Triple boot Mint/Ubuntu & Windows XP

[sunnyengineeer]

Hello,
I've Ubuntu 8.10 alongwith Windows XP..
Now I've got CDs of Ubuntu 10.04 & Mint...
Can someone guide me how can I tripple boot into all 3 OS's...(10.04/mint/xp)
I know its crazy to have both ubuntu & mint...(both are almost same)..
But still i want to try as many OSes as I can in my summer vacations here in India...

Plz help me....

thnx
Sunny Sharma

[Pierre]

If you really want to "try lots of O/Ss" - it comes down to your hardware

if you have a large hdd - partition it into several 'partitions' - one for each O/S.

or, if you have a fast cpu >= 2G & heaps of memory >= 2Gb,
then try virtualBox, running under say Ubuntu, & install your test O/Ss inside of that -virtually.

post back here, which method that you would prefer to use.

[kansasnoob]

I prefer creating my partitions in advance using Gparted somewhat like shown here:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p22.html

I also prefer creating a separate /home for each Linux OS somewhat as shown here (skip the part about creating a Live USB):

http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p28.html

Since I multi-boot a lot I also symlink my Documents, Pictures, Downloads, and Backup folders so they're shared by each OS:

Code: Select all

/dev/sda1: UUID="F4C8C431C8C3F042" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda2: LABEL="Lucid Root" UUID="fb0e61a6-d355-4687-9a98-da164a56cc60" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda3: LABEL="Karmic Root" UUID="b976dd82-1719-42e0-8a78-9e86e8ceba88" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda5: LABEL="Lucid Home" UUID="9397c183-6db2-4b47-b8d2-98234ce442d9" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda6: LABEL="Karmic Home" UUID="e7319a14-febc-4b42-ac32-9c0c2bbb53dc" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda7: LABEL="Backups" UUID="594c3d40-2791-4c0a-8644-d9812545da2d" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda8: LABEL="Pictures" UUID="8a3f6c83-cb52-4caf-96b8-5faf2c830453" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda9: LABEL="Downloads" UUID="05289ee4-d681-4806-b6fd-aefd784f9323" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda10: LABEL="Documents" UUID="571cfad8-68c7-4703-883e-c0baa2a381d4" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda11: UUID="bf502251-6ccd-4b66-8f9a-458603a6d2f2" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sda12: LABEL="Squeeze Root" UUID="2d74adb5-1d41-46b0-b1ae-c0a2bf65cdcd" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda13: LABEL="Squeeze Home" UUID="732e374a-bfff-4b75-95ba-d35b4217df54" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda14: LABEL="Lenny Root" UUID="7810ffb6-28e9-42ce-af70-195f38155bbc" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda15: LABEL="Lenny Home" UUID="0ff06334-bf05-4f7d-8666-714f5d14187e" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda16: LABEL="Isadora Root" UUID="d935211b-cc91-429b-bb0f-4a61e25d39fb" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda17: LABEL="Isadora Home" UUID="a738f4d8-f42c-4e97-bbb5-3b7a06271a39" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda18: LABEL="Maverick Root" UUID="00848f9d-37ce-4987-814b-8eb8bfe982ba" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda19: LABEL="Maverick Home" UUID="df09c41a-0ac8-47ae-a1c7-8d92598138f4" TYPE="ext4" 

That's probably "overkill" for most people

[sunnyengineeer]

Hello,
I already have different partitions for that...which I created while installing windows...
Can somebody tell me exact procedure..i.e what to do,which OS to install when...
& more specifically..

Thanks
Sunny Sharma

[recent-convert]

Install Windows first (which you've done?)

Then it doesn't matter which order you install Ubuntu/Mint in. Install procedure:

1. Run the LiveCD/USB of one of the distros. Click the install icon on the desktop.
2. When you get to the screen that says "Install side by side/Erase hard drive/etc" choose the final option, "specify partitions manually".
3. On the next screen, select an empty partition and click "change". In the pop-up dialogue box that appears, you want to use it as an ext3 filesystem, mount point "/" and you want to format the partition.
4. Select another empty partition, this time creating ext3 filesystem, mount point "/home" and again, format it. This will be the partition with your files on.
5. Now, create a swap partition - same as before, but select "use as swap" and format, no mount point.
6. Click through the rest of the installer. No need to chance the advanced options at the final screen.

7. Now repeat the above, but with the other distro. You can use the same "/home" partition and swap space, just create a new "/" (root) partition.
8. Done. Choose between your three OSs at boot.

Best google this just to confirm it's correct, I typed that from my (bad) memory.

[sunnyengineeer]

Hello,
That was really quite helpful..
One more small question..is it is required to create a partition for /home...
Bcz I share datas b/w both OSes...So that will not be helpfull to me..
So can I do like this...
Remain windows as it is...Install Ubuntu on a separate partition....and creating a swap for it...than installing mint on a difft partition but with swap common...
Creating /home partiton will not be usefull to me ..bcz I use common drives for both OSes

Thnx
Sunny Sharma

[mick55]

is it is required to create a partition for /home.

No that is not required.

So can I do like this...
Remain windows as it is...Install Ubuntu on a separate partition....and creating a swap for it...than installing mint on a difft partition but with swap common.

Yes, you can do that.Mint will see and use the swap created by Ubuntu
and will not create an additional redundant one.

[sunnyengineeer]

Hello,
So nice to have those helping hands from so much people..
So Im almost clear in my mind...

Will let all of know when will face some problem...

thnx
Sunny Sharma