here my small [HowTo] for creating, especially for older, slower hardware, these partitions in this order: Linux Swap , Linux Partition (ext3), Windows Partition (ntfs)
Since currently the only XP professional Volume Licence version we have here is XP SP3.
Yes, I know Witless XP is no longer maintained by Micro$oft. There are no longer security updates. But I never go online with any of my Witless OS anyway. So, I recommend, at least when you follow this howto install Linux (Porteus) and Witless XP, when running Witless XPdo as I do: always plug out the network cable, and disable any WLAN capabilities of your PC or notebook.
So, let's start.
Start up your PC with any Live Linux that has fdisk or GParted installed. I used Porteus (I tweak all my Porteus version so that it always boots into virtual terminal aka text mode, and I have to startx manually, if I need it. In this case, X is not needed, since I used fdisk.
Start as root
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fdisk /dev/sda
Create the swap partition as first partition. Why as first? Because usually the starting sectors of a hard disk are quicker to be read and written, and it gets slower the more the data is onto the end part of a hard disk. This is not true for SolidStateDisks, but then you won't follow this HowTo, since I presume you don't have old slow hardware anyway, why put a SSD into such an old machine?
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Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
e extended
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 1): 1
First sector (2048-78165359, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-78165359, default 78165359): +2G
Partition 1 of type Linux and of size 2 GiB is set
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 1 to 82 (Linux swap)
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Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
p primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free)
e extended
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 2):
Using default value 2
First sector (4196352-78165359, default 4196352):
Using default value 4196352
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (4196352-78165359, default 78165359): +4G
Partition 2 of type Linux and of size 4 GiB is set
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Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
p primary (2 primary, 0 extended, 2 free)
e extended
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 3):
Using default value 3
First sector (12584960-78165359, default 12584960):
Using default value 12584960
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (12584960-78165359, default 78165359):
Using default value 78165359
Partition 3 of type Linux and of size 31.3 GiB is set
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 3
Hex code (type L to list codes): 7
Changed system type of partition 3 to 7 (HPFS/NTFS/exFAT)
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Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
54 heads, 48 sectors/track, 30156 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x01a90f44
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 4196351 2097152 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda2 4196352 12584959 4194304 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 12584960 78165359 32790200 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Exit fdisk with q.
Create the swap partition with
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mkswap /dev/sda1
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mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda2
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mkfs.ntfs -Q /dev/sda3
But you are the one to decide here. Do you have private or confidential data on your old hard disk? If so, don't use the -Q option.
Now, copy your Porteus boot and Porteus folders to sda2, but you also can do that at the very end.
Now, insert your WitlessXP installation CD and restart your PC, make sure to tell it to Boot from CDROM.
Make sure to tell XP to not touch the 1st and 2nd "unknown partition" it lists, it will tell you that your created sda3 is its C: partition. Use that partition to install XP on. You can either keep the partition as it is, or make a quick format.
After 2 or 3 reboots XP is finally installed. Use your Live Linux by either booting from an USB pendrive or a CDROM and install your Linux to sdb2, when you haven't done so already as written above.
Now, when it's Porteus, go into sda2/boot and run as root Porteus-installer-for-Linux.sh
Edit your porteus.cfg to be able to boot XP as well by adding this entry:
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LABEL W-XP
MENU LABEL W-Xp from intHDE0,3
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd0 3
TEXT HELP
Start W-XP from intHDE 0,3
ENDTEXT
Have a nice day.