Hello and I got a question....

I recently installed Redhat 5.2 (only version I had) as my second OS on a single harddrive.

Before the installation my drive was partitioned as such

4 primary partitions

Partition 1 --- Fat32 --- dos boot --- C drive
Partition 2 --- Fat 32 --- primary --- D drive
Partition 3 --- Extended partition for Linux
Partition 4 ---- nothing -- unused


So, I install Linux, installation went fine, it appears.

But when I run Windows I no longer have long filenames available and it appears that Linux installed on what was drive D and all my previous application for windows was moved to a drive E:

My question,

Did the Linux install take away my ability to use long filenames and how do I get it back as some applications (Office2000) can not be installed in Windows now.

Any help is appreciated.

Gary McKenzie

When you set up a logical partition within an extended partition I think that the setup requires some changes to the information in the primary partition information as well as the extended partition information. In addition the Linux software that you are using is from the era when Windows first introduced extended file names. So, yes, it is concievable that your Red Hat partition discombobulated Windows long file names.

I suggest that you partition your hard disk as four primary partitions and take it from there.

One thing that would help - I don't know if you're new to Linux or not - would be to get in the habit of seeing your partitions as

/dev/hda1 DOS
/dev/hda2 (DOS?)
/dev/hda5 Linux
/dev/hda3 Unused

That way you'll be sure and not install Linux to the wrong drive or resize or reformat the wrong thing, etc.

I don't trust extended/logical myself - I have a couple, but only because I ran out - I wouldn't use it before I had dev/hda4 used.

And I started with a '99 Caldera distro because it was all I had, myself, but I'd really suggest a used bookstore with a newer CD in the back if at all possible, even if you can't download or buy or whatever. I hear libraries have them, too, though I haven't been to the library lately - the library system around here sucks.