[Linux-disciples] ubuntu/xp/vista

[Stephen R Laniel]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 05:05:41PM -0500, Nirmal Trivedi wrote:
> We tried running a Gutsy boot disk, which didn't run, but the
> consensus there seems to be that a regular install is a better test to
> check compatibility.

Huh. My experience is that if the LiveCD runs, the installer
runs, and conversely. What happens when you try to run it?

Actually...I can't really envision how you'd be able to get
the installer working if you couldn't get the LiveCD
working. The installer in recent versions of Ubuntu is an
icon on the LiveCD's desktop.

> The problem is that I can't guarantee that
> installing Ubuntu on a partition won't risk the Windows Vista recovery
> partition (which is needed in case my friend wants to resell it). I've
> never installed Ubuntu on a partition and I'd hate to think that if
> something goes wrong, I'd have to buy a computer that doesn't run
> Ubuntu well. I also understand that Ubuntu will write to the MBR with
> grub and re-installing Windows wouldn't necessarily work.

I'm pretty sure that Ubuntu will warn you all the way
through. It'll ask you if you want to put Ubu in the MBR, or
whether you want to keep Windows there.

One way to be totally safe is to boot to a LiveCD (assuming
you can do that), then back up the Windows partition (if
you're familiar with the dd utility, you'll just dd from the
Windows partition to a backup drive). Now that it's backed
up, you have nothing to worry about. In the event that the
Ubu install fails, you can just restore the backup. This
won't address the possibility that Ubu overwrites the MBR,
but I don't think there's much reason to be concerned about
that.

I hope this helps,
Steve

-- 
Stephen R. Laniel
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