Install 3 systems on 1 drive with a shared bootloader

    This story is a special case of through which jungles of knowledge you have to make your way if you want to freely work with several operating systems on one disk. Facts show that there is no order in this discipline, and new components are likely to bring their own new problems to the installation of operating systems. Perhaps this will give enthusiasts who did not have such experience a general view that installing the OS will not always be simple and unambiguous. However, the drama in this matter is less than in cases with telecoms, OPSOSami, PR and Sberbank. One way or another, but it is being decided.

    There is no set of instructions on how to do the installation - all of them are already written and scattered around forums and blogs. By keywords and links you can find everything you need. The bottom line is that there are no clear instructions. There are fundamental rules for building partitions on computer disks, standardized back in the 90s. Depending on the novelty of the bios and the system, problems will always be brought into the known order, and it is important to be able to look for solutions, knowing approximately the general state of affairs. With this approach, links were given, and most importantly - how vaguely this is all set up!

    It so happened that the Acer Aspire One 756 subnotebook (Sandy Bridge Celeron 887), purchased initially with almost no OS (installed Linpus without X), installed operating systems (in the installation order):
    1) WinXP 32 bit - from an assembly of approximately 720 MB in size;
    2) Win7 64 bit - from some assembly about 2 GB in size;
    3) Xubuntu 13.04 64 bit - from a fresh distribution at 800 MB;

    Not all bootable flash drives work


    The laptop is quite fresh in terms of time to market (approximately April 2012), and now (in 2013) its newer modifications on the Ivy Bridge processor have also appeared on sale. The novelty of the solutions and the BIOS, the support of only new OSs, most likely led to the sum of problems that are practically not observed when working with other computers and laptops. The difficulties of installing systems through bootable flash drives are noted by many who have not installed the system immediately and had to look for options. An example of this laptop is a vivid case of such problems, most likely related to the features of the bios of some models.

    All systems booted from bootable flash drives, and there was some problem, because not all of them could be installed. At first, many flash drives during installation caused the laptop to freeze as soon as any keyboard key was pressed. Therefore, the first system installed was (Win XP), which for some reason was able to boot from a USB flash drive (visible as USB-CDROM in contrast to USB-FDD and USB-HDD on other flash drives). Probably, everything would work with a real USB-CDROM, but buying it for the sake of installing the system is somehow illogical if there are flash drives for this.

    A laptop, like every device, has its own characteristics. For example, the memory visible in WinXP was only 2.6 GB, not 3.25 (video memory takes up only 128 GB of RAM, so why the system does not see 3.1 GB is a mystery). In general, for this laptop model Acer has not released drivers for Win XP and for Linux - only Win7 and Win8. Drivers were assembled in parts as updates for devices included in the computer. The selection of drivers took at least 3 days. As a result, the drivers in WinXP were not able to do something:
    1) they did not feel the battery drain - never. Therefore, the computer was blind to discharge.
    2) the sound disappeared when exiting hibernation. Therefore, I had to reboot for the appearance of sound (perhaps, the selection and updating of system drivers and sound would fix the situation).
    3) the mentioned visible memory is 2.6 GB.
    The rest worked: Bluetooth, a well-functioning touchpad with lots of settings and no glitches, WiFi, a webcam and microphone, sound, an SD reader.

    Initially, the laptop had a Linpus system without a graphical shell. The disk was split in two and WinXP was installed in the older part. The system was installed temporarily, because the amount of available memory for a 32-bit OS was initially insufficient for all applications.

    Not All Win7 / Win8 Builds Are Installed


    It was impossible to extend this bouquet for a long time, therefore, at the first opportunity, Win7 was installed on the second half of the disk as a system supported by the manufacturer. There were several attempts to install - First, Win8 - at the end of the installation, a vigorous message that the system could not be installed and should be reinstalled. And so - 4 times in a row. With another assembly of another author - too (assembly - also stripped down, 1.9 GB). But it’s already good that a flash was found and a way to create a boot record (via Ultra-ISO) that does not hang the computer at the very beginning. True, those that hung were also formed through Ultra-ISO. The difference was in the media and their chipsets and, possibly, in the choice of the type of copy (USB-HDD with or without a plus).

    Well, with the existing build of Win8 (Optim, 1.7 GB) it didn’t work. We try Win 7 x86 Optim of the same author-collector. Interestingly, the symptoms are the same - hang up at the end of the download and please reinstall. Okay, for this “hardware” something important was not preserved in the distribution kit. We take another assembly - the same Optim, but x86 + x64 (but it was necessary to install in the end x64) - 1.9 GB. This time, for some reason, I managed to install it. In total, one of several compact assemblies worked, but there was no need to search and release a large flash for installation. For a flash it will be important that the assembly has a system recovery mode - it will help to restore MBR.

    After installation, 80% of the drivers worked, but less than half worked well - the video was recognized as a standard monitor, although it could work with a nominal resolution and low speed. WiFi Atheros caused the biggest problems - only the newest version 10 driver for Win7 x64 came up. Almost all the drivers had to be downloaded from the network and installed using both the official support site and some others. In the list of drivers I had to read which of them worked under Win7x64. Sometimes the information was erroneous, and the search for the driver continued. So, in about 7 hours we managed to collect and install all the drivers for this OS. The touchpad continued to work very well in this system, which, as is known for touchpads, is a rarity (due to drivers and their support). Everything in the system began to work absolutely correctly. 6 GB memory is normally read (2 + 4 strips, one bracket is upgraded). Although it is also somehow strange, a lot of it is taken by the system - about 1 GB, not counting the programs visible in the task manager. Perhaps this is necessary, and perhaps there are hidden expenses in excess of video memory, as was observed in WinXP. But there it was very critical, but in x64 - not very. The memory can be expanded to 8, and 12 GB, and up to 16.

