[SOLVED] Triple boot Ubuntu Backtrack and windows 7

[tanush]

Guys,
Im really copping up with linux and have learned quite much in linux field and now i tried triple booting Ubuntu,Backtrack and windows 7.

I have installed ubuntu through wubi but can install seperately also

How should i proceed?
Can someone please help?

I have been scared of grub and i wanna overcome it.

plz help guys....

[Rubberman]

I never bother with dual/triple boot systems. I install a reliable Linux OS and run other operating systems in virtual machines. Currently, my preferred VM manager is VirtualBox (Sun/Oracle), but that may change over time.

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

You can install as many distros as you like. GRUB setup is really easy and you should not worried about it. Most of distros are using GRUB2 now and it works really well.

Install Windows OS first and install Linux distros after that. Create only one SWAP partition because all Linux distros can share same SWAP partition.

Here is a partition structure of my test machine :

/dev/sda1   (Primary) 15 GB,  Windows OS
/dev/sda2   (Primary) 15 GB,  NTFS for Data Sharing
/dev/sda3   (Extended Partition), rest of free space
/dev/sda5   (Logical inside Extended), 1GB, SWAP
/dev/sda6   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext4, Ubuntu
/dev/sda7   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, CentOS
/dev/sda8   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, Empty
/dev/sda9   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, Empty
/dev/sda10   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, Empty

Installer of most of distros detect existing Linux/Windows OSes and setup multiboot itself. You don't have to manually edit any boot loader (GRUB) config.

[tanush]

Hi and Welcome !

You can install as many distros as you like. GRUB setup is really easy and you should not worried about it. Most of distros are using GRUB2 now and it works really well.

Install Windows OS first and install Linux distros after that. Create only one SWAP partition because all Linux distros can share same SWAP partition.

Here is a partition structure of my test machine :

/dev/sda1   (Primary) 15 GB,  Windows OS
/dev/sda2   (Primary) 15 GB,  NTFS for Data Sharing
/dev/sda3   (Extended Partition), rest of free space
/dev/sda5   (Logical inside Extended), 1GB, SWAP
/dev/sda6   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext4, Ubuntu
/dev/sda7   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, CentOS
/dev/sda8   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, Empty
/dev/sda9   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, Empty
/dev/sda10   (Logical inside Extended),  12GB, ext3, Empty

Installer of most of distros detect existing Linux/Windows OSes and setup multiboot itself. You don't have to manually edit any boot loader (GRUB) config.

thanx


will try and get back to you..

[tanush]

can you help me once again?

I usually use this partitioning system:

\ - 25 gb
\home- 10 gb
\boot -400mb
swap - ram * 1.5


should i partition again for both OS of linux ? or / , /home can be shared?

[devils casper]

There is no need to create /boot partition unless you are using LVM. Even if you plan to create separate /boot partition, default size 102MB is enough for it.

It's good idea to create a separate /home partition but if you are installing/testing a lot of distros and opting for multibooting, there is no need to create separate /home partition, imho. Do not share /home partition with other distros.

SWAP = RAM * 1.5 is an old rule when RAM was costly and most of machines do not have more than 512/1GB RAM. If you have 1GB or more RAM, there is no need to create SWAP Partition at all. Just to be on safer side, create 512 or 1GB partition for SWAP. It will be space wastage though because my test machine having 1GB RAM, has never used SWAP Partition.

[tanush]

Alrite This is what happened now..


I updated the grub but no use..


I see 4 entries named Ubuntu but two of them opens up backtrack and other 2 hangs.


Windows 7 is working perfectly... BT is working perfectly but I cannot boot into ubuntu....


update grub was completed successfully but nothing has changed...

what should i do now ?

See my bootloader screen

Alrite This is what happened now..


I updated the grub but no use..


I see 4 entries named Ubuntu but two of them opens up backtrack and other 2 hangs.


Windows 7 is working perfectly... BT is working perfectly but I cannot boot into ubuntu....


update grub was completed successfully but nothing has changed...

what should i do now ?

See my bootloader screen

img231.imageshack. us/img231/2116/capturezk.png

[devils casper]

Which Linux distro did you install first? Boot up Backtrack and execute fdisk -l command in Terminal. Post output here.

[tanush]

I installed ubuntu first and did not used wubi..

and heres the screen shot

img834. imageshack.us/img834/8996/captureos.png


and by the way I did this on virtual so used automatic partitioning hence two swap partitions. Coz first I installed without any knowledge and ended up badly and couldnt even boot into windows.

thanks for the help...

[devils casper]

You can remove one of the SWAP partition and merge free space in adjacent partition. You will have to edit a /etc/fstab file Ubuntu. We will discuss that later.

Post the contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst file of Backtrack.