Install Order - Ubuntu, XP and 7

[mk4umha]

Ok, thanks, i'm going to try that method now. I know if you install XP then win7 then ubuntu it will work. as you said, win7 and xp do not show up in grub menu. I would like win7 and xp to show up on the Grub menu so i'll see if turning the boot flag off will work.

[Perturbed Penguin]

I believe if you want both Windows partitions to show up on GRUB you have to manually add them because GRUB only automatically adds the Windows 'vista boot loader' which then contains all of your Windows partitions... or at least it ought to I thought. I forget how exactly to manually add your partitions - and it will be slightly different now than when I did it because Ubuntu 9.10 uses GRUB2 which is slightly different. Look around though for how to manually add each individual partition to GRUB's list. On a side note I am not certain why the vista loader isn't recognizing both of your Windows partitions I am pretty sure I have gotten it to work with XP/Vista in the past... perhaps Win7 has a slightly different version of the 'vista boot loader'?

[linux-hack]

Win XP, then Win 7, then Ubuntu.
Windows 7 should detect Win XP and Ubuntu will detect both.

this way grub will take over

[wilee-nilee]

I believe if you want both Windows partitions to show up on GRUB you have to manually add them because GRUB only automatically adds the Windows 'vista boot loader' which then contains all of your Windows partitions... or at least it ought to I thought. I forget how exactly to manually add your partitions - and it will be slightly different now than when I did it because Ubuntu 9.10 uses GRUB2 which is slightly different. Look around though for how to manually add each individual partition to GRUB's list. On a side note I am not certain why the vista loader isn't recognizing both of your Windows partitions I am pretty sure I have gotten it to work with XP/Vista in the past... perhaps Win7 has a slightly different version of the 'vista boot loader'?

You install XP then W7 then Linux when you choose the vista boot it takes you to the Windows bootloader where you have the choice of XP or W7.

[underquark]

Out of interest (i.e. nosiness) , why is XP needed? If it's a minor player in your setup then you could install Win7 and then ubuntu and run XP in a virtual machine (in either of the main OS's). I once quad-booted with Windows something, Windows something else, Linux (Dapper Drake, I think) and BeOS installed just because I could rather than because I needed to. Heck of a messy hard disk partitioning.

[mk4umha]

I was hoping to pick the OS's all inside grub without layering 2 boot menus.

[wilee-nilee]

Out of interest (i.e. nosiness) , why is XP needed? If it's a minor player in your setup then you could install Win7 and then ubuntu and run XP in a virtual machine (in either of the main OS's). I once quad-booted with Windows something, Windows something else, Linux (Dapper Drake, I think) and BeOS installed just because I could rather than because I needed to. Heck of a messy hard disk partitioning.

A virtual is the best idea but you would need at the least 2 gigs ram for it to not be slowed down. W7 runs very well with 2 gigs ram.

[mk4umha]

OK, I got XP, Win7 and Ubuntu to show up on the Grub2 Menu.

First, I had to make Three Primary Paritions, one for XP one for Win7, One for storage so both XP and Win7. The rest of the drive is extended partition. Inside extended partition, I had for swap, "/" "/home" etc.

I install XP on to the first primary partition, after it's finished, boot into the Live CD and remove that parition Boot Flag.

Then i installed Win7, Then Ubuntu. After that Ubuntu picked up all 3 OS's and I can select which one I want to boot to with no issues.

[oldfred]

Glad to hear it worked,

[Perturbed Penguin]

Great, glad you got things working and that is good to know that you have to remove that boot-flag!