Install of WindowsXP: does it delete MDV partitions?

Aragorn wrote:

What will however happen with the utmost certainty, is that the GRUB
bootloader will be erased from the MBR in favor of the DOS-style legacy
bootloader which looks for the active primary partition and then loads
that one's boot sector into memory.

That was always my belief, but it doesn't seem to happen with XP. On a
first install on a fresh drive, I always install Windows first. But I have
repeatedly reinstalled Windows XP from scratch, and GRUB has been unaffected
every time. That can be a disadvantage. By design, you don't boot from the
XP CD unless you press a key. As a result, when the Windows installer
reboots the system during the process, I have to be on hand to choose
Windows from the GRUB menu. The last couple of times, I have used the
Mandriva DVD to put the Windows bootloader back at the beginning, to make
things happen as intended. Even the gurus are resigned to reinstalling
Windows about every 6 months. Because Windows is my second OS, mine lasts
longer. In a lot of ways XP is ideal for the dual-booter.

Does this perhaps happen only with reinstalls?

In answer to the original question, XP won't take over your whole drive.
It prints a list of partitions and asks you to choose. Other versions
of Windows may be different, as you say.

Doug.

On Friday 06 August 2010 15:14 in alt.os.linux.mandriva, somebody
identifying as Doug Laidlaw wrote...

Aragorn wrote:

What will however happen with the utmost certainty, is that the GRUB
bootloader will be erased from the MBR in favor of the DOS-style
legacy bootloader which looks for the active primary partition and
then loads that one's boot sector into memory.

That was always my belief, but it doesn't seem to happen with XP. On
a first install on a fresh drive, I always install Windows first. But
I have repeatedly reinstalled Windows XP from scratch, and GRUB has
been unaffected every time.

This is very exceptional indeed. But then again, there are many factors
at play here, such as...

- Is this an OEM version of Windows or a machine-independent
license? (Presumably the latter.)

- What version of Windows XP is this, i.e. Home Edition,
Professional Edition, and what have you?

- What Service Pack release of Windows XP is this?

All of the above play a role in how nicely or how badly Windows plays
ball with any other operating systems installed on the same computer.

That can be a disadvantage. By design, you don't boot from the
XP CD unless you press a key. As a result, when the Windows installer
reboots the system during the process, I have to be on hand to choose
Windows from the GRUB menu.

That's because of two other things, i.e.:

- The fact that Windows requires reboots during installation;

- The fact that Windows was never designed to be used on the
same machine as other operating systems, which is a corrolary
of the above.

The last couple of times, I have used the Mandriva DVD to put the
Windows bootloader back at the beginning, to make things happen as
intended. Even the gurus are resigned to reinstalling
Windows about every 6 months.

Which is of course a flaw in the design of Windows.

Because Windows is my second OS, mine lasts longer. In a lot of ways
XP is ideal for the dual-booter.

Does this perhaps happen only with reinstalls?

In answer to the original question, XP won't take over your whole
drive. It prints a list of partitions and asks you to choose. Other
versions of Windows may be different, as you say.

In which case I think the most important difference is between an OEM
version of Windows intended to be used on the machine it came with, and
a separately bought enduser version.

The OEMs don't play nicely and tend to claim your entire hard disk, and
especially so if they come on a so-called recovery CD. Such machines
don't have an actual "installable" Windows CD, but instead come with a
manufacturer-supplied CD that also contains the manufacturer-supplied
application software, additional drivers, et al.

And in some cases, these recovery CDs aren't even recovery CDs, but are
instead installed in a hidden partition - typically at the end of the
hard disk. I believe that this was the case with my brother's old
Compaq Presario.

*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

On 08/06/2010 08:05 AM, Aragorn wrote:

On Friday 06 August 2010 15:14 in alt.os.linux.mandriva, somebody
identifying as Doug Laidlaw wrote...

Aragorn wrote:

What will however happen with the utmost certainty, is that the GRUB
bootloader will be erased from the MBR in favor of the DOS-style
legacy bootloader which looks for the active primary partition and
then loads that one's boot sector into memory.

That was always my belief, but it doesn't seem to happen with XP. On
a first install on a fresh drive, I always install Windows first. But
I have repeatedly reinstalled Windows XP from scratch, and GRUB has
been unaffected every time.

This is very exceptional indeed. But then again, there are many factors
at play here, such as...

- Is this an OEM version of Windows or a machine-independent
license? (Presumably the latter.)

- What version of Windows XP is this, i.e. Home Edition,
Professional Edition, and what have you?

- What Service Pack release of Windows XP is this?

All of the above play a role in how nicely or how badly Windows plays
ball with any other operating systems installed on the same computer.

That can be a disadvantage. By design, you don't boot from the
XP CD unless you press a key. As a result, when the Windows installer
reboots the system during the process, I have to be on hand to choose
Windows from the GRUB menu.

That's because of two other things, i.e.:

- The fact that Windows requires reboots during installation;

- The fact that Windows was never designed to be used on the
same machine as other operating systems, which is a corrolary
of the above.

The last couple of times, I have used the Mandriva DVD to put the
Windows bootloader back at the beginning, to make things happen as
intended. Even the gurus are resigned to reinstalling
Windows about every 6 months.

Which is of course a flaw in the design of Windows.

Because Windows is my second OS, mine lasts longer. In a lot of ways
XP is ideal for the dual-booter.

Does this perhaps happen only with reinstalls?

In answer to the original question, XP won't take over your whole
drive. It prints a list of partitions and asks you to choose. Other
versions of Windows may be different, as you say.

In which case I think the most important difference is between an OEM
version of Windows intended to be used on the machine it came with, and
a separately bought enduser version.

The OEMs don't play nicely and tend to claim your entire hard disk, and
especially so if they come on a so-called recovery CD. Such machines
don't have an actual "installable" Windows CD, but instead come with a
manufacturer-supplied CD that also contains the manufacturer-supplied
application software, additional drivers, et al.

And in some cases, these recovery CDs aren't even recovery CDs, but are
instead installed in a hidden partition - typically at the end of the
hard disk. I believe that this was the case with my brother's old
Compaq Presario.

That is how my Compaq Presario is set up.
Vista is a disk space hog as well taking up
far more space than the size of the OS. I used its
built in disk partitioner to carve off about 75 GB
for my Mandriva install.

later
bliss

later