Installing Linux as triple-boot?

I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but it looks like the best fit.
I have a Mac Pro that runs Mac OS X 10.6.7 and Windows 7 64-bit as a dual-boot system using Boot Camp. This is set up with 2 partitions of a single 1TB hard drive (each OS gets 500GB). Because I am taking a Linux class soon, I have to install Linux. What I want to do is add a second physical hard drive and install Linux on that one, turning my dual-boot configuration into a Mac/Windows/Linux triple-boot configuration. Is this possible? If so, how do I do it?
On a side note, would it be possible to partition hard drive #2 the way I did hard drive #1 (drive #2 is also a 1TB drive) and use the second half for Time Machine? That way, I would have 500GB each for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Time Machine.

install refit,create new partrtion,install linux.That's all it takes

Similar Messages

Hello, I am trying to upgrade to yosemite, but I get the "disk cannot be used to startup your computer" error. Resizing the partition does not work, I get the error "MediaKit reports no such partition" probably because I installed linux in dual boot

Hello, I am trying to upgrade my macbook pro to yosemite, but I get the "disk cannot be used to startup your computer" error.
Resizing the partition does not work for me and I get the error "MediaKit reports no such partition" probably because I installed linux in dual boot and the disk manager is lost.
Anyway to tell the yosemite installer that it should not pay attention whether the disk is bootable or not ?
If I am doomed, any way to delete the installer and downloaded OS from my hard drive ?
Thanks for your help

As usual, the Linux installer wrecked the partition table. You would have to boot from your OS X installation disc and repartition. Doing so will of course remove all data from the drive, so you must back up first if you haven't already done so.

Tutorial - How to triple boot OSX, Linux and Windows 8.1 with a shared Data Partition without any third party Win / OSX softwares

This is not a question, but rather a personal guide that has proved to be running successfully.
I would like to thank numerous sources, including Christopher Murphy's suggestions at:
Re: Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition
Before proceeding, there are certain concepts needs to know:
Why Boot Camp does NOT allow further partitioning of drives after Windows has installed?
Answer: Because the way Apple configures the Mac to be recognized as non UEFI capable system on Windows.
Quote from Christopher Murphy based on the above line:
However, Windows on Macs right now use CSM-BIOS mode in Mac firmware that presents BIOS to Windows rather than EFI. Windows thinks it's on a BIOS computer, and therefore mandates the use of MBR for boot disks, rather than GPT. So that's why we have this hybrid MBR+GPT approach on Mac with Windows on it. You inherit the limitations of MBR, which is four primary partitions.
So what does it means?
It means that OSX + EFI + Recovery HD + Boot Camp partition = 4 primary partitions and thus any attempt to modify the disk will render booting issues of either system.
For more info on GPT (GUID Partition Table disks VS Master Boot Record or MBR in short, you may visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.a spx)
So, how to overcome it?
The general guideline is to install ALL GPT ready OS first then create a Data partition, before installing Windows (Which is again, NOT supported GPT due to EFI configuration by Apple where end-users are not able to modify it).
Interestingly, since Mac Pro 2013 Late supports only Windows 8 and above, thus it is not known if this CSM-BIOS applies to it or not.
Do take note that GPT disks in Windows can only be booted when the system meets the 2 requirements:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.a spx#gpt_faq_win7_boot
1) Windows x64 version (Which is a must for newer Macs. If you cannot go to Boot Camp 5, then you need Windows 7 x86 or 32bit version)
2) UEFI system. However, Windows sees all Macs (With the possibility of Mac Pro 2013 Late is an exception. To be determined) as BIOS, or rather NON-UEFI system.
In short, booting on GPT disks is not possible for Mac in Windows.
Summary,
It is tested that a combination of the following will not work:
- OSX + Windows + Linux
- Windows + OSX + Linux
- Windows + Linux + OSX
Usually it can create the system un-bootable or OSX refused to install due to the system does not recognize such partitions and / or Disk Utility refused to format a free space. An example screen-shot is provided below:
The error message is shown as
Title: "Failed to erase volume" Message: "Failed to wipe volume, as an error occurred: MediaKit has reported that the device does not have enough free space to execute the requested operations."
The second thing is about the preparations we need.
1) 1X Windows 7 or 8 DVD or USB thumbdrive
1A) If you uses a DVD to install, you will need another thumbdrive to load the BootCamp drivers for Windows as well as may requires an external DVD drive for newer Macs
2) 1X Linux DVD of your choice. Personally I choose Fedora 20.
So ready? Let's go.
1. Using Disk Utility, shrink the OSX's partition size to what is needed. For me, I give OSX 150GB. Do NOT create any new partition.
Disk Utility should see something like below whereby only OSX partition is left with desired disk space. The remaining space are to be unused disk space for the moment.
Note: Click on the top most item that should start with the size of your HDD / SSD. Then clicked on "Partition" and specify the desired OSX size. Hit "Apply" after that.
2: Download Boot Camp drivers only via Boot Camp Assistant. The USB thumbdrive shall be used later after Linux's installation.
Boot Camp Assistant should see this:
I have only selected "Download latest Windows Support Files from Apple"
3. Insert Linux DVD, reboot Mac into EFI mode (The left most first "EFI mode").
Note 1: Before rebooting, please plugged in an Ethernet adapter because Wi-Fi drivers is not installed.
Note 2: For Thunderbolt adapters, it must be plugged in before reboot as hot-swapping is not supported under Linux. More on the tips at the end of this article.
Note 3: Press and hold "Option" after the screen turns black. Release Option key after you see the image as below:

