I have a dual-boot setup. Win 10 + Antix MX. I want to test other distros without altering my current setup.

This is what I know:
1. I can setup any number of distros as long as I keep the partitions in check.
2. I can use same swap partition in every distro.
3. After main system install of any distro, I can install the bootloader in either the main hard drive's boot section or in the partition containing the root ' / '.

But this makes the latest OS the primary one, at least via the boot menu of GRUB. But that's something I don't want. I just want to install the third/forth OS and keep the boot loader of the Antix intact as primary. And when I am done playing with it I will remove it without any problems.

So my queries are:
1. How can I set up the test OS without having to reconfigure my bootloader after/before every install/uninstall/reboot without ending up in the "GRUB rescue>_" screen?
2. Can I have a shared '/home' partition with a separate ' / ' partiton for every distro ?
3. Can I have an unlimited number of partitions in a Extended>>Logical setup ?
4. What is the difference between installing GRUB in directly hard drive boot section and in ' / '?
5. Should I consider using LVM for my experimentation and if yes, then how will it change/affect my system ?

not sure why this happens, but you can usually tell the installer to not install grub at all; then you have to update grub from within the distro you consider your main.
probably not. graphical environments are likely to break.
not unlimited but quite manyi don't understand the Q.

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1. I know I can opt nor to install grub again, the I'll have to use sudo update-grub after installing a new os. Have never done that, so after using it I can just delete the partition or format it and again run sudo update-grub for the changes??

4. While partitioning the drive at in Debian or Fedora is there just at the bottom to select the device where do I want to install GRUB. It mainly had two options, the partition which has / and the main hard drive, I wanna know the difference.

I don't think that you can completely get away from this problem. I think that the easiest way to do this is to not install grub in the test system you install. Then boot into the system where you want to install grub and use these two commands:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

grub-mkconfig will find every bootable partition in your system. Then install grub on your boot device:

grub-install /dev/sda
(or whichever device you boot from)

Please note that not all distributions have the grub-update command but they all have grub-mkconfig and grub-install.


You can chain bootloaders. The hardware will start by booting the main hard drive. grub on your main hard drive can point to other bootleaders. So you can have an entry in your main grub which points to a secondary bootloader installed on a / partition. The secondary bootloader does not even have to be grub.

That works most of the time. Where you will occasionally have problems is with the software configuration files that are stored in /home/user. You can run into conflicts between the configurations set up by the different distributions.

I get around this potential problem by sharing /home/user/data and putting all of my personal data in /home/user/data. I do this for every user on my system except root i.e. every user has their own /home/user/data partition.

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Steve Stites

1 members found this post helpful.

Almost any Linux distribution will allow you to install either to the MBR or to the partition on which you are installing the system. This is with an MBR install. If that's the case, when you install the new system, install Grub to the partition on which you are installing the system and boot back into AntiX and run grubmkconfig as the AntiX system will have no other way of knowing there is another system installed. You can create a chainload entry for a specific partition in AntiX grub.cfg and if you install the boot code to the new partition on each new OS installation, you can then chainload any new OS on that partition without updating Grub. You can see some sample chainload entries in post 7 at the link below.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-grub2-917118/

If you have windows 10, you will need to verify if it is an MBR or UEFI install as the method differs.

If you end up in a grub rescue screen often or grub doesn't boot some installed Distribution any more: I used Super Grub2 Disk several times and it always worked with Ubuntu 12/14 and openSUSE 13.2 installs. (So you can boot your installed Linux and update-grub or grub-install from there.)

INSTALL grub after every time you install another Liunx or you will end up with a grub rescue>

like you stated before, when you're just installing a test me Linux onto your hdd you can make the minimal size linux install, then just put everything onto the / root meaning your root and home in one partition. then boot into your Linux you want to have control then
it only takes a minute and it is not that hard to do. When you want to install over it, do just that. same thing.

USB Port boot into your install, use the old partition you're going to get rid of. When you get to mount points, just select it then select to have it formatted before install. done.

same thing again,

boot into your main Linux install grub update grub, back in business. it gets rather easy whence you've done it once or twice.

note:
like @Ratamahatta suggested for the just in case scenario

get yourself a copy of supergrub2 burn it to a USB Stick using dd and no more worries.

Just let it boot then search your hdd then pick your main linux grub menu list to boot into it. then run
you're back in business again. NP

disclaimer: MBR not EUFI instructions. I do suppose it'd be just as easy with EUFI as well.
or is that UEFI I forget

IF
you just want to wipe it out. Gparted, wipe it clean or delete it then reestablish it, then merge it back into your system.

OR
you can just install Virtual Box and use that instead.

I have found that the easiest way is to have more than one drive. I have my main on my primary and then I use my other two (older) drives to play with systems.

Otherwise you'll find yourself resizing your partitions to create more because here is one more you want to play with.

You can even use an external.

But, you're probably talking about a laptop.

@topernic, yes you got it right. I'm using a laptop. And also yes I've installed distros on my external hdd partitions. I actually test it like that only. But I find a internal install faster than an external install.

@yancek, @BW-userx, MBR.

@BW-userx, @Ratamahatta, @jailbait, thanks for the advice. I'll try that from next time.

@jailbait, can you please expand on the
So you have a separate partion for /home/user/data where you store all your files, and then share a /home ?

if this is re the question in your thread title, then: Yes.

No, I do not share /home. I share /home/user/data.

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Steve Stites

So you've a separate partition for /home/user/data, which you share.

Yes, and I have a separate /home/user/data partition for every user on my system and they are all shared across however many distributions I currently have installed.

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Steve Stites

so you're soft linking them separately to there home/user/ account.
I would asssssuuuuuummmmme that'd be the best way, or one way at lest to keep things organized. or bind mount too would work yes?
one data storage for each user

for the OP info

doesn't Linux allow root to give users a specif size for their account like Unix?

No. I mount all of the various partitions in each Linux system's /etc/fstab.

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Steve Stites