2 or ext3 for the partition?

pps. I have limited knowledge of Linux, however, I am advanced in windows and have great technical support knowledge (so I'm not a newbie to computers; just linux :wink: )

I would use ext3.

Here is a link to get you started.

paul 8)

fogot the link.

www.phpcad.com/knoppix-install.html

paul 8)

Just remember, if your windows partition is going to be NTFS you can't write to it.
You may want to make a small FAT32 partition that you can read and write to from Knoppix as well as XP.

hello,

i have win xp, windows 2003 server an knoppix in the same hard disk..
the windows parttion is NTFS and ther is no problem, ...

when you turn on the pc it ask you what system you want to run (linux, hda1, hda2)....

Hey ATOB, just done what you are asking about...

The link posted by QA has all the info you need to install Knoppix alongside WinXP, but I'll tell you what I did.

First, I created 2 Partitions using Partition Magic under Windows.... reason being I didnt wanna screw up the OS I use most (AT THE TIME!!!! NOT ANY MORE!!!!) and checked it still booted WinXP up.. Knoppix (Debian really once HD installed) requires 2.5Gb at least for itself and a swap-file partition GREATER IN SIZE to your Ram, don't make it less or it'll run slow when paging....

When all is set up on your hard drive do the knx-hdinstall, sit back and breathe a breath of fresh air at your new super stable OS when it loads up.

LAST NOTE:::

I'm a newb too, and one thing I can tell you is that at some point you are gonna screw it up - BIG STYLE!!

Don't panic when you do coz you WILL find an answer as to how to fix it, unlike under Micro$hit, and it will be painless really.... trust me, I've been there. The only thing is, you need to have some kind of backup to get the info - eg. a second PC with internet connection, or a friend who'll let you come round and get your self-help, but, at the end of the day, it's worth learning how it all fits together under Linux and the rewarding feeling you get is something you won't experience with Windows.

Good Luck and I hope other post repliers would take a note from my reply as to how to reply to us newbs in a language we understand ;P

Mike


PS You guys who know what you doing, let me know if I've got anything wrong in this post plz, I won't take offence unless you're arrogant ...... gluck!!!

BTW, could somebody explain the difference between ext2 and ext3 for us noobs? (Mine is on ext2 at mo and if ext3 is significantly better I'd also like to know how to convert WITHOUT losing any info)

Thanks in advance,

Mike.

Hi All,

Thanks for the response. I will look over the information you have given me. Provided I have time to get Partition Magic I will do this on Saturday.

Thanks for you help
A.T.O.B

TBH You probably don't need Partition Magic, but at the time I did it, i was comfortable using it...... maybe some Linux expert could tell us how and what to use instead (under Linux) :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doc

BTW, could somebody explain the difference between ext2 and ext3 for us noobs? (Mine is on ext2 at mo and if ext3 is significantly better I'd also like to know how to convert WITHOUT losing any info)

Thanks in advance,

Mike.

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The difference is a journal which keeps information on the files to save long file system checks among other things. You can easily convert with tune2fs if you want to. I would recommend booting from the knoppix CD open a console window and then sudo tune2fs -j /dev/hd?? to convert the filesystem from ext2 to ext3 replace the ?? with drive letter and partition number. I would also recommend reading a few post in this google search.

Thanks Stephen for that info...

Regards Doc.

BUGGER ME!!!

Did what you said and it took, like, 1 second to do it!!!

Man, I'm impressed!

Thanx again, Doc.

Switching over to ext3 means you'll also need to update /etc/fstab to reflect the change.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmboris

hello,

i have win xp, windows 2003 server an knoppix in the same hard disk..
the windows parttion is NTFS and ther is no problem, ...

when you turn on the pc it ask you what system you want to run (linux, hda1, hda2)....

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This is something I want to do. I have Windows xp sp1 home editon, and assumed that if it was ntfs instead of fat32 it wouldn't work. Could you please give me step by step instructions, or if not, point me in the right direction for help.
Thanks.

a bit of a problem along the same lines here. I just installed knoppix today....whopeee.... anyway I can see neither my NTFS or FAT32 partition. I have one HDD partitioned into 4 parts.... NTFS, FAT32, ext3, linux swap. I would like to use the FAT32 partit to store stuff like pictures and mp3s so I can access it (read/write) by both my OSes. Can someone tell me how do i get knoppix to see my other two HDDs? I am running win XP on the NTFS btw.

Thanks

Just did a little more research and came across this article. Maybe I am misunderstanding, but by looking at this, one can use the utility QTparted(already on the Knoppix cd) you can leave your file system NTFS.
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html
Anyone with a little more knowledge than me would care to take a look at it please and see what you get out of it.

I prefer using QTParted versus Mandrake's DiskDruid to resize NTFS partitions. Mandrake is too agressive and does a destructive resize if non-destructive isn't possible when for example the ntfs is corrupted, has bad sectors, etc. Never had this problem with QTParted. So for me it worked perfectly so far.

From what I have read so far, you can install on NTFS partition, but writing to it is risky. Do I have it right?

Well you can use QTParted to resize your NTFS partition, but you will need to install Knoppix onto a ext2, ext3, reiserfs, or xfs partition. BTW, please back up your data on your NTFS partition before you do this just in case something goes wrong.

Read the NTFS write status on the above ntfsresize page: the old ntfs driver was only for NT4 and it's risky but write is disabled for W2K and XP. The new NTFS driver has less write functionality but it's OK. You can also install Linux to NTFS using
TopologiLinux. Unfortunately this is not possible with Knoppix :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Irgu

Read the NTFS write status on the above ntfsresize page: the old ntfs driver was only for NT4 and it's risky but write is disabled for W2K and XP. The new NTFS driver has less write functionality but it's OK. You can also install Linux to NTFS using
TopologiLinux. Unfortunately this is not possible with Knoppix :(

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Thanks for the info. It will be nice when Knoppix gets the new driver.