For the unfortunate part that did not make it on time to edit the images:
9. Install the Windows Support software from your CD/USB drive to gain full functionality of your computer. Reboot and go to Windows again.
Note 1: You may choose to eject disc at this point of time. For Apple SuperDrive users, you will need to wait until the drivers (i.e. Boot Camp support files) is installed and rebooted before ejecting is reasonably possible (As I failed to figured out how to right click without the drivers)
Note 2: Unlike Windows 7 on KBase article TS4599 Keyboard/trackpad inoperative, black screen, or alert messages when installing Windows 7, USB stick can be plugged in after the Windows installation is done. This is because Windows 7 (And probably Windows 7 with SP1 DVD) does not have a built in USB 3 drivers when it was released back in 2009 where USB3 has not arrived then.
Note 3: Due to TPM, Bitlocker is not supported without the use of thumbdrives.
10. Using Disk Management to determine the given drive letter for the DATA partition (DO NOT DELETE and RECREATE partition or else you can goodbye to booting Linux and OSX). Disk Management will not allow you to format it as exFAT / FAT32 in graphical way.
Note: You may remove or modify some of the disk letters in Disk Management. However, do NOT remove / modfify the drive letter for the partition with 200MB size in HFS. This is because it will disallow booting of Linux and neither could Windows nor OSX can do anything EXCEPT to reinstall Linux only.
11. Open Command Prompt in Administrator Mode (Important!!), and key in the following command:
format F: /FS:exFAT
Give this volume a label after it has successfully formatted before hitting "Enter" again.
Note: Mine Data partition was assigned as F drive. Please make necessary adjustment to "F:" should your Data partition is assigned to other letters.
12. After that, Setup your Data partition structure as you like.
Tip: Minimally create the important folders such as:
- Music
- Documents
- Movie (Videos)
- Downloads
- Pictures
All these folders are commonly used by the 3 OSes. I do NOT recommend changing of /home (OSX and / or Linux) and / or user home directory (Windows) either partially or as a whole.
This is because of compatibility issue.
On a side note, iTunes Media Library used in OSX and Windows are NOT able to be use interchangably due to hard-coded path used.
13. Useful troubleshooting in Fedora / Linux:
With references to these:
http://chaidarun.com/fedora-mbp
http://anderson.the-silvas.com/2014/02/14/fedora-20-on-a-macbook-pro-13-late-201 3-retina-display/
http://unencumberedbyfacts.com/2013/08/16/linux-on-a-macbook-pro-101/
I would like to highlight a few important points:
1) Wi-Fi driver:
http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
Note 1: The sound driver should be installed at Out of Box Experience. However, the Wi-Fi is not.
Note 2: Install both free and non-free repository. By the way, some other software like VLC can only be found after the Free Repository is installed.
Search for "akmod-wl" in Gnome-Package-Installer in order to install Wi-Fi drivers
Note 3: For those who do not have Ethernet adapters and their Mac does NOT have a built-in Ethernet port, it is recommended to get one. This is because Fedora 20 does not have a good support for iPhone USB tethering. Unsure for Andriod / Blackberry / Windows Phone users.
2) Grub Menu:
It will show several options to boot into OSX, even of the capability to boot into x86 or x64 mode. However, neither of them is bootable except Linux and the rescue.
Hence, it is recommended to remove the items by hand in this file:
/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
Command to be used:
"sudo gedit /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg"
Parts to be removed:
- For any extra kernels, delete the target entry by locating the line "menuentry" under "/etc/grub.d/10_linux" sector to one line above the next "menuentry".
It is recommended to keep one main kernel, and one recovery at the minimal.
- For other OS, delete all the entry (Since neither it can works) under "/etc/grub.d/30_os-prober" sector without removing the lines starts with ###.
