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Triple Boot - Vista, XP & Ubuntu

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Faraaz, Apr 22, 2007.

  1. Faraaz Gems: 26/31
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    Hi all, I have a 300 GB HDD which I intend to partition and use with Vista, Xp and Ubuntu...atleast, I want to. I dunno if its practical...which is why I have a few questions for all you techies here:

    1) What is the file system used for Vista & XP? NTFS or FAT32? If I use NTFS will it be readable by Ubuntu?? How about FAT32?

    2) Is it possible for all 3 operating systems to access the data stored on my partitions?? If I have Vista & XP with my data stored on my XP partition...can Vista access it?? What about Ubuntu? Can I access my music and movies through Ubuntu if its all in my XP partition?

    3) I primarily want to try Ubuntu because I am interested in getting into Linux after everyone I know recommended it. Should I even bother or is it just too much of techno-jugglery and am I better off just sticking to Vista & XP?

    Thank you for your time. All replies appreciated!
     
  2. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Vista uses NTFS. Ubuntu has no problems with FAT32, and in fact, it writes more reliably to FAT32 than NTFS.

    Ubuntu can access NTFS drives, but the opposite is not true, so the Linux partitions will be invisible and unreachable in Winblows.

    Ubuntu is user-friendly and fairly easy to learn, and I personally think it's a good choice if you're a Linux noob. There are some more powerful Linux distros out there, but they can prove a little more complicated.

    Also, dual-boot with XP I know works great, but I'm not 100% sure about Vista.
     
  3. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    Ubuntu can read NTFS fine, but I'd even now suggest against writing NTFS in Ubuntu - so you'd have to mount windows partitions ro in fstab.

    Don't do anything with the windows partitions until you understand what I just said. :p
     
  4. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    I installed a dual boot (with a lot of help from the sysadmin :) ) with Vista and XP at work. Very easy to install with GRUB, if you know the tricks.
     
  5. Faraaz Gems: 26/31
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    GRUB?? ro in fstab?? :confused: Um...could anyone point me to useful links which explain how to go about all this stuff?? I'm a little lost...
     
  6. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    Okay, I was a little bit unclear there, so here I go again:
    The problem is that Windows XP and Vista will both overwrite your bootloader during the install. This bootloader is a tiny part of your hard disk which only says which Operating Systems are located on which partitions.

    Let's say that you install XP and then Vista. XP will write his location to the bootloader and then finish the rest of the install.
    When you later install Vista, that install will also write to your bootloader, overwriting the old one! Now, the computer can find Vista, but cannot find the XP OS. If you try the other way around, you will have the same problem! Uh oh, dillema.

    Another very big problem, is that Windows will refuse to start if it is not installed into the first partition of your first hard disk. Uh oh, dillema nr. 2.

    IIRC, Vista Home Premium (the one I am using at work because the license came with the machine) will automatically install here, you cannot tell it to do otherwise, this might be different for the other Vista versions.

    So:
    - I don't think that you can install these to 3 different partitions on the same harddisk, you need at least 2 harddisks, one for Vista and one for XP.
    - First install Vista, then XP, then Ubuntu.
    - When Ubuntu is installed, and with it the GRUB bootloader which should happen automatically, you need to find some way to alter the GRUB config file so that includes the Vista installation.
    - You're done, on startup, you get the GRUB loadscreen from which you can choose your poison.

    Edit:
    I can not give you links as I know no good ones, this is because I avoid techforums and linuxsites like the plague.
     
  7. Colthrun

    Colthrun Walk first in the forest and last in the bog Veteran

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    A linky here, Faraaz:

    How to triple-boot Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu
    http://lifehacker.com/software/ubuntu/hack-attack-how-to-triple+boot-windows-xp-vista-and-ubuntu-193474.php?mail2=true


    I have a PC at work running Win XP, 2000, 2003 Server and Ubuntu. If you know how to partition disks, I could guide you step by step.

    @Morgoth:
    Not exactly correct. You need to have the Windows loader (basically, the boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com files) into the first partition, but the system can be installed on any other partition.

    [ April 23, 2007, 15:41: Message edited by: Colthrun ]
     
  8. Faraaz Gems: 26/31
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    @Morgoth: Thanks for that!! Well...I have my home PC with a 300 GB SATA HDD partitioned into 4 different equally sized partitions of about 70 GB each. I'm running Windows XP SP2 on this at the moment. If there is the issue of incompatibility between Vista and XP, I don't know if I want to put up with all that hassle for no pressing reason. And I certainly cannot afford another HDD at the moment.

    If I have C,D,E & F drives, can I just re-format D or E and install Ubuntu on one of these?? Do I have to convert it into a raw partition or will Ubuntu install fine on the NTFS partitions directly?? I'm trying to figure out the path of least resistance here... :confused:

    @Colthrun: Thanks for the link!! It was very informative!! It helped me decide that Vista is SO not worth the effort at the moment...I think XP and Linux will be more than enough for my nooby technical limits for the moment.
     
  9. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    Ubuntu will NOT install on NTFS partitions.
     
  10. Erod Gems: 14/31
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    I thought that Vista would be able to detect the already installed XP and include it in the bootloader. At least this is the case with XP. As well as the Ubuntu installer automatically configuring GRUB to include all three OSs when it detects both XP and Vista, hopefully.
     
  11. Colthrun

    Colthrun Walk first in the forest and last in the bog Veteran

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    @Faraaz:


    1.) Ubuntu needs to be installed on a EXT3 partition. The Ubuntu installation program will allow you to format any existing partition to EXT3, although you can have one made with Partition Magic beforehand.

    2.) Ubuntu also needs a SWAP partition for virtual memory. This partition must be at least twice the size of your installed RAM. So, to install Ubuntu you are going to need to give it 2 partitions.


    3.) If you have Partition Magic or any other partitioning program in XP, you can prepare your hard disk beforehand (if not, wait until step 6). Partition one of the four drives you have as an Extended partition, and create two Logical Partitions inside it. Make one EXT3 and the other (about 2GB) a Linux SWAP.

    4) Reboot the PC with the Live Ubuntu CD in. Wait until the system boots up.


    5) Go to SYSTEM - ADMINISTRATION - GNOME PARTITION EDITOR.


    6) Check the listed partitions. Linux does not list partitions with letters, so you will need to check which of those are the ones you need. If the partitioning was made beforehand, simply note down the ones marked as SWAP and EXT3. If you couldn't create the extended and logical partitions beforehand, you can do it now from this application.


    7) Close the partition manager. Install Ubuntu.


    8) On the screen where you are asked where to install the system, indicate that you will select the partitions manually.


    9) Click on the partition that corresponds to the EXT3 format and edit it. Change the mount point to "/". That means this partition will be used as target for the system files. Also, ensure that the partition size is correct (sometimes Ubuntu reverts to the bare minimum for no reason).


    10) Accept and continue. Ensure that the partition number where the system will be installed (hdaX or sdaX) corresponds to the one you selected.


    11) That's it. When the installation finishes, click on Reboot Now, and wait for the system to eject the CD. Take the disk, close the tray and press ENTER.


    12) Now you will have a boot menu where you can select different Ubuntu boot types, and one for Windows.


    Hope this helps...

    EDIT: simplified.

    [ April 24, 2007, 17:00: Message edited by: Colthrun ]
     
  12. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    Don't bother with Colthrun's advice - it's misinformed at points and excessively complicated.

    Just empty and delete one NTFS partition from Windows and (if all Windows partitions were primary) create an extended partition with two logical partitions inside it from the Ubuntu installer - partition for data, and one double the size of your RAM for swap.

    You don't NEED a swap partition (you can have a swap file), I bet Ubuntu installs fine on ext2 or ReiserFS (for example) - but ext3 and a swap partition double the size of your ram is a good rule of thumb. Using a swap file is also in the land of deep wizardry and not a good solution for a newbie.

    Also, partitioning from the Ubuntu installer is extremely easy if you got unpartitioned space on the hard drive - I've never ran into any problems and I usually dualboot.
     
  13. Faraaz Gems: 26/31
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    :confused: hmm...I'm going to try it right now!!! Um...isn't Partition Magic shareware?? If it lets me just use the shareware version to make an EXT3 partition within XP itself...I guess thats the easiest option!!

    Hmm...thank you Colthrun and Taza, I appreciate your help very much! I'm going to go try this out now and see what happens!
     
  14. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    Well, no.

    The easiest option is to wipe out one NTFS partition from within windows (using disk management), and then creating the Linux partitions from within Ubuntu installer.
     
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