From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Dec 7 13:28:45 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 27D0C16A419 for ; Fri, 7 Dec 2007 13:28:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net (ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net [80.76.149.213]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC02413C43E for ; Fri, 7 Dec 2007 13:28:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from c83-253-25-183.bredband.comhem.se ([83.253.25.183]:53330 helo=falcon.midgard.homeip.net) by ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net with esmtp (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1J0d0c-0007Sg-9L for questions@FreeBSD.org; Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:12:51 +0100 Received: (qmail 65519 invoked from network); 7 Dec 2007 14:12:47 +0100 Received: from owl.midgard.homeip.net (10.1.5.7) by falcon.midgard.homeip.net with ESMTP; 7 Dec 2007 14:12:47 +0100 Received: (qmail 63204 invoked by uid 1001); 7 Dec 2007 14:12:47 +0100 Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 14:12:47 +0100 From: Erik Trulsson To: David Morton Message-ID: <20071207131247.GA63135@owl.midgard.homeip.net> Mail-Followup-To: David Morton , questions@FreeBSD.org References: <3FCDB80A8B104BC1BCEF3A0696B55144@LenC2008922a26> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3FCDB80A8B104BC1BCEF3A0696B55144@LenC2008922a26> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) X-Originating-IP: 83.253.25.183 X-Scan-Result: No virus found in message 1J0d0c-0007Sg-9L. X-Scan-Signature: ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net 1J0d0c-0007Sg-9L 7048b0a2fec1f71de95cf5ab49dc55db Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD on a PC with Windows X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:28:45 -0000 On Fri, Dec 07, 2007 at 11:10:28PM +1100, David Morton wrote: > I have been out of work so long (since being diagnosed as autistic and > scared) that even as an IT professional, I now get very anxious about > messing with my PC. > > However, I got a magazine that included FreeBSD/i386 6.2 on the DVD and I > have always wanted to play with BSD. My past experience included UNIX > System V, some Solaris 7 or 8, and other variants, so you know a bit of > history. > > Anyway, I have a laptop preinstalled with Vista Home Premium and I would > like to also run BSD on it. In reading your installation documentation, I > do not see anything that suggests I can install FreeBSD onto my PC without > wiping Windows. > > I also have restricted web access so cannot access you web site, so I would > like to know if FreeBSD will install in a way that will not kill Windows on > my PC? > > I have to ask this, because I once had an old PC and put Solaris on it, and > that required a dedicated drive. The PC is now dead, so I have to make it > all work on one machine. > It is possible to have both FreeBSD and Microsoft Windows installed on the same hard-disk and at boot time choose which one to run. FreeBSD does not require a dedicated driver, but it does need a (primary) partition (slice in FreeBSD-speak) on the harddisk. If you already have a free partition with sufficient space (a few gigabytes should be plenty) there should be no problems installing FreeBSD. (Although I have heard some rumors that Windows Vista makes it difficult to dual-boot other systems. I don't know if there is any substance to this.) If your Windows-installation already uses the whole hard-disk you will need to do *something* to get space for FreeBSD. I know that there are Windows-based tools that can shrink existing partitions without requiring a re-install of everything ('Partition Magic' is probably the most famous), but I have no personal experience with any of them. -- Erik Trulsson ertr1013@student.uu.se