Auto Mount exFAT partition:
- After installing extra packages for exFAT support (Since it is not supported by Fedora 20 from a default installation), you may wish to edit "/etc/fstab" in order to mount the exFAT partition during boot time.
Command to be used:
"sudo gedit /etc/fstab"
Add the following line in gedit:
UUID=702D-912D /run/media/Samuel/DATA exfat defaults 1 2
Note 1: For DATA partition, OSX & Boot Camp partition, Fedora defaults mounts under: "/run/medua/<Username with case sensitive>/<Partition Label Name>"
Note 2: UUID is unique ID. You can find out the UUID by:
Step 1: First determine the DATA partition number:
"sudo gdisk /dev/sda"
Step 2: Determine the UUID of this partition number:
"sudo blkid /dev/sda8"
Reference 1: http://manpages.courier-mta.org/htmlman5/fstab.5.html
Reference 2: http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/short-tip-get-uuid-of-hard-disks/
3) Overheating CPU
Solution is to issue the following command in Linux terminal: su -c "echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo"
4) System resumes immediately after suspend
Solution is to issue the following command in Linux terminal: su -c "echo XHC1 > /proc/acpi/wakeup"
5) What does not works well out of box:
- Both GNOME and KDE's fonts are too small to be readable for out of box experience. Additional configuration is a need. (Some of the info can be found on "More Tips" later)
- Thunderbolt hotplugging is NOT supported under Windows and Linux so far. Neither FaceTime HD camera works as well.
- The red light in Headphone jack is always on. I do not have luck in switching off the light without losing the sound.
Note 1: It is determined that the module "snd_hda_intel" is used by both cards (HDMI and normal output)
Note 2: It is also known that blacklisting it can switch off the redlight at the price of muting the system.
Note: Based on this article, http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1574
A Mac (Except Mac Pro) needs servicing when there is a red light while the system fails to detect internal speakers. However, this article does NOT applies to this issue.
5A) More Tips:
Install gnome-tweak-tool for more customization
Search for: "gnome-package" to install:
Install Gnome Package Installer for advanced package repository
Install Gnome Package Updater for advanced updates to be install (Whereby Fedora's App Store alike might not show the relevant updates)
14. Verify if disk is still GPT:
Use Gdisk to determine if the disk is pure GPT:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1742682
Command: sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda (The entire hard drive)
You should see the MBR is "Protective" instead of anything else.
15. Congrats, the system is ready for triple boot. (I forgot to eject my Windows DVD when the photo was taken)
Note 1: You cannot set the default startup disk in Linux due to the lack of Boot Camp Control Panel in Linux.
Neither is changing startup disk recommended in Windows due to the inability to display correctly.
For me, I click "Cancel" whenever I am on this tab (Feel free to make other Boot Camp adjustments in other tabs).
Only OSX I know that can show the startup disk options correctly.
Note 2: For some reason, OSX likes to auto mount the EFI partition everytime it boots up. It is not known to have any issue for ejecting other disks or mounting disks via Disk Utility.
Note 3: It is not determined if any Firmware or System upgrades will cause issues. It is only known that all 3 OS's regular updates should not be an issue.
System Updates excludes Mac OSX 10.9.3 updates to OSX 10.9.4 type as I had done it on a OSX 10.9.4 Mac or Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Update 1 since my Windows DVD comes with Update 1.
System Upgrades refers to OSX Mavericks to Yosemite, Fedora 20 to Fedora 21, Windows 8.1 Update 1 to Windows 8.2 / Windows 9 for that matter.
Note 4: Reset SMC and / or PRAM will NOT affect your ability to boot any of the OS (OSX, Recovery HD, Fedora & Windows 8)
Yup, that is it!

