How to triple boot XP, Ubuntu & PCLOS?

[aigle]

I am trying to triple boot XP, Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS Gnome.
I installed XP on a primary partition C. Then kept an extended partition for ubuntu. I installed PCLOS next choosing it to use free space after extended partition reserved for ubuntu. I used mostly default settings. Now i was able to dual boot XP and PCLOS fine.
Next i installed ubuntu in the extended partition. When i booted after it, i was able to boot ubuntu and XP but can't boot PCLOS( Saying some file system erros i think). Tried super grub CD to boot PCLOS but still same.

Second attempt. I installed xP on C partition. Next installed ubuntu on an extended partition. Dual boot was fine. Next i installed PCLOS using free space option. Again i was able to boot XP and PCLOS but not ubuntu.

How can i fix this? Dual boot is fine but when i install third OS, i am unable to boot into second OS.

Thanks for the help.

[iSole]

I always install grub to each linux OS root partition, then copy to XPs mbr, and editing xp's bootloader,
but there are other ways..
(This way is easier to me, when you decide to get rid of your linux OS, or change them up alot.)

Maybe one of these will shed some light on your prob.

http://www.brunolinux.com/05-Configuring_Your_System/Multiboot_grub.html

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ubuntu-help/66704-triple-boot.html

The paragraphs at the bottom on this one might help you..

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux-tutorials-howtos-reference-material/51822-how-triboot-computer.html

Luck!

You are putting PCLos in it's own partition, aren't you? Not just in the free space..
it's got to be on it's own formatted partition, inside the extended partition..I wasn't sure from reading your post..

[aigle]

Thanks for the reply. I am getting some idea but still not sure. Seems I need hit n trial.

I let PCLOS to install itself in the free space with partition automatically by itself. seems I need to do custom partitioning for it also.

Can same swap partition be shared by two distros?

Thanks

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "
Can same swap partition be shared by two distros?

Thanks" }-

Yup - no problem. I am sharing a 2GB swap between Ubuntu 8.04 and Karmic 9.10.
In fact the installer will see that you already have a linux swap partition, and you won't be prompted to create one.
I reckon this should also be the case if you have two different distros like PCLOS and Ubuntu.

[aigle]

Ok. Thanks.

How important is to have root and home on two different logical partitions rather than just one?

Thanks

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "Ok. Thanks.

How important is to have root and home on two different logical partitions rather than just one?

Thanks" }-
As far as I am concerned it doesn't matter at all. When I was still dual booting with Windows, I had all the distro partitions in one extended partition. I do like my /home on a separate partition - as it contains most of the settings I made to apps. that I run. - easy to backup etc. (The ntfs partition shown in screenshot was just for storing images.)

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204877&d=1229537248

[lewmur]

-{ Quote: "I am trying to triple boot XP, Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS Gnome.
I installed XP on a primary partition C. Then kept an extended partition for ubuntu. I installed PCLOS next choosing it to use free space after extended partition reserved for ubuntu. I used mostly default settings. Now i was able to dual boot XP and PCLOS fine.
Next i installed ubuntu in the extended partition. When i booted after it, i was able to boot ubuntu and XP but can't boot PCLOS( Saying some file system erros i think). Tried super grub CD to boot PCLOS but still same.

Second attempt. I installed xP on C partition. Next installed ubuntu on an extended partition. Dual boot was fine. Next i installed PCLOS using free space option. Again i was able to boot XP and PCLOS but not ubuntu.

How can i fix this? Dual boot is fine but when i install third OS, i am unable to boot into second OS.

Thanks for the help." }-
Why are you using extended partitions instead of primary? What probably is happening is that the partition designations are changing as you create the last partition.

Try this. Boot the Ubuntu CD and use gparted to delete all but the XP partition. Then create all three remaining partitions at one time. A primary partition for Ubuntu, one for PCLOS and a swap partition. Now install the two Linux distros and all should be fine.

[aigle]

ok, thanks. I wil try that.

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: " How can i fix this? Dual boot is fine but when i install third OS, i am unable to boot into second OS.

