Tri-Boot Mac OS, Windows XP, Ubuntu

Hi,
This topic seemed to ft my situation best. A tricky one here: How can I tri-boot Mac OS X, Windows XP and Ubuntu all at the same time on my MacBook? In an ideal world I would like to store ubuntu on my external HDD as I already have an install on it so I can use the same install on my desktop when at home as on my laptop when out and about.
Thanks,
Dan.

Hi Dan,
this ones a bit old but still applicable http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/TripleBoot_viaBootCamp
And this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook
Remember: Have/make a backup of your files before trying.
Regards
Stefan

Similar Messages

Tripple boot: Mac os, Windows and Ubuntu

Dear All I need some help....
I installed mac os (leaopard) on my macBook and then used the boot camp to install windows, and it is installed successfully. I then created a partition in macos for ubuntu and restarted to isntall ubuntu. I installed the ubuntu in the second last partition created by mac os. now I have three operating system installed but when I open to boot from windows operating system It try to starts but it give me an error option that there were some hardware or something might be changed and there are some options to start windows, one is "Start windows normally" when I select this option, it restarts the mac book. I am not able to use windows xp on my macbook while macos and ubuntu are working correctly....
Can any one help me????
Irfan

I have followed the same procedure to install these operating system. And infact I have installed these successfully. But when the windows is started in the mid of the startup it stop and gives me a black screen with some options like
- start in safe mode
- start with support of networking
- start in command mode
- start windows normally
when I select the option "start windows normally" it then restarts and give me the rEFIt options....
Irfan

Can I dual boot Mac with Windows?

Hi all,
At the moment I have Windows 7 32 bit OS. I've always wanted either an iMac, or atleast the Mac OS. I've recently found out it's only £20.99, and i've always thought it was a lot more than that, which is a bargain! The only thing which is stopping me from buying it at the moment, is that certain programs which I use reguarlarly won't work on Mac, and I really need those programs. Is their anyway I could dual-boot it with Windows 7, so I give Windows 7 say only 8gb of my hard drive, and Mac the rest?
I will appreciate any answers, and thanks for tackling this for me!

ryanroks1 wrote:
Thanks for helping
Is an Intel Mac just an Intel Processor, with Mac OS?
Yes Macs changed to Intel Processors in about 2007. You can upgrade as far as Lion with a Core2Duel Processor or better. CoreDuos will only update as far as Snow Leopard.
Hope this helps
Pete

Made Tri-boot:OSX/OS9.2.2/Ubuntu. How do I get OS9 to be bootable again?

Situation setup:
A friend gave me an iBook 300mhz clamshell to use. I wanted to set it up to dual boot between OSX and OS9, but realized that it was a bit outdated for OSX. So I bought a 466mhz iBook se logic board (will have to dremel out a hole for the firewire port), a stick of 512MB RAM, an airport card and am looking for a DVD burner to round off the upgrade. Rather than wait for the new logic board to arrive (which would probably allow me to install OSX via firewire), I decided to install the two OSs onto a 20GB drive in a powerbook Ti 500Mhz computer, and then transplant the drive over to the FrankenBerry clamshell. I have read a few articles/posts where people have installed OSX for the clamshell in this manor.
I had OSX/OS9.2.2 dual booting fine, when I came across Ubuntu for powerpc. Hmmmm...Might be nice to have three OSs on the clamshell. I repartitioned the drive using iPartition, creating 4GB of free space...OSX/OS9 dual boot still worked fine. So far, so good. I then installed Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 into the free space partition and got it to dual boot between Ubuntu/OSX. I figured the only way to get back into OS9 was to boot into OSX and choose OS9 in Startup Disk, which I did. When I reboot, I get the floppy icon and question mark ?!? I thought OS9 was simply a folder in the OSX partition and didn't have any sort of partition(s) of its own...does it?
I had to insert my G4's OSX install CD to change the Startup Disk back to OSX (booting with Option only shows the first OS found on a drive). Once in OSX, I successfully started up classic, pointing it to the OS9 System folder. It told me it had to update some disk drivers in order to work, but that it wouldn't affect my OS9 install. Sure enough, I still can't boot into OS9.
Question:
Is it safe for me to re-install OS9 from the G4 install CD, or will that somehow mess up the OSX and/or Ubuntu installation? My gut tells me that installing OS9 won't touch anything in another partition, but I had something bad for lunch and I don't think I can trust my gut at the moment. Also, since I had already updated to OS9.2.2, should I trash the OS9 apps/system folders and secure empty the trash first?
Thanks in advance for any help offered.
15" 500Mhz PBTi/512MB/Airport, 15" 800Mhz PBTi/512MB/Airport, FrakenBlueBerry 466Mhz iBookse/576MB/Airport Mac OS X (10.4.9) iSight/60GB Video iPod (soon to be un-stolen!)