How to triple boot (MacOSX / Win7 / Linux) a MacBook Pro (Retina, late 2013) with Refind

ok it's not a question, it's an howto.
You do it at your own risk. No failure reported so far, but I'm not responsible for anything.
If you try to multiboot your MacBook Pro (MBP hereafter) you may face a new complexity. With on partition, Bootcamp does a pretty amazing job installing windows. But when you want to partition your disk in your own way, Bootcamp may fail to install windows and another third OS. You may also want to have a share partition between your OSes, hence have multiple partitions. Most of this tuto should also work for Windows 8 and for other Macbooks.
Problem 1 : Bootcamp does it with one partition that it divides in two and allow to setup Win7. Not all time though since some user reportidely have problems to get USB 3 support and the keyboard and mouse are non working during the install / setup phase.
Problem 2 : Windows 7 is not able to install itself to a GPT partition and needs an Hybrid MBR. Bootcamp does this, but just for a Dual OS setup. So to make the magic happen in a multi OS environment, you'll have to do want bootcamp does, manually.
Step 1 : Download the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant from Apple and flash it to a USB stick. (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433)
Step 2 : Reboot, holding the option key (aka CMD, left of spacebar) down, to trigger the boot menu options. Start the usb drive with OS X recovery and enter the partition tool. Create 3 to 4 partitions, suiting your tastes. Just put windows partition first and I recommend to put the partition sharing data across OSes second, MacOS 3rd and Linux Last for example. MacOS and Linux are fine with pretty much every setup, Windows need the 1° usable partition.
Step 3 : Migrate your Macos using the same tool (google it for details) or Reinstall MacOS from the recovery partition. (more about migration here, but there are better tuto on this)
Step 4 : Start your MacOS and create a bootcamp USB stick with the bootcamp tool. You need an ISO from Win7 (or Win 8) and a drive of at least 4 GB. Bootcamp will most likely complain about the fact that it will not be able to install 7 due to the fact that you don't have only one partition, ignore and proceed to the Bootcamp USB stick setup.
Step 5 : Adding the USB3 support to your Win7 installation. Plug your newly created Win7 USB stick to a computer running Windows. In the sources directory, copy the boot.vim on your disk drive and add the drivers that Bootcamp added to your USB stick, in the $WinPEDriver$ directory and follow these instructions to add them to your boot.vim image. Follow carefully every step, it does works. Add the drivers you feel like, commit and copy back your boot.vim image, patched, to your USB stick, in the sources directory.
Step 6 : In your MacOSX, install the GPT fdisk partition tool. You just have to unzip the archive. Win7 is unable to install to a GPT disk, so you will have to create a (dirty) Hybrid MBR. From a terminal, launch GPT fdisk. Carefull here, the Win7 is most likely not the 1st but the 2nd or 3rd because there is an UEFI partition before. Just check before adding them if in doubt, by striking p. Then key in r then h then the number of the partitions you want to add to this hybrid MBR (the Win7 & the Shared one). Accept the type 07 for this partition and type y, n & finally w. (more details here for the fans)
Step 7 : Reboot, keep the CMD key down to trigger the boot option menu. Reboot on the USB stick, install Win7. If it doesn't understand the partition made for it, format it, if needed, from the 7 installer, delete and recreate it.
Step 8 : Install your favorite Linux distro with a USB stick generator. (see here & here). No complex part, except that Grub will most likely scratch your nice Hybrid MBR, rendering Win7 inaccessible. No problem, reboot in MacOS and redo step 6, this will revive your win7.
Step 9 : It's cosmetic but keeping CMD key down to boot is not so practical. ReFind does it just great. Setup is super easy, just kick install.sh from a shell in MacOS. Fine tune decoration and some stuffs later on from the config file.
Step 10 (optionnal) : You want it all, without switching between OSes? Having Windows app running within MacOS is easy, with most native hardware acceleration preserved, using Parallels desktop. It also works with a "simple" Bootcamp Windows setup.
Enjoy your mighty triple boot MBP.

Just ordered a Retina MacBook Pro11,2 (mid-2014 15", 2.2GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, OSX 10.9.4 Pre-installed - Build 13E28) and have the exact same issue. The first thing I did when i booted it for the first time was enable FileValut2 and encrypt the disk. Though I failed to notice this behavior prior to encrypting the disk, the stuttering/lag happens without fail every time I have logged in from a cold boot, locked screen or sleep. Additionally I have noticed the same stuttering behavior when switching tabs on various built-in OSX applications such as the tabs on the About This Mac > More Info.... (System Information) dialog for example, and similarly other dialogs that experience this behavior of resizing when switching tabs. I was running no other software than About This Mac > More Info ... (System Information) and OSX 10.9.4 itself. The issue happens without fail with and without a USB mouse plugged in.
I am really glad to have found this thread and with such recent posts. I'd love to find out that this is just a software bug that will be fixed when OSX 10.10 "Yosemite" is released. If not, I hope the cause of this bug is determined soon so I can still exchange or have it repaired.
Migflono and Matthew, would you be able to post your hardware specs for comparison?

Os 10.4, xp and linux. triple boot

Is there any way to have Mac OS 10.4.10, Microsoft XP service pack 2 Professional and Linux all on the same computer. I already have XP installed with bootcamp but, I wanted to try out Linux. I have looked at some ways to dual boot linux and mac and linux with windows. I don't think they would allow me to triple boot though. I would understand if this sounds far-fetched but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask. I appreciate any help that is given.

You can get an e-live live cd for mac and boot from live cd if this helps.

