[PunkPyro912]

ok i have Windows XP Pro installed on this system (specs are in sig.) but i also have a linux disk that i used before i installed Windows. I was just wondering: If i boot up off of the Linux CD...would it affect my windows at all? Like i know that i'd set up the BIOS for the CD Drive to be read first so it can boot off of it, but once i booted up off of it...the next time i turn on the computer (setting BIOS back to the original way) would it just boot up windows normally? I just want to try out this Linux and explore it and stuff but at the same time i dont want it to like mess up or erase my windows. Any help>?

[linuxphile]

If the CD you are booting off of is just a LiveCD like Knoppix then you will be fine. If at some point during the process of booting/running your Linux CD you are prompted to partition the HD it would be a good idea to not do so if you want to maintain, in it's present state, your Windows partition/install.

[PunkPyro912]

well idk if its a LiveCD...i used it before i had windows installed and i think, but im not sure, that i didnt have a HD installed either because it stopped working...

[saikee]

A Live Linux CD will run on a CD without installing on a hard drive. You can use it to clone WinXP pro too. It is also a very useful tool for recuing XP when it becomes unreadable or unbootable.

[PunkPyro912]

so in the end...it wouldnt affect my windows or my system at all....with like configuration or settings or nething?

[saikee]

Linux can't officially write a NTFS partition (some experiemental version may) so it is virtually impossible to damage a XP partition. XP doesn't support Linux and wouldn't load one so they are mutually exclusive.

The only thing that both compete for is the location of the bootloader, an area called MBR or the first sector of a bootable hard drive. This sector is read by the BIOS and whoever got in first can control the PC. Both XP and Linux can multiboot each other even if each gets in first.

A Live Linux CD boot from a CD and has no interest in the MBR.

Both Linux and Windows can restore their bootloaders freely and repeatedly. It is a one line command by loading a floppy prepared by its own system. So even if the MBR is completely trashed beyond recognition it is a minute job to get everything back, be in Windows or Linux. As an example XP can get its MBR back just by loading a bootable DOS floppy and type fdisk /mbr.

So much for afraid a xp configuration and setting being affected by a Linux!