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By cheetahman at 2005-12-17 22:31
Here is the tutorial I made with the info I got from budman7 and smolloy

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to run three different operating systems on one computer? Well with a technique called tribooting its very possible. This guide will show you how you can turn your computer into a triboot (allows a computer to run three different operating systems).We will be using the GRUB boot loader to Triboot since it offers many methods and is the easiest to use. After the computer is setup to triboot it will be able to do a variety of activities. These include fixing a Windows Install and learning how to use Linux and BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution developed at Berkeley California and one of the decedents of Unix).
To start tribooting you will need an operating system already installed. In this case we will use Windows since its the most common operating system available. Next you will need two other operating systems to boot. In this case we will use two Linux distros since they are easy to triboot with.
Now that we have all the operating systems available we need to partition the hardrive. This is because the Windows installation takes up the whole hardrive. To get around this we use a program called a partitioner to divide the hard drive up. This guide will focus on the Ubuntu and GParted Live cd both of which contain GParted. You can get the latest Ubuntu Live cd from http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.gparted.com for the latest GParted Live cd.
Encase you don't feel like using GParted there are other partitioners you can use. These include Disk Druid in Fedora Core, QTParted in SuSE, and Kdrak in Mandriva. There are also three partitioners Parted,fdisk and cfdisk which are in text mode and are recommended for advanced users. Before you resize a Windows partition there are some basic guidelines that should be followed. The first of which is that the Windows should be backed up. This is because in some cases resizing the hardrive can remove data. The diskdefrag tool should run so that the data is all in one spot. Then you should run chkdsk(A command in windows that checks the integrity of hardrives) and lastly its good to run a virus and spyware scan. Once this is complete you are ready to partition your hardrive so the computer can be ready to triboot.

The first step is to place the Ubuntu or GParted live cd into the computer and let it boot. If its not booting you will have to go into the BIOS. This can be done by pressing the Delete, F1, F2 or F10 key. The key that needs to be pressed depends on the number it displays when the computer boots up. While in the BIOS you will then find an option for the boot order(the order in which the drives boot) which should be setup in this order Floppy, Cdrom, Hardrive.
Once Ubuntu is up and running you must now unmount all drives. You must do this for all of the drives or else the computer can't be partitioned. Next you click on the program named GParted in the menu. This will startup GParted and will give you the drives you can resize. First we are going to resize the Windows NTFS partition. To do this you select the partition labeled NTFS and right-click on it, then select Resize. GParted will now ask you how much space you would like to give it. You can either view it in Megabytes or Gigabytes. After clicking OK you'll see an updated view of your partitions.
Next you will create an extended partition to fill the free space that you gave by resizing NTFS. To do this all you do is click on the free space and on the option to create a partition (it will be an icon somewhere near the upper left of the screen). Then choose the option to make it an extended partition, and move the slider at the top to choose the size you want. After you've done this you'll be able to click inside this partition and choose to create another partition.
This time make it a logical partition, and format it as ext3 (ext3 is one of the most common Linux partitions). Once you've finished this, repeat for the remainder of the partition, to create the second logical ext3 partition inside the extended partition. Its also best to create a swap partition(a swap partition as a partition in Linux that can be used as if it were RAM). The process to do this is basically the same as before just click on some empty space, choose the partition size and type and your set/
Note that nothing has actually changed yet; you must select File then Commit to apply the changes. You will then see a progress dialog that tells how much of the partitioning is complete. When it gets to 100% just click the ok button. To get out of GParted just select file in the title bar and quit.
Now that you have partitioned your drive triboot the last step is to install the other operating system in the two logical partitions inside the extended partition. During the installs the Linux distros will ask if you would like them to be added to the MBR(Master Boot Record) in GRUB. Just say yes to both of these and once the installs are complete you can now triboot your computer. If you would like a guide with graphics and pictures here are some websites that will help.
http://ca.geocities.com/zachandloricox@rogers.com/ubuntu/windowsxp.html
http://mepis.org/docs/partitioning-your-hard-drive/
http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/isofaq.html

by cheetahman on Wed, 2006-01-25 14:47
Can You post this update to it

Here is the tutorial I made with the info I got from budman7 and smolloy

How to Triboot a Computer

Distro 1= Prime Distro example (Windows)
Distro 2= The 2nd distro to be installed, this can be any distro (This controls the bootloader)
Distro 3= The 3rd distro to be installed, this can be any distro

Things to do Before You Start if you are using Windows as the Prime Distro and if not you can skip it.

