How I successfully made my machine Triple Boot (Windows 7 + Ubuntu + Mac) - Easiest Way

[Rushyang]

Hey guys!

Recently I successfully set up a triple boot machine. There are already plenty of tutorials on the internet to set up Triple boot machine i.e. Windows + Mac + Linux. I read many of them. But Everytime I went through a tutorial some questions always reamained rogue like..

 

"Which version of mac was installed, under which partition table type?"

"Which bootloader should left, or not should be installed?"

"What about Windows' problem of not appreciating any other partition table type like GPT?"

"What if rEFIt fails?"

and many many more... which I just can't remember now...

 

Eventually I found out a unique and sure solution of installing 3 Operating Systems into a single hard drive, ie

 

Windows 7 x64 ultimate + Mac Snow Leopard 10.6.4 + Ubuntu 10.10 x64.. Which wasn't followed from anywhere on the internet...

 

PS: 1) It's ok if you use XP or Vista instead of Windows 7. And....2) It's also ok if you install ANY other linux distro instead of Ubuntu.

 

This solution will work just fine.

Things You Need:

1) iATKOS DVD + Windows 7 DVD + Ubuntu (Bootable USB or CD/DVD)

2) [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] ( Just ISO... No need to burn it on CD )

3) EasyBCD ( Freeware, for windows ) [because rEFIt has never worked for me.. & trust me This is the most easiest way. Even kid will set up triple boot machine from this software. ]

4) Intel/AMD based machine

 

Alright then.. I'm writing this tutorial in real hurry.. so I might won't use more proper and technical information why I did what. I will try to describe my level best.

 

Alright then, This is how I got my triple boot experiment successful!

Part 1: Installing Mac

1) First I chose iATKOS operating system as to install to get Snow Leopard. Because this is the only way that allowed to install Mac under the MBR partition table driven partitions into hard drive.

 

2) MBR was real necessary, because Windows doesn't play fair when it is installed under the GPT. It has problems reparing windows, taking backup, making restore point and even pleny blue screens for me.

 

3) First install the iATKOS under MBR, in any parition. I created in total 3 paritions to install 3 operating systems. I didn't make 4 partitions just sometimes I faced a problem like losing Some MBs space partition for declaring partition type (MBR or GPT) and windows had considered it as a NTFS partition. & As we know windows allows only 4 partitions in 1 HDD under MBR.

 

I have 160 GB Hard Drive. I chose 78GB for windows 7, 44GB for Ubuntu and rest ~33GB for Mac.

 

4) I didn't choose or change anything under the customize menu just before hitting the installation button. This means no bootloader was customised either before installing iATKOS Mac. In fact, it's best if you don't install any boot loader now!

 

5) It took about 27 minutes to install iATKOS Mac Snow Leopard v10.6.4. Just when Mac installation was completed, I did not insert any kind of [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] NVIDIA disk into Drive. I kept Mac as it is and left it to start for the first time.

 

Part 2: Installing Windows 7

6) Just after concluding the installation of Mac and when computer reboots for the first time, I inserted the Windows 7 DVD into drive.

(At this phase, if you wanted to boot into Mac, you'd needed [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] CD.. But don't worry, we'll come back on starting mac for the first time later!)

 

7) Here, I chose 1st parition to install Windows 7. and waited here to complete the installation. In between, windows will reboot computer several times too.

 

8) Here, make a note that windows 7 will install 'windows boot manager' in MBR, which will overwrite every other operating system's boot loader. (here, in our case, nothing) It took about 16 minutes to complete the installation

 

Part 3: Installing Ubuntu (Or Any other linux distro)

9) After completing the installtion of Windows 7, insert ubuntu 10.10 bootable USB and start installation. Make sure you select GRUB installation partition as that own partition in which you're installing ubuntu. This will obviously prevent GRUB 2.0 from over writting Windows Boot Manager.

eg. If you're installing Ubuntu in /dev/sda2 then selection GRUB installation target to /dev/sda2

PS: Do not select /dev/sda (ie only HDD here, It will install GRUB into MBR). I said select the partition instead of whole hard drive.

 

Ubuntu took nearly 4 minutes to complete the whole installation! and It asked to reboot the computer again.

 

Part 4: Able to boot only in Windows For Now

10) Now reboot the computer, Obviously.. you won't be able to get into any other operating system except windows at this point. Now here the magic begins!

 

11) Download EasyBCD. It's freeware.. Google it you will find it easly.

 

12) Install it in windows.

 

13) Get [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] iso of your gfx kind's. & put it in somewhere where you won't change it's location. eg. C:\users\XXX\[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url].iso

(No spaces allowed in the path or name of iso file)

 

Part 5: Adding Mac entry into Windows Boot Manager...

14) Start EasyBCD.

Go to Add New Entry > ISO Boot > 'choose that [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] iso here' > Give appropriate name for your Macintosh os > Choose Mode: Load from Memory > Click Add Entry

 

Go to Edit Boot Menu > Save Settings

 

Part 6: Adding Ubuntu entry into Windows Boot Manager...

15) Start EasyBCD.

Go to Add New Entry > Linux/BSD > Choose Type: GRUB 2.0 (if ubuntu later version from 9.10) or GRUB (If any other version like Fedora, FreeBSD, BackTrack, RedHat etc) > Give appropriate name for Ubuntu entry > Click Add Entry

 

Go to Edit Boot Menu > Save Settings.

 

Note: Ubuntu 9.10 onwards all ubuntu distros uses GRUB 2.0 & All other distros use old GRUB.

 

Part 7: Starting Mac for the 1st Time!

16) Now, reboot PC, insert iATKOS DVD into drive. choose Mac entry from windows boot manager & Start your mac for the first time! configure it according to your keyboard, location etc.

 

Part 8: Enjoying your Triple Boot Machine!

 

Voila! you're done! Now whenever you will start your computer, Windows Boot manger will be prompted and You are perfectly good to go to boot into any OS you like.

 

Easiest way to make triple boot ever!

[wonderboy8915]

I will try it ASAP. BTW thanks for this awesome tutorial. This is the Genuine Tutorial which I ever found on net.