# Solved: How to dual boot Vista / Fedora 10



## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

Hi,
Just had a run with Fedora 10 booting from USB & was delighted that it found my wireless connection with no work from me.I could not get Ubuntu, DSL, Puppy or Mint to work wirelessly. Really like look & feel etc of Fedora.
I'd now like to try dual booting Vista Home Prem (already installed, OEM version - no discs) with Fedora 10.
Can anyone please point me to a simple step by step guide (screenshots even better)?
Also, what are the common mistakes/problems I need to look out for ... more important - how to avoid 'em

TIA
Richard


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## DVOM (Jun 21, 2002)

Another option in addition to dual booting would be to run vmware player and grab some premade vmware images off the web. One huge advantage is it just about totally eliminates any driver/network/sound/video issues. It also eliminates any dual booting prep such as partitioning.

The free VMware player:

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

And a good place to grab some free images (just download, unzip and fire them up, not installation necessary):

http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/cat/45


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I don't see any reason to avoid installing a Linux normally.

Just like any OS the trick is to have partitions created first before the installation.

The first Linux needs two partitions; say 10 to 20Gb will be ample for a Linux and a 1 Gb for the swap.

My suggestion would be

(1) Boot up Vista and use its resizing function embedded in disk management program to "resize" the hard disk to claimproceeding to the 10 to 20Gb unallocated space back from Vista. Reboot and make sure Vista working normally with the reduced partition before Step (2).

(2) Boot up the Fedora in USB. Click terminal mode and become the super user using command either

```
sudo su
```
or

```
su
```
 Fedora then allow you to work as a root user (=admin in MS Windows). Use program "cfdisk" to create the required partitions. Depending on the hard disk name the command should be 

```
cfdisk /dev/sdb
```
If in doubt ask Linux to report the partitions name by 

```
fdisk -l
```
(3) The partition created by a Linux is always Type 83. Use the "type" option to change the Type ID to 82 for a swap. Make sure you select "write" inside cfdisk to write the new partition table. For identification Vista always uses NTFS filing system with Type 7. Make sure you know where it is and note its size so that you don't inadvertently instruct a Linux to nuke it. Linux can be booted from anywhere in a hard disk so either a primary or a logical partition can be used for installation.

(4) Boot up the Fedora installation CD. Instruct the installer to install Fedora into the newly created partition. The idea is to edit the newly created partition, select format it in Ext3 and use it to mount the root "/". No action needed for the swap as Linux knows how to use it.

(5) When it come to install the boot loader let it be installed in the MBR.

(6) The Linux will arrange the dual boot automatically.

(7) Post question if get stuck.

Just a note special to Fedora

The standard Red Hat family distros, which Fedora belongs, like to use more than one partition (excluding swap) for installation. Typically it will try to persuade a user to have a partition for /boot and another for a LVM. This can be ignored. If only one partition is given to mount as / then /boot is just a subdirectory to it. No boot loader can read a LVM partition and that is why the Red Hat distros put the kernel outside the LVM in a /boot partition so that the boot loader can boot it. LVM is too complex for a starter in Linux and should be avoided. A single partition installation is a lot easier to manage for a beginner.

Vista's boot loader can also boot Linux, just like the one in Win2k and Xp. It is more work. Steps are listed in Task E5 in the last link of my signature. Additional explanation is available in this thread.


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

Thank you both for the help. I'll be making a start this weekend and will be reading the links you both gave beforehand.
Much appreciated.

Richard


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

saikee,
Can no longer boot from USB, it only seems to boot only once each time I creat a bootable Fedora USB.
I'm a bit concerned there's an issue with my laptop 'cos when I check the hash (?) code for the Fedora ISO download no errors show.
I don't want to 'hose' my laptop so I need to research some more, maybe get a new flashdrive.

Richard


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

1002richards,

When you boot the USB Linux you have to tell the Bios the first bootable device is USB.

The USB flash drive will then become device sda and your internal hard drive become sdb. You shoould be able to boot Xp with it too.

In any case you can run the Fedora CD as a Live CD to do everything a USB Linux can do.

If you have doubt show us the output of "fdisk -l". To operate another OS you ought to know how the hard disk and partitions are named in the new OS.

Here is an example of my own output from "fdisk -l"

```
[email protected]:~$ [COLOR="Blue"]sudo su[/COLOR]
[sudo] password for saikee: 
[email protected]:/home/saikee# [COLOR="Red"]fdisk -l[/COLOR]

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbe153241

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       12158    97659103+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2           12159       24316    97659135   17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           24317       36598    98655165    5  Extended
/dev/sda4           36599       60801   194410597+  83  Linux
/dev/sda5           24317       24438      979933+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6           24439       25654     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7           25655       26870     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda8           26871       28086     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda9           28087       29302     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda10          29303       30518     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda11          30519       31734     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda12          31735       32950     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda13          32951       34166     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda14          34167       35382     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda15          35383       36598     9767488+  83  Linux
```
In the blue command I was an ordinary user but in the Red command I became the root user and able to use the system commands. My Xp is in sda1, Vista in Sda2, data in sda4. I have turned sda3 into an extended partition with 11 logicals inside. sda5 is my swap the rest is 10 Linux.

If you install a Linux as a virtual system it is just a file inside the host system and you will be deprived of learning the full features of that operating system. I recommend to try the virtual system after knowing how a Linux works first. In my Xp partition I have a couple of Linux vitual systems inside it too.


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

I'll try with the live CD, 'cos the bios is set to boot from USB & that's where the problem lies. I think trying the live CD is the next thing for me to try & I'll see how I get on with that approach.
Thanks for your continued help!

Richard


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

1002richards,

The Live CD is a much neater way. This is because you internal hard disk will be the first bootable hard disk and will be given device name sda.

If you boot a Linux from a USB flash drive it becomes the first bootable hard disk and inherits the sda device name. Thus when you install a Linux in the internal hard disk it will be recorded as device sdb which may present booting problem if the USB flash drive is remove, by then it has to become device sda. Modern kernel can get over this problem using the by-uuid identification but this problem does not exist if you boot from a Live CD, which is a different device to hard disks.


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

saikee,
Thanks very much for your help & advice. I'll mark this solved & if I run in to any probs I'll start a specific new thread.

Richard


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## 060456F (Jun 27, 2008)

After reading this thread I thought of adding a question which I face with Fedora 10. Can anybody login as root in Fedora 10 as in Fedora 9. I typed 'root' as username and my password in the passwd field. It says Authentication failed. But in a normal user account I could do administrative tasks after entering '$ su - ' command.And this also accepts my root password. My question is ; Whether Fedora 10 has disabled root login as in Ubuntu ? Or is there a way to enable/disable it ?


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

Hi 060456F,
As I've already marked this as 'solved', your new question might not get the attention you'd like.
Perhaps you'd get more replies if you started a new thread?

Richard


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