My Triboot Setup for Vista/OSX/Linux

[mohaas05]

I have my PC set up to multiboot Vista, OSX, and Linux.

1. First install Vista, preferably on the first partition of the first drive

2. Install OSX as normal, and place it on any partition you want.

3. Now choose a linux distribution that comes with the GRUB bootloader. I used Fedora 7. THe important thing to do is manually partition with Disk Druid. Use free space or delete an empty partition and create a root and swap partition.

4. Look for a partition that is formatted as HFS+. That is your OSX partition. Next to it it should have a name such as "sdb1" or something. Memorize that.

5. Now in the next screen u will configure the bootloader. Right now it should have 2 entries, one for Fedora, and one called "Other". Rename that to something like "Vista".

6. Choose to add an entry and name it "OSX" or whatever you like. Now remember the partition name that was next to ur HFS+ partition? Select it from the drop-down menu.

7. Continue with the installation and reboot.

- also if you want, you can change the default OS that will boot by selecting the desired entry and checking "default entry".

 

 

8. You may notice that when u try to boot Vista, it will give you an error and fail. This is because GRUB incorrectly determined the partition Vista was on. Reboot, and highlight the entry for Vista. Press 'e' on your keyboard to edit it. Now highlight the entry that says something like ' rootnoverify (hd0,0)' and press 'e' again. Now highlight the portion that says something along the lines of (hd0,0) and and change it to something such as (hd0,1) or (hd1,1) and try to boot from it. Keep restarting and changing the numbers until Vista boots successfully.

9. Now boot into Linux and open /etc/grub.conf. Look for the entry for Vista and again, the portion that says something like ' rootnoverify (hd0,0)' Change the numbers to match the ones that successfully let you boot Vista when you edited it in GRUB.

- You can also change the timeout here too since the default of 2 seconds isn't nearly enough time.

And thats that. You now have a working Vista, OSX, and Linux computer.

 

Keep in mind if you reinstall an operating system, you will have to reinstall GRUB or linux and repeat the steps above.