help with dual boot install

Which are you installing first?

I have a machine with Vista pre- installed. After setting aside a partition,
Trisquel's install wizard made it quite easy to install "alongside" Windows,
and to boot between the two systems.

There is an option for it during the install process (after "language",
"location". etc)

I'm doing cartwheels how easy the wizard made it, frankly.

But I'm relatively new to Linux.

the installer does offer ntfs as an option...

the installer does offer ntfs as an option...

You may not want to install Trisquel alongside Microsoft Windows even as a
means of helping yourself transition. The problem is Microsoft doesn't play
nice with others. You will likely turn on your computer one day and discover
the system doesn't boot. It is recoverable although not without a bit of
work. If you go this route hold onto the install CD as it will comes in handy
for recovery. If you have a few dollars lying around you can get cheap system
that will run Trisquel better than your current system (most likely).

I head ThinkPenguin.com and we donate 25% of the profits go to the Trisquel
project.

http://libre.thinkpenguin.com/

The Penguin Wee starts at $249 (no monitor / keyboard / mouse included) and
should work fine with the Trisquel LTS release. Although I'd suggest more ram
than the base configuration. The upcoming Trisquel LTS release is going to
need more than 1GB.

You rather need to shrink the NTFS partition, install Trisquel alongside to
your Windows and install the Linux bootmanager (is it GRUB or GRUB2 with Tris
?) on your harddisk. Technically it is not hard to do but still can endanger
the data integrity of your Windows installation. Grub can screw up your boot
record, so you have to re-install the Windows boot stuff from the CD in the
recovery console.

Essentially the Trisquel setup tool will guide your through the process. You
simply need to understand the neccessary steps.

I would rather use a second HDD. May be you have a spare old HDD lying around
for Trisquel ?

Or you choose a similar approach as I did and install Trisquel to a USB
stick. I am currently experimenting with Trisquel x64 5.5 on my Windows
gaming system and have installed it to 16GB USB stick. Trisquel did also
recognise my Windows installation. So when booting up from the USB stick I
can choose booting up Windows as well. I the USB stick is too small there are
ways to extend the available diskspace by simple using binary files stored on
your Windows HDD mounted via loop-back but this requires a bit of Linux
skills in the shell.

Trisquel is also a bit picky about the hardware. Esp. NICs on the motherboard
often rely on firmware blobs which are not supported by Trisquel. A cheap USB
NIC can be a nice workaround.

We should probably have a guide on this...

If anybody wants to create one.

I could do a guide. Is something special required to get access to the wiki
for adding such a guide ? Over at archlinux every "standard user" is allowed
to edit the wiki.

I like the manual. Although I prefer to do a clean install of Windows first
(say 50% of the space on the HDD) then do a fresh install of Trisquel in the
remaining space.

This is far less complicated and risky to do. All I do within the Trisquel
installer is to select "Use continuous free space". Then the Trisquel
installer doesn't even touch the Windows partition. It only creates a new
MBR.

This method has always worked for me and produces a dual boot solid as a
rock. Plus I get a fresh Windows install without the OEM crud.

I have windows box and want to install Trisquel in dual boot. I boot to the live cd version and try starting the install from the Trisquel desktop but none of the disk options will allow the install.

I have windows box and want to install Trisquel in dual boot. I boot to the
live cd version and try starting the install from the Trisquel desktop but
none of the disk options will allow the install.

How did you "set aside a partition"?

How did you "set aside a partition"?

I was unable to find a way to install on the same HDD as windows. The box I am using is booksize unit so adding an additional HDD wasn't possible. Since the 5.5 install deleted my server 2008 partition it's not a problem any more. :)

Not to worry the 2008 R2 install was rather buggy, and every time I delete a windows install I have the urge to smoke a smelly cigar and have a beer. :)

So far all is well.

Thanks to one and all. :-D

I was unable to find a way to install on the same HDD as windows. The box I
am using is booksize unit so adding an additional HDD wasn't possible. Since
the 5.5 install deleted my server 2008 partition it's not a problem any more.
:)

Not to worry the 2008 R2 install was rather buggy, and every time I delete a
windows install I have the urge to smoke a smelly cigar and have a beer. :)

So far all is well.

Thanks to one and all. :-D

You can do it here. To write a manual you don't need any special privileges.

The only reason I have not written a dual-boot guide is I don't have a copy of windows to use as an example. And just FYI for anyone wondering a manual on how to dual-boot trisquel and windows would NOT violate the GFSD (see the section on documentation) because that manual would help people move from a non-free OS to a free one.

If you are going to write such a manual I would ask that you maybe take a look at some of the other installation manuals such as this one and maybe try to keep the same style as much as you can. If we have tons of different styles all over the wiki it can make the documentation look a little weird.

You can do it [https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/installation-guide here.] To
write a manual you don't need any special privileges.

The only reason I have not written a dual-boot guide is I don't have a copy
of windows to use as an example. And just FYI for anyone wondering a manual
on how to dual-boot trisquel and windows would NOT violate the
[https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html GFSD]
(see the section on documentation) because that manual would help people move
from a non-free OS to a free one.

If you are going to write such a manual I would ask that you maybe take a
look at some of the other installation manuals such as
[https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/trisquel-installation-50 this one] and maybe
try to keep the same style as much as you can. If we have tons of different
styles all over the wiki it can make the documentation look a little weird.