Multiple Operating systems intall
 

Greetings all,
I want to install three operating systems ,Vista,win 7 and ubuntu. I am not sure of the order of what it has to be ,if some one could help me on this, its greatly appreciated.And also i need some information as to follow the order of installation when installing more than 3. I know windows XP boot loader behaves in a weird way when we try to install ubuntu first and xp next. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

(1) Vista (2) Win 7 (3) Ubuntu

More than 3? Do Windows in order of release (ie oldest first), then the Linuxes in any order .. probably.

You should be able to install the two Windows OSs in any order and then Ubuntu after it. This will mean that the GRUB bootloader will be in control, which is preferable since the Windows bootloader doesn't tango with Linux as well.

After the first Windows install. Be sure to make any other partitions you wish to install any operating system to a extended/logical partition. Partition managers only allow for 4 primary partitions. So first Windows in Primary. Second Windows in Extended/Logical. Ubuntu also in a Extended/Logical partition.

Grub install goes to MBR.

The process will be simplest in the sequence Vista, Win7, Ubuntu. But any sequence can be made to work with a little extra effort.

After a Windows install trashes the MBR code of the Ubuntu install, it is fairly easy to use the Ubuntu liveCD to repair its MBR code.

The beginning of the hard drive operates faster (more data per revolution and more data per seek step both mean less time per amount of data). So if disk performance matters more in one of the three OS's (such as the one you expect to use most) you might make it physically first.

It is simplest if the physical sequence on disk matches the install sequence. But if you understand disk partitioning well, only a little extra effort is required for the install sequence to differ from the physical sequence.

I don't know enough internal details of Vista or Win7 boot methods to be sure, but I think the above advise is bad.

I don't know how to set up for grub to boot Vista or Win7 in a logical partition. I assume you don't want a two stage boot menu in reverse sequence of install, such as:
Vista installed in primary.
Win7 installed in logical but its install hijacks part of the primary partition plus the MBR so it is in control of booting an offers a menu for Win7 vs. Vista.
Ubuntu installed in logical, hijacking only the MBR so it offers a two boot choice menu, Ubuntu vs. chainload to the Windows two choice menu.

I expect you would prefer a single three choice menu.

I think it is easiest to put each Windows version in a primary partition and put Ubuntu in one or more logical partitions.

The extended partition containing the logical partitions counts against your limit of 4 primary partitions. So the effective limit is 3 usable primary plus several logical.

Hello and welcome,

Multiple OS can be installed in any order, still I generally suggest to install Windows first and then Linux over it.

When you install Linux second, you'll be asked to install the grub somewhere on the disk or on the MBR which will replace your windows boot loader and you'll be booting from GRUB (Linux's boot loader). There you can add the entry for Windows in /boot/grub/grub.conf file and have Windows booting up from GRUB.
If you choose to install GRUB elsewhere and not in the MBR, then booting from Windows boot loader you won't be having Linux as an option at first, you will need to tinker the MBR related entries in somewhere to boot Linux from Windows boot loader.


EDIT : oops! Didn't see above posts while typing.

as every one has said
vista
win7
ubuntu


but you might want to think about not using vista
MS posted that IE10 will be WINDOWS 7 ONLY
the new browser will NOT have vista support !

I'd install Windows 7 then install a virtual machine. Then you can install what you want in any order and not worry.

I posted that because one does not know how many primary (vfat,recovery,bios) partitions the OP has included before even installing a operating system. Most modern gear with Windows pre-installed comes with more than a few small primary partitions. So erring on the side of caution.

Just make sure to pre-partition the disk because Windows 7 doesn't behave and builds at least two primary partitions if you let it do the job.

thank you all