Dual boot

From Freespire

If you’re interested in keeping your Windows (or other operating system) system intact and also installing Freespire, you need to set up your computer to dual boot. There are basically two types of dual boot setup. One consists of having both operating systems on a single hard drive and the other consists of installing Freespire on a separate physical hard drive. (Before attempting any of these setups, make sure you backup, backup, backup any files you cannot afford to lose on your computer just to be safe.)

Single Hard Drive System

If you only have one physical hard drive in your computer you’ll need to repartition it to make room for Freespire. See the section on Partitioning Your Hard Drive if this is the case. After you've repartitioned your drive,during the install, Freespire will refer to the two partitions as hda1 and hda2 (Hard drive A1 & A2). In Windows these would be drive C & D. The hda1 partition contains your other operating system and files you want to retain so you want to make sure to select hda2 as the partition where you want to install Freespire to. Check the box referring to “write mbr”. This will install GRUB; GRUB is a boot loader which allows you to select which operating system you wish to run when your computer boots.

Two Hard Drive System

This is probably the easiest way to do a dual boot setup. During the Freespire install process you’ll be asked where you want to install. Freespire refers to the first hard drive as hda1. This corresponds to the C drive in Windows. Freespire refers to the second hard drive as hdb1. You want to make sure you select hdb1 as the place you want to install to keep your Windows system from being deleted in the process. Also check the box to “write the mbr”. This will install the boot loader which enables you to select which operating system you wish to run when your computer boots.