I should have asked how big your setup was currently.

Oh well, yes the Windows apps take a while to install, been there myself.

If I were to re-do the whole drive, not knowing it's size I might do it as such:

/dev/sda - standard 100MB boot /dev/sdb - 90% of remaining space as an LVM PV /dev/sdc - remaining space as future Windows volume

In the LVM VG formed from /dev/sdb, create a / lv of say 8GB, a swap lv of say 2GB and a /home lv of say 16GB, save whatever is left for additional storage, maybe for shared files (/shared) or commercial apps (/opt) or whatever. The sizes are simply suggestions, but try to not allocate all free space.

You can then install Windows from within vmware by making /dev/sdc a raw disk for vmware. Once it's installed you could add an entry in grub to boot into it.

If you just want to access it from vmware you could forgo /dev/sdc and just create another lv for windows, but if you want to play directX games I think you will be out of luck.

To use Xen hardware virtualization you will need a recent processor that supports it, there is a flag in cpuinfo that can tell you if it does I forget which one it is. Google will tell you or some kind soul on the list will volunteer it.

-Ross

-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org centos-bounces@centos.org To: CentOS Mailing List centos@centos.org Sent: Tue Nov 20 08:34:47 2007 Subject: Re: [CentOS] Dual boot box: WinXP & CentOS 5: ImpossibletorestoreWinXP?

On Monday, 19 November 2007, "Ross S. W. Walker" rwalker@medallion.com wrote: <snip>

I wouldn't necessarily wipe the whole HD, just the windows partition.

Ross: That would be a little faster. It would take me about 2-3 additional hours, to reinstall CentOS5 and restore everything. Installing Windows and it's applications it *VERY* time consuming. But, if I dont redo my CentOS installation, I won't have room for VMware Server. I won't have time to do this for 2 or 3 days, so I still have time to decide on the path to take. :-) Minimum, I will wipe MS Windows and install it with the new English language CD I got from Dell last week.

You could also use Xen in CentOS 5 for your Windows virtualization.

I'd wait for 5.1 though which will be more refined then version 5.

Does Xen require a special CPU or motherboard? Thanks much, for all of your ideas! Lanny _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos

______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender and permanently delete the original and any copy or printout thereof.