Need help creating a partition from a live CD!

[Danpascooch]

ABRIDGED VERSION INCLUDED!

Here's the deal, my father is a partner in a law firm, and they give him a laptop to use. Unfortunately the security is restricted to the point of being outrageous and actually preventing him from getting work done, he cannot download or install ANYTHING. The last straw is when we tried to tether his Droid phone to his computer to get internet and couldn't install the software to do so, so I decided to help him create a clean windows 7 partition to use on the laptop (don't ask me if this is legal, my Dad checked into it, it is, surprisingly doing this doesn't violate any of the firm's terms of use, go figure)

Now, we can't use the current OS installed on the machine (Win XP) to make the partition because of its runaway security, so I was thinking I'd use a Linux live cd to boot from and create the partition from there. However I have very little experience with Linux and partitions and was wondering if someone could help with the following:

ABRIDGED VERSION START:

1.) Which version of Linux should I use to make the Live CD and create the partition
2.) What software within Linux should I use to make the partition
3.) Can I preserve the current OS and data on the machine, but keep it separate from the new partition (THIS IS VITAL)

Lastly, please quote this post and SNIP it when replying so I can get a message that you posted on this thread.

Thanks Everyone!

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

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Ubuntu 10.10 should do the job.
The grub built in will do all the work for you, all you need to do is pick the option to run OS's side by side.
this will give you the XP already installed, and the latest version of Ubuntu.

If you wish to add win7 to this i cant help you, as i tried to duel boot win7 and Ubuntu n had a nightmare with it, the win7 OS kept dying on me after a successful instalv

 

[Danpascooch]

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Ubuntu 10.10 should do the job.
The grub built in will do all the work for you, all you need to do is pick the option to run OS's side by side.
this will give you the XP already installed, and the latest version of Ubuntu.

If you wish to add win7 to this i cant help you, as i tried to duel boot win7 and Ubuntu n had a nightmare with it, the win7 OS kept dying on me after a successful instalv

I appreciate the reply, but I don't actually want to dual boot win7 and Ubuntu, I want to use Ubuntu (on a live cd) just to MAKE the partition, so I can have a computer that can dual boot winXP and win7, is that possible? (the reason I'm using Ubuntu at all is because the security on the preexisting winXP will prevent me from making a partition while in that OS)

 

[Nevyrmoore]

I know of a program called GParted that should do the job. You can find it here [http://gparted.sourceforge.net/].

Just download it, burn it as an ISO, and away you go.

 

[number2301]

Boot from an Ubuntu Live CD (there are probably more specialised distros which will do what you want but I'm not familiar with them), use GPartEd to edit the partition size.

That will get you a partition, with a slight danger of killing the Win7 install. Editing partition sizes isn't 100% reliable.

As for dual booting Win XP and 7 I'm not sure. You'd need some kind of boot loader designed for multiboot systems, which no Windows comes with.

I'm sure there are more elegant solutions, but you could create 2 partitions, install Ubuntu in one, then just boot from the Windows disc to install Win XP in the other. GRUB will handle the rest.

However, I can't see how your father's IT department would be happy with all of this.

Surely you'd be best getting IT to sort out the specific things you need?

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

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-snip

I appreciate the reply, but I don't actually want to dual boot win7 and Ubuntu, I want to use Ubuntu (on a live cd) just to MAKE the partition, so I can have a computer that can dual boot winXP and win7, is that possible? (the reason I'm using Ubuntu at all is because the security on the preexisting winXP will prevent me from making a partition while in that OS)

I think the live CD is designed to make the partition as part of the installation process.
I've installed Ubuntu on multiple systems, and haven't noticed an option just for partitioning

I honestly dont think any window OS was designed to support duel OS installation, so you may have difficulty installing XP and win7

 

[newwiseman]

If the system supports legacy USB booting you can install a clean OS on an external HDD then from the Device Manager in Win7 you could repartition, add a partition, on the other drive.

I tend to keep a few clean environments installed on externals for diagnostic and repair purposes. That and the utilities on the windows OS discs haven't changed in near 2 decades.

Regardless of how you get it installed I recommend using easyBCD as a boot loader, it's very simple to use.

*Edit- I just thought of something else, depending on the computer it may be simple to remove and attach the HardDrive to a Win7 computer you have admin access on, then use the device manager there to resize and add a partition. Then put the HDD back in the computer and install Win 7 to the free partition then install the boot loader. I just remembered that's how I built my tri-boot Mac OSX 10.6 /Win7/ Unbuntu netbook

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