How do you reinstall Linux in a dual boot scenario?

[Alan Dayley]

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Dazed_75 wrote:
> You guys keepo saying the same thing.  Yes, most/all distros will add
> windows to the grub menu.  What not one of you has clearly stated is
> that you are talking about a reinstall rather than an original install
> of linux to dual boot with XP.  Since few, if any, of you are likely to
> have actually have done this, I will create a dual booting machine and
> then reinstall the linux to test that scenario sometime this week just
> to be sure


Sorry if people were to clear on the point.  Re-installing on a dual
boot is a common occurance, especially if you prefer to fresh install a
new version rather than update.

I have re-installed Fedora over Fedora several times.  The Fedora
installer gets to the hard disk partitioning questions, finds the
existing configuration and offers a choice:

1 - Make a new partition for this install (assuming you have empty space
on your drive.
2 - Wipe out the data on existing "Linux partitions"[1] with this new
install.
3 - Wipe out all partitions and data to start fresh.

I generally have chosen option 2 on dual boot machines, accept the
default partitions and let the installer do it's thing.  This ends up
with a boot menu of the new Linux and the Windows OS, as you'd want.

I have not done this with other Linux distros since I have recently
switched to OpenSUSE and have not needed to do it.  But, I assume they
would have similar choices and automatic handling of the current
partition setup.

Alan

[1] "Linux partitions" usually means all partitions that are not FAT,
FAT32 (VFAT) or NTFS.
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