How to triple-boot Fedora 15, Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7.docx

8/10/2019 How to triple-boot Fedora 15, Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7.docx

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How to triple-boot Fedora 15, Ubuntu11.04 and Windows 7

Triple-booting windows 7 and two Linux distributions is a little bit more involved than dual-booting it with a

distribution. You have to decide in what order to install the Linux distributions, and sometimes, the order you

choose might not work. Such was the case with this attempt to triple boot it with Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04.

Initially, I chose to install Fedora last, but discovered a major weakness in Anaconda, the Fedora system installer:

It does not have a flexible means of configuring logical or primary partitions. And when you are using the MBR

partitioning scheme, which limits the primary partitions that you can create to four, configuring partitions for a

triple-boot operation becomes almost impossible.

So, the order of installation that made this attempt at triple-booting successful was: Windows 7, then Fedora 15,

and finally Ubuntu 11.04. A few points to note here: The Desktop installer edition of Ubuntu 11.04 was used, not

the Alternate Installer edition. Using the Alternate Installer edition would have resulted in many more steps and

way too many screenshots. The Alternate Installer edition has its advantages: support for LVM, theLinux Logical

Volume Manager,which is also the default on Fedora 15, and support for disk encryption. If you want the

installation of Ubuntu 11.04 for this setup to be based on LVM,this guideshould be of help.

When installing Windows and a Linux distribution, or two Linux distributions, on the same computer, you have a

choice of making the Linux boot loader or the Windows boot manager be responsible for dual-booting. Each has

its pros and cons. If you opt for the Windows 7 boot manager, you give up access to the security features

provided by GRUB, the default boot loader on virtually all Linux distributions. If you opt for GRUB, however,

Windows could overwrite aspects of the boot program, even during installation of a Service Pack, or during an

upgrade or re-installation. That is a major headache.

I consider the option I chose for this tutorial the path of least headache. And that option is to make the Windows 7

boot manager be responsible for handling the dual-boot operation. So that anytime the computer is booted, you

will be presented with these options. Keep in mind that if you change your mind about Windows 7 boot manager,
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you can always log into Ubuntu and install GRUB in the MBR, transfering control of the dual-boot process to it.

The next major decision you will have to make is whether you want to install Windows anew or use an existing

installation of Windows. If the latter, which is the method used for this tutorial, boot into Windows 7 and launch the

Disk Management tool. One way to access it is to type partitionsin the menus search field. The objective here is

to use this tool to shrink the main Windows 7 partition, the C drive, freeing up space that will be used to install


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Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04. To start the operation,

Right-click on the C drive, then select Shrink Volume.

Windows will suggest how much to shrink the partition by. If the shrinkable space is less than what you think you

need for installing Fedora and Ubuntu, you may consider reinstalling Windows, and assign it a disk space


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manually. Otherwise, click Shrink.

This is the result of the surgical operation you just performed. The Unallocated space shown here will be used for

installing Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04. Exit the Disk Management tool, then boot the computer from the Fedora

15 installation CD or DVD.


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Creating the Volume Group and the Logical Volumes takes place on the same window. Change the default name

of the Volume Group, if you like, to something you can recalleasily ,then click onAddto start creating Logical

Volumes. On a hard drive with a 75 GB capacity or more, Fedoras installer configures three Logical Volumes by

default. These are for /, Swap and /home. We will do the same for this tutorial. You may configure additional

Logical Volumes, but for a desktop system, /, Swap and /home is all you need.

The first Logical volume configured here will be for /, the root file system directory. Change the name to

something easier to handle. I like to use the spelled out name of the mount point. For the file system, use the

default, which is ext4. About 6000 MB is sufficient to install the system. OK.
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For Swap, about 2000 MB or 2 GB is sufficient. Since this is a Logical volume, it can be resized, if there is a need

to. OK.

This Logical Volume will be mounted at /home. The properties shown in the image should be good enough forit. OK.


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The Volume Group and Logical volumes have been configured. click OKto return to the main installation window.

With the Fedora 15 partitions and Logical Volumes configured, click Nextto continue with the installation. Notice

the free space that is unallocated in the Volume Group. That will be used to grow Logical Volumes or configure


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new ones, if needed.

By default, the installer will want to install GRUB, the boot loader, in the Master Boot Record of the hard disk. The

setup for this tutorial calls for its installation in the boot partition of the Fedora 15 installation. To specify the


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preferred location, Click Changedevice .
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The default here is the first option. Select the second one. OK.

This is what the GRUB configuration step should look like before continuing with the installation. Next.