[SOLVED] Triple Boot on Macbook 5,5 kills my arch install

I am currently trying to get a triple boot working on my mid 2009 macbook pro. I have 3 seperate partitions set up so that i can just launch the OS's with rEFInd.
Problem is.. as soon as I get all of them installed and up and running. I will try to boot cycle all of them to make sure everything is working as planned.
i boot OSX, everything is good
i boot Windows 7, again good to go.
as soon as i boot arch AFTER windows it kills the install it seems. the system will lock up at
starting version 217
/dev/sda6: recovering journal
/dev/sda6 clean, XXXXXX/xxxxxx files, XXXXXX/xxxxxx blocks
I am not quite sure how to find a log or anything since i cannot even boot into the system.
it ONLY happens after I boot into windows.
Already tested my ram per someone elses advice. everything turned out ok with that
the arch install works great if i only boot osx or arch.
I am not using bootcamp
i could chroot in and look for the log im just not sure where it would be.
i will gladly post that as well if i can get the location
Last edited by BoomZooka (2014-12-08 07:07:01)

ended up finally figuring out the issue
Figured out I couldnt see what was going on was, because I had a kernel parameter set as quiet for some reason. So it was not showing me anything which led me to run across a blog online that described system lockups at boot.
Added this to the kernel boot parameters in my grub.cfg on the linux line. After I did that everything booted like normal.
nomodeset reboot=pci
credits to http://dreamtimecircles.com/2013/10/06/arch/

Triple boot MacOS/Windows/Linux

I managed to install triple boot environment: MacOS 10.7 (Lion) + Windows 7 (Ultimate) + Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot). If someone wants to know how I managed it I explained i below and my questions will come at the end of this thread.
Installation of MacOS
Firstly on my HDD /dev/sda with Disk Utility I created only one partition (whole HDD as one partiton) with GUID Partition Table (GPT partition sheme) because it is required by Lion and after that I regularly installed Lion on it.
Installation of Windows
Afterwards I splitted my only partition into three partitions (two partitions were added and first one was shrinked) with Apple's Disk Utility again. It is important to create additional partition with Disk Utility because that way it will tailor GPT partition scheme accordingly. After that I started Windows 7 installation and during installation process I deleted and recreated second partition and formated it. Deleting old and recreating second partition with partitioner within Windows installation process I created paralell MBR partition scheme with definition of partition that Windows 7 can understand and use. It is important to note that it is not allowed to create new partition for windows of different size because this will be partition defined in MBR partition scheme and it will be out of sync with GPT partition scheme. (One has to understand that we deal here with two parallel different partition schemas - GPT and MBR - and they have to be in sync meaning that definition of partitions on disk have to be the same in both schemes.) If you created new partition in Windows partitioner, it would be defined only in MBR partitions scheme but not in GPT and it will result in some problems with Linux installation. So I firstly created partitions (defined GPT partition scheme) with Disk Utility, and afterwards created windows partition on the same place of the same size in MBR partition scheme (during Windows installation process). Then I installed Windows 7 on that second partition.
Installation of Linux
Finally I started Ubuntu installation and installed it on third partition and install GRUB boot loadre in /dev/sda (MBR).
MacOS is booted by default. But when I hold alt/option button during boot I was offered with two boot options; first one MacOS (disk icon) starting Lion and second one Windows (disk icon) starting GRUB linux boot loader. After starting GRUB I am offered boot menu to start Windows/Mac/Ubuntu.
My question is how to define that GRUB is default boot loader?

With Bootcamp tool you cannot create a triple boot scheme. Bootcamp only splits HDD space into two working partitions. (Actually there are additional EFI and Recovery partitions but I will ignore them). One workng partition is for MacOS and another left for Windows. It does not leave partition or empty sace for Linux installation.
What you have to do:
1) boot into MacOS and go into Disk Utility, delete the BOOTCAMP partition where your Windows now reside,
2) in Disk Utility add two new partitions (define wanted size and name them e.g. WINDOWS and LINUX)
3) boot with Windows DVD and format new created WINDOWS partition (delete and create it if you need)
4) install Windows into this new formated WINDWOS partition, reboot and finish Windows installation
5) boot with Linux DVD and start installation, install (define root) in LINUX partition, (leave bootloader to be installed in /dev/sda)
Linux does not need additional swap partition like it required in the past. Now Linux works fine with swap in form of file like Windows. There are some other partitions like EFI at the beginning of HDD but you have t leave and ignore it.
It is important to note that you have to tailor partitions of your HDD with Mac's Disk Utility because it will define them in both GPT (EFI needed for MacOS and Linux) as well as in MBR tables (needed for Windows). Later during installation of Windows you will format the partition dedicated to Windows but you must not change partition scheme (position and size of that partition created previously with Disk Utility) otherwise you will loose sync between GPT and MBR partition schemes.

