2 operating system in the same computer

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02 Oct 2009 13:51 #913 by gocnc
What I have decided on is to use
Ubuntu 8.04&EMC2 Live CD
without reformating my computer
I have a windows server 2003


Will this process confuse the windows operating system

I think its possible to have the 2 operating system in the same computer but i am thinking that something is going to go wrong
Thanks

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22 Oct 2009 08:01 #1015 by vincent
I am pleased to share my work with you using XP and Ubuntu 8.04 together. XP was first located in my PC, then Ubuntu. the boot file of Ubuntu will override the XP's, and Ubuntu may be the default one. But you can change this by re-writing the boot file. I think things are the same in 2003? but one thing you should REMEMBER: if you want to uninstall Ubuntu, remove the Ubuntu partition, then you MUST use mbrfix to fix the mbr file of windows~~or else you may ruin your computer~

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20 Nov 2009 08:05 #1159 by spuzzdawg
Hopefully I can clear this up for you a little bit. The process you are talking about is called dual booting and it is entirely possible. My machine came with Windows XP installed and has EMC/Ubuntu installed along side. There are some caveats you should know about before trying this though.

The first is that you can't use both operating systems at the same time. This may be fairly obvious to some but I mention it in your case because Windows Server is an odd OS to run on a computer that isn't being used as a server. If this computer must be left on, then it's not an ideal system to dual boot with.

The second is that Ubuntu will overwrite the master boot record when it's installed. If you decide to remove Ubuntu you will need to fix the MBR or you wont be able to boot windows. I've never actually done this so I don't know how difficult it is but I think you should be right if you have your original windows install disk or recovery disk.

The third is that it is possible the Ubuntu installation could accidentally format or corrupt your windows files. This is quite unlikely but it is definitely worth backing up your windows files first. Your windows partitions most likely use the NTFS filesystem and linux support for this used to be a bit sketchy. Whilst current linux distros can handle it quite well, Ubuntu 8.04 is a little on the old side. As part of the installation process you will need to resize your windows partitions and this is the step that could bite you (although unlikely). You could adjust the partitions before installing using a live distro like gParted to reduce chance that something goes wrong (the gParted you download will be brand spanking new and have excellent NTFS support).

Once you've decided that dualbooting is for you the process is very simple. You should just install it as normal and it will automatically detect your windows operating system and install itself next door so to speak.If you opt to let the installer do the partitioning you can confirm that your windows installation has been correctly identified by checking the proposed partition table. If you partitioned the drives yourself make sure that the installer is only going to use the partitions you created for it.

That should be it. Happy dual booting

spuzzdawg

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