Three OSes on one PC

[slimshady]

Hi everybody.
I have a small dilemma Iv been wondering about for a few days-
I have currently 2 OS installed on my PC: Linux Ubuntu and Windows XP (they are installed on different hard drives). And i wanted to get vista too so i can finally examine this new OS and can be updated by the new stuff going on. The thing is i will still need the XP, for the regular usage (for softwares incompatible with vista) , and also i really dont want to remove linux from my PC. So what are you think? is it recommended to have 3 different OSes on one PC? Isnt it too much? Is there someone here who has 3 OSes? Im especially concerned of the fact that there will be 2 OSes installed on one drive, and the whole system will get too clumsy...
any advice or opinion will be welcomed ;)

[Ajmukon]

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=56623

triple boot topic i started some time ago for a similar question....
(Ubuntu, XP and maybe Mac/Vista)
should answer your question.

[Paul Komski]

The link in the thread Ajmukon has pointed to seems to no longer be all that helpful.

You can organise multibooting very many OSes from one or from many hard drives. As you get more elaborate more care needs to be taken to prevent upsetting what is already there so attention to detail is really the key rather than it being a silly thing to do.

Before giving specific advice it would be most helpful to know exactly how your current two drives are partitioned and how you currently make the selection to boot Ubuntu or WinXP. It is probably one of two methods; either you alter the BIOS setup to change the boot drive or you installed WinXP first and later Ubuntu and let it set-up the multi-boot menu.

If you dont want to add any more hard drives then it sounds likely that you will need to repartition and organise your current two drives without upsetting ubuntu or WinXP - and that's just one reason why we need to have a full understanding of your current system.

[Paul Komski]

Posting the content of ubuntu's menu.lst and XP's boot.ini files would also be very useful.

[Ajmukon]

Oh, well it links to what appears to be an update "blog"- the EasyBCD is farther down on the page.

It seems that it is now only works with/for VISTA, MAC, and Ubuntu

[slimshady]

Ok thanks everybody for the answers. sorry for the late reply but i couldnt get to my PC before.

So as regard to my two hdd, they are partitioned as following:

HDD1: seagate 80GB.
- has only 1 partition which contains windowsXP pro.

HDD2: WD 160GB.
- partition1: a logical partition for windows (formatted as NTFS), its size is 120GB.
contains important documents, and some songs and movies. no softwares or games are installed on it (all the files are 'movable')

- partition2 : contains linux ubuntu. its size is 35GB

- partition3 : the swap partition of linux. its size is about 5GB if im not mistaken.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Paul Komski, about your question, The thing i did is firstly installing windows XP on the seagate HDD, and than installing ubuntu on the WD HDD. the boot loader im currently booting from is GRUB.

The most important things i have on my PC are located on the 120GB NTFS logical partition, but they are all backed up on my external WD drive (160GB). and plus i have a back-up image file of the windows partition (with the OS+basic drivers and programs). so basically i have nothing to lose on my pc, so i dont worry about data loss :D .

the content of XP's boot.ini is:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

I will post the content of the menu.lst file as soon as i log in ubuntu.

Anyway, any advice about how i should partition both HDDs and setting up vista will be welcomed :)

Thanks.

[slimshady]

here is menu.lst's content:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,5)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-12-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-12-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-12-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-12-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-12-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-12-generic

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-11-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-11-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-11-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-11-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-11-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-11-generic

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=UUID=1c14b7a9-03e5-4bc5-9647-2a5aa5408b7d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sdb1
title Windows NT/2000/XP
root (hd1,0)
savedefault
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

sorry for the double but suddenly i cant see any edit button on my post. why is that?

[Paul Komski]

Remove the drive with linux on it or else change the boot order so that WinXP is booting from boot.ini on the drive with XP on it.

Now you can either be more elaborate and create a primary partiton and mark it as active for the vista boot or you can simply install Vista over WinXP as is and into any approriate partition from the same active partition as WinXP and which will give you a Vista dual boot menu for XP and Vista.

Once XP/Vista are both installed you can reverse the boot order to boot back into Ubuntu using Grub on that hard drive and edit the menu.lst file as necessary and appropriate.

[slimshady]

Ok, in the end i removed everything was installed at the WD 160GB Hard-Drive, because anyway i need to send it back to the shop to repair it, since there were some problems with it (everything backed up though). Anyway, i decided to partition the drives like this (after i get it back of course):

- Windows Xp will stay at the current Samsung 80GB HDD, occupies the whole drive.

the WD 160GB HDD will be partitioned into 4 partitions:
- Linux ubuntu will take 40GB
- Swap partition (of ubuntu) will take 5GB
- Vista will take 20GB
- and all my other important stuff (mainly documents) will take 95GB

So, im sorry if i didnt understand you correctly, but how exactly do i need to install the OSes now? Doest it matter if i firstly set up vista and than ubuntu, or first ubuntu and than vista? won't it work in both cases?

[Paul Komski]

If you want the operating systems to take care of the boot menus then just add the drive when you have it back and install vista from the same boot drive that XP is installed onto but into a partition on the second drive. That should set-up a dual boot menu for XP and Vista. Then install Ubuntu in like fashion and use the defaults. It will install the GRUB boot loader onto the MBR of the same boot drive and organise a triple boot menu.

If you prefer you can install both vista and ubuntu onto their own partitions and ensuring that GRUB is installed onto the Ubuntu root drive and not onto the MBR. Then install a boot manager to organise the triple boot.