6x Multi-Install Help

[seangibbz]

I was looking to install 6 operating systems on my computer:

 

• Windows 7 - already installed
  
  
• Windows XP
  
  
• Mac OSX 10.6 - with 10.6.1 update
  
• Ubuntu 9.10 (Linux)
  
  
• BackTrack 4 [Pre-Release] (Linux)
  
  
• FreeDos 1.0
  

 

I was plnning to use Chameleon 2.0 bootloader. But I have a few questions/comments before performing the installation:

 

1. How many Operating Systems is Chameleon (2.0 RC3) limited to?

 

2. I'd like to keep the contents of my Windows 7 partition (just shrink it), is this possible?

 

3. If I have a RECOVERY partition (came pre-installed on the system), could this cause additional problems (if I want to keep it)?

 

4. Would Chameleon replace the system's BIOS? This is what's used to recover to factory default settings from the RECOVERY partition.

 

5. Do I need a "swap" partition (I don't really know what swap is)

• If so, would I need 1 or 2 swap partitions (one for Ubuntu, another for BackTrack)
  

6. How would I do the install? From what I understand, this is what I have:

 

 

i) Defragment, then shrink the Windows 7 partition

 

ii) Boot Ubuntu (live CD), and make the nessecary 5 additional partitions.

• Also, format WinXP destination partition to NTFS and Ubuntu to ext4
  

iii) Boot Mac OSX via Boot-132 CD, format 2nd partition to Mac OSX Journaled+EFI and install

• Install Chameleon 2.0 RC3
  

iv) Boot Windows XP CD and Install to 3rd partition

 

v) Boot Ubuntu and install to 4th partition

 

vi) Boot BackTrack and go through nessecary steps to install to 5th

vii) Boot FreeDos and Install to 6th

Attached is a small chart (picture) of How much of the disk I'd like to dedicate to each partition (minus swap, which I'm not sure I need).

[srs5694]

I was looking to install 6 operating systems on my computer:

 

• Windows 7 - already installed
  
  
• Windows XP
  
  
• Mac OSX 10.6 - with 10.6.1 update
  
• Ubuntu 9.10 (Linux)
  
  
• BackTrack 4 [Pre-Release] (Linux)
  
  
• FreeDos 1.0
  

 

I was plnning to use Chameleon 2.0 bootloader. But I have a few questions/comments before performing the installation:

 

1. How many Operating Systems is Chameleon (2.0 RC3) limited to?

 

2. I'd like to keep the contents of my Windows 7 partition (just shrink it), is this possible?

 

Yes. Various programs will shrink an NTFS partition. Depending on how it's done, you may need to boot with the Windows 7 installation DVD to recover after you do this, though. The program I generally use for this task is Linux's GNU Parted or one of its GUI variants, but commercial Windows programs might be less likely to cause boot problems. (Windows is very fussy about its boot partition being altered, in my experience, and Linux-based NTFS tools aren't very sensitive to Windows' hurt feelings.)

 

3. If I have a RECOVERY partition (came pre-installed on the system), could this cause additional problems (if I want to keep it)?

 

Yes. A problem you'll run into is that you've got at least three OSes that require primary partitions to boot (Windows 7, Windows XP, and DOS). That gives no room for additional primary partitions, since you'll need the fourth slot for the extended partition that will hold additional logical partitions. The recovery partition is likely to require another primary partition. I've seen conflicting reports about OS X's need for a primary partition. My overall impression is that it's possible to get it to boot from a logical partition, but this requires particular configuration options that aren't well-known, so it's a hit-or-miss proposition. (Perhaps you could find something more definitive on this matter by Googling, though.)

 

One way around this issue is to add a second physical hard disk. You can then put DOS and some of the other OSes on the second disk and everything should be fine. Alternatively, you could fill one disk with four primary partitions (Windows 7, Windows XP, DOS, and recovery) and put everything else (perhaps including shared data space) on the second disk. This second disk might even use GPT rather than MBR to define partitions, which has some benefits for OS X, although neither DOS nor Windows XP can read GPT disks.

 

If you can't or don't want to use two disks, your best bet is to delete the recovery partition. In the past, there were boot loaders that let you put multiple Microsoft OSes on one physical partition, but I don't know if such tools exist that work with Windows XP and later. (You're unlikely to be able to put DOS on either Windows partition, since DOS requires FAT and Windows XP and later work best with NTFS.) I've also heard of boot loaders that play games with the partition table to work around the 4-partition limit, but I don't know if such tools are currently being maintained. This approach seems risky to me, as well, since it requires repeatedly re-writing a critical data structure (the MBR).

 

4. Would Chameleon replace the system's BIOS? This is what's used to recover to factory default settings from the RECOVERY partition.

 

No, Chameleon does not replace the BIOS. I'm not sure your understanding of the interaction between these tools is complete or correct, though. "BIOS" stands for Basic Input/Output System, and it's a software component that's built into the motherboard and that controls the computer just long enough to get the boot process started. It initializes hardware, loads a boot loader (such as Chameleon), and then steps aside. I know relatively little about Windows or how its recovery partition works, but it would boot after the BIOS does its job, and AFAIK the BIOS doesn't directly use the recovery partition, aside from possibly reading a boot loader from that partition.

 

5. Do I need a "swap" partition (I don't really know what swap is)

• If so, would I need 1 or 2 swap partitions (one for Ubuntu, another for BackTrack)
  

 

All modern OSes support swap space in one form or another. This is disk space that can be used to supplement RAM, in case you start running very many or very memory-intensive programs; disk space can be used as a RAM substitute, at the cost of speed. Most Unix variants, including Linux, traditionally use swap partitions, which are partitions dedicated to swap space. Most other OSes, such as Windows and OS X, use files in ordinary filesystems for this role. (Linux can do this, too, but it's usually set up with a dedicated swap partition, just because that's the way it's traditionally been done.)

 

Two Linux installations on a single computer can share a single swap partition, so you can create just one.

 

6. How would I do the install? From what I understand, this is what I have:

 

In theory, just about any installation order will work. In practice, the two issues that are likely to be important are the partitioning and the boot loader installation.

 

Some OSes provide more flexibile tools for partitioning than do others, particularly when it comes to multi-boot configurations. IMHO, Linux's tools are pretty flexible. Thus, you may want to do your partitioning in Linux, with the possible exception of shrinking any existing Windows installations, as described above. Fortunately, you can use emergency boot CDs/DVDs to do this job. Whatever you do, you should learn to use the tools you plan to use. Learn what the partition type codes are for each partition and be sure they're set correctly before you begin your installations. Linux can create FAT, NTFS, HFS+, and of course any Linux filesystem you decide to use, so you can create these from Linux; however, not every Linux installation includes every filesystem-creation tool, so you may need to leave some of these for the OS installers themselves.

 

Most OSes install boot loaders as part of the install process. Boot loaders are surprisingly complex, and they differ a lot from one to another. On standard BIOS-based x86 and x86-64 computers, though, all have one thing in common: They rely on code in the Master Boot Record (MBR; the first sector of the disk) to do at least part of their jobs. The MBR space is limited, so only one boot loader at a time can reside there. Most boot loaders install code in the MBR, although some can be told to bypass this step, thus relying on another boot loader to do the first stage of the boot process. The upshot of this is that the last boot loader installed sets the overall tone for the boot process. Broadly speaking, Microsoft's boot loaders are the least flexible. For this reason, many people prefer to install Microsoft OSes before installing other OSes. (I'm not sure how FreeDOS fits into this picture. It's a clone of a Microsoft product, but it's put together by a community that's presumably much more interested in coexisting with others, so it may have better boot loader options.) The Linux boot loaders, LILO, GRUB, and GRUB2, are flexible, and they can directly boot Linux kernels, but for the most part they rely on secondary boot loaders to boot other OSes (Windows, DOS, OS X). This usually works pretty well when you install Linux last, but you may need to tweak the configuration file. The OSx86 boot loaders (Chameleon, Boot Think, PC-EFI, etc.) boot OS X kernels directly but rely on secondary boot loaders to boot other OSes (Windows, DOS, Linux). Again, this usually works pretty well, but I'm less familiar with these tools, and perhaps for this reason I tend to run into more problems using them as my primary boot loaders in complex multi-OS configurations. If you intend to use an OSx86 boot loader as your primary boot loader, you should install your Linux boot loader in the Linux boot partition, rather than in the MBR. (This placement is an option provided by most Linux installers.)

 

You can re-install a boot loader after installing other OSes, but you must have a way to boot into the OS that hosts the boot loader to do this. Usually the installation disc, or some other emergency disc, provides the means to do this. Still, if you think you know whose boot loader you want to use, you should probably install it last.