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Originally Posted by opnickc
I currently dual-boot Windows ME and 2000prof. I've never installed linux, but i know that windows 2000 (and probably XP) will recognize a previous OS and give you an option of which system you want to boot to when you start up. The only catch is, you have to install 2000 after the other OS, so you'd have to backup your system and reinstall eveything. Not a big deal, but then again I don't know if this will work with Linux or Windows XP. Good luck.
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There are many key differences in multi-booting between various versions of windows and booting between windows and linux. Most windows systems can utilize the same file system (fat32), and as such, not much must be changed on the hard drive to get them to work with each other. Linux, however, is a whole differant animal. For most distributions you will have to repartition your hard drive (to ext2/ext3, reiser-fs, etc) or install to a different hard drive, both of which could potentially be hazardous to windows if not done carefully. The master boot record of the primary drive would have to be changed to allow the new system to boot, which isn't too difficult- especially in modern distributions. However, should something go awry, it could prevent windows from booting. Make sure you read all documentation before you install, and read all prompts and warnings that should come up during the install.
The one thing I've found about most linux communities, is they are usually very open and helpful should you run into trouble. Linux is a great system to run, and very satisfying once you get into it. Good luck with the installation!