Using FIPS

The FIPS program is a DOS utility that is used to carve a Linux partition out of your existing hard drive. It is easy to use and should be your first choice for proceeding if you want to keep Windows on your Linux box-to-be.

Figure 2.5. Check Copy System Files to make a floppy disk bootable.


To repartition using FIPS:

1.
Place a blank floppy disk in your drive.

2.
Using Windows Explorer, select the floppy drive (usually drive A).

3.
Right-click the drive and select Format from the pop-up menu.

The Format dialog box will open (Figure 2.5).

4.
Check Copy System Files to make the floppy disk bootable.

5.
Click Start.

6.
After the disk has been formatted, use Windows Explorer to copy the files fips.exe and restorrb.exe from the dosutilsfips20 directory on the Red Hat Linux 6 CD to the floppy disk.

7.
Shut down Windows and reboot your computer.

It will power up to an A:> prompt

8.
At the prompt, type fipsand press Enter.

You'll see a copyright notice screen along with some warnings and the notation that FIPS comes with "Absolutely no warranty."

9.
Press any key to continue.

10.
You will see a number of screens containing information and warnings. Keep on pressing any key to move to the next screen until you reach the screen asking whether you want to make a backup copy of sectors.

11.
Press y for yes. You will be prompted to place a floppy disk in drive A (you can just use the one running FIPS).

Once a backup of your sectors has been made, the business of FIPS begins. A screen appears with three columns: Old Partition, Cylinder, and New Partition. The old partition is the DOS/Windows partition of your drive, and the new partition is the new Linux partition that you will be creating.

Note

To perform a full installation of Red Hat Linux 6, you should have 750MB available on the new partition.


12.
Use the left and right arrow keys to change the size of the Old Partition and New Partition fields.

To perform a full installation of Red Hat Linux 6, you should have 750MB available on the new partition.

13.
When you are satisfied with your selections, press Enter.

FIPS will display the size of the new partition that has been created.

14.
If you are not satisfied with the size of the new and old partitions, type r to re-edit them. If you are satisfied, type c to continue.

15.
If you typed c, you will see some informative messages about your disk. Then a message will appear telling you that FIPS is ready to save the new partition scheme.

If you typed c, you will see some informative messages about your disk. Then a message will appear telling you that FIPS is ready to save the new partition scheme. If you have cold feet by now, type n to exit FIPS without making any changes; otherwise, type y to save the new partition changes.

16.
If you typed y, once FIPS has completed, remove the floppy disk and reboot your computer.

This is what is known as the moment of truth!

17.
Once Windows has restarted, run ScanDisk as explained earlier in "To fix errors on a hard drive" to make sure that your disk and file system are still in good repair.

Tip

FIPS should not be run from a DOS box within Windows.


Tip

You'll find a great deal of helpful documentation about the FIPS utility on the Red Hat Linux 6 CD, in the back of this book, in the dosutilsfipsdocs directory.


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