Vista/XP/Ubuntu Partition Question...

[James Black]

thanx for the reply.
happy holidays

Derek Broughton wrote:
> James Black wrote:
>
>   
>> want to downgrade to XP. But when i put the disc
>> in to run from it, i get an error message telling something about the
>> HDD not being connected, check the cable. I did some google research and
>> it seems the installation program isn't reading the HD. My question is,
>> cant i use a linux application to remove/delete that partition? I am
>> also looking forward to backing up my entire ubuntu before i do this.
>>     
>
> Certainly.  Any of the partitioning programs will do it - just delete the
> partition and recreate it as FAT32 or NTFS (I suggest recreating it only
> because I don't trust Windows to install _only_ into free space, if it
> doesn't find a FAT/NTFS partition at the beginning of the drive). 
> gparted/qtparted (depending whether you are using Gnome/KDE) are simplest.
>   
>> Another question on subject is, i'd be dual booting but installing
>> windows second. Will this be an issue? I ask because i read somewhere
>> that the proper way to do it is install windows THEN linux.
>>     
>
> It's not the "proper" way, just the simplest, because Windows makes no
> attempt to preserve your ability to multi-boot.  However, when you
> installed Linux, it set up grub for you, so then you just need to recreate
> your grub boot setup. Essentially boot from a LiveCD and issue
> a "grub-install" command from a terminal.  I don't remember the exact
> command, but if you google in this group for my name and "grub-install
> livecd" you should find the way I've done it before.
>