After the first stage of installation has completed, rebooting the computer will, as expected, boot into Windows 7.

As stated previously, the second stage will start only after an entry for Fedora 15 has been added to Windows

boot menu. The program to use for that task is EasyBCD, a free application by NeoSmartTechnologies

.Downloadand install it just like you would any other Windows application. After installation, start it.
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This is EasyBCDs main window, and it shows only one entry, which is for Windows 7. To add an entry for Fedora

15, click on theAdd New Entrytab,

Click on the Linux/BSD tab. Fedora 15 uses GRUB Legacy, so the default is good. From the Device dropdown

menu, select the entry where GRUB Legacy was installed. For this tutorial, it is /dev/sda3, the third primary


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partition. ClickAdd Entry.To view the new settings, click on Edit Boot Menu.


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On the Edit Boot Menutab, you see a preview of Windows boot menu. You can change the order or accept the

default boot order. Exit EasyBCD, and reboot the computer.


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And this is what you see when you boot the computer. boot into Fedora 15 to complete the second phase of the

installation. After completing the second stage, insert the Ubuntu 11.04 installation disc and reboot.


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The computer should boot into the Ubuntu CD/DVD, and give you the option to boot into a Live desktop or to start

the installation, bypassing the Live environment. If you boot into the Live desktop, click on the Install Ubuntu icon

on the desktop to begin the installation. When the installer starts, click Forwarduntil you get to the Allocate drive

space step,

On the Allocate drive space window, the installer presents several options. Because partitions are going to be

configured manually, the option to choose here is Something else. That will start Ubuntus Advanced partitioning


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tool.

On the Advanced partitioning tool window, the installer presents the detected partitions. Notice the two ntfs

partitions. The third partition is the boot partition of the Fedora 15 installation and /dev/sda5 is the first logical

partition on the system configured for use by LVM. Ubuntus desktop installer does not understand LVM, so as

far as it is concerned, there is nothing on that partition. In other words, it does not know that Fedora 15 is

installed on the same disk.

For Ubuntu, separate partitions for the following mount points will be configured: /boot, Swap, / and /home.

Because the number of primary partitions allowed has been exhausted, they will all be logical partitions. To begin,


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select the free space, then clickAdd.

For the boot partition, a disk space of 500 MB should be more than enough. And the mount point is /boot. OK.


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With the boot partition configured, select the free space, then clickAddto create the next partition. Note that this

step will have to be repeated for the other partitions.

Next partition will be for Swap, so select swap area from the Use as dropdown menu, and allocate a

reasonable disk space to it. The default is usually 2 GB. OK.

The third partition will be for /, the root file system. File system type is ext4. It does not have to be ext4. Btrfs is

another good option, but to use btrfs, the partiton layout will be slightly different. Seehow to install Ubuntu

11.04 on a btrfs file systemfor guidance. Ubuntu 11.04 recommends a minimum of 4.4 GB of disk space for
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installation, so the space allocated for / in this example should be more than enough. OK.

The last partition will be mounted at /home and like the rest, the file system should be ext4. Unless you have other

plans, the rest of the available space should be allocated to it. OK.

All the partitions are configured. Before clicking Install Now, you need to change the location where GRUB will be

installed. By default, the installer will install it in the MBR, but we need it in the boot partition of the Ubuntu

installation. So, click on the Device for boot loader installation menu and select the entry for the boot partition


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/dev/sda6.

This just to show what the window should look like before you click on Install Now.Once that is done, continue

with the rest of the installation.

After installation, the system will reboot into Wiindows 7. Now, we need to add an entry for Ubuntu to the boot

menu by using EasyBCD just like we did for Fedora 15. So, start EasyBCD. This screenshot shows the previous


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entry. Click on theAdd New Entrytab..

Then on the Linux/BSD tab. Select GRUB 2 from the Type dropdown menu. Unlike Fedora 15, which uses

GRUB Legacy, Ubuntu uses GRUB 2. You may change the name to reflect the distribution being added. Click


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onAdd Entry.


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This shows you a preview of Windows 7 boot menu. You may change the order here, and change the default.

And this is the real thing. You see this every time you boot the computer. When you try to boot into Lovelock or

Natty Narwhal, you will be presented with GRUBs menu. Note that you can use any two Linux distributions for

this setup. So, you could triple-boot Windows 7, Linux Mint and Ubuntu, Windows 7, Mandriva and Linux Mint.


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Your choice.

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How to triple-boot Fedora 15, Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7.docx