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How to dual boot Windows XP and Linux (XP installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots

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James Bannan05 June 2008, 6:13 PM

Related how-tos:

How to dual-boot Windows XP and Linux, on a system where you have already installed XP. Easy step-by-step tutorial that doesn't assume prior knowledge of Linux.

Page 4 - Set up Ubuntu

On the "Who are you?" screen, enter your username and password details, then click Forward.

On the Migrate Documents and Settings screen, if Ubuntu finds any user accounts to migrateit will happily import user settings from XP to Ubuntu. If it doesn't find any, obviously this isn't an option. Select as much or as little as you wish and click Forward.

On the "Ready to install" screen, you'll see that Ubuntu now has enough information to commence the installation. In the summary under Migrate Assistant, it should say "Windows XP Professional" along with any user account details you selected in the previous step

This means that regardless of whether Ubuntu found any user account to migrate, it certainly knows that Windows XP is installed on the other partition Click Install.

See the install through and then let it boot into Ubuntu.

When the install is complete the system will reboot. When the GRUB boot menu is displayed, have a look at the last entry in the list.

After the Ubuntu boot options, there will be an entry "Other operating systems" and beneath that "Microsoft Windows XP Professional". By default Ubuntu will load itself after 10 seconds, but you can select the XP option and the OS will boot normally.

The GRUB bootloader is decidedly better than XP's and XP doesn't handle dualbooting non-Microsoft operating systems very well, so there's little point trying to restore the XP bootloader. Be happy with GRUB!

Page 1 Intro

Page 2 Boot Ubuntu from the Live CD

Page 3 Make room on the disk for Ubuntu

Page 4 Set up Ubuntu

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Majkl (User):

Hi, MacGyver,

yes, this can be done. You may encounter some adventure dealing with the bootloader (the tab when you select the OS after a bootup) - I think in some cases the Win bootloader may not recognize neighbour OS. For this reason you may either want to install linux as the last OS (it should auto-pick all Win and hopefully your illegal MacOS too), or do some magic (adding an item for every OS on the disc) in the menu.lst.

26 January 2009, 11:05 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

MacGyverDB (New user):

Now that I have this dual booting of Ubuntu & XP Home working. How do I make a multi-boot...I'd like to add Vista at some point & later add Windows 7 then add MacOS. Is it even possible, given a large enough hard drive, or should I just get System Commander instead?
This is a learning experience for me and I want to add these OS's in order to learn them.

26 January 2009, 12:58 AM (10 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

AndyCee (Advanced member):

You can boot into as many OS's as you like, but you might want to look into something like "supergrub" for complicated boot options.

And just mentioning, you can't legally install OSX on a non-Mac computer, though if you wanted to you'd have to look into making what's called a "Hackintosh".

26 January 2009, 10:27 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Majkl (User):

26 January 2009, 11:06 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

MacGyverDB (New user):

As I eluded to in an earlier post.
Add a step that emphasises defragging the XP partition BEFORE attempting to install Ubuntu.
Add a comment that states that once running XP as your choice at start up, it's ok if it says the drive is dirty & goes thru it's verificaitons to satisfy itself. It will then load. It will then say it's found new hardware. My guess, since it's not talking about it, is it's found the new partition. You reboot again and THEN XP ought to work ok when selected.
Reboot again and give it a few moments to tell you that your Ubuntu has about 224 updates to take care of. Not to mention if you try to play an MP3 it will need to install a codec for that.
Outside of that I'm really liking this Ubuntu...

26 January 2009, 11:17 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Majkl (User):

Absolutely! Actually, I would consider it obvious that I defrag AND BACKUP before I start cuddling with partitions - even if it is as easy as installing a linux OS. ;o)

26 January 2009, 11:24 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Cute icon "Majki" :) I like muchly :)

19 May 2009, 2:01 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Gflatman (New user):

I have Windows Xp installed and on my first installed sata drive (sddc) and Linux installed on my 2nd Sata drive (sddd) now the pc only boots to Windows xp and can i change that?

27 January 2009, 4:04 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

smileyme74 (New user):

I am following the above steps to dual boot windows xp already installed and when doing the step of resizing partition using the ubuntu live cd is not doing anything and taking forever. Could someone tell me what to do?

28 January 2009, 6:59 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

stargazer418 (New user):

I'm on the part where I should partition the disk, and it's not showing the option to resize. My options are "Guided - use entire disk" and "Manual." What should I do?