Backup Computer
Run Defraging tools
Scan for Spyware
Scan for Viruses
Run chkdsk

These are good steps for Window's users and can be used in Linux also

This guide focuses primarily on the GRUB bootloader to Triboot

This tutorial focuses on the Knoppix Live cd that includes QTParted.There are also other partitioners that come with your distro these include Diskdruid in Fedora Core, Qtparted in SuSE and Kdrak in Mandriva and GParted (Gnome Partition Editor) in the GNOME desktop. There are also partition tools that you can use that do the same thing but in text mode are Parted, fdisk, cfdisk

Download A Copy of the latest Knoppix from http://www.knoppix.com/

This is very important because this is the Live cd we are going to use to partition the hardrive to get it ready to Triboot.

Step 1:Bootup the Cd you have made then make sure the computer can bootup the cd. To do this you need to get into the bios this can be accessed by pressing the "Delete" key, for some Compaq’s it's the "F10" key and there's even "F1" or "F2" for other computers. You will then find an option for the boot order.

The correct setup should be

Floppy
CDROM
Hardrive

Step 2:Once Knoppix is running you must now Unmount all partitions.

You do this by going into My Computer you will then see all of the partitions. Right click on one of them it will then give you the option to unmount. Select it and it will then be unmounted you must do this for all of the partitions.

You must do this for all of the drives or else the computer can't be partitioned

Step 3:Click on the KDE logo then go to run application and type qtparted in lowercase then hit run or click QTParted in the menu

Step 4:This will now startup QTparted

The drive I am going to resize is a NTFS partition.

Step 5:Now we begin the process of resizing the hard drive

1.Select the /dev/hda for IDE or /dev/sda for a SCSI drive on the left, then you should see its info on the right

2.Select the NTFS partition and right-click on it, then select Resize.

3.Next you'll see the Resize Partition dialog.

4.Enter the size you want for your existing Prime Distro to be resized and then click OK.

This can be done in Gigabytes or Megabytes

5.After clicking OK you'll see an updated view of your partitions. Note that nothing has actually changed yet; you must select File then Commit to apply the changes.

6.Just click Yes on the confirmation dialog.

7.You'll see the progress dialog and when it's done click the OK button

8.Now Select File then Quit to exit QTParted

9.You should now boot into the Prime Distro it will then detect the partition that you have made but it will be unformatted.

Now boot back into QTParted the way you did before and Delete Distro 2 and the Swap Partition by right clicking it and hitting delete

Now you should have the Prime Distro and a bunch of free space.

Here is how you would go on to create the extended partition with two partitions inside of it that contain the two distros that will be added to the triboot setup.

With QTparted this will be quite simple and you don't really need a guide. The Mepis guide that you linked to is quite detailed, and if you read that you will get the general idea of how qtparted operates.

Basically you will want to click on any free space you have, and choose the option to create a partition (it will be an icon somewhere near the upper left of the screen). Then choose the option to make it an extended partition, and move the slider at the top to choose the size you want (in this case 8GB).

After you've done this you'll be able to click inside this partition and choose to create another partition. This time make it a logical partition, and format it as ext3 (if that is indeed what you want). Also make sure to set its size to 4GB. Once you've finished this, repeat for the remainder of the partition, to create the second logical ext3 partition inside the extended partition.

If you want to make a swap partition, then put this before (to the left) of the extended partition. In fact it might be best to do this before you create the extended partition. The process to do this is basically the same as before -- click on some empty space, choose "create a new partition", set the size, type, etc., and that's it.

It really is quite easy and I'm sure you'll have no problems. Just be sure to defragment and chkdisk any windows partitions you intend to move or resize, and everything should go smoothly.

Good luck.

When installing the Operating System it will give you the most common options, which are Reiserf and Ext3.

Also many distros support Custom Partioning, which will give you more formatting Options.

A file system is added to the computer whenever you install an Operating System to it.

Below are some examples of filesystems that can be formatted or resized.

Windows
NTFS
FAT

Linux
Ext2
Ext3
ReiserFS

Its also a good idea to add Swap if you have a low memory computer which will use the Swap as temporary ram also the Swap partition should be formatted as Swap.

If the swap is inside the extended partition, you will have to delete the swap first.

Step 7:Now Install Distro 3 by Booting the install cd as if you were going to boot Knoppix and Install bootloader to the root partition.

Step 8:Install Distro 2 using swap already created from installing Distro 3 and putting GRUB on the MBR which will make GRUB the bootloader that is controlled by Distro 2.

GRUB can be put anywhere but for this tutorial we are going to be put on the MBR so Distro 2 becomes the bootloader.

When installing other operating systems

Distro 2 should now make an entry in GRUB for both the Prime Distro and Distro 3.

The computer should now be restarted I you will be shown the Distro 2 GRUB Bootloader which contains the Prime Distro, Distro 2 and Distro 3.

The computer can now Triboot

Make sure you don't put Swap for Distro 2 on the partition where you are going to install Distro 2 to. By default Distro 2 should make a Swap partition or detect a Swap that is on the computer and mount it.

For Installing new Linux distros install to the partition so Distro 2 Grub doesn't get overwritten

A Big Thanks to budman7 and smolloy for supplying the info

Here are two other sites that are a guide with pictures.

http://ca.geocities.com/zachandloric...windowsxp.html

http://mepis.org/docs/partitioning-your-hard-drive/

And One for Isos
http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/isofaq.html

by XavierP on Thu, 2006-07-27 17:13
Latest update is now posted.

by cheetahman on Thu, 2006-07-27 17:50
Could you delete the old one

by XavierP on Fri, 2006-07-28 12:42
I overwrote it, so the one linked at the top is the only one.

by sgtbob on Fri, 2006-07-28 14:56
Has anyone had any success with triboot of Windows XP, Fedora Core 5 and Suse 10.0? Every time I've tried this, one of the Linux packages tends to take over the PC and I wind up with Windows disappearing ( I know - that can't be all bad :-))and only one OS - usually SuSE - remaining.

Comments anyone

by wireless_newb on Tue, 2006-08-01 10:09
Quote:
Has anyone had any success with triboot of Windows XP, Fedora Core 5 and Suse 10.0?
I had trouble even dual booting Suse with Windows, my Suse installation screwd over Windows and I had to completely reformat and re-install windows on its partion. I know this one guy who had a quad boot but he said it took him forever to get the partioning and boot screens right.

by sgtbob on Tue, 2006-08-01 12:17
Wireless - that is the same problem I seem to have - everytime I've tried to do this, I've had to reformat my hard drive and start from ground zero. It takes too long to do that and I always forget which items need reinstalling. If anyone comes up with a good method, please share it.

Bob

by Robin Fortner on Fri, 2007-05-18 11:05
Up to 4 primary partitions, or 3 primary and 1 extended partition is possible. I don't recall how many logical partitions an extended partition can hold.

I have had the best results by making each operating system and all applications as independent as possible. All OS directories are under a single root partition. (i.e. I no longer use separate partitions for /boot, /home, /var, etc.)

Partition #1 (Primary) OS-A
Partition #2 (Primary) OS-B
Partition #3 (Primary) OS-C
Partition #4 (Extended)
Partition - - - #5 (logical) swap
Partition - - - #6 (logical) data

There are BIOSs, operating systems, and applications, that will independently control/alter your hard drive MBR. This frequently causes issues. This works for me, OS-A to hda1, OS-B to hda2, and OS-C to hda3 when mixing old and new hardware with old and new software.

Although it is possible to install many OSs in an extended partition, I have found it less stable to do so unnecessarily. Does the version number of your favorite partitioning software or boot loader suggest that it is not a whole or completely finished product? If so, why?

My experience has been that using variable hardware with variable software, will sometimes produce variable results. But if you never make a mistake, and all of your hardware and software is just as reliable, then doing backups is (virtually) a waste of time before rehashing your hard drive.

by olepholks on Sat, 2009-09-26 20:02
Quote:
Originally Posted by sgtbob View Post
Wireless - that is the same problem I seem to have - everytime I've tried to do this, I've had to reformat my hard drive and start from ground zero. It takes too long to do that and I always forget which items need reinstalling. If anyone comes up with a good method, please share it.

Bob
Bob, no one answer fits all. Linux distros install differently, one will install on any available space,(easy) another requires partitions already installed or it wants the whole drive, (not too swift) decide which distro u want to play with and ask specifically about that one.
hoppe this helps,
olepholks

by fritz_p on Thu, 2009-10-01 11:15
Quote:
Originally Posted by sgtbob View Post
Has anyone had any success with triboot of Windows XP, Fedora Core 5 and Suse 10.0? Every time I've tried this, one of the Linux packages tends to take over the PC and I wind up with Windows disappearing ( I know - that can't be all bad :-))and only one OS - usually SuSE - remaining.

Comments anyone
Hi, I will attempt to give some help, although more experienced linux-geeks could give you a better and more concise answer.

I have several OS installed, with windows XP on one Primary, while Fedora10, Suse10.3, Suse11.0, Ubuntu X.x as extended partitions within one primary partition.

Whenever I install a new Linux OS it created a new boot loader (I guess thats the correct wording) and set the CMB in that partition, (that is, it uses the grub menu for that distro). Unless I add the remaining ones
there, in the menu.lst, they seem to be gone.
Is that your problem?
In my case they are actually there but are not mounted and are not initially shown in the boot menu until I modify it accordingly.
In order to use the old boot loader I have to reset my old CMB. I could find a good link in this forum on how to do it.


Well, if it is not your problem and you know better than that, dont feel offended.
bye
f


  



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