From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 12 14:05:41 2005 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 B7CD516A4CE for ; Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:05:41 +0000 (GMT) Received: from clunix.cl.msu.edu (clunix.cl.msu.edu [35.9.2.10]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 538AF43D39 for ; Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:05:41 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jerrymc@clunix.cl.msu.edu) Received: from clunix.cl.msu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) j3CE5fb0028947; Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:05:41 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from jerrymc@localhost) by clunix.cl.msu.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.2/Submit) id j3CE5fUd028946; Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:05:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Jerry McAllister Message-Id: <200504121405.j3CE5fUd028946@clunix.cl.msu.edu> To: mburki@mburki.com (Manuel Burki) Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:05:41 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL7] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Windows XP & Partition Magic 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: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:05:41 -0000 > > > Can FreeBSD be installed if I use Partition Magic. I am currently running > > on Windows XP environment. (That is the only primary partition) ..If > > so how..I > > keep getting error messages "Could not find Primary Descriptor"..when > > installing > > FreeBSD from CD. Am I partitioning wrong, or is XP not compatable? I don't know just why you would be getting that error. Probably you did something wrong with Partition Magic when shrinking the XP slice. You may have to go back in to Partition Magic and make sure that both the WinXP and FreeBSD slices are marked as primary 'partitions'. They don't make it very clear that both slices should be defined as primary. But, it is definitely doable. The machine I am typing on right now has both WinXP and FreeBSD on it. I normally use the FreeBSD side, but occasionally boot to XP for certain things. It works just fine. Also, I used Partition Magic to shrink the preinstalled MS NTFS slice to make room for a FreeBSD slice. Does the WinXP still boot OK after shrinking its slice with Partition Magic? > If you're going to run FreeBSD you don't need Windows XP anymore. So the > CD installation is quite easy. Just boot from the CD, delete all paritions > and choose "use entire disk". That is not very good advice. The person is obviously trying to set up a dual boot machine. Sure, an experience person may find themselves eventually mostly using only the FreeBSD side of the machine, but that is not what was being asked. > > Besides that, the install procedure is quite well explained in the > documentations. That is true, but some things are still not obvious to the person just starting out, such as needing the FreeBSD slice marked as primary as well as the Win slice. ////jerry > > regards, > > Manuel Burki > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > >