i want to report on a lert call i went to today to vox-tech.
the task was to rescue a dual boot install which went sour. the person used
fdisk to split up the windows partition. needless to say, the partitions
weren't salvagable.
for various reasons, i thought this case might be better to install linux
first, leaving the 1st and 2nd partitions for windows millenium.
the linux install went well. then we booted with the windows millenium
install disk and it said something like:
windows millenium has detected another operating system on the hard
drive. in order to run windows millenium you need to reconfigure your
hard drive to make it compatible with the microsoft product. press
ok to continue with the installation.
there was a button that said "ok" and "h1" for help. the message was
confusing; i didn't know what "reconfiguring a hard drive" meant, so i
pressed F1. the help said something like:
windows millenium needs the entire hard drive to run correctly. by
pressing "ok" you will delete all partitions currently on the drive, and
any files on them.
egads! that sure is reconfiguration all right!
so, unless i did something wrong (which is entirely possible; i know next to
nothing about M$ operating systems), it would appear that if you're making a
millenium dual boot, you have two options:
a: you MUST install millenium first. i don't buy that it needs the whole
drive for one instant.
b: the person should have a 2nd hard drive to install linux on.
boo for microsoft! that stupid error message i saw had "linux" written all
over it. i'm sure M$ sees lots of windows/OS2 dual boots... :-)
pete
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