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.

Similar Messages

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?

Triple boot Lion/Windows/Ubuntu

I am being given a new Macbook Pro for work. Because of my personal preference for the UI in Mac OS X, and my business requirement to do software development in Windows and Linux, I'd love to be able to triple-boot into either Lion, Win 7, or Ubuntu, and have a common directory tree where I can store data that I need in all three OSes, such as source code trees (mostly managed by Perforce), email profiles (for Thunderbird), and iTunes content, as well as plain old "documents". Is this something Bootcamp will be able to handle? If so, what is the best format for the partition hosting the shared data?

What I ended up with was pretty much what the referenced article describes. I'm so much not an expert on partitioning that I hate to even describe what I think I saw, but if you'll all promise not to laugh me out of the room...
I created four partitions as suggested, one for each OS and one for "Common", but then I found that I couldn't do anything with the Common partition, like format it. I'm not sure why, but that's what it looked like. What has turned out to be a satisfactory solution for me is three partitions, one for each OS, and the bulk of the disk assigned to the Linux partition, formatted in ext3. There is an open source ext3 driver for Windows (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/) that works very nicely, and an affordable (for me, anyway, at $39.95) commercial product, Paragon ExtFS, for OS X, that gives those two OSes r/w access to the Linux partition. I created a folder there, /Common, and I'm home free.
Well, sort of. This gives me all three OSes, a common storage center, and a nice little boot menu (rEFIt), but the Linux installation is very problematic. It seems that our good friends at Apple aren't quite as helpful with Linux as they are with Windows, in that there is no suite of drivers available a la Bootcamp. As yet, I haven't even figured out the Ethernet setup. Fortunately, Bluetooth works out of the box, and I can get net access via my iPhone's Personal Hotspot feature. I use Linux mainly for software development anyway, so it's adequate (just barely) to my current needs.

MacBook Pro does not boot from Windows/Linux CD

Hello,
I tried to install bootcamp, but experienced the following problem: I was able to use the bootcamp wizard to create the partition I need. Then the wizard ask to put in the Windows CD and forced the restart. While booting I only see a grey screen, nothing happened after a long time.
I tried different Windows CDs from XP SP2/3 to Windows Vista and Windows 7, also for a test a linux and dos boot CD. Always the same issue, only a grey screen. Booting from Leopard DVD works fine.
I already reset NVRAM, PRAM, SMC.
I can use and install all such CDs in Parallels in OSX. As Parallels supports booting Bootcamp partition in OSX, I installed there Windows 7, but with the limitation that OSX protects changing the MBR, this change could not be done, but Parallels was able to store such information itself. So I can use Bootcamp in Parallels.
Then I tried to set boot partition to BOOTCAMP in preferences, but then I get the error "no boot partition is found, please insert CD" when MacBook tries to boot. Of course, the MBR could not be written to the partition from Parallels.
I checked if all software, EFI, Superdrive firmware is up to date - and it is.
I am using MacBook Pro3.1, 3 years old with 4 GB of memory and SSD disk from OCZ.
Can somebody help with this issue?
MrBass

This isn't a direct answer to your issue but have you considered installing Wine so you can run the occasional windows app directly in OSX? It's a much more elegant solution IMHO. This avoids restarting all the time with Bootcamp and avoids crashing all the time (and the security risks) with Windows running.

Problems triple booting (Mac, Windows, and Tails on usb)

Im having troubles booting TAILS (built on linux) from USB on my Mac.
I have a windows partition setup on the same drive as my Mac os (mavericks). I also have rEFInd setup. When I reboot and enter rEFInd my Mac, windows, and Legacy USB options appear. I select the usb option and windows boots instead. I need to figure out how to boot from the flash drive and stop the Windows boot loader from taking over. Mac os boots normal however.

Going to open new discussion

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!

[SOLVED] Triple Boot Arch Linux, Windows 7 + Windows 8 on second disk

Hi,
I have installed Arch Linux and Windows 7 on my primary disk. Everything's perfect. I want to install Windows 8 on my second disk. My only problem is how do I make grub2 recognize Windows 8 on the second disk and add it to the grub file, so i can boot Arch, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Thank you for your time,
Deadvi
Last edited by Deadvi (2012-08-29 21:24:00)

It overwrote the MBR from the first disk, even though you installed Windows 8 on the second disk? That's odd... Make sure that the boot order in the BIOS is right (that the drive with Arch Linux is the first to boot) and from a 2012 Arch Linux install media run:
# mount /dev/sdxY /mnt #Your root partition.
# mount /dev/sdxZ /mnt/boot #Your boot partition (if you have one).
# arch-chroot /mnt
And continue with the instructions from here. If you don't have a 2012 Arch Linux install media (or you only have some other "live" Linux distribution), use the old chroot way.

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

Virtualization of Windows Partition on Triple Boot System

I have recently triple booted my Macbook using the following partitioning tables:
(hd0,0) /dev/sda1 - EFI
(hd0,1) /dev/sda2 - Storage (FAT32)
(hd0,2) /dev/sda3 - Ubuntu Linux (ext3) <- GRUB
(hd0,3) /dev/sda4 - Windows XP (FAT32)
(hd0,4) /dev/sda5 - Mac OS X (Mac OS Extended)
I used the Bootcamp drivers to get Windows XP working correctly, but I had to use rEFIt as my gui bootloader.
My desire is to also be able to virtualize my Windows XP of the /dev/sda4 partition inside Mac OS X using either VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop. I have tried the trial versions of both and both don't appear to handle my partitioning scheme very well. Parallels returns an error stating that I have a non-standard Bootcamp partition (due to "multiple" Bootcamp partitions; probably from my FAT32 storage partition). VMware Fusion just attempts to boot the storage partition and it returns the obvious error of "No Operating System".
Is there any work around to this? I would think that it should be an option to create a virtual machine from whichever partition you have an OS installed in, but that doesn't appear to be the case...
Thanks in advance!

The boot selector built into the Intel MacBooks will only show one non-Mac partition per drive and it will always be labelled "Windows". There is a utility called Refit ( http://refit.sourceforge.net/ ) which replaces the Apple-provided boot selector with one which is capable of triple-booting. It doesn't remove or overwrite Apple's boot selector, so you can always go back to the original if need-be.
I believe you may also be able to dual-boot Linux and Mac OS... then use a boot selector under Linux (such as GRUB) to pick between Linux and Windows.

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.

Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

Hi Folks,
Thinking about setting up a triple boot system like the one described above. I have had numerous ideas for a partitioning scheme, but nothing seems neat because of the requirement that both Window and BSD need to be on a primary partition.
My basic requirements are:
Arch Linux
separate /boot (as I want to use BTRFS for root)
/root (BTRFS)
/swap (not essential for Arch, as I have 4 GB RAM)
(Is a home required, or can I have a tiny /home for .(config) files?)
PC-BSD
separate /boot (as I want to use ZFS)
/, /var, /usr (ZFS pool)
/swap (essential for ZFS as I have heard it is RAM hungry)
(Is a home required at all. First time with BSD, so not sure how it works)
Windows
1 large C: drive (Easy)
Shared storage drive
(recommendations for the most mutually compatible file system? It pains me to say, but FAT32?)
So, should I go with the GUID partition table so I can just make all of these, or is there some clever trickery? I was considering LVM to make my Arch root and small home, but that does not really solve the four primary partition limit on the MBR.
I should add, I have a working Windows 7 and Arch setup and my main reason for wanting a BSD is so that I have the full gamut of OSes for learning and experimentation. I like the idea of Windows 7, an Arch/BTRFS/Gnome and a BSD/ZFS/KDE...
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Scott
Last edited by well.heeled.man (2011-07-31 00:14:11)

@well.heeled.man
from my own experience i would recommend you pure FreeBSD instead of PC-BSD (even tho they are the same in nature), the main problem is that pc-bsd is somehow not complete .. too many preinstalled stuff, ports witch is 1st thing to learn in FBSD is way too complicated with those jails.. and never the less fbsd + kde is not a good start - better use xfce at most
as for partitions well ...
I think FreeBSD/PC-BSD uses a single physical partition, logically sub-divided to allow for snapshots
yes that is true
as for zfs start learning by use files instead of partitions or harddrives unless you are ready to loose your data O.o
example
cybertorture@ego ~
> sudo zpool status
pool: tank
state: ONLINE
scan: resilvered 32,5K in 0h0m with 0 errors on Tue Aug 2 01:45:54 2011
config:
NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM
tank ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs1 ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs2 ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs3 ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs-spare ONLINE 0 0 0
spares
/mnt/data/zfs-test AVAIL
errors: No known data errors
cybertorture@ego ~
> ll /home/zfs*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs-spare
about GPT, any reason not to use msdos ? maybe you have 2.2+ GB harddive ?
edit: about partitions
sda1 ntfs - windowze
sda2 ext2 - boot (safe bet)
sda3 ufs - fbsd
sda4 - extended
sda5 btrfs - arch
sda6 ntfs - shared storage
Last edited by cybertorture (2011-08-02 00:39:51)

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

Can't get windows 8.1 with dual boot for fedora (linux) . system is UEFI .

Can't get windows 8.1 with dual boot for fedora (linux) . system is UEFI .

Hi,
Any update here?
We may seek help at Fedora forum as Milos suggested, if convenient we could share the related thread link here for reference.
In addition, please also check the information in the similar thread:
Dual Boot Windows 8 and Linux?
Best regards
Michael Shao
TechNet Community Support

Dual boot with Windows 7 and LINUX - Tecra A11 (PTSE1A-00L005)

Hi,
I bought a new Tecra A11 Laptop which runs WIN7 Pro. I want to install LINUX also. That means, I want to run my laptop in dual boot Win7 Pro/LINUX (any distributor). Please tell me how to do that.
There are 5 partitions on the HDD:
1. Active, Recovery partiton 1.46 Gb (no drive letter)
2. Active Primary C: Boot 145.04 Gb (NTFS)
3. Active Logical E: 78.13 Gb (NTFS)
4. Active Logical F: 64.25 Gb (NTFS)
5. Primary Partition 9.2 Gb (no drive letter, application unknown)
Hey, I need it badly, because I have admitted to a course of RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer)
Please help me

Hi
I may not be able to give You a step-by-step explanation but most distros today offer a possibility to co-exist with Windows.
During the installation the unused free space will be taken by Linux (with the consent of the user of course!!)
What exact setup is needed by You is impossible for anyone else to say, but I would suggest to make the space occupied by the F drive available for Linux.
You seem to have space enough for Windows and the Linux OS does not need much.
Some thoughts concerning your partition setup:
I would NOT touch 1,2 and 5 no matter what. They are your system and some system internal partitions (recovery environment and data) and would not be fun to lose.
1. Active, Recovery partiton 1.46 Gb (no drive letter)
2. Active Primary C: Boot 145.04 Gb (NTFS)
3. Active Logical E: 78.13 Gb (NTFS)
4. Active Logical F: 64.25 Gb (NTFS)
5. Primary Partition 9.2 Gb (no drive letter, application unknown)
So pick a Distro (my suggestion Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse - Fedora will be the one closest related to RedHat) which will guide You through the steps to allocate space for Linux.
I would suggest however to remove the drive F in Windows so Linux does not start resizing all partitions.
I am sure that will work fine, but will just take time and the pretty unnecessary F drive will most surely be kept.
If You already have valuable data on your unit, make sure to back it up!! No software comes with warranties :)
Last but not least - make 100% sure to create a recovery set with the help of Toshiba Recovery media creator BEFORE you start installing Linux.
If something goes wrong You might want to have the possibility to put the unit back into factory state.
Good luck and keep asking if You need additional help!
Tom

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.

Triple boot MacOS/Windows/Linux

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