Being nice to Windows in a Dual Boot Setup
October 2nd, 2008
Well, My Windows Server 2008 trial period ran out. And as I still have not found a license for a resonable amount, WinXP SP3 is now the operating system I use the most.
…Because I am waiting for Kubuntu 8.10 to stabilize. Because the Alpha I installed definitely was not stable.
However, I do want the two to play nice; And by play nice, I mean “have windows act less stupid about it”. So here’s what I did.
Let windows see my Ext2 Partitions
…Previously, I was using a FAT32 partition for sharing files between OSes, as Linux has supported it for a long time. However, certian things convinced me I needed a more capable format.
Let Windows use my Linux Swap partition
If I already have gigabytes reserved for swap, why am I not using it? I mean, for a good while, I intentionally was not using swap with Linux, and it was awesome - until my box outright crashed under heavy load. Of course, after you install this diver under windows, you still have to edit your system properties to use the newly mounted drive, but information on how to do that is readily available.
Use Windows Boot Manager to boot to Linux
This goes back to the fact that Windows does not play nice with others - and the fact that I seem to have a non-booting somthing under GRUB rather frequently. During the Ubuntu setup, there is a point where you are asked to confirm the details of your installation - and an “Advanced” button. THis button gives you an option to install GRUB somewhere other than the MBR - so, as I had just specified Linux be installed on SDA1, I used (hd0,0) for GRUB - specifying a partition, not a disk. Windows Boot Manager is pointed to that disk, and you have a solution that keeps getting you into windows no matter how many times you “broke” Linux.
… So that’s my setup as of now. Because of it, thankfully I no longer have to rely on a networked SANE setup for my scanner - or a samba-mounted cdrom drive for copy protection purposes. ^_^; But that’s beside the point.
Posted in Linux |