Ubuntu installation along with Windows XP?

Question

I have Windows XP installed on my 80GB HDD. It has drives C, D, E and F. I would like to install Ubuntu Linux into D Drive. Is it possible? Will it affect the existing Windows XP Installation?

Answer 1

If you install it on a separate partition no, you should be fine.  HOwever, you will need to also install a multi boot tool that will allow you to either boot to XP or Linux.  This guide should help you http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/install...

Answer 2

If there's nothing on the D drive now, you'll be fine.  If you have files stored there, you'll have to move them.

Ubuntu will recognize Windows and set up a dual boot for you during the installation (it uses GRUB as its loader, and GRUB can load hundreds of operating systems on the same computer - one at a time, of course).  Just run the installer, but do a manual installation (it's somewhere after you choose the keyboard) - and have it install / (that's the whole of Ubuntu) to one partition of the D (probably hdb or sdb) drive.  (I prefer installing home to a sep[arate partition, and putting all my files there.  It's easier to upgrade later.)  You should also make a small partition on the drive for swap - it should be twice as large as the amount of RAM in the computer.

If I were you, I'd hang out in the Ubuntu Forums (http://ubuntuforums.org/ ) for a while first - read what others do, what problems they have, etc.  There's a load of good information by very knowledgeable people on there.

Answer 3

You can install Ubuntu 8.04.1 using Wubi installer. You keep Windows as it is, Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ only adds an extra option to boot into Ubuntu. Wubi does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader, and does not install special drivers.

Wubi keeps most of the files in one folder, and if you do not like it, you can simply uninstall it as any other application.

LUg.