Alright so here is my situation.
I need 3 operation systems on my pc.
I need to install them in the order of xp, linux then vista.
I need them to all be able to access each other (even if it is only read)
And i need them to all be aces sable off one boot screen.

My idea so far is to install xp then my linux (either debian or gentoo, undecided so far) leave a blank space for vista when i get it. Once i get vista i'll revert back to the ms mbr install vista then install grub and hope i can get it all working fine again.

Does anyone have any sugestions on how i can do this or perhaps another way? Also has anyone tried this before?

Thanks in advance.

Set up XP. Unplug the drive XP is living on and install linux on a second drive, then chainload xp from your linux partition. You can even switch HD id's with grub before chainloading windows so XP still thinks it's on the first hard drive.

Just make sure the drive with grub on it is hd0

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archiv...hp/t-1166.html

Look for the Jman post. Same instructions work for any linux using grub.

You can do this all with one drive, but for sanity and ease of changing things later, I'd put them on separate drives. I once blew up an XP install. I got the geometry of the drive wrong when setting up linux and he was writing in an area he thought was his, but it was the windows system directory ROFL.

Everything worked for a while then I started getting blue screens about missing system files LAWL. It was pretty ugly. TBH, I'd use 2 drives. It's just so much easier and if you decide to blow your distro away and try another, your windows setup will still Just Work(tm)

To this day I have no idea how I did that.

-Viz

it is possible, the way i did it was to install xp -> vista -> linux

basically my boot sequence goes:

grub with chainload into vista boot screen which can then give you the option to boot vista or xp

You could probably chainload both xp and vista from grub but i haven't research that enough yet.

I think there is a problem with xp not being able to boot vista from ntloader

NEED?
NEED?
MORE NEED?
"aces sable off one boot screen"? HUH?
Your partition scheme is?
So long as you have secondary boot methods available you can reinstall GRUB after Vista overwrites the MBR.
Perhaps a few.

As nobody seems to think it is important to give simple answers... Yes phoenixfire, this is the way to go, you install all of it and afterwards you boot with your ubuntu install disk and reinstall grub. It is as simple as that.

good luck,
elluva

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Yes 2damncommon i NEED windows on my pc for collage.
And i NEED linux because well... who doesen't?

So far i've got ubuntu (shudder, sorry i dislike it) and xp working fine on the same drive with enough space leftover for vista when they give it to us.

So basicly all i have to do is install vista and overwrite the mbr, boot a live cd, mount something, download grub to that something and insatll it over the microsoft goodness?

Also does anyone know if you can mount xp partition under vista and vica versa?

Fair enough.
Again, fair enough.
What don't you like about Ubuntu? People can post some links to change and configure stuff.
Are you being practical to run both XP and Vista when others may "upgrade" to Vista?
I was kidding with some with my responses, but not about asking your partition scheme and suggesting having working secondary boot methods.

When I ran the Vista RC versions they actually overwrote the XP bootloader. It was necessary to point Grub to the XP partition to choose which Windows to boot. This means that if you overwrite the XP partition you lose the Vista boot as well. I cannot confirm the RTM Vista does or does not do this.

Vista takes 10+ GB hard disk just to install.

Partition scheme looks something like:

HDA

40G - NTFS /windows/xp
40G - NTFS /windows/apps
80G - ext3 /
40G (minus swap) - raw <--vista space
1024M swap

SDA
80G - ext3 /home



And my alternate boot method is... a live cd.



We need both vista and xp for testing reasons... for some reason. Sounds stupid to me and id rather have a windows free system then a duel windows system.

And i don't like ubuntu because its too... "click here and your drivers are installed. no we wont let you know that something has changed you have to have had previous experience to know that... whats xorg.conf?"

noobuntu it will stay. sorry if i offend anyone.

So long as you know better than to plan 4 primaries for this.
This really may not be good enough.
You have confirmed you can rewrite your installed GRUB from the CD?
And you can boot XP if you can't?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305595
Sounds like fun to me. Take the software that would cost you lots of money and grill them with intelligent questions when implemented. Find out how little or how much they know.
I truly do not follow this. Most Linux knowledge can be learned or utilized on any distribution. Even learning the differences is interesting.

Good Luck.

I have done this multiple times from an ubuntu installation disk. Since an ubuntu install disk is a live cd as well, you can boot ubuntu from the disk, mount the partition containing /boot, open a terminal and use grub-install to restore your grub bootloader.

It is imho one of the easiest ways to do this...

thanks elluva for the confirmation.

I know where you're coming from 2damncommon and i agree. But ubuntu doesn't really require you to change anything in and config files. That is great for anyone wanting to learn linux but it doesn't really push you learn anything as there is no need to. its basically like windows but you can if you want tinker around with things. oh and its a 1000 times more stable.

Anyway i'm downloading the 64bit gentoo as we speak so i could just wait for vista and then throw on the linux. But just to prove it can work to myself i'll install gentoo first then vista.

I'll keep you guys posted and let you know how it all turns out.

If you want a *REAL* challenge, install Vista onto a blank disk (let Vista do the partitioning), then try and install XP and/or Linux.
Lots of fun ...

The less cds/dvds with windows on them, the better.