BIOS UEFI-triple boot (win 8-Kali Linux-Ubuntu) problems

I recently buy a Satellitte P70-B-10C. My primary OS is Windows8. I want to install also Kali Linux and Ubuntu in a triple boot mode...Unfortunately this is not possible because the BIOS had only two options: 1. UEFI mode 2. CSM mode....So the problem is that there isn;t an third option for both UEFI/CSM mode...so if i want to boot in win 8 i have to go to BIOS configurations and set UEFI mode, and if i want to boot in Kali Linux or Ubuntu i have to go back again to BIOS and set CSM mode
I flash the BIOS with ths latest version but still the same options
Please advise

I meant Windows 8.1. You can download it here.
Create installation media for Windows 8.1
I don't know for sure if you install it using CSM and MBR partitioning whether the embedded activation key will work. Maybe this comes in handy.
Installing Windows 8.1 (or 8) without a product key
If you go this route, please let us know what happens.
-Jerry

I want to triple boot Have Snow Leopard and XP on separate drives and I want Windows 7 on another drive, can it be done by temporarily removing the xp drive and installing windows 7 on another internal drive?

I want to triple boot my Mac Pro I have Snow Leopard and XP on separate drives (osx on drive 1, xp on drive 2) and I want Windows 7 on another drive (drive 4, drive 3 is used by osx for storage), can it be done by temporarily removing the xp drive and installing windows 7 on drive 4?
I realise bootcamp only allows 2 operating systems and refit could change the size of my current xp drive to accomodate W7, that is not an option here for various reasons one being the drive is pretty much at capacity with only about 30gig free (I work with video so that free space fluctautes quite a bit). I have a brand new drive 4 with 1TB set aside ready for W7 but I'm unsure how to go ahead?
any help or advice would be really appreciated, thanks

Boot Camp is used to support Windows on the same drive.
You can have a different OS on every drive.
You could have Windows 7, Vista, and XP all on one drive if you so choose.
I recommend not putting Windows and OS X on the same dirve when talking about Mac Pro - unless you just need something small and lite.
Remove all your other drives while you install Windows 7.
You could even relocate XP - if you need it even - or recover the hard drive space.
You should always keep 30% free for Mac OS; same for data/media drives.
Considering 1.5TB WD Black $110.... and you want OS X to be on a fast high performance drive as well.

HT5639 Can I use Boot Camp to install Linux on my MacBook Pro?

Can I use Boot Camp to install Linux on my MacBook Pro?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Boot Camp wasn't designed to install Linux. Apart from that, the Boot Camp version included in OS X Mountain Lion will ask you to insert a Windows 7 or Windows 8 DVD in order to run Boot Camp, as far as I know.
Apple doesn't support Linux on Macs, but it works properly on Macs. There are a lot of how-to's in the Internet about the steps to install Linux and the different possibilities you have. Also, what distribution do you want to install on the computer? You should also consider the option to install Linux on a virtual machine

Arch linux doesn't boot after installing AMD ATI Catalyst

I have a laptop which has a integrated graphic card intel 4th generation (4600) and an AMD ATI R9 m265x (hybrid Intel/AMD graphics card) so I have just installed AMD ATI Catalyst proprietary ones by following
AMD Catalyst ArchWiki.
I have used "Installing from the unofficial repository" method so in my pacman.conf I have added below entry for [catalyst-stable]:
[catalyst-stable]
Server = http://catalyst.wirephire.com/repo/catalyst/$arch
## Mirrors, if the primary server does not work or is too slow:
#Server = http://70.239.162.206/catalyst-mirror/repo/catalyst/$arch
#Server = http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/archlinux-catalyst/repo/catalyst/$arch
#Server = http://mirror.hactar.bz/Vi0L0/catalyst/$arch
Then I have update pacman's database and install below packages:
catalyst-hook
catalyst-utils-pxp
lib32-catalyst-utils-pxp
(No need to install catalyst-total-pxp as I have installed catalyst-utils-pxp)
After installing it, I have configured the driver, configuring X using below command:
# aticonfig --initial
In order to use PowerXpress support I have installed catalyst-utils-pxp package plus additional lib32-catalyst-utils-pxp.
To perform a switch into Intel's IGP I have also installed the mesa-libgl package and Intel's drivers: xf86-video-intel and intel-dri .
I have enable the automatic update by enabling the catalyst-hook.service with below commands since it automatically rebuilds the fglrx modules while the system shuts down or reboots (so I haven't to do it manually each time kernel is updated using Catalyst-generator):
# systemctl enable catalyst-hook
# systemctl start catalyst-hook
And finally I have blacklisted radeon module by creating "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklisted.conf" file which content is:
blacklist radeon
and also I have ensured that fglrx line is added in "/etc/modules-load.d/Catalyst.conf" file.
To avoid problems, I have rebuilt the fglrx module by doing (I know it is not necessary as it is done by catalyst-hook):
catalyst_build_module all
Once I reboot, arch linux does not boot. Last lines printed out are below and then it freezes:
Starting temp files linker to catalyst...
Starting Catalyst event Daemon...
[ OK ] Started Catalyst event Daemon
Starting Catalyst's fglrx kernel' module builder...
[ OK ] Started temp files linker for catalyst.
[ OK ] Started Catalyst's fglrx kernel' modue builder.
[ OK ] Started gnome Display manager.
[ OK ] Started Network manager.
[ OK ] Reached target Multi-User system.
[ OK ] Reached target Graphical Interface.
[ OK ] Reached target Network.
I have tried to put nomodeset as a kernel parameter but it does not work. Also, after reading ArchWiki, I have noticed that it is recommended to don't do this as I am using catalyst-utils-pxp because intel driver needs it so I have removed nomodeset parameter from kernel but It continues not working.
Any ideas?
Package versions:
Kernel version 3.17.6-1-ARCH
catalyst-hook 14.12-1
catalyst-utils-pxp 14.12-1
lib32-catalyst-utils-pxp 14.12-1
xorg-server 1.16.2.901-1
xf86-video-intel 2.99.916-3
Last edited by toni (2014-12-13 19:38:38)