11 February 2009, 1:00 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Quoting stargazer418:
My options are "Guided - use entire disk" and "Manual." What should I do?

Hi "stargazer418" If you go back one page,I think it shows you how to do this :) I'm pretty sure that a slider bar comes up and you just drag it to however much you want assigned to Linux :)
I reckon about 50% should do the trick so you still have some room left if you want to add more stuff to the Windows section and because later and I could be wrong here you have to partition that size as well again. I'm definitely going to try this Linux soon because I'm getting awfully sick of Windows :(
I think if you use the "manual" method you have to specify the amount in Kb's or Mb's or whatever and it's too much of a head-f..k. Go for the "Guided-use entire disk" option.

19 May 2009, 2:14 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

stargazer418 (New user):

I'm at the part where I prepare the disk for Ubuntu, and the option to resize the disk isn't there. The options are "Guided - Use entire disk" and "Manual." Please help!

11 February 2009, 1:09 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Weasal167 (New user):

My Xp Wont Boot Into Linux But It Did And Worked Fine On My Vista Laptop

08 March 2009, 1:37 PM (8 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Weasal167 (New user):

My Xp Won't Boot Into Linux But My Other Computer Did Fine It is A Vista Laptop. Pls Help :(

08 March 2009, 1:57 PM (8 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Weasal167 (New user):

My Xp Won't Boot Into Linux But My Other Computer Did Fine It is A Vista Laptop. Pls Help :(

08 March 2009, 2:13 PM (8 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

tgibney (New user):

I use partition magic to image my xp partition. What can be used to image the ext partition of different linux installs?

04 April 2009, 5:12 AM (7 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

k_graham (New user):

Quoting tgibney:

tgibney I use partition magic to image my xp partition. What can be used to image the ext partition of different linux installs?

gparted, also works as replacement to partition magic uses a bootable CD.

Also for Backup before any partition moving use www.Clonezilla.org , Clonezilla for free backup to external drive or network drive.

16 May 2009, 7:45 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

karthik (New user):

i have two os xp and linux in a hard drive, initially it will prompt for choosing the os, one day i will reload the windows xp. Then the machine automaticallly loading win xp, i have no option to boot linux. Please say idea to prompt for xp and linux

04 April 2009, 9:57 PM (7 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Madd Dogg (New user):

I have a question. I am running a custom built win XP system. Its an MSI K9MM-V mobo, AMD dual core processor with 2 gig of ram and a seagate 500 gig hard drive that is partitioned into 3 drives. C(XP) D (Storage) E (Music).
I would like to dual boot my system with a Linus so that I could eventually get away from windows. But THe set up is for a hard drive that has only one drive. All C. What can I do and which version of Linux would be best for me. I run Nero, Office 2007, and Quicken 2009 for the most part.

07 April 2009, 2:55 AM (7 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Quoting Madd Dogg:
What can I do and which version of Linux would be best for me. I run Nero, Office 2007, and Quicken 2009 for the most part.

Hiya "Madd Dogg" The only thing I can suggest here is you get yourself an external hard drive. They're pretty cheap nowadays and move your Storage and Music over to them and then you can divide up your C:\ drive to just handle XP and Linux. I'm seriously looking at the latest copy of Ubuntu myself but if you go to one of the sections on this site there's a link that shows you which Linux is best for you :)

19 May 2009, 2:22 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Penguin (Cornerstone member):

Time to update this for 9.04

29 April 2009, 9:11 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Hi everyone :) I want to try this dual-boot with Linux however I have a problem.My CD burner bit the bullet awhile ago and so I was thinking of downloading Linux to a USB drive and going from there.
Is this possible and I think I'd like to keep WinXP as first boot option till I was familiar with Linux ( either Ubuntu8.04 or Mepsis6 )
I understand that I would have to install to a separate partition and would probably have to create one with GpartED or something like that.
I'm thinking of creating 2 equal partitions and having the two OS's share equal space on the PC. Any help will be appreciated :)

24 May 2009, 12:55 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Irfan0403 (New user):

how to increase time of os selection of dual boot in linux & xp

05 June 2009, 11:41 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Irfan0403 (New user):

how to increase time of os selection of dual boot in linux & xp

05 June 2009, 11:46 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Selden (New user):

I've done this experimentally to an 8gb SDHC card on an Acer. Before attempting it on the 160gb HDD, I want to be certain that NO DAMAGE will be done to the Windows installation; it appears that the Ubuntu install simply resizes the Windows partition, and creates the necessary Unix partitions -- pretty neat!