Thanks for the help." }-

Aigle, the problem that you run into is related to the new grub2 that Ubuntu installs and PClinuxOS doesn't recognize it. The configuration files are different.t

You should be able to fix the problem by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst in PCLOS, but probably easier is to install the old grub in Ubuntu.
The old grub has worked fine for decades and is still used by most distro's. You should not have any problems with using that.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2

Succes!

[Mrkvonic]

Stick with Grub legacy, it's production quality. Grub 2 is still beta! You don't want a beta bootloader on your machine, now do you?

To other questions asked: separate /home, good idea, it's like a data partition, which is what I always do on all OS. swap, sure one swap to rule them all!

Mrk

[steve161]

-{ Quote: "Stick with Grub legacy, it's production quality. Grub 2 is still beta! You don't want a beta bootloader on your machine, now do you?" }-

While I am having none of the problems others are having with 9.10, I am wondering why there was such a need to jump to grub2 when no other distro supports it yet. Would a little uniformity across distros be so horrible?
As far as the triple boot, wouldn't it be easy to install xp, then ubuntu with grub beta in /, then PCLOS with grub installed to mbr. You can then chainload ubuntu from grub.

[lewmur]

-{ Quote: "While I am having none of the problems others are having with 9.10, I am wondering why there was such a need to jump to grub2 when no other distro supports it yet. Would a little uniformity across distros be so horrible?
As far as the triple boot, wouldn't it be easy to install xp, then ubuntu with grub beta in /, then PCLOS with grub installed to mbr. You can then chainload ubuntu from grub." }-
The need to jump to grub2 is tied to the adoption of ext4. Legacy grub doesn't recognize ext4 partitions. Lilo doesn't either. If you format the install partition for 9.10 or 9.04 to ext3, you can sitll use legacy grub.

But I don't think that is the problem the OP is having. If his problem was with grub2, he should have been able to boot the last distro he installed. Grub2 might have missed one of the other OSs, but not the one being installed.

[steve161]

-{ Quote: "The need to jump to grub2 is tied to the adoption of ext4. Legacy grub doesn't recognize ext4 partitions. Lilo doesn't either. If you format the install partition for 9.10 or 9.04 to ext3, you can sitll use legacy grub." }-

Didn't know that. I knew there was an ext4 option for 9.04, but I assumed it used legacy.

[wilbertnl]

Another way to get GRUB support for any new file system is by creating a small 100 MB /boot partition, formatted with ext2. Then you can format the rest of the partitions /, /home, etc any way you like.

Hm, Lewmur makes a point, PCLOS probably won't recognize the ext4 file system. If you reinstall Ubuntu, the installer might find PCLOS and add it to the boot menu.
Of course it's also possible by modifying the GRUB2 configuration, but it's so new that only few people know what to do.

[lewmur]

-{ Quote: "Another way to get GRUB support for any new file system is by creating a small 100 MB /boot partition, formatted with ext2. Then you can format the rest of the partitions /, /home, etc any way you like.

Hm, Lewmur makes a point, PCLOS probably won't recognize the ext4 file system. If you reinstall Ubuntu, the installer might find PCLOS and add it to the boot menu.
Of course it's also possible by modifying the GRUB2 configuration, but it's so new that only few people know what to do." }-
If your boot partition has legacy grub, then you still have to install grub2 in the boot sector of the ext4 partition. Then you chain from grub in the MBR to grub2 in the boot sector of the ext4 partition. Sounds complicated but isn't really difficult once you've done it the first time.

[Mrkvonic]

There is no problem with legacy grub and ext4. Whatsoever.
Besides, grub2 + upstart makes ubuntu the strangest bird in the linux crowd.
Mrk

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "If your boot partition has legacy grub, then you still have to install grub2 in the boot sector of the ext4 partition. Then you chain from grub in the MBR to grub2 in the boot sector of the ext4 partition. Sounds complicated but isn't really difficult once you've done it the first time." }-
If I understand the configuration right, then Ubuntu and PCLOS are both installed in logical partitions, not in a bootable primary partition. Which makes MBR the only location available for GRUB.
Things are much easier when you have a 100 MB primary partition for /boot.