FInally I managed to boot arch linux.
I had to downgrade xorg-server from 1.16.2.901-1 to 1.15.2-1.
It seems there is a problem with Catalyst 14.12-1 and xorg-server 1.16.2.901-1.
Also I had to replace desktop manager from gdm to lightdm as gdm raises segmentation faults using xorg-server versions 1.16.2.901-1 and 1.15.2-1.
Finally I had to add an entry in pacman.conf:
[xorg115]
Server = http://catalyst.wirephire.com/repo/xorg115/$arch
## Mirrors, if the primary server does not work or is too slow:
#Server = http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/archlinux-catalyst/repo/xorg115/$arch
#Server = http://mirror.hactar.bz/Vi0L0/xorg115/$arch
Then performs following actions:
1) # pacman -Syuu catalyst-hook catalyst-utils-pxp
2) Uninstall all the packages xf86* such as xf86-video-intel, xf86-input-evdev, xf86-input-synaptics, etc.
3) Install the packages uninstalled in step 2 and install them again using xorg115 repo, for example, # pacman -S xorg115/xf86-video-intel xorg115/xf86-input-evdev xorg115/xf86-input-synaptics
I have put a comment here.
Last edited by toni (2014-12-14 12:31:29)

I tried partitioning my HD to install linux, the installion was not successful and now I can't boot my mac, I tried internet recovery, it was not helpfull as the disk utility cannot delete the partition I created.

I tried partitioning my HD to install linux, the installion was not successful and now I can't boot my mac, I tried internet recovery, it was not helpfull as the disk utility cannot delete the partition I created. It was only showing me an error message "EFI files are missing", I realized that it is trying to boot from the new partition I created for the installation of the linux I intended to do.

It sounds like you may have multiple problems, but none of them are likely to be caused by malware.
First, the internet-related issues may be related to adware or a network compromise. I tend to lean more towards the latter, based on your description of the problem. See:
http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/baddns.php
http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/hackedrouter.php
If investigation shows that this is not a network-specific issue, then it's probably adware. See my Adware Removal Guide for help finding and removing it. Note that you mention AdBlock as if it should have prevented this, but it's important to understand that ad blockers do not protect you against adware in any way. Neither would any kind of anti-virus software, which often doesn't detect adware.
As for the other issues, it sounds like you've got some serious corruption. I would be inclined to say it sounds like a failing drive, except it sounds like you just got it replaced. How did you get all your files back after the new drive was installed?
(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com, in the form of buttons allowing for donations. Donations are not required to use my site or software.)

Boot from CDD to install Linux

I found a version of Linux that I'd like to try / install but my Satellite Pro 425CDS (Win98) only boots from HDD or FDD. I did update the BIOS to the latest version, 5.40 I think. Didn't help. So, How do I get the 425 to boot from the CDD? I do have the FDD but the Linux version (WattOS) won't fit on a floppy. What are my other options for getting Linux to run on this box?
Also, looking at other posts I guess I'll need a fan utility to keep the fan running too. Others seem to be having overheat issues with Linux.
Thanks,
Will

The short answer is: you can't.
That era of machines wouldn't boot from the CD, installing Windows required a boot floppy that included drivers to support the CD.
From a brief search, there are some Linux distributions that include boot floppies as an option, but WattOS doesn't appear to be one of those. :-(
On the other hand, your machine is old enough that these may work for the fan issues: http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html

Installing Linux, but keeping windows for VM boot?