Have you tried holding down option on boot to see if
you can see the os 9 install?
Yup, that's why I mentioned it in my post. I found that holding down option will only show one os per partition (or per hard drive, can't tell at the moment), so if I set OSX to be the startup disk, that's all I see from my local HD when holding down option key during boot. If OS9 was set as the startup disk, then all I see from the local HD is OS9 when booting with option key. If I do choose OS9 from the option screen, or simply let it try to boot OS9 on its own, I get the floppy icon and question mark alternation.
It just seems very peculiar to me that after adjusting the partition and rebooting, dual boot worked fine, but not after installing Ubuntu, which supposedly only touched it's one free space partition at the end of the drive. If Ubuntu only installs in an existing free space partition, how could it be possibly to erase any OS9 disk drivers? ie.creating the free space partition itself 'should' have caused whatever damage was going to be caused to OSX or OS9. Neither one of those OSs should be looking in the free space partition and Ubuntu shouldn't be looking outside of it.
Thanks for your input and encouragement, I'll probably just try throwing away the OS9 folders and re-install it from my G4 install CDs.
15" 500Mhz PBTi/512MB/Airport, 15" 800Mhz PBTi/512MB/Airport, FrakenBerry iBook Mac OS X (10.4.9) iSight/60GB Video iPod (soon to be un-stolen!)

Sharing an external USB hard rive - can you boot Mac and Windows?

I'm using an external USB2 hard drive (Western Digital 250 Gb) to back up my MacBook and a couple of Dell laptops. It's formatted FAT32, so both OSes work fine with it, and I think the Dells can boot from it. It's fine for backing up files, although SuperDuper turns up its nose because it's not HFS+.
I've learned from these forums that an Intel Mac can boot from a USB drive but only if it's formatted properly, not FAT32. I think you need a GUID partition map and HFS+ formatting.
So, is there ANY way I could use this drive as a bootable backup for BOTH a MacBook and a Dell (Windows XP) laptop? I've looked around a lot, and I think it cannot be done. Anyone know otherwise?

Yes, no question about that.
What I was wondering is if there might be any partitioning and formatting strategy whereby there could be a "Mac" partition and a "Windows" partition, so that either machine could boot from the same external (USB) drive.
Obviously, Apple has achieved dual-boot with BootCamp for internal drives but I can't find any comparable solution for external drives.

Unable to boot Mac OS X

Yesterday I decided to install Windows on my MacBook. I had both a Windows XP installation disk and a Vista Upgrade disk. I successfully did both according to the Boot Camp instructions. After tweaking Vista and downloading software and upgrades that I wanted to use on Vista I tried to reboot Mac OS X and I can't. What happens is the grey Apple logo appears for a split second and is then replaced by a circle with a line through it like a do not enter sign. From here my computer just boots up Vista. I have tried booting Mac OS X by choosing to do so through the Boot Camp Control Panel in Vista and have also just tried turning the computer off and booting up using the option key to select the Macintosh partition. Both ways produce the same result I described above. If anybody knows how I can fix this problem that would be great! Thanks!

try booting off the leopard installation disk and run disk utility and verify the disk and disk permissions. if nothing shows up wrong there, you might have to reinstall the mac system. you won't have to delete any data for this, just archive the old system and make a new one (yes, you can do this all off booting up on the leopard disk).

I can't boot from the windows cd with boot camp

I got Vista up and running via boot camp but now I have a problem that could cause some issues. How the **** do you boot from a windows cd with boot camp!?!? When I stick in the windows based CD (could be the vista install CD -after vista's been installed of course- or a Windows home server restore cd) and hold down the option key I chose to boot from the CD in the menu then the screen goes black as it should and then it says press any key to boot from cd or dvd..... It gives me 5 seconds to press a key and then it conintues to boot into Vista. The thing is when it asks me to press any key I press any and all keys on the keyboard and I get no response and it just boots into vista. This can be quite a problem, what if I need to restore vista via the install CD? I can't chose to boot from it cause everytime it asks me to none of my key presses register. So everytime I have a problem I won't be able to restore or even diagnose it, I'll just have to reinstall vista? I don't think I can even bring up the safe mode or anything like this. The keyboard won't work until I reach the password screen of Vista. I've also tried plugging in a USB keyboard to it and it still doesn't work. So basically I need to know how to make the keyboard work before Vista loads.

