Dual boot W2k & Red Hat 7.3

[AKP]

I am trying to install red hat 7.3 on my PC with W2k. I have a 40GB HDD in three partitions, these are:

C: 4.87 GB (primary partition)
D: 14.6 (extended with W2k installed)
E: 17.7 GB (extended)

All of these are formatted as FAT32

O.K, now when I am in setup I select automatic partitioning, and I get an error message saying something about a primary partition. I cannot created any / , boot, etc partitions on this partition, and thus cannot install it. In manual partitioning the same error also occurs.

I intalled linux after windows as I wanted to put GRUB on the MBR to allow dual boot. Also the reason I wanted to put Linux in C:\ is to avoid any problems with not being below the 1024 cylinder.

I do not mind reformatting the HDD and re-partitioning it-I want to get the damn system up and running.

I want a 5G partition for Linux, around 15-20 for w2k, and the rest as a backup (or two separate backup partitions for each OS)

Can someone please give me advice as to how to fix my problem and get my system up and running?...maybe I should just stick to windows.

[zadok]

I used to dual boot Win2K here with various RedHat versions. The safest and best way, IMHO, to pull this off is to install WIndows first. During the Windows install hose ALL the partitions off the drive then create one (initially) to house Win2k. With that done, install RH using however much space you'd care to allocate. After this you can go into Windows and partition the balance of the drive for storage.

Perhaps an easier way to do this would be to drop in another HDD and use one for Windows and one for Linux. This makes it a bit harder to spill junk on your shoes.

Use the Windows loader to fire up Linux or use a boot floppy to keep the fact that you even have Linux on the machine a secret... (a trick that generally gets past the normal Helpdesk IT types in most offices that pooh-pooh stuff like this).:)

[dysharmonic]

Not really sure but if you're referring manual partitioning to DiskDruid, it assumes that you already have a partition ready for allocation, that is you need to explicitly create a partition and save the partition table info. AFAIK diskDruid wont assign any mount points to free space on your disk. But I could be wrong.

Try fdisk instead. It's easier and will create partitions cleanly for you.

I posted here for I'd also like to know, nubie learning :)

[nacum]

I asm trying to dual boot my win 2k and 7.3 box...After installing both OS Grub shows me the OS's...I choose Win 2k and my screen goes to "rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1"
I looked on the web and tried adding "makeactive" after chainloader but still does not work...I tried changing the last "0" to a "1" and "2" but to no success..Am I doing something wrong..I need HELP!!!
Yes I am a Newbie...I am really looking forward to learning Linux...Gotta start somewhere..:confused: