Is this a good Tribooting Tutorial I wrote

[cheetahman]

Here is the tutorial I made with the info I got from budman7

It can help anybody including me and should be sticked

How to Triboot a Computer

Distro 1= Prime Distro example (Windows)
Distro 2= The 2nd distro to be installed, this can be any distro (This controls the bootloader)
Distro 3= The 3rd distro to be installed, this can be any distro

Things to do Before You Start

Backup Computer
Run Defraging tools
Scan for Spyware
Scan for Viruses

These are good steps for Window's users and can be used in Linux also

This guide focuses primarly on the GRUB bootloader to Triboot

You can also use the Knoppix Live cd or the partitioner that comes with your distro these include Diskdruid in Fedora Core,Qtparted in SuSE and GParted (Gnome Partition Editor)in the GNOME desktop. There are also partition tools that you can use that do the same thing these include Parted,fdisk,cfdisk,PartitionMagic

Steps 1-6 can be skipped if you are using Knoppix or any other live cds to resize and modify the partitions

Download A Copy of Slax

This is very important because this is the Live vd we are going to use to partition the hardrive to get it ready to Triboot.

Here is the site you can get it from incase you don't have it http://slax.linux-live.org/download.php

Then download SLAX Standard Edition

Additional software for SLAX is provided in the form of compressed modules. The usage is very simple, just add your downloaded module to /modules/ directory on the CD to include it in SLAX permanently, or use "uselivemod" command in SLAX to activate the module on the fly, while running SLAX.

Download these modules and follow the instructions above for Linux or If you are a Windows user download MySLAX Creator at

http://myslax.bonsonno.org/download.php

Ntfsprogs-http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?id=284
QTParted-http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?id=298

Step 1:Bootup the Custom Slax Cd you have made then make sure the computer can bootup the cd.

You can check it by going into the bios by selecting F1 at bootup then go to computer check and change it from there.

Step 2:Once Slax is running you must now Unmount all partitions.

You do this by going into My Computer you will then see all of the partitions.Right click on one of them it will then give you the option to unmount.Select it and it will then be unmounted you must do this for all of the partitions.

You must do this for all of the drives or else the computer can't be partitioned

Step 3:Click on the KDE logo then go to run application and type qtparted in lowercase then hit run

Step 4:This will startup QTparted,now you must choose which program you want QTParted to use The drive I am going to resize is a NTFS partition.

Step 5:Now we begin the process of resizeing the hard drive

1.Select the /dev/hda for IDE or /dev/sda for a SCSI drive on the left, then you should see its info on the right

2.Select the NTFS partition and right-click on it, then select Resize.

3.Next you'll see the Resize Partition dialog.

4.Enter the size you want for your existing Prime Distro to be resized and then click OK.

This can be done in Gigabytes or Megabytes

5.After clicking OK you'll see an updated view of your partitions. Note that nothing has actually changed yet; you must select File then Commit to apply the changes.

6.Just click Yes on the confirmation dialog.

7.You'll see the progress dialog and when it's done click the OK button

8.Now Select File then Quit to exit QTParted

9.You should now boot into the Prime Distro it will then detect the partition that you have made but it will be unformatted.

Now boot back into QTParted the way you did before and Delete Distro 2 and the Swap Partition by right clicking it and hitting delete

Now you should have the Prime Distro and a bunch of free space.

Step 6:Out of the free space create 2 partitions.

Both Should be Unformatted

1 Partition for Distro 2
1 Partition for Distro 3

Unformatted means that no file system is currently on it.

When installing the Operating System it will give you the most common options which are Reiserf and Ext3.

Also many distros support Custom Partioning which will give you more formatting Options.

A file system is added to the computer whenever you install an Operating System to it.

Below are some examples of filesystems that can be formatted or resized.

Windows
NTFS
FAT

Linux
Ext2
Ext3
ReiserFS

Its also a good idea to add Swap if you have a low memory computer which will use the Swap as temporary ram also the Swap partition should be formatted as Swap.

If the swap is inside the extended partition, you will have to delete the swap first.

Step 7:Now Install Distro 3 by Booting the install cd as if you were going to boot Slax and Install bootloader to root partition.

Step 8:Install Distro 2 using swap already created from installing Distro 3 and putting GRUB on the MBR which will make GRUB the bootloader that is controlled by Distro 2.

GRUB can be put anywhere but for this tutorial we are going to be put on the MBR so Distro 2 becomes the bootloader.

When installing other operating systems

Distro 2 should now make an entry in GRUB for both the Prime Distro and Distro 3.

The computer should now be restarted I you will be shown the Distro 2 GRUB Bootloader which contains the Prime Distro,Distro 2 and Distro 3.

The computer can now Triboot

Make sure you don't put Swap for Distro 2 on the partition where you are going to install Distro 2 to. By default Distro 2 should make a Swap partition or detect a Swap that is on the computer and mount it.

For Installing new linux distros install to the partition so Distro 2 Grub doesn't get overwritten

A Big Thanks to budman7 for supplying the info and if you want a picture guide of using QTparted this site is very good even though its mainly used for Ubuntu but can work on any distro.The distro that they use is the System Recovery Cd which very out of date.

http://ca.geocities.com/zachandloric...windowsxp.html

[blackbelt_jones]

This is exactly what I need to be learning now, so I'm going to try working from this tutorial and see how it works for me. I'll let you know. I must warn you, I am the dumbest Linux geek ever. (To put it more delicately, my background is not in computers.)

[blackbelt_jones]

I still haven't got this working yet. Before I attempt it again, I want to see if I can hook up my old floppy drive so I can make boot disks to fall back on.

One thing that I find problematic about the tutorial is the emphasis on Slax. If you can use Knoppix off the rack instead of creating a custom, why not work from that, and mention a custom slax disk in passing as a kind of alternative option? Is there some reason that I don't understand why a custom slax disk is preferable to knoppix for this function? If the user is already comfortable with slax, that's reason enough to use it, but for such a user, the bonus tutorial within a tutorial isn't necessary.

And pardon me if this is a dumb question but: isn't there a simpler way? Can anybody tell me if there's an approach to multibooting that doesn't necessitate creating new partitions and reinstalling my whole system? Damn it, there ought to be. Right now, I have three operating systems on two hard drives: one (hdb, 80 GB) with Windows XP installed, and the other (hda, 200 GB) with Slackware installed with CentOS. Most of the Linux hard drive is devoted to CentOS, but the bootloader (lilo) in the MBR boots Slack.

Currently, to choose to boot XP or Slack, I use the boot settings in the bios to pick which hard drive I want to boot from, and if I want to boot CentOS, I use a boot CD (which is like a boot floppy, only bigger and shinier.) It's a little annoying, but if the only alternative is reinstalling everything it starts to look pretty tolerable.

In the world that I would like to live in, I wouldn't need to repartition or reinstall anything other than GRUB, which I could configure to boot whichever OS I prefer, without going into the bios or searching for a disk. In fact, it seems to me that If I could do that-- and if I had a floppy drive-- I could dispense with the live CDs (and QtParted, my least favorite partitioner in all the world) and simply install as many OSs on as many partitions as I liked, using cfdsik or diskdruid or whatever was at hand. As I went along, I could create a boot floppy for each, and then in the end I could simply install GRUB... maybe to the MBR of the final 'nix-- and set it up to provide acess to the whole system in one place. Really, is that too much to ask of the OS that created such modern miracles as knoppix and apt-get?

Well... is it?

[retsaw]

And pardon me if this is a dumb question but: isn't there a simpler way? Can anybody tell me if there's an approach to multibooting that doesn't necessitate creating new partitions and reinstalling my whole system? Damn it, there ought to be. Right now, I have three operating systems on two hard drives: one (hdb, 80 GB) with Windows XP installed, and the other (hda, 200 GB) with Slackware installed with CentOS. Most of the Linux hard drive is devoted to CentOS, but the bootloader (lilo) in the MBR boots Slack.

As long as the partitions you want to use already exist you do not need to repartition or reinstall. All you need to do is learn how to use LiLo or GRUB. I'd recommend using GRUB, there are a number of reasons why it is better, one importent one is that is you get the configuration wrong you can fix it at the boot prompt, saves the hassle of digging out a livecd for the task.

[blackbelt_jones]

I would tend to use GRUB anyway, because these days it's THE bootloader, right? The only distro I can think of that continues to use LiLO is Slackware. Everything else I've tried running lately is always GRUB GRUB GRUB. If every distro uses GRUB as default, it seems intuitive that for nearly every distro, GRUB might require the least customizing and tweaking.



Okay, so here's a question:

One thing I seem to be getting out of this tutorial is that, no matter how or what you use to set your partitions, as you install each operating system (other than the last) for a multiboot, it's advisable to save the boot loader to the root partition, instead of to the MBR as is usual. I'm thinking that this is probably because, if you're installing more than one operating system, the boot loader will be overwritten by each subsequent install if you save to the MBR. Am i tripping, or is that about right?

Call me crazy, but I'm planning a BIG BOOT, something I like to I call the Distromatic. Some folks seem to think that it's a sign of bad character, like marrying five wives, but I happen to think that fooling around with different distros is fun. I'm sick of wiping my whole system and reinstalling, however, so I can play with a different nix, so I'm setting aside a hundred GB for debian, and divvying up the rest between Slack, SuSE, Centos, FreeBSD and God only knows. It's going to be a while before I'm going to be ready to configure GRUB, so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. RIght now, the plan is that I'm just going to slowly and methodically install my nixes one by one, saving each boot loader to the root partiton, and create a bunch of boot disks. Shouldn't that work?

I know that I can only create so many primary partitions, and after that I'm going to have to install to logical partitions (he said, as if he knew the difference). How many primary partitions am I allowed?

First thing I'm going to have to do is install a floppy drive.

[retsaw]

One thing I seem to be getting out of this tutorial is that, no matter how or what you use to set your partitions, as you install each operating system (other than the last) for a multiboot, it's advisable to save the boot loader to the root partition, instead of to the MBR as is usual. I'm thinking that this is probably because, if you're installing more than one operating system, the boot loader will be overwritten by each subsequent install if you save to the MBR. Am i tripping, or is that about right?

That's right, you can only have one bootloader saved to the MBR. It is quite possible and not too difficult once you know what you are doing to just use a single bootloader to boot all your distros, but to start, yes, install them to the root partition and then you can chainload them from the master bootloader stored in the MBR.

How many primary partitions am I allowed?

You can have either 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition (which is the container for the logical partitions).

First thing I'm going to have to do is install a floppy drive.

Here's a challange for you. Don't!

If you don't allow yourself to create boot floppies, then you will have to learn how to get bootloader set up correctly. You will have to do this sooner or later anyway.

[blackbelt_jones]

Oh, yeah sure... like I really NEED another challenge!

Hardcore geeks can be so macho in the most bizarre ways. I suppose it makes me a bleeding heart liberal gui-using pussy, but I think I'll be getting a floppy drive, oh my yes! If I spend a week and a half installing a bunch of nixes, I know damn well that it probably isn't going to work the first time. I want to have SOMETHING I can boot at the end of it.

[retsaw]

Oh, yeah sure... like I really NEED another challenge!

Hardcore geeks can be so macho in the most bizarre ways. I suppose it makes me a bleeding heart liberal gui-using pussy, but I think I'll be getting a floppy drive, oh my yes! If I spend a week and a half installing a bunch of nixes, I know damn well that it probably isn't going to work the first time. I want to have SOMETHING I can boot at the end of it.

Heh. I'm not trying to be macho. There's F-all macho about doing anything on a computer. I just think it better you know how to fix your bootloader instead of relying on boot floppies. What happens to your install if the boot floppies don't work?

Just have the bootloader for your primary distro installed to the MBR, so you won't have a problem with that one working. Then install the rest of the bootloaders to the root partitions. Then you can set the primary bootloader to chainload the other bootloaders.

If you wanted to make things difficult you could create the boot floppies as disk images and burn them all to a CD where you can select which one you want. However that would be harder than learning GRUB, so I won't suggest it.

[blackbelt_jones]

Heh. I'm not trying to be macho. There's F-all macho about doing anything on a computer. I just think it better you know how to fix your bootloader instead of relying on boot floppies. What happens to your install if the boot floppies don't work?

If the floppy's don't work, I'll have GRUB to fall back on. If GRUB doesn't work, I'll have the floppies to fall back on. The essential thing is to have something to fall back on.

I was thinking that if the main distro is installed to the the MBR, that would mean that I would have to install my main distro last... but now that I think of it, that doesn't necessarily follow, does it?

[retsaw]

No. The default does tend to be to install to the MBR, but as long as you are careful it won't matter which order you install them in.

Generally, if GRUB doesn't work, then you can still use it's command line to get it too boot whatever you want. And if you can't, I tend to fall back on whichever livecd is convenient.

[blackbelt_jones]

WHAT?

Are you saying that I can use a live cd like kanopix or kanotix to boot a Linux system without a working bootloader? I did not know about this. Please tell me more.

Also:

What about isolinux?

http://syslinux.zytor.com/iso.php

Is this what I think it is? I get confused. Sometimes the term "boot cd" is used interchangably... for live CDs or installation disks or whatever. This is a way to make cds for booting systems installed on hard drives, right? If it is, I'm going to abandon my plan to order a floppy drive, and spend as much time as is required to absorb the full meaning of this page.

