Hello,
I have a Lenovo T430 that had Windows 7 Pro pre-installed, but I wiped out Windows and installed Fedora 19 instead (actually, I first installed Ubuntu and then Fedora).
Now I want to turn it into a dual-boot machine with Fedora and Windows based on the license for the pre-installed Windows.
I see on the web some recommendations to first install Windows, and some say you can install first Linux and then Windows, but it may not work for (some?) pre-installed versions.
So, now I'm wondering whether I should first wipe out Fedora and then put first Windows and second Fedora, or whether I should try to keep Fedora and add Windows next to it?
My file systems currently look like this:
[oruebenacker@localhost ~]$ df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/fedora-root 51475068 8239400 40597844 17% / devtmpfs 3929460 0 3929460 0% /dev tmpfs 3936376 96 3936280 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 3936376 900 3935476 1% /run tmpfs 3936376 0 3936376 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs 3936376 52 3936324 1% /tmp /dev/sda1 487652 120305 337651 27% /boot /dev/mapper/fedora-home 420590200 21603936 377598388 6% /home
Thanks!
Best, Oliver
On 19 October 2013 03:50, Oliver Ruebenacker curoli@gmail.com wrote:
I have a Lenovo T430 that had Windows 7 Pro pre-installed, but I wiped out Windows and installed Fedora 19 instead (actually, I first installed Ubuntu and then Fedora).
Good move.
Now I want to turn it into a dual-boot machine with Fedora and Windows based on the license for the pre-installed Windows.
I would suggest you have a virtual machine running inside a host. The main reason is that by doing this you get both system running in a stable way, and you have access to both systems all the time.
I see on the web some recommendations to first install Windows, and some say you can install first Linux and then Windows, but it may not work for (some?) pre-installed versions.
I would suggest go for Windows first because boot Windows is much more confusing than boot Linux. You can easily add a boot point in Windows using software and load Grub and then load Linux.
So, now I'm wondering whether I should first wipe out Fedora and then put first Windows and second Fedora, or whether I should try to keep Fedora and add Windows next to it?
If you still rely on Windows to work and study, and you are just having some fun with Fedora, go for a virtual machine. You will get enough performance and experience by using the virtual machine.
My file systems currently look like this:
[oruebenacker@localhost ~]$ df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/fedora-root 51475068 8239400 40597844 17% / devtmpfs 3929460 0 3929460 0% /dev tmpfs 3936376 96 3936280 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 3936376 900 3935476 1% /run tmpfs 3936376 0 3936376 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs 3936376 52 3936324 1% /tmp /dev/sda1 487652 120305 337651 27% /boot /dev/mapper/fedora-home 420590200 21603936 377598388 6% /home
Looks it's a Fedora only system with LVM installed, so either wipe Fedora out or install Windows in a virtual machine.
I am using ArchLinux as my host machine and Windows & Fedora as Guest. Everything run in VirtualBox and all work fine.
On 10/18/2013 09:50 AM, Oliver Ruebenacker issued this missive:
Hello,I have a Lenovo T430 that had Windows 7 Pro pre-installed, but I wiped out Windows and installed Fedora 19 instead (actually, I first installed Ubuntu and then Fedora).
Now I want to turn it into a dual-boot machine with Fedora and Windows based on the license for the pre-installed Windows.
I see on the web some recommendations to first install Windows, and some say you can install first Linux and then Windows, but it may not work for (some?) pre-installed versions.
So, now I'm wondering whether I should first wipe out Fedora and then put first Windows and second Fedora, or whether I should try to keep Fedora and add Windows next to it?
