Dual boot on an HP desktop[Solved]

[Bogeyman]

I have 3 yr. old HP desktop with Windows XP SP3. I am attempting to install Mint 7 Main from DVD. I get to the partitioner and I cannot reduce the size of the XP partition. There is also an XP Recovery partition on the drive. Since I am a total Newbie I am a bit creeped out with the thought of having to manually partition the drive. I downloaded a couple of XP partition programs and attempted to resize the existing partitions before I went ahead with the Mint 7 install, but neither of them worked. My preference is to leave XP as is in case Mint 7 doesn't work out. I have Mint 6 dual boot on an old Gateway desktop and I like it. The partitioner on that install allowed me to shrink the size of XP and use the unused portion for the install of Mint 6. It went extremely well and I am quite happy with it. I guess I'm just miffed that I didn't have the same option on the HP. Hopefully, someone can point me in the right direction.

[markcynt]

Try defragging XP at least two times.

Then boot to the MInt Live DVD. Once at the desktop go straight to the partitioner, Administration>Partition Editor. Then try to resize your Windows partition. If successful, reboot to the Live DVD and install.

[Bogeyman]

I did exactly that and I see now that there may be a problem with the drive. There was a triangular yellow alert for the Windows partition. I double clicked it and, apparently, the filesystem check performed by Mint failed. It suggested running chkdsk in Windows. This becomes clearer now because two downloaded partition managers both failed as well. I did run chkdsk yesterday (took forever) but will rerun it today. Worst case is that if it fails again on the Windows partition I will try a full install of Mint 7 instead of dual boot. I have an image backup of the drive with Acronis so one way or another I hope to arrive at a "peaceful solution!" Thanks so much for your help. In the short time I have partaken of the Mint experience I have been extremely impressed with the response to questions asked. That in itself is reason enough for me to bail out of Windows completely. I have three computers, two with XP and one with Vista. I just haven't been able to push myself over the edge to complete Linux, however, I believe I'm getting closer.

[Bogeyman]

For whatever reason the chkdsk went very fast and I had defragged twice already yesterday. Reloaded Mint 7 and the partitioner let me resize with ease. Time to move forward!

I have one other question. I have Mint 7 dual booting with Vista on my laptop (computer most often used) but as yet I have not been able to enable wireless and do not have a wired connection. The response I got in the Wireless section of the forum was that Mint 7 KDE might be the solution. I don't know how long that will be, however, and have just received Ubuntu 9.04 by mail this week and after loading it without installing it I could at least see the wireless bars on the top of the screen but could not get it to activate. So, it seems as though I might be getting closer. I would like to try Ubuntu out in a dual boot on that machine with Vista, however, I'm a bit unsure as to how I should proceed. The current disk configuration Is 71.3 GB dedicated to Vista (/dev/sda1), Mint 7 with 38.8 GB (/dev/sda5), and swap 1.7 GB (/dev/sda6). If I want install it on top of Mint, can you suggest the easiest way? I am a bit intimidated by specifying the partitions manually for fear of gumming up the whole works. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks again for help on the previous problem.

[markcynt]

I would do a clean install of Ubuntu. Boot into Vista>Computer>Manage>Expand Storage if collapsed>Disk Management.

Then simply delete all the Mint partitions until just Windows partitions are left.

Then boot to the Ubuntu Live CD and when you get to where it asks you where you want to install just select "Largest Free Space".

That's it, simple as pie!

[Bogeyman]

Thanks, I'll give that a try this evening. [edit] Just did what you suggested and it worked like a charm! Best part was that Ubuntu suggested a driver download to fix the wireless problem. It did in short time and finally I can communicate. The only down side is that since I've only been using Mint 6 a short time on this computer (gnarly old Gateway desktop) I have really grown to like it. Ubuntu just doesn't seem to have the pizazz of Mint. But right now I am able to communicate with my favorite computer (HP laptop), and that's something that I can't overlook. Thanks, again for your help!!!!!!