Ok, well I just tried booting from the windows cd and it seems that I lied to ya It seems that you can boot from it. Although I only took it to the point I was comfortable with. The boot resulted in it asking me to install windows and I didn't see any partitions listed or anything, so I chickened out (so to speak) not wanting to take the chance of my Leopard installation getting screwed up.
It's been a quite some time since I used the Vista boot disc and can't really remember how it went when I used it in conjunction with boot camp beta. Sorry can't give you anymore information.

2009 Mac Pro will not boot up under Windows

I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro system (Mac Pro 4,1) and I've had this system for 3 years already and have been working under OS X with this system ever since I purchased it.
However, when I tried to boot off my Windows disk, something very interesting happens. The Mac Pro WILL NOT boot up off the Windows disk or a known working Windows partition if two monitors are connected. Upon holding down the option key and selecting the Windows partition, I will get a black screen on one monitor (the one connected via Mini Displayport) and the other screen receives no signal and will enter standby and the system is halted. It does not respond to keystrokes, there is no hard drive activity, no measured power increase on the UPS, no apparent network activity, nothing. The only way to exit this scenario (from what I can tell) is to power off the machine, disconnect the display on DVI, power on the machine again, select the Windows partition wait for the system to reach the login window and reconnect the DVI monitor (at which time Windows recognizes it immediately and the system works fine again).
My question to the community is, does anybody know why this is happening and is there a known fix for this? Quite frankly, having to disconnect a monitor just to restart is very tedious and frustrating.
I have two Samsung P2350 monitors attached to an ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512MB, from Apple). One is monitor is connected via directly DVI and the other is using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter. Both monitors work fine under OS X with no issue. At first, I thought that this may be a driver issue on the Windows side and after installing all the latest updates and drivers the issue is still apparent. From what I can tell, this doesn't seem like a software issue but rather a firmware or EFI issue as this happens before Windows even loads.
If anyone knows of a fix or what to do in this situation, or if you are also having this issue, I would love to hear your input!
Thank you!
For the record, I am running all the latest software builds on the OS X side (10.7.4, not that it would really matter at this point). I have also disconnected all unnecessary equipment in a trial and error scenario but the results are still the same.
The system passes all ASD testing.
The full specification of the computer and all connected equipment are as follows:
2009 Mac Pro (4,1) 8-Core
2x Intel Xeon Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPUs
16GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz RAM (Apple Branded)
Two OWC 120GB SSDs (One for OS X, the other for Windows 7 x64) - These are in place of my optical drives.
4x 2TB WD Black Hard drives for storage.
Two Samsung P2350 Monitors connected via DVI. (One using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter).

In Windows I am using the latest (12.4) Catalyst Software Suite, 64 bit of course, downloaded directly from AMD's site after installing the drivers from Boot Camp.
As for installing Windows I used an original (not burned) installation media (Disk is in a pristine condition). And yes, Windows is fine, the problem just seems to be getting the system to boot up Windows with that second monitor. However if the "problem monitor" is disconnected the system boots fine 100% of the time and connecting it later after booting the system will still operate properly.
For the sake of arguement I swapped monitor cables and connected the "second" monitor to the mini displayport adapter to verify that it wasn't a cabling issue and I'm still yielding the same issues.
As for GPU testing, I've played games (Crysis, Grand Theft Auto IV, Battlefield 3, etc.) and I've had no issues with the card or stability.
You would think that Apple would try to find a fix for this, especially considering the caliber of this machine.

285 GTX Mac and Windows XP booting with Boot Camp - Black Screen

I decided to update my 8800GT to the newer 285 GTX. Loaded the drivers, a must first, then installed the card. Booted the Mac and wow what an inprovement.
Here's where the problems start. I used Boot Camp to boot to my Windows XP 32 install in Bay 2. Got the Windows Start Up screen then nothing but black.
I reinstalled my 8800 GT and restarted the computer. I installed the latest nVidia drivers (190.38) in XP.
I reinstalled the 285 GTX and tries again. Mac worked fine when I restarted in XP got the Windows startup screen then nothing but black.
I could use some answers to solve this problem. I believe the 285 is supposed to work booting Windows from Boot Camp but I can't figure out how to make it work.
Thanks in Advance

I know I saw, and tried to help, someone else with the same questions. At that time I think tried to get them to use Driver Sweeper 2.0 and really uninstall drivers and any leftovers.
So there should be another thread here, but maybe also on eVGA forum.
And it doesn't make sense, unless XP or even Apple's leftover Boot Camp drivers. So look for Driver Sweeper 2.0, works better; and there is a thread on evga for removing graphic driver and upgrade.