    But now, in addition to Win7, which began to see both sections of the disk, you need to install Linux (Ubuntu) on the remaining free 26 GB. It is necessary for specific development tasks, despite the fact that, most likely, there will be some problems with the drivers after Win7 works perfectly.

    The hardware capacity of this computer is small - there is a 2-core Celeron, which shows in tests the performance of about 60% of the capacity of average normal laptops. He is a subnotebook, so you have to pay for compactness and weight. It will be possible to catch up with the performance due to the SSD, which requires a low 7 mm for this subnookbook. Therefore, the installation of the systems is preliminary, and they may need to be repeated on the SSD.

    Xubuntu 12 did not install flash, but Xubuntu.13 - no problem


    Just on the day of installing Linux , Ubuntu 13.04 came out , which was chosen in the Xubuntu delivery (800MB). Unlike the previous attempt to create a bootable USB flash drive on the previous Xubunu 12, it was launched and installed on a laptop, and the previous one started on a desktop computer without problems, but it hung when the keyboard was pressed the first time on this laptop. Probably these are the problems of supporting the new hardware. In the new version, the EFI format appeared in the distribution, and it was he who was able to work on a laptop, and the USB-HDD visible in the same boot menu, as usual, could not (yes, one flash in the boot device selection menu was seen in 2 options, in 2 lines, and this was observed in the 13th Xubuntu and not observed in the 12th).

    What we have with Xubuntu:
    1) screen brightness control - is displayed, but the brightness is not adjustable.
    2) with the capture of WiFi, power, sound and BlueTooth - the order. SD-reader - also automatically mounted.
    3) management of the Xfce system settings is much poorer than in Gnome 3 in the standard package. You have to install something for convenience, but these are already system details.

    Access to 3 OS systems


    But the question arose, how now to make available all 3 systems from the boot menu. 2 systems learned to boot using the EasyBCD downloader quite easily. After installing Win 7, it alone appeared at first at boot, without alternatives. Its bootloader simply erased the MBX (Master Boot Record) of WindowsXP. EasyBCD has MBR recovery mechanisms for a number of popular systems. A few clicks of the mouse and several trial reboots - and the principle of menu formation in this program is understandable, although it cannot be said that the interface is simple. It is somewhat confused by the fact that the program can do a lot, and these advanced features (write your own bootloader based on Grub4dos) should be reflected.

    But after reinstalling the new Linux system on the 2nd partition, this bootloader could not just pick up a freshly created system. Probably, the fact was that the installation process involved creating an MBR for Linux with further reinstallation after rebooting, and in the conditions of 3 partitions and 3 systems it turned out that I demanded the presence of a bootloader immediately, and even built into EasyBCD. A direct switch to the Linux partition showed that there was no bootloader there. The solution was found from another, unexpected side. I just started looking for ways to restore Ubuntu. I came across Boot-Repair program to restore Ubuntu boot from an Ubuntu Live CD - it came in handy to erase the dead (for some reason) Grub2 of installed Linux and put a new Grub on top of all boot loaders.

    Now there are 2 bootloaders on the disk, which, of course, is unnecessary. But it’s already good that all 3 systems work. Now, by repeating the attempt to install Linux in the EasyBCD bootloader via Grub2, we get the bootloader successfully loaded. Having saved EasyBCD in MBR, we get the desired menu from 3 systems. It is already possible to work independently with 3 systems, see all their files and develop by installing programs.

    Summary


    In contrast to the trouble-free cases of desktops that install systems from CDs, from flash drives, and often their hardware is more fully supported at the driver level, on budget laptops you may encounter problems that are absent on other computers. This must be borne in mind when working with the configuration of such laptops.

    Why is there no desire to understand and make complete instructions, full loaders? There is a suspicion that it is necessary to fight against individual manifestations of damp bios, which are found more often the cheaper the laptop model. For a good installation, you need to build your boot loader based on Grub4dos (and these are dozens of commands) and at the same time figure out how to build a Grub2 configuration for Linux - i.e. become a specialist in downloaders, learn 1-2 small specialized languages. Undoubtedly, there are enthusiasts for this business who have passed and will say that it is simple and interesting. But, unfortunately, it takes a lot of time when the tasks of using systems pose their own completely different tasks, and the resource of time and enthusiasm is limited. It is easier to take and try several well-known installation options and stay at work.

    This is a completely ordinary everyday life of a user who decided to work with several systems at once. At specialized forums on systems (OsZone, Ru-Board, ...) dozens of pages have been devoted to problems and solutions in installing systems. The new hardware, unfortunately, also introduces difficulties into this process. What worked on desktops yesterday for some reason ceases to work (bios, new solutions, new OS) on some laptops. Some older developments ( SyMon ) are not developing. Finding a solution resembles wandering in a dark forest and stopping at the first successful event.

    Links to different instances of installing multiple operating systems.
    * EasyBCD - bootloader for various operating systems from the Windows partition; Installing several operating systems (EasyBCD) (.04.2012);
    * Making a bootable flash drive using grub4dos (June 29, 2010)
    * Download links for grub4dos
    * Installing and configuring the GRUB bootloader (Unix / Linux)
    * Repairing the GRUB bootloader in Ubuntu / Linux Mint , Boot-Repair - Restoring Ubuntu boot .
    * GRUB recovery
    * Installation of BootIt NG multiboot ( 06/04/2011 ) - one of the multiboot alternatives.
    * GRUB4DOS GUIDE (with videos) - how to make a multi-boot drive (+ examples) (Last updated: March 9, 2013)
    * What is GRUB4dos and what it is eaten with, or how to make a flash drive bootable (.03.2012)

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