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "
As far as the triple boot, wouldn't it be easy to install xp, then ubuntu with grub beta in /, then PCLOS with grub installed to mbr. You can then chainload ubuntu from grub." }-
I think I would do it very similarly.
Install XP
Install PCLOS (ext3; legacy grub) to mbr - it's in extended partition but that shouldn't matter).
Lastly install Ubuntu (ext4; grub2) in the free space of extended part. to /

Then edit PCLOS menu.lst to chainload the Ubuntu.

Why should that not work - maybe I'm missing something obvious ?

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "Why should that not work - maybe I'm missing something obvious ?" }-
PCLinuxOS 2009.2 (http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pclinuxos) supports Linux kernel 2.6.26, ext4 won't be accessible from it.
First you need to reinstall Ubuntu and make sure that you select a different file system, like ext3.

Aigle's problem is caused because Ubuntu is running in front of the other distro's with a new file system and a new GRUB release.
Current Mandriva, OpenSUSE and Fedora releases do support ext4, with other distro's you have a risk of incompatible configurations that don't recognize each other.

Been there, done that.

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "PCLinuxOS 2009.2 (http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pclinuxos) supports Linux kernel 2.6.26, ext4 won't be accessible from it.
First you need to reinstall Ubuntu and make sure that you select a different file system, like ext3.

" }-
Yes, but I am chainloading from ext 3 Ubuntu 8.04 (old grub .97) to Karmic 9.10 (grub2) ext 4. It's fine, with of course the exception that I can't mount ext 4 from ext 3 - only vice versa.
???

[aigle]

It,s a lot of hot discussion going on, i can,t grab all for sure but I am getting some idea atleast.

Ok, I tried it from scratch now on a VM, after i succedd I wil do it on my real laptop. I don,t have a second licence for XP, so I will be using Windows7 RC in VBox alongwith Ubuntu and PCLOS-Gnome. I just want a triple boot, I don,t care if it is done with Grub 2 or legacy Grub.

Here is how I did now.

1- Installed windows 7 first, it made two primary partitions( hda1 and hda2).
2- Made an extended partition hda3 for ubuntu and PCLOS.
3- Made a primary partition FAT32( hda4).
4- Made three logical partitions(hda5, 6 and 7) in the extended partition hda3.
5- installed ubuntu with default settings nad Grub2, with swap in hda5 and root in hda6
6- Rebooted and I can boot into Win 7 and Ubuntu fine with grub2, no problems at all.
7- Now installed PCLOS with swap on hda5 and root on hda7, all default settings.
8- Rebooted the VM and I can,t find any entery for Ubuntu. Only PCLOS and Win7. Both are booting fine. I think I need to chianload Ubntu in PCLOS Grun manue. Am I right? I so, how to do that.

My PCLOS menu.lst and partition set up is here.

I am willing to change anything in the setup, partitions, OS arrangement etc.

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[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "I am willing to change anything in the setup, partitions, OS arrangement etc." }-
Aigle, here is my partitioning:

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/dev/sda1 is a primary partition with Windows XP (in your VM you could even install FreeDOS (http://www.freedos.org/), just for the heck of it. No worry about licensing.
/dev/sda2 is a primary partition with /boot formatted in ext2
/dev/sda3 is the extended partition
/dev/sda5 is fat32 data partition for Windows XP.
/dev/sda6 is linux / formatted in XFS
/dev/sda7 is linux swap
/dev sda8 is linux /home formatted in XFS

The idea is that /dev/sda2 is bootable and that you install legacy grub there.
and because it's formatted with ext2, you won't risk that it won't boot.
First you install PCLOS, with grub in /dev/sda2.
Then you install Ubuntu with grub in MBR, it should find the bootcode in /dev/sda2 and create a menu enrty for it.
During the boot process, you probably will get two menu's when you want to boot PCLOS, first the menu of grub2 and then another menu for grub legacy.
But ala, it should work.