13 June 2009, 3:16 PM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Aubrey (Advanced member):

Seldon - provided you follow the instructions, there will be no problem with your windows partition - just leave enough free space on it to allow for additional programs and data. That should not be a problem with a 160Gb drive (though goodness knows how you managed it on the 8gb Acer SDHC!)

The "trick" with dual booting is not so much the set up - its what you need to do if you ever want to uninstall Linux and reclaim the space - it isn't difficult except that you will need your Windows CD to reclaim the MBR (Master Boot Record) for the Windows bootloader. There's plenty of instructions available on the net for that.

One other thing - this article is now pretty old and more recent Linux live CDs are now even more helpful when setting up dual boot systems. You could not go wrong with (eg) Ubuntu 9.04 and I'm pretty sure that Fedora 11 or the latest Mandriva would be just as easy.

Good luck with your penguin.

14 June 2009, 12:40 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Quoting Aubrey:
One other thing - this article is now pretty old and more recent Linux live CDs are now even more helpful when setting up dual boot systems. You could not go wrong with (eg) Ubuntu 9.04 and I'm pretty sure that Fedora 11 or the latest Mandriva would be just as easy.

Hi "Aubrey" :) I was looking at that Fedora 11 and I may be wrong but that looks to have a lot of that "command line" stuff in it which I'm really not familiar with :'( So would you say it would be better to load whatever Linux I decide on from a Live CD rather than go through all that download .iso stuff,burn CD ( which I can't do anyway ) or try
to boot from a USB stick which I'm not too sure how to do :'(

By the way,have you ever heard of a program called "EASUS PARTITION MANAGER 3.5 HOME EDITION" and would you recommend this?
I used to have an original copy of "Partition Magic" before Symantec got their feelthy hands on it but I downloaded this instead. I have a 74.52Gb hard drive of which 77% is free so I would like to split this into two and have 37.26Gb on each :) Is this good enough ? And I still reckon Mepsis6 might be better for a complete beginner like me but maybe I'm wrong.
Thank you for any further help you can give me on this :)

17 June 2009, 8:50 AM (5 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Devendra Suryavanshi (New user):

How to install Linux on the XP OS

09 August 2009, 4:51 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

JQ (New user):

Can the instruction be use for installation on separate Sata Drive?I have currently 1 Sata Drive with XP install and is thinking of buying a 2nd Sata HDD Drive to install ubuntu 9.04

10 August 2009, 11:22 AM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Aubrey (Advanced member):

Quoting JQ:
Can the instruction be use for installation on separate Sata Drive?

There should be no issues with a separate drive. The installer will give you a couple of preset options and you can also organise the partitioning however you like.

The bootloader (GRUB) will still overwrite the MBR on your Windows partition (the existing SATA drive). If you don't have a Windows installer disk, you may want to take a backup of the MBR just in case you want to ditch Ubuntu later.

When installing, you can use the whole of the second drive for Ubuntu or create separate partitions for "/" (root) and for "/home" to give yourself maximum flexibility to try different distros and to do full upgrades without overwriting your data. If you go that way, give "/" 10Gb max and "/home" can be as big as you like (the rest of the drive if you want to).

10 August 2009, 12:05 PM (3 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Garry Kerluke (New user):

Your article was very good.I have decided to take the plunge and load a dual boot system with ubuntu and Xp Pro.Thanks for the help.

07 September 2009, 11:02 AM (2 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

ilstupendo (New user):

I installed Ubunto today assuming from what it said about sharing disk space that I can switch back and fro. Now my PC is on Linux and cannot as yet, find anyway to boot back into windows xp. Help!

ian.eurovantage@gmx.com

12 September 2009, 2:55 AM (2 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Penguin (Cornerstone member):

Do you get anything similar to the following?

GRUB Loading stage1.5.

GRUB loading, please wait...
Press 'ESC' to enter the menu... 1

Boot from (hd0,0) ext3 1cc15c80-5467-45cc-bf56-e456aa67jjf4
Starting up...
Loading, Please wait...

GRUB menu
Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
Other operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

or

GRUB Loading stage1.5.

GRUB loading, please wait...
Press 'ESC' to enter the menu... 1

the GRUB menu below should appear if you pressed ESC to enter the menu when prompted as shown above

Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+

If you get this windows is not accessible from the menu(this command may help fix it)In an Ubuntu terminal(Applications>Accessories>Terminal) Type sudo update-grub. GRUB will then search for available operating systems.

13 September 2009, 9:54 PM (2 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend