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I'm currently running Windows XP, but have ordered Windows 7. I want to keep Windows XP on a separate partition, and install Ubuntu as well.
In which order should I install the OSs, and is there anything differing from an ordinary single-system install I should keep in mind? For example, does the order of partition make any difference? If I want to have the system drive as "C:" drive in both Win XP and Win 7, what should I do?
simon
Posted 2009-09-15T12:25:08.883
Reputation: 1 375
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You should install Windows XP first. After that, install Windows 7; its bootloader will take care of XP as well. Also, Windows 7 considers whatever partition it's on as C:\ (at least that's what happened to me).
Lastly, install Ubuntu. Its bootloader will detect all the other 2 operation systems. Have fun!
alex
Posted 2009-09-15T12:25:08.883
Reputation: 16 172
Now, I already have Ubuntu 10.04 installed and want to install Windows 7. Then, to be able to also boot Ubuntu, I will only have to restore grub with a Ubuntu Live Disk, right? – ptikobj – 2011-03-16T10:25:45.380
1+1 I've deleted my identical answer as yours is slightly clearer – Tom Robinson – 2009-09-15T12:30:03.080
You could have kept it and improved it. Diversity is always welcomed :) – alex – 2009-09-15T12:30:54.047
4Agreed. As a general rule I always install Windows first, from oldest (e.g. XP) to newest (e.g. 7) then finish off with the Linux distribution (e.g. Ubuntu). – Tom Robinson – 2009-09-15T12:32:15.137
If installing Ubuntu, does it really matter to install the Windows versions in a particular order ? I mean, if it's going to detect them separately anyway, there shouldn't be a problem with that, no ? – Gnoupi – 2009-09-15T12:46:29.250
@Gnoupi - Yes, but if you install the older Windows versions first, the newer ones will find them automatically. – MiffTheFox – 2009-09-15T12:48:23.880
It's not very easy to install Windows XP after Windows 7. I've tried to do it, but I always found it a bit awkward. Your best bet is to install the older ones first. – alex – 2009-09-15T13:08:58.180
No windows 7 does not consider whatever partition as it's C:, mine is working perfectly on E:\ – None – 2009-09-15T13:44:14.640
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You should always go from the oldest to the newest, additionally from the "Microsoft"iest to the more open ones.
Windows XP writes its own bootloader into the MBR, regardless of what is installed (With the exception of older Windows versions, like Win98)
Windows 7 will find XP and add it to it's own bootloader.
Ubuntu, in turn, will add the Windows bootloader to its own boot menu (grub), which will make selecting a windows version a bit more complicated (worst case: 4 keystrokes) but it is definitely easiest to install.
You should think about transferring data between the operating systems too, so maybe leave a partition (I would suggest 2-10GB, depending on your hard drive size) for data exchange and format it in FAT32.
A last suggestion: If you no not really need to install every operating system in its native partition, maybe you could use the free Sun VirtualBox to virtualize the operating systems which do not need full native access to the hardware. If you want to play games, I would suggest that the gaming OS should be the host system.
The bonus you get from this setup: snapshots and easy full system backups!
brandstaetter
Posted 2009-09-15T12:25:08.883
Reputation: 4 119
It does make it easier to break your linux install, though.
About the data exchange partition: is it really needed - I thought Ubuntu can read and write NTFS partitions safely nowadays? – simon – 2009-09-15T14:09:49.877
It is not extremely necessary, but if you want to read files in Windows, which are stored on the Ubuntu drive, you need third party addons, which may break something... It really depends on how you want to use your setup. – brandstaetter – 2009-09-16T06:47:11.767
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Alex has suggested installing Windows in order from oldest to newest. This is probably the best suggestion now, but in the past I've done things the other way around as some Windows installers won't install in a separate partition if there is already a Windows installation detected. I don't think this is a problem anymore but in the old days the first readable partition was always C: and Windows always needed to be on C:. Thus you could install Windows NT on NTFS, Windows 9x on Fat32 and Dos/Windows3.11 on Fat16 in that order and each OS would think it was drive C: when it installed. The only drawback is getting a bootloader that recognizes the different OSes, but I had IBM's boot manager (from OS/2) which was very easy to configure. In your case now I'd setup the default bootloader to boot all the other OSes; if Windows shows up first I'd configure the boot.ini to have entries for the other Windowses and Linux, and if Grub shows up first I'd configure Grub to boot Linux and Windows.
Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
Posted 2009-09-15T12:25:08.883
Reputation: 1 112
1+1, good tip regarding the older OS's; as you say, not really necessary anymore, but from what i recall that's an accurate picture of the old boot-many-MS-OS's situation. – quack quixote – 2010-02-25T22:32:54.177
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If the amount of drives is not an issue, as it is for me. would it be quite easy to fresh install each OS on a single drive (unplugging others during the install) and then choosing which drive to boot from the BIOS boot menu (if available) saves worrying about bootloaders as each OS would have it's own. Separate disc for common data, if you want to get rid of an OS just format the appropriate drive :) Just a thought I had for my multi OS system that I will be building next week.
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If you don't want Windows 7 to add Windows XP to it's own bootloader you can use a Ubuntu LiveCD in between the installations of XP and 7 to set the hidden-flag for the XP partition with gParted. Then go on and install Windows 7. Then install GRUB.
This is how
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt and sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdaThats the main part of Grubs menu.lst:
chainloader +1
title Windows7
Here is a (unfortunately German) blog post. Maybe translating with google translate works :P http://repat.de/2013/08/grub-installieren-ohne-linux-mit-wechsel-der-startreihenfolge-unter-windows/
repat
Posted 2009-09-15T12:25:08.883
Reputation: 1
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Oldest windows first. partition your drive. stuff XP in first, 7 in second, and Linux third.
Use grub or grub2, or whatever installed by Linux to MBR to boot, consecutively, Windows XP and Win 7, and download Easy BCD to both OS's. When installing, uncheck "run the program now", that is at end of install, to keep from seriously messing up stuff before making sure you always have a way to re-install the bootloader installed by Linux in current configuration (OS on USB, recovery CD, whatever; trust me this is bad to forget on a CD-ROM-less netbook).
Keep a windows recovery method on hand, too, in case you mess up the BCD (which you will).
Boot XP, install a new BCD with Easy BCD containing entries for both your XP and 7 systems. Reboot into 7 and install a BCD to that partition containing only an entry for the 7 system. Reboot into XP and delete the BCD entry for Win 7. Reboot using your recovery method for whatever bootmanager Linux likes and re-install that bootmanager. voila; = a multi-boot system that runs entirely from grub/grub2 with no submenus or extra keypresses.
I have not seen anything to this effect on internet anywhere so far, after quite bits of searching, and since it took many hours to figure out, for those OCD's out there who want it to function cleanly (chainloading menus are ugly), wish to spare you the headache.
My Windows 7 sees the XP partition that thinks of itself as "C:" as "D:", so it should be possible to change drive letter of Win 7 partition from within win 7 to "C:" without breaking anything (if isn't already so).
justin
Posted 2009-09-15T12:25:08.883
Reputation: 1
an observation, in reply to the above: my windows 7 thinks it's on F:. – justin – 2011-06-25T05:47:03.040