[SOLVED] XP SP3, Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 Triple Boot

[Jammy4041]

Hi all,

I came across Fedora 10, and I wanted to give it a go.

However, I want to install ubuntu as well, on a system which I have, for this reason, just formatted and installed windows.

So, what would now be the best way to go on and do a triple boot?

Thankyou all for your help,

James

[Kevbert]

Install Fedora next and finally Ubuntu as Ubuntu is best at finding Linux OS and adding them to the grub menu.

[Jammy4041]

OK- I have just managed to install Fedora on my computer. I shrank my windows partition using gParted and installed Fedora in the resulting free space.

[Jammy4041]

This maybe be helpful,

Fedora 10 was set up using defaults. It has a 196.11MiB /boot partition and the rest seems to be an lvm drive not recognized by the gparted CD as it comes up in black.

/dev/hda1 = Windows XP (NTFS)
/dev/hda2 = Boot Partition (EXT3)
/dev/hda3 = Fedora (LVM)

[Jammy4041]

Where would I have to go from here>? How would I have to install ubuntu to acheive a triple boot? Would there be any problems/things I have to take into consideration?

And finally, would I put this all into one Grub screen?

Again, thank you all for your help

[Jammy4041]

If this helps, I have attached an image of gParted, showing the above.

[nvance]

When you go to install Ubuntu, you can tell it to install within the leftover space that you have as 'unknown' on your harddrive. With the Ubuntu install it should recognize, Fedora, and XP therefore adding them into Grub without any issue (that is my experience). I am not sure if you have to manually partition out that remaining space or if Ubuntu will use it as is.

[Chazall1]

If you add a Dedicated grub boot partition, you can install and uninstall your OS and Grub would not be tied to any OS
Look at my link on Getting started, look at Grub and info on the dedicated grub boot partition. I use this configuration and has eliminated alot of grub confusion!

[Jammy4041]

Hi, Thanks that's what I have been needing- a dedicated boot partition.

I now have:

/dev/hda1 Windows Partition (NTFS)
/dev/hda2 GRUB Partition (Resiser FS)
/dev/hda3 Extended Patition consisting of:
/dev/hda5 Fedora Partition (Unencrypted, ext3)
/dev/hda6 Swap Space
/dev/hda7 Ubuntu Partition

The only problem that I have now is getting to boot fedora and ubuntu. Would I be best editing the grub partition from a live cd and saving it to disk?

I don't know if this would make any difference, but the grub menu I copied from was from my old fedora installation before I deleted it to make way for the current layout.

Thanks for all your kind help so far, and sorry, I have taken a few days to respond.

EDIT: I have added a picture for all to see.

[caljohnsmith]

How far did you get about installing Grub to your hda2 Grub partition and installing Grub to the MBR (Master Boot Record)? If you've done that part, you could take the new menu.lst created by Fedora/Ubuntu and combine their entries into one menu.lst, and put that in your Grub partition. Or if you need help with any of the specific steps of creating that Grub partition, let me know and I'll be glad to lend a hand.