My file systems currently look like this:
[oruebenacker@localhost ~]$ df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/fedora-root 51475068 8239400 40597844 17% / devtmpfs 3929460 0 3929460 0% /dev tmpfs 3936376 96 3936280 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 3936376 900 3935476 tel:900%C2%A0%C2%A0%203935476 1% /run tmpfs 3936376 0 3936376 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs 3936376 52 3936324 1% /tmp /dev/sda1 487652 120305 337651 27% /boot /dev/mapper/fedora-home 420590200 21603936 377598388 6% /home
I haven't done it with recent versions of Windows (7 or 8) as I only install that crud as a virtual guest and run it once in a very, VERY long time.
<soap> I _detest_ Microsoft's business practices, but that's a topic that is not apropos to this list or thread. </soap>
That being said, in the past Windows assumed it owned the whole machine and would take over the entire hard disk. The installer did not honor existing non-Windows partitions so it would blithely blow anything else away.
The safe mode is:
1. Back up your Linux stuff 2. Install Windows, making sure you have it leave some disk free. 3. Install Linux in the free space left by Windows. 4. Restore your data to the Linux space.
Unlike Microsoft, Linux installers honor existing partitions and operating systems and will "play nice". Windows does not. And be VERY careful about messing around with Windows' disk tools. You could destroy your Linux stuff easily. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 22643734 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - If at first you don't succeed, quit. No sense being a damned fool! - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
On 10/18/2013 08:09 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
On 10/18/2013 09:50 AM, Oliver Ruebenacker issued this missive:
Hello,I have a Lenovo T430 that had Windows 7 Pro pre-installed, but I wiped out Windows and installed Fedora 19 instead (actually, I first installed Ubuntu and then Fedora).
Now I want to turn it into a dual-boot machine with Fedora and Windows based on the license for the pre-installed Windows.
I see on the web some recommendations to first install Windows, and some say you can install first Linux and then Windows, but it may not work for (some?) pre-installed versions.
So, now I'm wondering whether I should first wipe out Fedora and then put first Windows and second Fedora, or whether I should try to keep Fedora and add Windows next to it?
My file systems currently look like this:
[oruebenacker@localhost ~]$ df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/fedora-root 51475068 8239400 40597844 17% / devtmpfs 3929460 0 3929460 0% /dev tmpfs 3936376 96 3936280 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 3936376 900 3935476 tel:900%C2%A0%C2%A0%203935476 1% /run tmpfs 3936376 0 3936376 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs 3936376 52 3936324 1% /tmp /dev/sda1 487652 120305 337651 27% /boot /dev/mapper/fedora-home 420590200 21603936 377598388 6% /home
It would help if you use fdisk -l because that shows the partition scheme. For instance, this machine I'm typing on is set up this way:
[doug@linux1 ~]$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda Password:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x000a43e9
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 152969215 76483584 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda2 152971264 693846015 270437376 5 Extended /dev/sda3 693846016 976773119 141463552 83 Linux /dev/sda5 152973312 178364415 12695552 83 Linux /dev/sda6 178366464 227194879 24414208 83 Linux /dev/sda7 227196928 402358271 87580672 83 Linux /dev/sda8 402360320 521773055 59706368 83 Linux /dev/sda9 521775104 552476671 15350784 83 Linux /dev/sda10 552478720 580956159 14238720 83 Linux /dev/sda11 580958208 613044223 16043008 83 Linux /dev/sda12 613046272 621223293 4088511 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda13 621225984 693846015 36310016 83 Linux
If you mount all the systems on the disk first, you can also use df, but you need to use df -a. (You can mount the partitions most easily by just clicking on them one by one in your file manager--Dolphin, here.)
