Installing FreeBSD 4.9 on a Windows/XP Professional system.

[Greg Barniskis]

Walt Haynes wrote:
> 	Good afternoon. I have a Compaq SR1810NX with a 100GB hard drive
> split into four equal partitions of 23GB. Two are initialized (one with
> Windows/XP (C) and the other with a quick format (G)); the file systems
> are NTFS. The other two partitions (D and E) are uninitialized. I have
> FreeBSD 4.9 on three CD'S that I'd like to install into one of the
> uninitialized partitions. Can you tell me what I need to do for
> preinstallation and what do I need to know to direct my installation to
> one of the uninitialized partitions? I'm going to give the entire 23GB
> to FreeBSD. Thank you in advance for your assistance. I'm very anxious
> to learn UNIX system administration and all of the related tasks (shell
> programming, security administration, etc.).  

Version 4.9 is basically obsolete and may not support newer 
hardware. I don't know your hardware, so can't specifically address 
that. But even if it's older, you really should download and install 
version 6.1 from the Web site, or buy a new CD set from a reseller, 
if you intend to learn the state of the art and keep moving forward.

Since the disk space you want to use for FreeBSD is not initialized, 
you should have little trouble distinguishing it from your Windows 
disk space during the installation. Telling the installer which disk 
space to use is pretty straightforward. Even so, you should back up 
your Windows installation before proceeding with a FreeBSD install, 
unless you are very confident.

For complete install instructions, read the very fine manual:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/

Specifically, the method of selecting disk space is described here:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-steps.html

Welcome, and good luck!


-- 
Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator
South Central Library System (SCLS)
Library Interchange Network (LINK)
<gregb at scls.lib.wi.us>, (608) 266-6348