And what about Windows XP? XP doesn't ask me where I'd like to put the bootloader. Can I just install it first, knowing that when it's time to configure Grub at the end of the installing, I'll be able to link to XP?

[retsaw]

Are you saying that I can use a live cd like kanopix or kanotix to boot a Linux system without a working bootloader? I did not know about this. Please tell me more.

No, that isn't what I'm saying. You may or may not be able to use the kernel on the disc to do that, however, since you have to disable the initrd from loading to stop the setup for the livecd and that is also where the modules are stored, so if what you need isn't built into the kernel, then it won't work. You can try it anyway. You have to pass the options "noinitrd root=/dev/<root_device>" to the boot prompt on the livecd.

What I was refering to was booting the actual livecd. Then you can mount your root partition, chroot into it if you need to, and fix the problem (and that includes being able to reinstall the bootloader if need be.)

What about isolinux?

http://syslinux.zytor.com/iso.php

Is this what I think it is? I get confused. Sometimes the term "boot cd" is used interchangably... for live CDs or installation disks or whatever. This is a way to make cds for booting systems installed on hard drives, right? If it is, I'm going to abandon my plan to order a floppy drive, and spend as much time as is required to absorb the full meaning of this page.

Well, it is most often used for creating livecds, but, yes, you can use it to create a CD for booting your system. I still say learning GRUB is easier than going that route, but if you insist, you can do what you want with it.

And what about Windows XP? XP doesn't ask me where I'd like to put the bootloader. Can I just install it first, knowing that when it's time to configure Grub at the end of the installing, I'll be able to link to XP?

I'd recommend installing it first. I'm pretty sure it needs a primary partition and it definately will overwrite the MBR. Though as long as you are prepared to fix the MBR after you install it, it doesn't actually matter when you do it.

[blackbelt_jones]

Yeah, you're right about GRUB being easier to learn, I guess. I still ahven't learned how to isolinux, so I can't be sure. I did get three Operating systems to boot off of GRUB (and that's enough for now, I think!)

So now that I've done it, I think I can attempt to answer the question: "is this a good Tribooting Tutorial I wrote?" I've tempted to say no, because all that stuff about partitioning from custom slax CDs was completely irrelevant for my purposes, but I was able to find what I needed, to make a start, and here I am with a triboot. it helped, and I guess that's the ultimate test.

Here's what I did.

1. Deleted all partitions on both hard drives

2. Created a 20 GB NTFS partition at the beginning of the master drive and installed Windows.

3. Formatted the rest of the drive with Reiser and installed SuSE. SUSE automatically added Windows XP to its bootloader, so I didn't even have to look at the windows boot menu!

4 Formatted the slave drive with ext3 and installed the base debian system... WRITING THE BOOT LOADER TO THE ROOT PARTION, NOT TO THE MBR.

5. Booted SuSE and used the following two commands to mount my debian system

# mkdir -m 755 /debian
# mount -t ext3 -r /dev/hdb1 /debian

6. Used gedit as root to edit the boot info from the debian bootloader into the suse boot loader. The menu file is located at /boot/grub/menu.lst in each respective system. Here is the full text of the edited SuSE /boot/grub/menu.lst file:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Oct 4 16:14:18 UTC 2005

color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,2)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 9.3
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 vga=0x31a selinux=0 splash=silent resume=/dev/hdb1 showopts
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: SUSE LINUX 9.3 (/dev/hdb2)###
title SUSE LINUX 9.3 (/dev/hdb2)
kernel (hd1,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb2 vga=0x31a selinux=0 splash=silent resume=/dev/hda1 showopts
initrd (hd1,1)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
chainloader +1

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
chainloader +1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 9.3
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal noresume selinux=0 barrier=off nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd

The underscored text is what I edited in from the debian boot menu. Basically, I just tried to put in everything that looked like it belonged, and take out everything that looked like it didn't belong, using what was already in the SuSE menu as my guide. I added the line "chainloader +1" to each entry because the entries that were already in there had the line.

7. Restarted the computer, booted Debian through the SuSE menu, and finished the debian install...



I've been wanting to do that for a long time, and yes, once I took the time to figure it out, it was pretty easy. Much thanks to cheetahman and retsaw for their help.

[cheetahman]

Here is the tutorial I made with the info I got from budman7

It can help anybody including me and should be sticked

How to Triboot a Computer

Distro 1= Prime Distro example (Windows)
Distro 2= The 2nd distro to be installed, this can be any distro (This controls the bootloader)
Distro 3= The 3rd distro to be installed, this can be any distro

Things to do Before You Start

Backup Computer
Run Defraging tools
Scan for Spyware
Scan for Viruses

This guide focuses primarly on the GRUB bootloader to Triboot

2,3 and 4 are for Windows users who are resizeing it.If you are just resizing a Linux partition you can ignore these.