I have one distro installed in this picture. For your system, you need to add /dev/sda9 for your second distro.

[aigle]

Hi wilbertnl, thanks a lot. I will try that.

I guess that sda5, 6, 7 and 8 are logical partitions within sda3. Am I right?

BTW where is sda4?

[aigle]

It did not work too. >:( ???

Installed Win 7. Made sda3 as boot and installed PCLOS with grub in sda3, swap in sda4 and root in sda6.
Installed Ubuntu with root in sda7. Ubuntu and Win7 will work but i get error when I try to boot PCLOS on dev/sda6.

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[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "I guess that sda5, 6, 7 and 8 are logical partitions within sda3. Am I right?
BTW where is sda4?" }- Correct, and sda4 is reserved for another primary partition.

This is how it works: sda1,2,3,4 are all primary partitions, sda5 and more are logical partitions.
A disk can have a maximum of 4 primary partitions.
The extended partition is actually also a primary parttion, but with a special purpose: containing logical partitions.
Logical partitions always start numbering from 5 up, so you might see sda1 (primary), sda2 (extended) and then sda5 (logical), or even this:
sda1 (extended) sda5 (logical).

You should experiment with a new empty disk in your VM: create 4 primary partitions and see if you can add extended/logical partitions. And also create 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition and see if you can add a primary partition.

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "It did not work too." }-
I want to look at it myself in VirtualBox, but it may be Monday before I get time for that.

[aigle]

Oh..Thanks for that. I wil be really thankfull if you can reproduce same scenario. I have no hurry. Take your time.

[Ocky]

This is an interesting thread - I still have a long way to go in understanding Grub2.
Anyway my 2 cents worth:-
-{ Quote: "7- Now installed PCLOS with swap on hda5 and root on hda7, all default settings.
8- Rebooted the VM and I can,t find any entery for Ubuntu. Only PCLOS and Win7. Both are booting fine. I think I need to chianload Ubntu in PCLOS Grun manue. Am I right? I so, how to do that." }-

Default settings would install legacy grub to mbr overwriting Ubuntu's Grub2
which you say was also installed using the default settings. Therefore the boot-loader is only seeing Win7 and PCLOS.


Am I right ?

Have a look .. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1317939

[wilbertnl]

This morning I woke up really early and I found time to experiment...

I have triple boot with GRUB2 working in a VM.

1. first I installed ReactOS (http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html), only because that saved me installation time. It installs in the first primary partition with FAT32 file system.
2. I installed an older Sidux with grub in /dev/sda2 mounted as /boot.
3. I installed Kubuntu 9.10 from the liveCD with defaults, like ext4 for the root file system.

Then you will find out that GRUB2 shows both Ubuntu AND PCLOS, but not Windows.
I had to create a text file in /etc/grub.d with the name of 10_reactos and the following content
-{ Quote: "#! /bin/sh -e
echo "Adding Windows" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry "Windows XP" {
set root=(hd0,1)
chainloader +1
}
EOF" }- I also had to make this text file executable with chmod +x 10_reactos
Then I had to run update-grub to recreate a new menu.
(source: Tip: Windows XP/Vista does not boot from GRUB2 or GRUB-PC (http://blogs.koolwal.net/2008/12/28/windows-xpvista-dual-boot-does-not-boot-from-grub2-or-grub-pc/))

Et voila:

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[Ocky]

Jolly nice wilbertnl !
Only thing is you have to first get into Reactos grub menu and then Reactos Win (Ldr)
to get to Windows because 10_custom only sees Linux OS's. Maybe a user custom
entry in 40_custom will show Windows in Grub2 ?

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0

menuentry "Windows" {

set root=(hd0,1)

chainloader +1

}

Regards

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "Only thing is you have to first get into Reactos grub menu and then Reactos Win (Ldr)" }- I'm not sure that I understand your suggestion, Ocky. I just tested it with selecting reactos (top of menu) and I get the graphic desktop of reactos.
When Aigle installs Windows XP, he won't get this second boot menu.

But the point that I want to make is that GRUB2 does find PCLOS when it's installed in the right order. First PCLOS and then Ubuntu.