[doug@linux1 ~]$ df -a Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda7 83G 37G 42G 47% / none 0 0 0 - /proc none 0 0 0 - /dev/pts none 4.0G 0 4.0G 0% /dev/shm /dev/sda8 57G 19G 38G 33% /home none 0 0 0 - /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc gvfs-fuse-daemon 0 0 0 - /home/doug/.gvfs /dev/sda5 12G 5.0G 6.4G 44% /media/3ecbd78e-07af-4b75-b821-6386f923f749 /dev/sda6 23G 610M 22G 3% /media/2ee029cf-6ab2-4fad-a113-009963c029d2 /dev/sda9 15G 3.2G 11G 23% /media/c23f16ec-dff7-47b1-a25f-0ad96f41d339 /dev/sda10 14G 1.2G 13G 9% /media/281e1124-f7c8-4efa-9ec1-b3560362ac3b /dev/sda11 16G 7.9G 6.5G 55% /media/50367372-b1c6-4dff-a774-4a3129954fca /dev/sda1 73G 58G 16G 79% /media/Windows /dev/sda13 35G 348M 34G 1% /media/7fd7f873-0551-48a5-91d1-ac701a998f12 /dev/sda3 133G 60M 126G 1% /media/54320286-5240-4fae-8ff0-4d75d2ca9910
This shows that the system I am running is on /dev/sda7 and /dev/sda8, and it also shows that /dev/sda1 is Windows, altho you could have deduced that from the fdisk indication of NTFS file system. Note that df does not show the swap partition, nor does it show the extended partition--sda2--on which the Linux systems are mounted.
However, your post shows that your Linux system is on /dev/sda1, which may turn out to be a problem for Windows--I don't know.
However, this machine started with XP on sda1, and then a different Linux on sda5 and 6, installed after XP. Then, with several Linux installs, I upgraded XP to Win 8.0. It required me to run a Linux live disk, and run rdo mbr to get the multiboot back. This is not the same as what you have. I think if I were doing it, I would use gparted to move the Linux partition up the drive, leaving room for a Windows primary partition as sda1. I'm not absolutely sure of the mechanics of doing that, so I won't post something that will lead you astray. Anyway, using gparted, format the sda1 space which will be your Windows partition with NTFS. I don't think Windows will even see partitions formatted with ext4, which I imagine is what the Linux partition is.
Hope this helps--doug
On Fri, 2013-10-18 at 17:09 -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
On 10/18/2013 09:50 AM, Oliver Ruebenacker issued this missive:
I have a Lenovo T430 that had Windows 7 Pro pre-installed, but I wiped out Windows and installed Fedora 19 instead (actually, I first installed Ubuntu and then Fedora).
Now I want to turn it into a dual-boot machine with Fedora and Windows
<soap> I _detest_ Microsoft's business practices, but that's a topic that is not apropos to this list or thread. </soap>
Not totally irrelevant actually, because due to the licensing software, Windows 7 has to be "activated", and that can be a tricky business if you want to do something like using a license that was for an original installation on a VM. The hardware seen by Windows is all different. I just went through this a couple of days ago when I moved a VM from my old laptop to my new one. My (legitimate) product key failed to work to activate. In that case, I had to go through the Windows activation center (on the phone) and give them a code that Windows gave me, then type in a 30-digit activation code they gave me. It was a hassle, but it eventually worked. I am not sure what would happen if you tried this with a copy of Windows that was for an original install; it may well be locked in to some of the hardware.
For that reason, you might be better off installing Windows natively. I just did that yesterday on a brand new system. First, I used a Gparted Live CD (gparted.org) to partition the disk. I created some Linux partitions, and an NTFS partition for Windows. When I installed Windows 7, it was quite happy to install itself into the NTFS partition and leave everything else alone. So you may well be able to use a partition editor (perhaps fdisk) to create an NTFS partition, then install Windows 7. Obviously you want to make sure your existing Linux system is backed up first.
The only drawback to this approach is that Windows will, in all likelihood, overwrite your master boot sector so that only Windows will boot. That will require booting from a Linux rescue disc (the Fedora install DVD works just fine) and reinstalling grub2 into the master boot sector. I personally think this is easier than having to re-install Linux again after installing Windows and then restoring your stuff, but you may see it differently.
That being said, in the past Windows assumed it owned the whole machine and would take over the entire hard disk.
I think it is much better now, at least it is in Windows 7.
--Greg
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Xinyun Zhou