CD Boot: memory overflow error! Trying to install Bootcamp / Windows 7 on MacBook Pro 2009 with external superdrive

Hi all,
I'm trying to install Bootcamp on my machine.
I was running Parallels before but need Bootcamp in order to run heavy software on the PC side (e.g. Rhino/Maxwell/etc).
I have a Macbook Pro 17" from around 2009, running Mountain Lion 10.7.3.
Problem is, my internal CD Drive is broken and doesn't read discs, so it couldn't read the Windows installation disc (Windows Home Premium 7 64 bit - OEM System Builder Pack).
So, I rang Apple to try to fix it and they said it would be cheaper and faster to buy an external SuperDrive.
I explained that I wanted it to install bootcamp and they said, fine.
However when I bought the SuperDrive, it turns out its only supposed to be working with new Macbook Pro with Retina display, and other machines that don't have internal cd drives.
At first it didnt work, but then I found a helpful website which enabled it to work on my machine.
So I went ahead and started installing Windows through the BootCamp Assistant.
It partitioned my hard drive - success!
But then it turned into black screen, with message saying "CDBOOT: Memory overfloor error"
Help please!!!
I suspect the problem is either:
a) Old Macbook Pro can't boot from the Windows disk
or
b) The Windows OEM version is somehow not designed to work with Mac. I bought it secondhand off a guy, thinking it was the full version, silly thing to do!
Your thoughts and help is seriously appreciated!
Tomorrow I'm going to the Apple Store and also to buy a brand new copy of Windows, I guess.

This has been resolved. It turned out that in spite of the message at the end of installation - "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer restart the installation" Windows was installed successfully but the problem was the Bootcamp drivers, it could not read them(install them) from my original OSX Istall DVD and I thought that that the whole package was not installed successfully. I will copy the intructions here as well since this thread may attract lots of other people with similar problem who may think it was not a good installation. Here you go:
Ok, after 3 sleepness nights I have found a solution and finally have a working Windows 7 Ultimate. I hope this will be helpful for everyone having similar issues and not have to go through the same nightmare.
Right away after logging in Windows for the first time insert the original Snow Leopard Install DVD and if Windows does not read it or install any drivers after clicking on setup.exe do the following:
Right-click on Start » Programs » Accessories » Command Prompt
Select Run as Administrator
Type cd /d D:, then press Enter
Type cd Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple, then press Enter
Type BootCamp64.msi, then press Enter
If you do not how to right click before installing the drivers the following:
Click on Start
Enter cmd in the search box
Instead of hitting the Enter key use Ctrl + Shift + Enter and will open a dialog box
Click Yes at the prompt and you will be running as an administrator.
If you do not have the original install DVD go the this link and follow the instructions(including the ones from the last comment):
<Edited by Host>

Installing Windows 7 on my bootcamp partition (mid-2009 mac book pro with mountain lion) My computer won't boot from the Windows 7 Install DVD.

Hello,
I have been trying to install Windows 7 on my macbook pro (mid 2009, MBP53). I have successfully created a bootcamp partition using the assistant. When the computer tries to boot from the windows 7 install dvd, the screen is just black. The dvd spins for a bit, then stops and the computer is just black (no blinking cursor).
Any advice would be very appreciated.
Thanks.

What kind of an install DVD are you using for Windows?
You can use any DVDs that are hardware specific. Only the full non-hardware soecific DVDs work on the Mac.
Allan

Unable to install Boot Camp and Windows 8.1 on Mac Mini

Hello,
My computer is a late 2012 mac mini with fusion drive. OS is OSX 10.9.1. Also an apple external optical drive and a Windows 8.1 full install DVD. I attempted to install Boot Camp and Windows 8.1 and failed.
I ran Boot Camp Assistant and first problem was when it rebooted the computer - I got a text message that said the OS was missing. After a while I tried holding down the Option key while rebooting, then I got several choices to boot from - I chose the windows disk, and windows installation started.
I was eventually given a list of 6 or 7 partitions to chose from, to install windows into. I settled on the one marked BOOTCAMP. It seemed the best guess. But the installer said that it could not install on this partition. Something about the wrong format or EFI or boot partition(s)?? In fact, the installer would not let me install into any of the listed partitions.
I restarted Boot Camp and it allowed me to remove the boot camp partition and revert to OSX only. Thanks for that!
My questions: is Windows 8.1 supported with my configuration? I know the FAQ says it is not. If in fact it is, did I do something wrong?
Thanks,
Doug

