From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 30 06:05:42 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8BCF216A4CE for ; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 06:05:42 +0000 (GMT) Received: from ms-smtp-03-eri0.texas.rr.com (ms-smtp-03.texas.rr.com [24.93.47.42]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1FE4143D2D for ; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 06:05:42 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from afabian@austin.rr.com) Received: from turingmachine.mentalsiege.net (cs70112247-52.austin.rr.com [70.112.247.52])iBU65Q2b015840; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:05:32 -0600 (CST) Received: from turingmachine.mentalsiege.net (turingmachine.mentalsiege.net [127.0.0.1])iBU64Led085612; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:04:31 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from afabian@turingmachine.mentalsiege.net) Received: (from afabian@localhost)iBU63wcw085607; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:03:58 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from afabian) Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:03:54 -0600 From: Adam Fabian To: Tom Connolly Message-ID: <20041230060354.GB16781@turingmachine.mentalsiege.net> Mail-Followup-To: Tom Connolly , FreeBSD_Questions References: <033f01c4ec6e$014ba970$9a11a8c0@d3stomc> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <033f01c4ec6e$014ba970$9a11a8c0@d3stomc> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine cc: FreeBSD_Questions Subject: Re: Dual boot WinXP and FreeBSD 5.3 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 06:05:42 -0000 On Mon, Dec 27, 2004 at 04:44:28PM -0700, Tom Connolly wrote: > Hello list. I wish to put FreeBSD 5.3 on a new hard drive and have it > dual boot with the existing Windows XP system (separate HD). Can I just > simply go through the FreeBSD install and have it install the FreeBSD > boot manager/loader on the XP drive? I can't risk doing any damage to > the XP system as it has a thermal analyzer program on it that won't run If you try to set up dual-boot, you're risking doing damage to the XP system. In any case whatsoever. If you're inexperienced, the risk is actually pretty high. > on FreeBSD (otherwise I would have no use for XP at all). I would like > to know if there are any "gotchas" or anything that could be a problem. > I would really like to hear comments from anyone who has set up such a > system. Utilities from the DOS/Windows world are frequently stupid and make stupid assumptions, like you only have one big, primary partition and you run one operating system, and might be hazy about telling you which partition and disk they're going to act on. (And it will always be the one you don't want it to.) Even if you're using UNIX utilities, 0-9 and a-z are very susceptible to one letter off typos; if you don't have a full disk image, or are not willing to reinstall everything on the system from scratch, do not even try to make a dual-boot system. The whole process is a "gotcha"; the architecture wasn't designed with dual-boot in mind. I found the GAG boot manager to be pretty easy and intuitive. -- Adam Fabian (afabian@austin.rr.com)