Basicly: Awhile ago I tried to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows home. Somehow the installation got fucked. I still dont know what I did to fuck it up, but im thinking im gonna give it another try. Do I just need to burn the disk image and install ubuntu to a new partition? And all should be well? Sure I can install linux but Im still a little confused about dual booting...A little help?

Theoretically, it should automatically set dual booting up, however, as far as I know, Ubuntu has no ability to resize NTFS partitons (what windoes XP uses) so, if you want to instll ubuntu, and have your whole hard drive formated as one NTFS partition (what most people do), then you either need to buy a new hard drive to install ubuntu on, or use something like partition magic to resize the windows NTFS partition so that you can install ubuntu on a new partition.

(Edited by Tangaroa at 11:07 am on Dec. 7, 2005)

Yes Ubuntu should auto detect and automatically set up the dual boot for you.  I'm also going on Tangaroa's assumption that your current windows install is on one partition, comsuming the entire harddrive.  In which case, you need to repartition and install windows first (on its designated partition).  This is important because windows tends to overwrite the mbr.

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Lifes a bitch.  If it were a slut it'd be too easy.

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Try installing windows before installing linux.  The windows bootloader doesn't play nice with lilo or grub.     I love ubuntu!

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That is a friggin understatement!  The Windows bootloader doesn't even check for another OS, it just decimates everything in it's path and leaves nothing but the ravages of monopolization in it's wake.

I find that Partition Magic is shakey, and I prefer not to use it.  I use a software suite from Acronis to do my partitioning, it's given me no problems so far.

Ubuntu will detect your windows partition and install a bootloader for you...it's practically idiot proof.

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I've come to lay a path of scorn.

Ubuntu is the best OS I have ever run, I'm lousy at running linux but I can figure it out and it made my PII with 64 ram faster than either of the PIVs in my house.

Have you ever thought about a windows emulator for linux? I dunno, I can't get one working myself but it sure looks better than the actual thing.

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Take your
Poison.

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dude, stay with Windows. Better for gaming.

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yeah my bf uses windows for gaming and ubuntu for everything else.