Poking around, I found an installation manual which was downloaded to my USB drive with the boot camp windows drivers. It says that when I reached the point in the windows installer where I'm given a choice of partitions, I should choose the one marked BOOTCAMP, and format it. Which I didn't think to try before. So I tried again, using Boot Camp Assistant from the top.
Failure again. This time, when the computer rebooted, I selected the Windows icon as before, but I got a text message saying that the boot manager couldn't be found, and a dead stop.
I also found that on the option-key reboot disk selection screen, I could eject the windows install disk and reinsert it. When I did that, I got the Windows boot icon and another icon labeled EFI boot. So I also tried that icon, with the same result.
So, I'm doing exactly what I did before (I think), but now the windows installer won't start.

Unable to boot mac OS X Lion after windows 7 installation using boot camp!

Hi,
I'm first time mac user & recently bought the latest entry level mac mini model 2.3GHz 599$ (http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html).
The machine by default came with OS X Lion.
I was trying to install genuine windows 7 on my mac mini using boot camp. I had the windows installation CD the download part for windows support software was taking too long & I foolishly skipped this crucial part set aside 70GB for win7 & continued the installation. The windows installation was done successfully with no machine specific drivers installed yet. I thought I would get some grub like thing to select OS at boot time but everytime it boots to windows. Is it since I missed downloading/installing windows support software? Please help me out to get my mac back
I've not done much of googling to troubleshoot it but bit of nervous for my foolishness at skipping that downloading part.

That was quite dumb question, the RTFM issue
Booted from macintosh HD at startup & removed the windows installation.

Hibernate Windows XP and Boot Mac OS X

I primarily use WinXP on my White Macbook, but at times find it useful to use Mac OS X. However, often times I have lots of windows and data open in Windows, and it is a hassle to close out of everything and reboot to get into Mac OS X. Is there any way to hibernate Windows and then boot into Mac OS X (and then when done, boot back into the hibernated Windows so that all my data and apps remain open where I left them)? Or will this just not work, or risk causing major problems? Any help is appreciated.
P.S. I haven't even tried Hibernation with WinXP on my Macbook yet, so I have no idea if hibernation itself even works, much less what I'm looking to attempt.
- Marc

Hi Marc,
while admitting that I never used hibernation with XP, what you want should be doable.
Hibernate saves an image of your desktop with all open files and documents, and then it powers down your computer. When you turn on power, your files and documents are open on your desktop exactly as you left them when you boot back into Windows XP.
In between you can boot into OSX and do what you want.
Before trying out Hibernation it might be a good advise to have/make a backup of your XP, just in case.
And make sure that you have enough free disk space on your Windows partition.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/hibernate.mspx
regards
Stefan

Trying to Boot Camp with Windows 8.1 Problem

I'm trying to Boot Camp my Mac with Windows 8.1 and have been getting this problem:
"The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved."
I did a search for help with this topic and found 100s of threads with the same problem. However, from what I read it seemed that the problem is that there wasn't enough continuous space to create the partition. I'm skeptical to believe the same is the case with my problem, and if it is then I'm quite disappointed with Apple.
The reason being that I bought and opened this computer literally yesterday (Nov 24th, 2014) it is the latest model MBP 15'' 2.8 Ghz and 16GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD. I find it hard to believe that in 980 GB of un-used space, boot camp can not find 95 GB (what I'm trying to partition) that are continuous.
I saw that the most common solution to this was doing the whole back up, delete and restore method. Are there any simpler methods that do not require an external hard drive (as I don't currently have one).
Thank you very much in advance to anyone who can help.

Oddly enough, this is what seemed to do the trick, I've now got a fully working Windows 8.1 partition running on my rMBP:
Solution:
Finally got this working, thanks to a person named "turbostar" over on discussions.apple.com:
Re-run Boot Camp Assistant to remove the Windows partition and restore the full Mac HD as a single partition.
Run a PRAM reset (restart, while screen is still black, hold down ⌘+Option+P+R and keep them pressed until you hear the startup sound a second time).
Open disk utility and repair permissions on the Macintosh HD partition. TWICE.
Start Boot Camp Assistant again.
Seems hokey. With those instructions I thought I would also have to stand on one foot, point to my nose, rub my belly, and hope for rain. But it did end up working.

Tri-Boot Mac OS, Windows XP, Ubuntu

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