WinXP and FreeBSD configuration problems

[Daniel Marsh]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 10:44:30 +0800, <dmwassman at cox.net> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> OK it is now day three and I have given up. This will be a long one just  
> to warn you now.
>
> I have a 320 GiB HD and a 5 GiB HD. The 320 is faster than the 5 (yes,  
> it is that old). I want to dual boot WinXP and FreeBSD. The main issue  
> is that I don't want to put the FreeBSD buried behind 100G FAT partition  
> as I would like to have the swap closer to the edge of the HD. I use the  
> 5 G to transfer files and such, especially when changing the OS on a  
> partition. I prefer not to use it a a boot as it is only 5400 and I  
> would have to put the CDROM on either it as prime boot and slow it more  
> or on the 320 and slow it down. This seems like a simple problem but it  
> has not turned out that way.
>
> First, I tried to install windows on the first 2G partition then tried  
> to install freebsd as follows
> ad0s0		NTFS		2G	#Windows Boot
> ad0s1		FreeBSD	2G	#FreeBSD Boot/Swap
> ad0s3		FAT		20G	#Windows
> ad0s4		FreeBSD	298G	#FreeBSD	
>

I think one of the problems here would be the fact that you have created  
multiple FreeBSD slices on the same disk.

The layout should be:
ad0s0 - Windows - 2g
ad0s1 - FreeBSD - 290g
ad0s2 - Windows - Leftovers

Once you've partitioned the disk in the FreeBSD install you will then need  
to label it (this is where you set /, /usr, /var, /tmp, and your swap  
partitions)...

Definately don't use dangerously dedicated mode.

Install the FreeBSD boot loader on the ad0s1 slice and install Partition  
Magic on the MBR, or put the FreeBSD boot loader on the MBR (it should  
work and has done for me in the past, make sure Windows doesn't overwrite  
it).

Daniel