Appendix F x86: Preserving Existing Operating Systems and User Data

Many x86 based systems are preinstalled with other operating systems such as MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows NT, OS/2, or some other vendor's UNIX\256 implementation. It's common that the preinstalled operating system uses the entire disk on the system (on one fdisk partition) and contains data that you don't want to lose. Installing the Solaris operating environment on that fdisk partition will overwrite the current operating system and its associated user data. If you want to keep an existing operating system on the system and have it coexist with the Solaris operating environment, you must create multiple fdisk partitions on the disk.

The following section describes procedures for preserving existing data on a single-disk system and making the existing operating system coexist (MS-DOS or other) with the Solaris operating environment.

How to Preserve Existing Operating Systems and User Data

1. Make sure your existing operating system can coexist with the Solaris operating environment.

   Always check the documentation for your existing operating system for notice of any potential problems.

   For the Linux operating system, there is a known problem. The Solaris fdisk partition is the same as the Linux swap partition; you must delete the Linux swap partition(s) before you install Solaris software. See the Linux documentation for instructions.

2. Make sure you have media (CD-ROM or diskettes) containing the existing operating system.

   Some preloaded systems do not automatically come with media for reinstalling the operating system. Create a copy of the operating system on media using vendor-supplied tools.

3. Back up the existing operating system customizations and/or user data using the backup program of your choice.

4. Start the Solaris installation program using the instructions described in Planning Your Installation in this book.

5. When prompted, select the Solaris Interactive Installation option.

   Do not select the Solaris Web Start option; Solaris Web Start does not let you create fdisk partitions.

6. Create a Solaris fdisk partition for Solaris, and an fdisk partition for the existing operating system.

   Because the existing operating system takes up the entire disk, you'll have the option to manually or automatically create a Solaris fdisk partition.

7. When prompted during installation, select Manual Reboot.

8. After Solaris software is installed, halt the system from the command line.

9. Reboot the system using the media for the previously existing operating system.

10. If the non-Solaris fdisk partition that you created was 'Other', use the fdisk utility for that operating system and re-label the fdisk partition.

11. Reinstall the operating system on the non-Solaris fdisk partition using the operating system's installing software.

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    Note -

    MS-DOS Users Only: The MS-DOS setup program will recognize that the MS-DOS partition is unformatted and prompt you for permission to format it. The setup message suggests that the setup program will format the entire disk (and overwrite the Solaris fdisk partition). However, the setup program only formats the MS-DOS fdisk partition and leaves the Solaris fdisk partition intact.

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12. Restore any backed-up data to the non-Solaris fdisk partition.

    Use the appropriate operating system restore program to restore backed-up files.

13. Reboot the system and change the active partition to the Solaris operating environment.

    To ensure that the Solaris operating environment automatically runs each time you reboot the system in the future, you must make the Solaris fdisk partition the active partition. To do this, follow the instructions on the Boot Solaris screen after rebooting.