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Dual Boot Question
- Thread starter Spec01
- Start date
Don't know if theres an exact figure, but I had Win98,Win2000,WinXp Pro, Win2003enterprise, and Mandrake quituple booting without any problems.
As long as they are all in separate partitions. I think you cna have as many as you want, or as many as hard drive space will allow.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
As long as they are all in separate partitions. I think you cna have as many as you want, or as many as hard drive space will allow.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #3
Yes it can be done - and in any order with the right information & software. If this is your first time multibooting, I'd install 2k first, then XP into a different partition or drive (which will create a 2k/XP dual boot automatically), then Linux, whose boot loader - used to be lilo or grub, but haven't looked for a long time so may be something else - should offer to create a 'dual boot' with windows (so you'll end up with a selection for linuix or windows, and if you select windows you'll get another selection of 2k or XP).
Remember to make sure you have enough room for partitions for all o/s (you don't say how many hard drives you're using).
Remember to make sure you have enough room for partitions for all o/s (you don't say how many hard drives you're using).
- Thread starter
- #6
Yes (plenty of space), but you would be best to use a 2k install CD with at least SP3 (SP4 better) included and an XP install CD with at least SP1 (SP2 better) included (you can create these by slipstreaming and burning new CD - Google to find if needed, lots of sites) - because drive is > 128GB (may be ok as its SATA not IDE, but better safe....).
Also of course you'll need the SATA drivers to show to 2k and XP installs after pressing F6 at start of install process (XP can cope with some SATA mobo/drive combinations without, don't know if 2k can at all). I don't know what linux position is regarding large drives and SATA.
So I'd install 2k, creating just a partition for it, first. Load 2k and create a second primary partition (IMO primary partitions are best - and you can't create a second one with 2k's install partitioning tools) for XP. Install XP to this. Then start linux install (as I said, haven't done one for a while, but they generally look after the partitioning during the install process as long as enough space - and 250GB is plenty).
Also of course you'll need the SATA drivers to show to 2k and XP installs after pressing F6 at start of install process (XP can cope with some SATA mobo/drive combinations without, don't know if 2k can at all). I don't know what linux position is regarding large drives and SATA.
So I'd install 2k, creating just a partition for it, first. Load 2k and create a second primary partition (IMO primary partitions are best - and you can't create a second one with 2k's install partitioning tools) for XP. Install XP to this. Then start linux install (as I said, haven't done one for a while, but they generally look after the partitioning during the install process as long as enough space - and 250GB is plenty).
In addition to what's already been posted, I would create a 4th partition formatted as FAT32, to use for data storage, so every OS can Use it. Don't recall Linux being able to see NTFS partitions.
For Partitioning, I suggest you use some third party tool, like Partition Magic. it will make the partitioning easier.
You can Partition the drive in 4 and format them all in one go. Then just boot from the various OS CD's and install per the OS's intructions. Always making sure the OS at the time, runs correctly, and does not have any issues, before proceeding with the next OX install.
Installing 3 OSes only to find that Win2000 was not installed correctly can be a real pain.
As previously mentioned, the order should be Win2K, WinXP, and last Linux. Although I don't know how much support there is in linux for SATA drives.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
For Partitioning, I suggest you use some third party tool, like Partition Magic. it will make the partitioning easier.
You can Partition the drive in 4 and format them all in one go. Then just boot from the various OS CD's and install per the OS's intructions. Always making sure the OS at the time, runs correctly, and does not have any issues, before proceeding with the next OX install.
Installing 3 OSes only to find that Win2000 was not installed correctly can be a real pain.
As previously mentioned, the order should be Win2K, WinXP, and last Linux. Although I don't know how much support there is in linux for SATA drives.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
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