You can also use the Knoppix Live cd or the partitioner that comes with your distro incase you don't want to use Slax

Download A Copy of Slax

This is very important because this is the Live vd we are going to use to partition the hardrive to get it ready to Triboot.

Here is the site you can get it from incase you don't have it http://slax.linux-live.org/download.php

Then download SLAX Standard Edition

Additional software for SLAX is provided in the form of compressed modules. The usage is very simple, just add your downloaded module to /modules/ directory on the CD to include it in SLAX permanently, or use "uselivemod" command in SLAX to activate the module on the fly, while running SLAX.

Download these modules and follow the instructions above for Linux or If you are a Windows user download MySLAX Creator at

http://myslax.bonsonno.org/download.php

Ntfsprogs-http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?id=284
QTParted-http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?id=298

Step 1:Bootup the Custom Slax Cd you have made then make sure the computer can bootup the cd.

You can check it by going into the bios by selecting F1 at bootup then go to computer check and change it from there.

Step 2:Once Slax is running you must now Unmount all partitions.

You do this by going into My Computer you will then see all of the partitions.Right click on one of them it will then give you the option to unmount.Select it and it will then be unmounted you must do this for all of the partitions.

You must do this for all of the drives or else the computer can't be partitioned

Step 3:Click on the KDE logo then go to run application and type qtparted in lowercase then hit run

Step 4:This will startup QTparted,now you must choose which program you want QTParted to use The drive I am going to resize is a NTFS partition.

Step 5:Now we begin the process of resizeing the hard drive

1.Select the /dev/hda for IDE or /dev/sda for a SCSI drive on the left, then you should see its info on the right

2.Select the NTFS partition and right-click on it, then select Resize.

3.Next you'll see the Resize Partition dialog.

4.Enter the size you want for your existing Prime Distro to be resized and then click OK.

This can be done in Gigabytes or Megabytes

5.After clicking OK you'll see an updated view of your partitions. Note that nothing has actually changed yet; you must select File then Commit to apply the changes.

6.Just click Yes on the confirmation dialog.

7.You'll see the progress dialog and when it's done click the OK button

8.Now Select File then Quit to exit QTParted

9.You should now boot into the Prime Distro it will then detect the partition that you have made but it will be unformatted.

Now boot back into QTParted the way you did before and Delete Distro 2 and the Swap Partition by right clicking it and hitting delete

Now you should have the Prime Distro and a bunch of free space.

Step 6:Out of the free space create 2 partitions.

Both Should be Unformatted

1 Partition for Distro 2
1 Partition for Distro 3

Unformatted means that no file system is currently on it.

When installing the Operating System it will give you the most common options which are Reiserf and Ext3.

Also many distros support Custom Partioning which will give you more formatting Options.

A file system is added to the computer whenever you install an Operating System to it.

Below are some examples of filesystems that can be formatted or resized.

Windows
NTFS
FAT

Linux
Ext2
Ext3
ReiserFS

Its also a good idea to add Swap if you have a low memory computer which will use the Swap as temporary ram also the Swap partition should be formatted as Swap.

If the swap is inside the extended partition, you will have to delete the swap first.

Step 7:Now Install Distro 3 by Booting the install cd as if you were going to boot Slax and Install bootloader to root partition.

Step 8:Install Distro 2 using swap already created from installing Distro 3 and putting GRUB on the MBR which will make GRUB the bootloader that is controlled by Distro 2.

GRUB can be put anywhere but for this tutorial we are going to be put on the MBR so Distro 2 becomes the bootloader.

When installing other operating systems

Distro 2 should now make an entry in GRUB for both the Prime Distro and Distro 3.

The computer should now be restarted I you will be shown the Distro 2 GRUB Bootloader which contains the Prime Distro,Distro 2 and Distro 3.

The computer can now Triboot

Make sure you don't put Swap for Distro 2 on the partition where you are going to install Distro 2 to. By default Distro 2 should make a Swap partition or detect a Swap that is on the computer and mount it.

For Installing new linux distros install to the partition so Distro 2 Grub doesn't get overwritten

A Big Thanks to budman7 for supplying the info and if you want a picture guide of using QTparted this site is very good even though its mainly used for Ubuntu but can work on any distro.The distro that they use is the System Recovery Cd which very out of date.

http://ca.geocities.com/zachandloric...windowsxp.html

[cheetahman]

Used Slax because its very up to date and I updated my guide