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I have xp and don't have quite enough space to install Ubuntu to run alongside. Suggestions? Also, how do I move from one OS to the other with both installed? Thanks

slidehammr
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2 Answers2

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I have no idea as to your skill level with Ubuntu, but since you've asked a relatively basic question, I'm going to assume you're a beginner. Sorry if that's an incorrect assumption. With that in mind, I would like to recommend going with 14.04 LTS instead of 15.04 since issues dealing with installation, setup, and general use are better-documented for that version. You may have a better time with it.

Installing Ubuntu alongside Windows or any other operating system is commonly called "dual-booting" and is handled by the Ubuntu installation process. When you actually boot the computer after Ubuntu has been installed, you will be given the option to boot to any of the operating systems detected on your drive. Here is a good overview of the installation process: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Installing-Ubuntu-15-04-479239.shtml (Google is your friend here.)

The basic steps are common to just about any Ubuntu installation. There are, however, a few tips that I'd like to offer from my experience:

  • Make your own partitions. When you get to the step where Ubuntu asks you about partitioning and dealing with other OSes, consider making your own partitions manually. This has the advantage of showing you exactly what you're going to get instead of relying on the installer to figure out what's what. It will also prove easier to re-install Ubuntu if you break the OS without losing your personal data. (This is unlikely to happen, but I've done it before, and knowing my partition setup helped me fix it.) Here's a guide that I've used in the past: How to use manual partitioning during installation?
  • Back things up. If you're unfamiliar with the partitioning process, you could destroy some or all of the data on your drive(s), and that can be anything from discouraging to disasterous. If you can, back up either your whole drive or as much of it as you can.
  • Search before you ask. Even though 15.04 is new, there are a lot of concepts that are common to all versions, so give Google a try before asking questions. Don't be afraid to ask, of course, but do your research.

Now let's talk about drive space. I'm not really clear on what you mean by not having "enough space", since that can mean that either your Windows partition is taking up the whole drive or you simply have too much data on the drive already. In the latter case, you'll just have to shuffle stuff off of the disk (either by deleting or moving to another place) until you've got enough room. In the former, bear in mind that you can make your Windows partition smaller as a part of the installation process, or even from within Windows. This will leave unallocated space on your drive for Ubuntu. Poke around on your drive and see what you might be able to live without.

I hope you found this to be helpful.

  • Scrat9518
Community
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Please share more details on the setup you have. You could get Ubuntu Installed with as little as 6 GB on your Drive. With Both Windows XP and Ubuntu Installed side by side.

You could then mount the Windows Partition in UBuntu and copy your valuable Data. later you could get rid of Windows Completely.

However if you share more details, we can get to a better solution quickly.

Rajat Pandita
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