What is a windows dual boot?

[Kazemagic]

Hi..I have been wondering what is a dual boot.I know that it lets you choose what kind of windows to boot in but I dont know how to set it up.Can i be booted on an external hard drive?

[LCaveman]

You can find thousands of sites that show you how to setup a dual boot system if you google it, and no you cannot boot from external drive.

[Kazemagic]

I found them before but im not sure if its safe.I dont want to whipe out my whole hardrive

[hellnoire]

Um, hate to start a flamewar, LC, but yes, you can boot from a USB hard drive so long as your bios supports it. Mine does, and believe me when I say it's damned useful when I want to try Puppy Linux and not wipe out Ubuntu/Vista. It's also funny when you've got a USB stick and the person next to you has their eyes bug out when they see you plug the flash drive in and suddenly, there was an OS where there wasn't before

As for a how to, it depends on which OSes you're hoping to dual boot. Mind explaining a little more, Muaan?

[Kazemagic]

I want to dual boot linux.So can you tell me how to dual boot with an external hard drive.Thanks

[LunarWolf]

you asking about ubuntu right? I am telling you on how to reboot from your own hard disk in your computer. I have rebooted my ubuntu for like the 10th time. Even hellnoire can't beat that.

1. Put in your LiveCD and restart..
2. Select the option "Try Ubuntu without changes to the computer"
3. wait for CD to load.
4. Once is loaded, double click on the Install
5. Follow the instructions until you come to satep 4 where they ask you to partition your hard disk. Select the first option (It allows you to allocatre how much of space you need-You may be surprised that ubuntu can indeed run on 1gb space but NOT RECOMMENDED. i did it accidentally. Use 5gb as suggested by hellnoire or you can use 10gb. I myself gives it 17gb). DO NOT SELECT the second option (It will wipe off your windows)
6.Proceed with installation and then restart your computer.

How to remove ubuntu? If let say you did something wrong, and you need to do a clean install this is how you do it. I recommend you to have a windows Cd for it,
1. Put in windows CD.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Press any key to boot form CD.
4. Press R.
5. Press 1. Most likely will be "1". Mine was "1". don't put the quotes.Press "Enter"
6. Enter your adminstration password.If you do not have a password, just press "Enter"
7. thpe the following without quotes. "fixmbr"
8. Press "y" wihtout quotes.
9. Type "exit" without quotes.
10. It will restart and remove the windows cd.
11. Downlaod the Paragon special edition and enter in the code. The links to download it and for the place to get code are somewhere in this forum.
12. Open paragon. Delete partition.Select the type of partition for you want to delete. Follow the instructions. Then finally press applied.
13.Click distribute free space and follow the instructions and press apply. This will return you the space taken by ubuntu back to the drive where it took it from.

Any questions on how to remove or dual boot ubuntu can ask me. I am aafraid I have lots of experience doing it. 10 times!

[Kazemagic]

LOL.Nice information.But I think its way too complicated when uninstall.Now Im not sure should I dual boot??It will be safe if I install on an external hardrive.So until I found out the method for it I wont even touch Linux and dualboots.Thx for the info lunarwolf

[LunarWolf]

Why complicated? The fixmbr takes less than 3 minutes to complete. alternatively, you can install ubuntu in windows itself but it will eat up a lot of space or we see what the linux guru have to say.

You can look at this site. http://forum.raymond.cc/freebies/104...ree-promo.html

[Kazemagic]

Its not complicated I know.I was exaggerating.But the problem is I want to keep my pc in safest condition.Because I have killed my laptop more than 3 times.Not physical.But softwares.And it took alot of time to repair.Once I even had the trouble to do a full system restore .wiping out all my C drives stuff then I had to reinstall all my softwares.Including those softwares in D drive

[hellnoire]

I too have killed my PC many times Muaan. But I find Linux to be a stable OS, even in beta format. Perhaps you should try Ubuntu Portable or a virtual PC install of Ubuntu. I normally don't recommend them, due to their lack of working to full performance, but up to you.

Also, note for Lunar. Feel proud of yourself for knowing so much Great job, you're learning well. Hopefully you will not need any more practice...