[Techtalk] Installing XP without affectin Linux

[David Sumbler]

On Thu, 2009-04-02 at 00:30 +0200, Chris Wilson wrote:
> > From installing XP Pro in VirtualBox I get the impression that perhaps
> > it is not so greedy or arrogant as 95 and 98 were - but obviously I
> > don't want to find out by experiment if my impression is wrong!  So does
> > anyone know if I would be able to install WinXP Pro in the spare
> > partition without messing up my Ubuntu partitions or making Ubuntu
> > unbootable?
> 
> It is possible to do it. Windows NT-based operating systems have a better 
> partition manager in the installer that lets you choose which partition to 
> install on, and won't wipe your Linux partition without you giving it 
> explicit instructions to do so (do not select your linux partition as the 
> install partition for Windows!)

The spare partition is /dev/hda1, and my current Linux / is
on /dev/hda7.  There is already an appropriate entry
in /boot/grub/menu.lst for booting Windows on /dev/hda1 - I used to have
Win98 on there, so apart from changing the name perhaps, I do not need
to touch menu.lst .

As I understand it, then, all I need to do is the following:

1) Install WinXP on /dev/hda1 ; OK to format in NTFS?

2) Boot the machine from tomsrtbt, log in as root.

3) mount /dev/hda7 /mnt

4) chroot /mnt

5) grub-install hd0

Next time I reboot, I shall get the appropriate boot menu just as at
present.  Then all I need to do is alter the relevant line in /etc/fstab
to expect ntfs rather than vfat on /dev/hda1.

Could someone confirm that this is correct, or is there some crucial
step I have omitted?

David

-- 
David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk>