On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 12:42:52 +0100 Owain Sutton disseminated the following:
> That's pretty much what I did, although I didn't describe it well. I > had four partitions, with Windows in the first and windows programs and > stuff in the second. The third and fourth were empty FAT32s. I booted > from the Mandrake CD, and replaced those empty partitions with the > recommended arangement for Mandrake, leaving the Windows ones > untouched. Lilo was installed, the Linux options working fine, but the > Windows one led to the freeze. > > Yes, deleting XP would be nice, but there's Windows software that I need > to use that by all accounts doesn't work properly under Linux emulation. Hmmmm, having the Windows system and program directories on different partitions, IMHO, is a bad idea. Windows programs 'like' to be installed on the same drive as the system. Windows is easily confused, no? Having a seperate 'data' partition is no problem of course. Aside from that, the only things I can think of are: Get rid of the third and fourth, just leave them unpartitioned, unformatted, so you have just one big block of blank disk. You can do this from within Windows in Administrative Tools --> Computer Management. Just delete the FAT32 partitions you mention as being for the MDK install. Also, what always worked for me, oh so many years ago, is having Mandrake install the bootloader on the first sector of the MBR (you should see this option come up during the last phase of the install). That is the default, but just to make sure. You shouldn't need any other software for partitioning; Mandrake, like many other distros, is designed to install and play nice with existing Windows installs, it shouldn't mess with the Windows install at all, in fact it will even mount and accesss the Win drives for your automagically, something Win will definitely not do. As far as running Windows software under Linux, you should check out Crossover Office, in my own experience I've seen it run everything from MS Office to Photoshop to Quicken, all that stuff. Mail me offlist if you are interested ;-) Worst case scenario, install Mandrake 1st, then install Win on the remaining space. This will hose LILO, but that is easily fixed by then booting from the Mandrake CD, hitting F1, and choosing to 'repair' or 'restore' the bootloader. -- JoeHill Registered Linux user #282046 Homepage: www.orderinchaos.org +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "...we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex." -- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his 1961 farewell address
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