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If you want to install Puppy on a hard drive along with Windows, there are several strategies. Before starting, read here.
The method described below creates a separate partition for Puppy and makes it the "boot" partition. Your Windows setup is not changed. If you ever decide to delete Puppy and return to an all-Windows machine, you will only need to reset the Windows partition as bootable. (You can do this by running GParted from any Puppy Live CD.)
Be aware that this method may not work on some older machines whose BIOS cannot boot a partition at the far end of the hard drive.
If your machine already has another Linux installed, do not use this method unless you plan to delete it.
Download the attachment below, extract the folder "install-with-win" and save it to a flash drive. The folder contains two scripts named "install-cd" and "install-usb". You will use the one that matches how you boot the target machine.
There are three main steps to building your dual-boot setup.
Step One
Note: If you have Vista or Windows 7, do NOT use Gparted. Instead, use Windows' own Disk Management tool.
You must shrink your Windows partition to create space for Puppy. You will do this using the GParted program in Puppy's System menu or with a standalone Live CD like Parted Magic. Here are some hints:
1. Just to be safe, have Windows check the health of your hard drive before you start partitioning. Go to My Computer and right-click on the C: icon. Select Properties > Tools > Error-checking.
2. To run GParted from within Puppy, you must boot off the Live CD and use the option:
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puppy pfix=ram
3. Always shrink Windows from the end of its partition. Do not move the partition to the right to create space in front. Windows does not like to be moved around! If you are not comfortable doing this step, you should consider using the Lin'n'Win procedure instead.
4. In GParted, right-clicking on an entry brings up a menu of operations. Nothing permanent is done to your hard drive until you click the Apply button.
5. Format the new Puppy partition as ext3 primary. Your drive can have other NTFS or FAT32 partitions belonging to Windows. However, the installer will assume that the first ext partition it finds on the drive is reserved for Puppy.
6. A few GB of space is plenty for a basic Puppy frugal install. If you plan to save lots of content to your Puppy partition, make it larger.
7. You do not need to build a separate swap partition. The installer will automatically make a swap file for you.
8. After repartitioning, boot up Windows to check its integrity. Windows may go through its hardware rediscovery procedure or do a hard drive scan.
Step Two
Boot off the Puppy Live CD using
Code: Select all
puppy pfix=ram
Now right-click on the new Puppy partition and select Manage Flags. Put a check mark on its "boot" option. The next time you boot your computer, it will start from the Puppy partition instead of Windows.
Step Three
Mount the flash drive, open the "install-with-win" folder and click on the icon "install-cd" or "install-usb".
The installer will identify the new ext3 partition and ask you a YES/NO question before continuing.
The installer does a frugal install and makes a swap file.
Finally, it configures the GRUB bootloader. It places the GRUB Stage1 code on the partition boot sector. The MBR of the hard drive is not changed.
If you have been keeping a pup_save file somewhere in your Windows setup, move it over to the new Puppy partition now.
Do a shutdown/reboot and make a pup_save file if you need one. Be sure to select the correct partition.
On the next boot, you will get a GRUB menu showing both Puppy and Windows. Your dual-boot setup is complete. If there are any left-over Puppy files still in the Windows partition, you can delete them.
Note: The GRUB menu assumes that Windows is in the first partition of the hard drive. But on many machines, the first partition contains a rescue system and Windows is on the second partition. You will need to edit the GRUB menu.lst file and change (hd0,0) to (hd0,1). Look for this file in the folder /boot/grub at the root of your Puppy partition.