Hello,
I'm thinking about buying a new thinkpad. I'd like to install linux and wide the recovery partition, but I'd also like to be able to make a Virtual Box vm from the licence of windows 7 that comes with purchase.
Does anybody know if that will be possible from the recovery cds?
Thanks

jdonato wrote:
Hello,
I'm thinking about buying a new thinkpad. I'd like to install linux and wide the recovery partition, but I'd also like to be able to make a Virtual Box vm from the licence of windows 7 that comes with purchase.
Does anybody know if that will be possible from the recovery cds?
If you mean using recovery cd's in a virtual machine? It wont work that way since the they check for a BIOS identifier during the first boot.
Cheers and regards,
• » νιנαｿѕαяα∂нι ѕαмανє∂αм ™ « •
●๋•کáŕádhí'ک díáŕý ツ
I am a volunteer here. I don't work for Lenovo

Is this the best way to Triple Boot?

Hi all, I have a had a pickle of a time setting up Leopard...with my triple boot setup.
I am curious if I went about it "properly"or if there is a better way.
Use instructions at your own peril if you wish. I am not responsible for errors or any problems you may have by using my instructions. This is my individual experience. *I am happy if this works for someone* struggling to set up a triple boot, but am posting this more so to see if there are any improvements to be made, or mistakes that need correcting to this method...
I had an Intel MBP (SR) with 3 partitions. Tiger, Vista and Ubuntu but when trying to install Leopard it said it would not install and I would have to change my drive to guid partition scheme.
So, through trial and error this is the only way I could get it to work.Keep in mind I started from scratch with vista and ubuntu, but did make a backup of my tiger drive.
1. BACK UP
2. Wipe everything and repartition internal disk to guid partition map and 1 partition. Install Leopard.
3. Use either disk utility or carbon copy cloner(my purchased copy of SuperDuper is still not able to do what CCC, a free program can do,apparently because they are trying to figure out time machine and are holding up a leopard compat. version, uuughh, but thats a different post...) to clone Leopard to external drive that is set up as GUID partition scheme.Make sure you are able to boot this external.
4. Wipe internal, repartition to 3 partitions using disk utility and MBR partition scheme in this order from top to bottom(in disk utility partition gui);
  a. Leopard partition: OSX extended journaled
  b. Vista partition: I think there is only one option: maybe Fat? Just make sure you select "windows" format (The vista installer will need to reformat this during install anyway)
  c. Ubuntu partition: "Free Space"
5. Then to install leopard, (which apparently won't install on a drive set up as MBR partition scheme, but that is what we formatted the internal drive as anyway) clone the external copy of leopard to the internal OSX partition we just made.
6. Then install vista by booting from install cd. During install you may have to reformat the Windows partition using the windows installer, but it should install fine after that.
7. Then Install ubuntu using live cd/dvd to the internal free space partition, splitting/ formatting the last partition using the ubuntu install/partition tool on the "manual"partition mode(make sure you are using the correct free space partition. I confirmed this by looking at the sizes of the partitions that showed up): "free space" into root and swap partitions if you want. I used ext2 for root
     *Side note:*If you have the same MBP as me you may have to change some setting when booting the live cd: Once the cd loads and you get to the preliminary menu window, press F6 to edit. A command will show up on the screen: You have to erase the last two words starting at "quiet" till end. Then write "allgenericide" in their space, keeping all of the command before quiet.  then press enter. It should then load to the ubuntu desktop where you can click on the install icon.(this took me a long time to figure out. I have also have to do this everytime I want boot into ubuntu, which stinks. Anyone know how to resolve this? (Linux masters?)
8. boot into osx and install rEFIt
Issues:
1. My Leopard partition is not showing up in OSX's startup disk pane in sys pref. but it is booting/ showing up as if it was, if having trouble, try holding option key during startup.
2. I have also had a few issues with rEFIt not starting up as default menu, but when holding option key at startup it will show up. Then gives me the option of OSX, Vista or Ubuntu once selected.
3. And the command thing with ubuntu at every startup I mentioned earlier.Is there a way to write allgenericide as a default or any other way to fix this?
If anyone has a better way of accomplishing this please let me know. I got to this point through a lot of trial and error and I'm not sure if there is a more stable/better way for a triple boot setup...
I would like for the Leopard partition to show up as the osx startup disk in the pref pane, but regardless it is still working.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems boot camp makes the drive into an MBR partition scheme anyway, so I'm curious what others who were already running dual or triple boot, boot camp systems had to do when upgrading their boot camp setups from tiger to leopard. Did it not allow you to install to the MBR partition scheme made by boot camp? Did you have to start from scratch as well?
Thank you in advance for your patience and support.

http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/TripleBoot_viaBootCampI would install Vista before installing Leopard.
That has worked better for me anyway.
And that may make Leopard the default.
In Vista, AppleControl is under /Windows/SysWOW64 if you ever need to get to it (there is also AppleOSSMgr and AppleTimeSrvc )
http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/TripleBoot_viaBootCamp

Installing Linux as triple-boot?

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