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Installing Linux After Windows


moksha
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I was wondering if I could use diskutil resizeVolume to take some space from my HFS+ Mac partition to make a Linux partition after I've used Boot Camp to install XP. If so, what exactly would I have to input, since you need things to be a specific order for it to work properly. My OS X partition is disk0s2, and it's 183.0 GBs.

 

If I can't do that, would it be possible to erase the Windows partition, and then make one for Linux and one for XP?

 

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I was wondering if I could use diskutil resizeVolume to take some space from my HFS+ Mac partition to make a Linux partition after I've used Boot Camp to install XP. If so, what exactly would I have to input, since you need things to be a specific order for it to work properly. My OS X partition is disk0s2, and it's 183.0 GBs.

I tried this on my iMac. I told diskutil to resize the OS X volume and create a new Linux volume from the free space. The Linux partition was created as expected, and I was able to install Gentoo on it. Trouble is, the resize moved the XP partition from #3 to #4 and now Windows won't boot any more. (It shows the white on black progress screen, then reboots with a short flicker of a blue screen...) I haven't yet managed to repair the installation.

 

If I can't do that, would it be possible to erase the Windows partition, and then make one for Linux and one for XP?

That should be possible in theory, i.e. use diskutil to extend the OS X partition to the whole disk, then shrink it again while creating two new partitions.

 

Simply using Disk Utility will erase the whole disk, including the OS X partition. Other tools like parted won't get the hybrid GPT/MBR stuff right. :-(

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Trouble is, the resize moved the XP partition from #3 to #4 and now Windows won't boot any more. (It shows the white on black progress screen, then reboots with a short flicker of a blue screen...) I haven't yet managed to repair the installation.

Update: I decided to re-install Windows. In hindsight, it looks like the problem could have been solved without the reinstall by changing the partiton number in boot.ini. But now it's too late to try...

 

BTW, you never needed Windows just to boot Linux.

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