[Mrkvonic]

Grub 2 reminds me of Lilo, ugly ... Anyhow, I'll start exploring this thingie and bake a tutorial ...
Mrk

[aigle]

Hi, you will see that in my case, I installed exactly as u suggested but after i finished, GRUB2 is finding all enteries, Windows, PCLOS and Ubuntu. ( In ur case it did not find ReactOS)

My results were different also in the respet that it was able to boot Ubuntu and Windows but on selecting PCLOS it gave an error. See my screenshots in post# 24.

-{ Quote: "
But the point that I want to make is that GRUB2 does find PCLOS when it's installed in the right order. First PCLOS and then Ubuntu." }-

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "Grub 2 reminds me of Lilo, ugly ... Anyhow, I'll start exploring this thingie and bake a tutorial ...
Mrk" }-
It seems not ugly.

http://grub.gibibit.com/

[aigle]

Ok, my experiment continues...

Anyone can answer two Qs pls:

1- How can I dictate Ubuntu to install legacy GRUB instaed of Grub2?

2- How can i chainload Ubuntu in PCLOS Grub menue here?

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Thanks

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "Ok, my experiment continues..." }-
Are you able to boot from floppy or from USB?
If that is the case, than you might consider to boot from such device to get into PCLOS?
You could install grub legacy on a floppy.

[aigle]

Will try SuperGrub disk but I doubt it will work as the boot entery is there but when choosen it points to some error.

[wilbertnl]

Aigle, would using Wubi (http://wubi-installer.org/)an option for you?
It means that you install Ubuntu in a virtual disk on the Windows partition. When you boot Windows, you will see a menu with two options: Windows or Ubuntu.
This does NOT rely on GRUB, and it might solve your problem, because you can use the GRUB from PCLOS.

Perhaps not an elegant solution, but it gives you a way to test both distro's.

What do you think?

[lewmur]

-{ Quote: "Ok, my experiment continues...

Anyone can answer two Qs pls:

1- How can I dictate Ubuntu to install legacy GRUB instaed of Grub2?

2- How can i chainload Ubuntu in PCLOS Grub menue here?

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Thanks" }-
Question #1; If there is a way to do this during install, I haven't found it.
Question #2: If you've done as I suggested and installed grub2 in the boot sector of the Ubuntu partition, then you need to add the following entry to the menu.lst file in the /boot/grub folder of the PCLos partition.


title Chainload into GRUB 2 (on /dev/sd##)
root (hd#,#)
kernel /boot/grub/core.img
savedefault
boot

If the Ubuntu partition is sda3 then:

root (hd0,2)

[aigle]

Hi lewmur! thanks a lot for your reply. I failed on everything else. Now I will try as you suggested with primary partitions and will see how it goes.

Thanks

[lewmur]

-{ Quote: "Hi lewmur! thanks a lot for your reply. I failed on everything else. Now I will try as you suggested with primary partitions and will see how it goes.

Thanks" }-
If you install Ubuntu before PCLos, and put its grub2 in its boot sector, then install PCLos with grub going to the MBR, there is a good chance you won't have to create the menu.lst entry. PCLos should do it for you.

[aigle]

Actually I can,t control Ubuntu, no option. PCLOS however gives u option.

[wilbertnl]

Aigle, I have tried several scenario's, with Windows 2000 first, then PCLOS and finally Kubuntu.
I do get a similar error message as in your #24 post, I tried to modify grub.cfg, but so far I can't get this working. PCLOS doesn't boot from GRUB2.

[aigle]

Hi, thanks for the help. let,s see how it goes. I wil try as lewmur suggested.

BTW PCLOS doesn,t even ecognize older ubuntu version.

[Mrkvonic]

Did you try adding pclinuxos like this:

Create 11_pclinuxos or something, which includes (similar to your win case):

#! /bin/sh -e
echo "Adding pclinuxos" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry "pclinuxos" {
set root=(hdx,y)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-whatever ...
initrd /boot/initrd-whatever ...
}
EOF

Then update-grub?

Did you also try locating ext32 before set command:

insmod ext2
set root=(hdx,y) ...

You can't edit grub.cfg even if you chmod the attributes ...
I'll see if I can find a way to do it ... baking the tutorial, by the way ...

Cheers,
Mrk

[Ocky]

OK I'm not a Linux guru and you know that, but quite frankly I don't understand what the problem is ..
If PCLOS is installed to the MBR, Grub 0.97 should pick up on the Windows XP existing installation, overwrite its bootloader and present you with a chainload Grub menu entry for Windows. That's how mine was.
Then just install Ubuntu's bootloader (Grub2) to the partition boot sector (/) - not to the MBR.
Once done just edit PCLOS menu.lst by adding a chainloader entry for Ubuntu.
It doesn't matter that PCLOS is ext3 and Ubuntu is ext4, nor does it matter that Ubuntu is Grub2 and PCLOS is Grub 0.97. (Unless of course PCLOS uses some other bootloader).
I suppose you could also use a symlink for booting Ubuntu.
I would really like to know why you think this method will not work.

Note: It makes no difference to Ubuntu whether it is installed in primary or logical partitions
If there are already three primary partitions will be forced to make an extended partition and install Ubuntu in logical partitions.

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "
Question #2: If you've done as I suggested and installed grub2 in the boot sector of the Ubuntu partition, then you need to add the following entry to the menu.lst file in the /boot/grub folder of the PCLos partition.


title Chainload into GRUB 2 (on /dev/sd##)
root (hd#,#)
kernel /boot/grub/core.img
savedefault
boot

If the Ubuntu partition is sda3 then:

root (hd0,2)
" }-

It worked. ;D Thanks lewmur. :thumb:

Thanks to all others too.

I wanted to do this time with all primary partitions. I installed Win 7, then deleted its OS partition( as In needed 3 more pri partitions for swap, ubuntu and PCLOS) and just left the booot loader partition( that was enough to know whether windows bootloader will work or not). Then made three more primary partitions. Installed ubuntu and then PCLOS. Add chainloader entery for ubuntu and now i get options to boot into PCLOS or Windows boot loader or ubuntu via first screen. If I choose ubuntu then its grub 2 menue appears, again showing ubuntu or Win7 options. All working fine.

Will try it now with logical partitions so that I can go into Win7 as well.

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "It worked. ;D Thanks lewmur. :thumb: " }- That's great news, Aigle!

Soon you will be able to report to us your comparison between Ubuntu and PCLOS.

And you are having a busy time ahead, because it's the release season out there: Mandriva, OpenSuSE (tomorrow!), Fedora (next week), and that's just a few items from distrowatch.com (http://distrowatch.com/)... ;D;D;D

Congrats on Triple Boot!

[aigle]

Yes. And thanks for your help too.

I am liking ubuntu more i think. I guess it wil be my primary linux OS.Only thing i don't like about it is that it's a bit slow, slower than XP and even win 7 i think. Wish they can make it fast atleast like XP.

I love compiz themes and desktop effects that are working evening with an old integrated graphics on my laptop that is not able to run even aero. It's amazing indeed.

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "Only thing i don't like about it is that it's a bit slow, slower than XP and even win 7 i think." }- Slower than Windows 7?, how much RAM do you have? Maybe it's worth to look at Xubuntu (http://www.xubuntu.org/). You can even install it in Ubuntu, it's available as package. look for xubuntu-desktop.

[aigle]

It,s toshiba laptop with Pentium M 1.7 and 1.5 Giga Ram.

I must explain what I mean by slowness. In Ubuntu when I click Computer icon, cursor changes to busy status and after a while file manager Nautilus opens. Same is with Image Viewer etc. In XP without any security software running and after a fresh install, it is super fast. Win 7 also seems a bit fatser in this regard.

I expect Ubuntu to be snappier but it,s not the case, unfortunately. This is the main reason I will install PCLOS also, otherwise I am happy with Ubuntu.

BTW here is my desktop.

[aigle]

Ok, it works with logical partitions too.