Installing FreeBSD with Windows XP
Jerry McAllister
jerrymc at msu.edu
Wed Jan 14 14:35:24 PST 2009
On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 01:05:42PM -0800, tsai wrote:
> Jerry,
>
> You read my mind. That was going to be my next question; how to get around
> the proprietary recovery section HP installed from the start. You hit the
> nail on the head! I will try this soon.
Yup. Basically, you just ignore it, leave it alone - anyway as long
as MS-SP isn't bothered by it.
////jerry
>
> Thanks,
>
> tsai
>
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 10:13 AM, Jerry McAllister <jerrymc at msu.edu> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 06:13:45AM -0800, tsai wrote:
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Is there a tutorial on how to install FreeBSD on a system which already
> > has
> > > Windows XP on it? The goal is to have dual-boot with both.
> >
> > The FreeBSD Handbook - free online at the FreeBSD web site - has a
> > whole section on that. It is easy. The machine on which I am typing
> > is dual boot with FreeBSD Win-XP.
> >
> > Basically, you first have to shrink the XP slice (which is called
> > a primary partition in the MS world) to make room for FreeBSD.
> > Probably the best utility for that nowdays is gpartd which is
> > available for free. Just do a little search and then burn a
> > bootable copy of it to a CD. It works with NTFS as well as other
> > MS file system types and some other freeware does not. You can
> > also use the Parition Magic commercial product, but stick with
> > version 7 which works well as long as it is on a hard disk.
> > Version 8 of Partition Magic doesn't work well. Neither of them
> > work with USB connected drives even though Version 8 claims to do so.
> > But, gpartd does also work with USB drives.
> >
> > After shrinking the MS slice, then create a second bootable slice -
> > which they call a primary partition. It may complain a bit about
> > having two primary partitions, but don't worry about that.
> >
> > Also, make sure the MS-XP slice is first on the drive. It gets
> > confused if it is not the first bootable slice on the drive.
> > FreeBSD is happy to boot from wherever you tell it.
> >
> > One small and esotheric exception is that some hardware companies
> > such as Dell and HP, put a diagnostic slice (primary partition) in
> > front of MS-Win on the disk. But they get around it by marking it
> > as a 'hidden' primary partition so MS MBRs do not 'see' it and just
> > ignore it. (But FreeBSD MBRs do see it and usually label it as ???
> > in the menu, leaving you to ignore it)
> >
> > So, leave that hardware maintenance slice where it is, have the MS-XP
> > slice next followed by the FreeBSD slice and, if you find it useful, an
> > additional small slice that you make in to a FAT32 type. If the MS-XP
> > slice is NTFS, it is handy to have a FA32 type slice around to use to
> > transfer files between MS and FreeBSD. Four or five GB should be
> > plenty depending on your usage. Alternatively, if you have shrunk
> > the MS slice down below the max size for Fat32, then you can just
> > convert the NTFS system to FAT32. I don't remember if gpartd will
> > do that, but Partition Magic (version 7) will do it nicely. That
> > introduces some limitations, plus FAT is not thought to be quite as
> > reliable as NTFS, but I have never had any problem doing that. If
> > you have no need to transfer files between the systems, then it is
> > a moot point and don't bother worrying about this.
> >
> > When you get done with all this, everything will look just the same
> > to the MS-XP machine, except it will have less disk space.
> > FreeBSD will see all those slices. Presuming all those slices I
> > mentioned, they will be identified as follows.
> >
> > /dev/ad0s1 -> Maintenance slice
> > /dev/ad0s2 -> XP slice (either NTFS or FAT32)
> > /dev/ad0s3 -> FreeBSD slice
> > /dev/ad0s4 -> Extra file transfer FAT32 slice
> >
> > Or, without the extras, it would be:
> >
> > /dev/ad0s1 -> XP slice (either NTFS or FAT32)
> > /dev/ad0s2 -> FreeBSD slice
> >
> > That is for ATA or SATA drives.
> > SCSI or SAS drives would be named /dev/da0...
> >
> > Once you have this slice creation done, just boot the sysinstall CD
> > and install FreeBSD to the FreeBSD slice you created. It should
> > see those slices and only write to the one you specify.
> > Make it write the FreeBSD MBR (the MS MBR won't work) and
> > select the option for making the slice bootable, just like you
> > would if installing FreeBSD by itself on the disk.
> >
> > Everything else is just like a normal install.
> > Note: Of course, the total size you have to deal with when you do
> > the partitioning in to a for /, b for swap, d for whatever, etc
> > will be the size of the slice you made for FreeBSD, not the
> > size of the disk itself.
> >
> > Then when you boot, you will see a menu that asks you to select
> > which bootable slice to boot and you specify it using the 'F' keys
> > eg F1, F2, F3 and it should look something like this.
> >
> > F1 - ???
> > F2 - MS-DOS (or ??? if NTFS)
> > F3 - FreeBSD
> >
> > If you make that extra file transfer FAT32 slice, do not mark that
> > as bootable and it should not show up in the menu. But the maintenance
> > slice will show up as F1 - ??? if you have one.
> >
> > Have fun,
> >
> > ////jerry
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > tsai
> > >
> > > --
> > > tsai
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> > > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> tsai
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