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  • Installation question regarding partitioning

    From Steve Matzura@3:633/10 to All on Friday, January 23, 2026 00:00:01
    I downloaded the latest Trixie installation ISO, burned it to a DVD, booted i t, got about a third of the way through the installation dialogue, and ran i nto the following snag: on the partition screen, I selected guided partition ing? the top most option. When I did that, I?ve got a dialog
    ue that wants to create a new partition table. The problem is, I want to ins tall a side-by-side configuration with an existing Windows 10 implementation
    . How do I do that without blowing away the Windows partition?

    Thanks in advance.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Andrew Latham@3:633/10 to All on Friday, January 23, 2026 00:00:01
    Steve

    You would need to resize the existing OS first before installing Debian.

    On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 3:51?PM Steve Matzura <sm@noisynotes.com> w
    rote:

    I downloaded the latest Trixie installation ISO, burned it to a DVD, boot
    ed it, got about a third of the way through the installation dialogue, and
    ran into the following snag: on the partition screen, I selected guided par titioning? the top most option. When I did that, I?ve got a
    dialogue that wants to create a new partition table. The problem is, I wan
    t to install a side-by-side configuration with an existing Windows 10 imple mentation. How do I do that without blowing away the Windows partition?

    Thanks in advance.



    --
    - Andrew "lathama" Latham -

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From David Christensen@3:633/10 to All on Friday, January 23, 2026 05:00:01
    On 1/22/26 13:49, Steve Matzura wrote:
    I downloaded the latest Trixie installation ISO, burned it to a DVD, booted it, got about a third of the way through the installation dialogue, and ran into the following snag: on the partition screen, I selected guided partitioning? the top most option. When I did that, I?ve got a dialogue that wants to create a new partition table. The problem is, I want to install a side-by-side configuration with an existing Windows 10 implementation. How do I do that without blowing away the Windows partition?

    Thanks in advance.


    tl;dr Remove the Windows SSD, install a blank SSD, and install Debian.


    The long version:

    https://www.mail-archive.com/search?q=christensen+install&l=debian-user%40lists.debian.org


    David

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Svetlana Tkachenko@3:633/10 to All on Friday, January 23, 2026 11:20:01
    Hi Steve

    When I did that, I?ve got a dialogue that wants to create a
    new partition table. The problem is, I want to install a side-by-side co nfiguration with an existing Windows 10 implementation. How do I do that
    without blowing away the Windows partition?

    You would need to resize the existing OS first before installing Debia
    n.

    I recall needing to "defragment" the Windows partition and then shrink i
    t. After this, the Debian installer understood the situation and offered
    to use the free (possibly marked as "unallocated") space for the Debian
    install.

    (This was around 12 years ago. Not sure if the Debian installer should o
    ffer to do this automatically now after a stern warning about having don
    e a backup first? How do other distributions handle this?)

    Sveta

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)