Dual Boot (Why so freakking complicated?)

[Ockie]

Hi guys. So this weekend I tried to do a dual boot thingy. Installed both Ubuntu and WinXP three 3 times trying to get it right. Nothing worked?

1. Tried installing on same partition (resize using Ubuntu install thingy)
2. Created two partitions using Gparted and installed WinXP first (Ubuntu boot record on main disc)
3. Created two partions using Gparted and installed WinXP first (Ubuntu boot record on Ubuntu Partition)

When I did number 2 (not toilet related), it causes WinXP not to boot. Goes to the boot screen, but after 2 seconds, the laptop reboots completely and goes back to the OS selection screen...and so it just goes on and on.

When I did 3, boots straight into XP...does not give me a option to select what OS I want.

Why the hell is it so freakking difficult when all I want to do is play bloody Sim City 3000????????

Ended up and just made peace with the fact I wont be playing Sim City 3000 anytime soon!

 

[wishblade]

Are you trying to install Windows just to play SimCity 3000? :wtf:

Easiest I would imagine is to install Wine (try using the latest version of 1.3.15), setup the prefix correctly, and then install into the prefix.

If you've already tried that and the game didn't run, then try installing VirtualBox, install WindowsXP into a VM, use the settings for the VM to increase virtual memory for 3D acceleration for the VM, and then try installing in the VM.

Would think that either would be more advisable, since it doesn't require rebooting the entire machine just to play one game. And if there are any questions on any of the above options, then there are plenty of places to request help for it, mybb being one of them

 

[koffiejunkie]

Option 2 sounds just fine. Just make sure your windows partition is set to Active.

 

[Viva]

If you can't boot into Ubuntu after installing Windows XP you can use a EasyBCD to setup chainloading from XP bootloader to Grub.

 

[ponder]

1. Tried installing on same partition (resize using Ubuntu install thingy)
...
3. Created two partions using Gparted and installed WinXP first (Ubuntu boot record on Ubuntu Partition)

:wtf:

Create two (or more if you have a separate /home) partitions, set the first one as active.
Install XP on first partition and make sure it works.
Install Ubuntu in second partition. Let it install GRUB to the MBR of the disk.

 

[edg3]

I always found the easiest way to dual boot is to install windows on a primary partition first (and using windows install make the second partition) and then install ubuntu on the second partition and let it install grub onto the MBR, works every time.

 

[Ockie]

Thanks guys for the advice. I will try again maybe next weekend. I just cant stomach redoing everything now again...and frankly...if I have to look at the Windows install screen one more time I think i will be sick! I really really do wanna play Sim City...but not that much. Will see if I am in the mood next weekend.

I just really did not think it would be this bloody confusing. I thought it is a question of installing Windoze first and then Ubuntu will sort out the rest. Obviously I was mistaken.

 

[Voicy]

Thanks guys for the advice. I will try again maybe next weekend. I just cant stomach redoing everything now again...and frankly...if I have to look at the Windows install screen one more time I think i will be sick! I really really do wanna play Sim City...but not that much. Will see if I am in the mood next weekend.

I just really did not think it would be this bloody confusing. I thought it is a question of installing Windoze first and then Ubuntu will sort out the rest. Obviously I was mistaken.

Heya oclerouxenator,

Sometimes it is just that easy (well it was for me with Suse) - However I installed them on 2 different hard drives. I used Lilo as my boot manager when I installed Linux AFTER XP.

But I must agree with you ... dualbooting is not much fun. good luck

 

[ponder]

Seeing you have the original why don't you download the portable version from the net and try that in virtual box. In order to make it portable they must have stripped out the DRM.

There is also a version for linux, download is free & legit (direct from brothersoft) but will probably require some fiddling seeing it's so old.

Or if you would like make an ISO image of the cd using dd and drop it in the mail for me and I'll see what I can figure out.

 

[oldhat]

Thanks guys for the advice. I will try again maybe next weekend. I just cant stomach redoing everything now again...and frankly...if I have to look at the Windows install screen one more time I think i will be sick! I really really do wanna play Sim City...but not that much. Will see if I am in the mood next weekend.

I just really did not think it would be this bloody confusing. I thought it is a question of installing Windoze first and then Ubuntu will sort out the rest. Obviously I was mistaken.

Have you tried the Linux version of SC3000 or LinCity-NG?

 

[bin3]

For Ubuntu I might even suggest trying WUBI.

This works by running as a Windows 'application'. So you would install XP as normal, then you would run wubi.exe from within Windows. This will create up to a 30GB file and setup your dual boot environment from there.

You can find wubi from Ubuntu ...

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/windows-installer

Oh; you can manually download the ISO and dump it into the Wubi directory so that you don't have to go through that whole online install / update process.

 

[Ockie]

Have you tried the Linux version of SC3000 or LinCity-NG?

I only found out from Ponder last night that there is a Linux version...but after reading up on it a bit, it seems it dont work on the new kernels??? I have checked out LinCity a while back....but it looks crap compared to the proper Sim City. :-(

 

[Ockie]

For Ubuntu I might even suggest trying WUBI.

This works by running as a Windows 'application'. So you would install XP as normal, then you would run wubi.exe from within Windows. This will create up to a 30GB file and setup your dual boot environment from there.

You can find wubi from Ubuntu ...



http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/windows-installer

Oh; you can manually download the ISO and dump it into the Wubi directory so that you don't have to go through that whole online install / update process.

Yeah I did wubi the first time I tried Ubuntu. I was too scared to do a proper install so thought that would be the easiest way of doing it. But using Wubi gives you a loss of performance dont it? :-(

 

[Grim147]

i find the best way to do it is install windows on a seprate hd (set it to your boot drive just for the isntallation so windows use's it's mbr) then afterwards set your linux drive back as the boot drive , then just add a grub entry like so
# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

you can edit the root when you boot in the grub menu just to find the right one then update it afterwards

 

[bin3]

Yeah I did wubi the first time I tried Ubuntu. I was too scared to do a proper install so thought that would be the easiest way of doing it. But using Wubi gives you a loss of performance dont it? :-(

Nope: It's a native installation -- the only difference is that wubi takes care of your partitioning and managing the boot records and the like.

 

[Ockie]

Nope: It's a native installation -- the only difference is that wubi takes care of your partitioning and managing the boot records and the like.

mmmm maybe I should do that then....but not now. I am still recovering from this weekends installing vicous loop. Maybe when I do Ubuntu 11.04.

 

[oldhat]

I only found out from Ponder last night that there is a Linux version...but after reading up on it a bit, it seems it dont work on the new kernels??? I have checked out LinCity a while back....but it looks crap compared to the proper Sim City. :-(

It CAN be made to work but takes some effort....& yes proper SC3000 is best...

 

[Odly]

WUBI is your best best, the iso's I've downloaded have it already so it should be standard. Install XP then put your Ubuntu disk in run wubi.exe and follow the prompts, you can select another partition if you like. I had my hdd split in the partitions, one for xp, one for data and one for ubuntu. There is no performance issue really. I didnt notice a difference between that set up and my pure ubuntu install done from the disk into a partition with the filesystem for ubuntu and bla bla.