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How to install Centos 6.4 by pendrive with windows dual booting in two separate hard drives ?

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Short practical plan — aim to keep Windows untouched and install CentOS only on the second physical disk. Back up Windows first (system image or file copy). If anything goes wrong you can restore the Windows drive without touching the new CentOS disk.

Step-by-step checklist:

  1. Back up the Windows drive (full image recommended). This echoes @Member#46692's caution about data loss.
  2. Create a bootable CentOS USB from the ISO (use a reliable USB writer on your platform).
  3. Physically disconnect the Windows drive before running the CentOS installer, or at minimum be absolutely sure you select the correct target disk in the installer.
  4. In the installer choose manual/custom partitioning on the target (CentOS) disk. Keep a small non-LVM /boot (e.g. ~500 MB), then root (/) on LVM or ext4, and swap sized to your needs. Installing /boot outside LVM avoids boot problems.
  5. Install the bootloader to the CentOS disk (the device node for that physical drive), not to the Windows disk. That keeps Windows MBR/EFI untouched.
  6. Reconnect the Windows disk and use BIOS/UEFI boot-order to choose which disk to boot by default.

Notes and troubleshooting: if you prefer a single boot menu, you can let GRUB manage both OSes, but that risks modifying the Windows bootloader — unplugging the Windows disk avoids that risk. If Windows fails to boot later, Windows recovery media can restore its bootloader; if CentOS is missing from the menu, reinstalling or reconfiguring the CentOS bootloader on the CentOS disk will fix it. Check whether your machine is UEFI-only; modern firmware can require different steps than legacy BIOS.

Context: ’s USB approach and ’s suggestion to use virtualization are both valid — virtualization is the safest way to run an older distro if you don’t need direct hardware access. Also note that CentOS 6.4 is an old release; for systems exposed to the internet prefer a supported release or run the old release inside a VM.

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Member Avatar for Member #46692

I can't talk from experience because I have never done this per se. I think you think you have two options.

  1. Would be to repartion your existing windows machine to free up some space for you centos system. However, this is always frought with danger. You could loose all your existing work.

  2. Far safer is to back up all your windows important files, programs and documents onto an external harddrive. Format your system using the windows disc and whilst there create two partitions one for windows the other for centos. Install windows on the primary partition then install centos on the other partition.

Member Avatar for Sirajhyd

1.Install the Unetbootin software on your system from this link http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ and then save the iso image of the installed centos 6.4 in the pendrive.
2. Install the centos 6.4 from the pendrive by following the dialogue box instructions.

Member Avatar for rubberman

Honestly, I do not recommend dual-booting operating systems. I have found it to be prone to serious problems. Myself, I use a virtual machine manager, such as VirtualBox, to create multiple virtual machines, with their own virtual HD wherever I want it. It preserves the fabled KISS principal. -)

FWIW, Sirajhyd's suggestion about Unetbootin works here as well!

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