I would like to install several Linux distro's on one disk

My question
I would like to install multiple Linux distros on one disk.

Relevant software and hardware that I use
. I have HP 250 G6 with 1 TB ssd drive, i3 processor, 8 GB memory. UEFI bios.Now with opensuse leap 15.5.

What I've already found or tried
is reading and trying everything about it. Disc divided into scores. Somewhere someone had written, Multiple bootable computer: Multiboot So if you have multiple distros on one hard disk: give each distro only a root partition and leave it at that. And that's where it actually starts a root partition: partition is not a problem in Partied as it happens. But Root? Yes I can name the partition root, but that seems too easy to me. I've done it, but I can't get anything installed on it. Then put flags with boat, esp and legassy, boat that also has no result, see also the Gparted recording. These partitions are made with e.g. Live Ubuntu. So the question is, what am I doing wrong?

There is no need to name any partitions "root", or even to name any of the partitions at all. There is no need to set any boot flag on any partitions either.

Most linux installers will let you specify existing partition(s) to install to, along with asking whether you wish to erase the current contents. Most linux installers also have a simple partitioning tool so you do not need to actually create the target partion(s) beforehand.

There really shouldn't be any problem with the partitions you've created. All current linux installers support ext4 file system, and all of your ext4 file systems have plenty of space for any fresh install.

There is absolutely nothing you need to do to make an ext4 partition suitable for a linux installer to use, other than creating it and having it be big enough (20GB is fine, and yours are all way bigger than that). It doesn't need any name. It doesn't need any boot flag or any other flag set.

What linux installers are you trying to use? I know for sure that the Debian installer will work with this no problem.

would be nice to explain what did you try to install and what went wrong. During installation you need to select the required partition. Also you need to have one common boot loader.

I don't know what you mean when you say 'disc divided into scores', scores? You generally will have to select a mount point for the partition on which you are installing and that will be the symbol '/', meaning the root of the filesystem. You do not need or want Root either upper or lowercase as a mount point. The /root directory is the home directory for the root user and in almost always empty or near empty.

You would either flag an EFI/vfat partition as /boot and esp if it is an EFI install or bios_boot if it is a Legacy install on a GPT drive.

I don't know what you mean when you say 'disc divided into scores', scores? You generally will have to select a mount point for the partition on which you are installing and that will be the symbol '/', meaning the root of the filesystem for the partition on which you are installing. You do not need or want Root either upper or lowercase as a mount point. The /root directory is the home directory for the root user and is almost always empty or near empty.

You would either flag an EFI/vfat partition as /boot/efi if it is an EFI install or an unformatted 1MB bios_boot if it is a Legacy install on a GPT drive. Your post shows you have multiple partitions flagged as /boot/esp and some are ext4 filesystems. You should only have one partition flagged /boot esp and it should be vfat.

I have 40+ multiboot PCs. The following comes from a fairly typical one of them:

# inxi -S
System:
  Host: msi85 Kernel: 5.14.21-150400.24.100-default arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: Trinity Distro: openSUSE Leap 15.4
# parted /dev/sda print
Model: ATA SATA SSD (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name                          Flags
 1      1049kB  337MB   336MB   fat32           sp25 p01 EFI System (ESP)     boot, esp
 2      337MB   2034MB  1698MB  linux-swap(v1)  sp25 p02 Linux Swap           swap
 3      2034MB  2454MB  419MB   ext2            sp25 p03 Linux reservation
 4      2454MB  6648MB  4194MB  ext4            sp25 p04 Linux /usr/local
 5      6648MB  13.4GB  6711MB  ext4            sp25 p05 Linux /home
 6      13.4GB  29.3GB  15.9GB  ext4            sp25 p06 Linux /pub
 7      29.3GB  37.7GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p07 openSUSE Tumbleweed
 8      37.7GB  46.1GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p08 openSUSE 15.3
 9      46.1GB  54.5GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p09 openSUSE 15.1
10      54.5GB  62.9GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p10 Debian 11 Bullseye
11      62.9GB  71.2GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p11 openSUSE 15.2
12      71.2GB  79.6GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p12 Tubuntu 2004 Focal
13      79.6GB  88.0GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p13 Debian 13 Trixie
14      88.0GB  96.4GB  8389MB  ext4            sp25 p14 Tubuntu 2204 Jammy
15      96.4GB  105GB   8389MB  ext4            sp25 p15 openSUSE 15.5
16      105GB   113GB   8389MB  ext4            sp25 p16 openSUSE 15.6
17      113GB   122GB   8389MB  ext4            sp25 p17 openSUSE 15.4
18      122GB   130GB   8389MB  ext4            sp25 p18 Debian 12 Bookworm
19      130GB   138GB   8389MB  ext4            sp25 p19 openSUSE Slowroll
20      138GB   147GB   8389MB                  New: Linux Data
21      243GB   256GB   12.9GB                  New: Linux Data
#

Note there is only one ESP partition, and only one of any other. Each of #'s 7-19 is a "root partition", meaning, it is intended to be mounted on / if it is the one selected for the purpose from the bootloader menu after power-up or reboot.

Linux only needs one bootloader per PC, regardless of number of installed distros, or number of disks. Only the bootloader of the first installed distro also gets its bootloader installed on mine. Distros that don't permit not installing a bootloader don't get their installations completed here. The additionals each have bootloader installation withheld, and are booted via the only installed bootloader. This explains how I do it.

HTH

The one useful thing to do when installing multiple distros is to create a swap partition, because all distros can use it, as long as you don't plan to hibernate. This saves you the space of having a swapfile in each distro. Your screenshot shows an 8GB swap partition, so that's already good. Just install each distro on one of your other partitions, as I assume thats why you created lots of partitions already.

Each distro will ask if/where you want to install the grub bootloader. You only need this once. If you install a second distro, you have two options - either select the same drive as before for bootloader, or don't install bootloader again. If you choose not to install bootloader, you'll have to boot the distro that controls the bootloader in order to add the new distro to the menu. So easier just to keep overwriting the bootloader with next distro. In any case, if you ever want to configure grub bootloader, you have to do it with the distro that you used to install it.

Originally Posted by enigma9o7 The one useful thing to do when installing multiple distros is to create a swap partition, because all distros can use it, as long as you don't plan to hibernate. This saves you the space of having a swapfile in each distro.

In my experience it's also useful to have a common "data" or "MyDocuments" partition which will be permanently mounted in a suitable place in all your distros. I mount mine on /home/data. Don't mount anything on your current distro's home directory; use it only as a home for that distro's personal configuration files and for temporary docs. To make this work well, you need to have the same user ID number on all your systems, so that you will own all your data files no matter which distro you created them in, but most distros give the first registered user the number 1000 anyway.

Each distro will ask if/where you want to install the grub bootloader. You only need this once. If you install a second distro, you have two options - either select the same drive as before for bootloader, or don't install bootloader again. If you choose not to install bootloader, you'll have to boot the distro that controls the bootloader in order to add the new distro to the menu. So easier just to keep overwriting the bootloader with next distro. In any case, if you ever want to configure grub bootloader, you have to do it with the distro that you used to install it.

A small warning here: not every distro installer gives you the option of not installing GRUB.

Everybody, thanks.

I learn a lot about Linux: From another site: Make partition Root: use / (slash stands for root)As a newbie you read a lot about Linux, but you don't known what's important and what's not. So I look over the internet searching for "important" things. And read a lot of not so important things and that cost time. And indeed, after set starting point and / then I can install p.e. Linux Mint.