Boot Not Up Will Window Xp
Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:15:49 +0000
7 Responses to “Is There A Way To Get Linux On My Windows Xp Computer?”
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If you’re not happy with using the heavily customised version of Linux that Asus and Acer use on some of their Eee PC and Aspire One netbooks, there’s nothing to stop you installing Windows XP instead. Actually, that’s not strictly true – with just a 4Gb SSD drive, the low-end Asus Eee PCs and Acer Aspire One models won’t be much use once there’s all 3.8Gb of a fully patched Windows XP installation on it.
Unfortunately, even if you opt not to install any of Windows XP’s extraneous components, you won’t make much of a dent in its disk footprint – much of the bloat is installed whether you want it or not. The solution is to create a customised Windows XP installation CD that just installs the files you need. All you need is a free download, a Windows XP CD and a little know how…
The free download is called nLite and it lets you create a custom Windows XP install CD that only includes the components you need. You’ll need to install and run it on a Windows PC to create the CD in the first place, so if all you have is the Eee PC, you’re out of luck.
You also need a Windows XP install CD – a restore disc won’t work – and an external CD drive for installing Windows on the Eee PC.
Incidentally, you can use nLite to create a Windows Vista slipstreamed install disc, but the Eee PC really isn’t up to running Vista in all its glory (*ahem*), so it’s advisable to stick with Windows XP.
Update: If you lack a driver CD, you can now download Windows XP drivers for the Asus Eee PC and Acer Aspire One.
Step 1
Create a new folder on your Windows PC called Eee PC (or Aspire – it doesn't matter) and copy the entire contents of your Windows XP install CD into it. Unless it’s already part of your Windows XP install CD, you’ll also need the full Windows XP Service Pack 2 download. Put this in the Eee PC folder too.
Update: Microsoft released Windows XP Service Pack 3 through Windows Update on 7 May, but you'll need to download the entire update (316.4Mb) separately to use it with nLite. Simply copy the downloaded file it into your Eee PC folder instead of SP2 (it doesn't matter if you're using a Windows XP SP2 install CD).
Step 2
Download nLite (v1.4.1 is the latest version – 2.42Mb) and unless you already have it installed, download .NET version 2 from the same page too (22Mb). Install .NET first, then nLite.
Step 3
Start nLite, click the Next button on the first screen and then click the Browse button to direct it to the folder that contains your Windows XP files. nLite will automatically detect which version of XP the files are for and show Service Pack is included, if any (we’ll be adding SP2 or Service Pack 3 later, if it’s not part of your install CD). Click Next, then Next again to skip the Presets screen.
Step 4
If you need to add Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 to the install CD, click the Service Pack button. Also click the Components, Unattended, Options, Tweaks and Bootable ISO buttons. Click Next.
Step 5
If you chose to add a Service Pack, browse to the location of the SP2 or SP3 file you downloaded in step 1 and click Next when you’re done. Don’t select any options on the Compatibility dialog box that pops up – just click OK to close it.
Step 6
The Components screen lets you select the Windows components you want to remove from the Windows installation, in 10 different categories. Rather than try to explain which components to remove, we’ll just show screenshots showing the selections for each category. Don’t be tempted to remove options other than the ones we show – these are already the bare minimum of components you need for the Eee PC.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
yes. this is called a dual boot. partition ur hard drive with a free partition software, like partition logic. then get the distro copy of the linux that u want. i recommend ubuntu. Most linux distro’s have a live cd, where u boot from and install the os directly. u can download the distro from their website.http://partitionlogic.org.uk/
October 29th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
There are a few ways to do this.
One, download Microsoft’s Virtual PC, or some other emulation software, and then install and run Linux on a virtual computer. Not as fast as a native linux system, but good for a beginner to learn the ropes without too much hassle.
Two, install Linux to a spare partiton on your primary hard drive. Then use LILO or GRUB to dual-boot, i.e. choose your OS at boot time. This could prove tricky if your hard drive only has one partition (which is what most Windows installs have) If this is the case, make sure the Linux distro you choose include partition-resizing software on the install CD. Backup your data before you chose this option!
Three, install a secondary hard and install Linux on that. You’ll still need to install a Linux bootloader (LILO or GRUB) to the primary drive, but at least you won’t have to worry about re-partitioning.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:15 am
If you just want to play around with Linux without repartitioning your hard drive, give Puppy Linux a try. It will let you run Linux while you are in XP. It’s a very cool setup, and if you decide it’s not what you are looking for, just delete the files.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:08 am
The best choice for a new user is Ubuntu. (in fact for any user)
Go to http://www.ubuntu.com and download the Live CD image.
Read this first: (choose Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn)https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gettin…
Read how to burn the image to a cd here:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Burnin…
This is a guide to the install process:
Basically they’re screen shots of what to expect during the install process.https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Graphi…
During the install process, you’ll be given the choice to resize your Windows partition to make room for Ubuntu. Just follow the onscreen prompts.
If you need help, take advantage of the Ubuntu forums.http://ubuntuforums.org/
October 30th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Yes you can run both, I do all the time, either get another hard drive and install Linux on that or reduce the size of your Windows partition and then install Linux on the back of your single hard drive (I do this).
If you are not familiar with using Knoppix and Qparted or NTFSResize to reduce the size of your windows partition which probably takes up the whole drive then the second drive is your best option. Also if your windows hard drive is full then best to go with the second drive.
When you install Linux make sure that you install a boot manager, Grub is good. I am not sure if you can configure Grub at install time but you can then add your Windows partition to the grub.conf file in your /boot directory.
You did not say what Linux distribution you are looking at but I use Fedora and this works very well.
I suggest that you manually partition your Linux system as follows.
/ = 5=6 gig
/boot = 100 meg
/home = 1 gig or more
swap = 2x memory
You keep all of your private files on /home so when you upgrade or replace your Linux system you keep your /home and not lose your files. Also if you are keeping a lot of music or graphics files make your /home as large as you can. 5-6 gig for boot will let you install Gnome and KDE as well as a lot of goodies.
Good Luck
October 30th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Easiest and cheapest way is to download a copy of Microsoft Virtual PC, install it, then install Linux onto the virtual machine. This has the major advantage of being able to “play with” Linux some without having to do anything too complicated, and being able to undo everything with a quick add/remove. This has the disadvantage of the fact that a virtual machine never runs quite as well as a “real machine” would.
More complicated ways are to either get higher level (more expensive) software like VMWare, or else “dual boot” between Linux and Windows. If you want them both at the same time, though, you want a virtual machine software of some kind.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Yes it’s possible. You just need enough hard drive space. Some people prefer to use a separate hard drive.
The installation of most Linux distros can repartition the drive during the install process. They will make the windows partition smaller and create the proper Linux partitions. Just read up on the process first to make sure you know what it’s doing. Or you could change the partitioning separately if you prefer.
Here are a few how-to’s on setting a dual boot system:http://www.howtoforge.com/windows_linux_…http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/gru…http://apcmag.com/5459/dualboot_ubuntu_a…
You will probably want to find one specific to the distro of Linux you will be using.
For general info on all Linux distros:http://www.distrowatch.com