Ubuntu : blank screen while boooting from windows XP CD

Question

I have ubuntu installed.

This is the output of $sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x143b143a Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 1 3263 26210016 5 Extended /dev/sda2 3264 12327 72806580 83 Linux /dev/sda3 * 12328 17712 43255012+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/sda4 17713 19457 14016712+ 83 Linux /dev/sda5 2778 3263 3903763+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda6 1021 1319 2401686 83 Linux /dev/sda7 1320 2777 11711353+ 83 Linux Partition table entries are not in disk order

I want to install winXP I get a bank screen when I try to install XP by booting from CD. I dont want to loose any linux partitions. I would prefer installing windows on existing NTFS partition. What p[tions do I have ? Any kind of help will be highly appreciated... Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I partly agree with pavium. Windows will not overwrite the linux partition till you tell it to do so. But it will remove entries for the boot menu. So once you install Windows over Linux, you will not be able to boot to Linux. The only way is to re install GRUB.

Also Windows XP SP2 does not have drivers for SATA Disk Drives by default. So if you boot your PC with XP, it may not detect your Disk Drive. Is that the issue?

Answer 2

The WinXP install will not overwrite the Linux partitions till you give it permission to either use the entire disk, or to specifically repartition/reformat it. You should be able to install XP on the NTFS partition; the guide here has a couple of screenshots showing the XP option to install to a specific partition.

The XP install will however wipe out your GRUB bootloader, so you won't be able to boot into linux till you restore it. Follow the Ubuntu Community Documentation guide on Recovering Ubuntu After Installing Windows to do this. It is a good idea to read the guide before you embark on the XP install, so you know what you're getting into.

Answer 3

I don't think you'll be happy with the consequences of installing Windows after Linux.

I may be wrong, because I haven't dual-booted for some time, but I expect Windows will ignore the Linux partitions and overwrite them.

It's safer to install Linux after Windows, so the Linux installer can say "look, you've got some other partitions here — do you want to dual-boot?"