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Date:      Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:05:41 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@clunix.cl.msu.edu>
To:        mburki@mburki.com (Manuel Burki)
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Windows XP & Partition Magic
Message-ID:  <200504121405.j3CE5fUd028946@clunix.cl.msu.edu>
In-Reply-To: <E1DJSBD-0004ax-Dm@fetch.runbox.com>

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> 
> > 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
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