Vista installation alongside XP and Ubuntu

[sandeepkochhar]

Hi

I have a dual booting system of Windows XP and Ubuntu Edgy. Now I want to install Vista as third operating system. I don't want to reinstall Ubuntu. How could I do that?

I have a tool for MBR backup in pen drive namely "Image for DOS Backup and Restore" but even if I backup the MBR and restore it after installing Vista, I'll not be able to get into Vista. If I don't backup MBR, GRUB will be erased.

Any solutions please

[QwertyManiac]

You can reinstall grub after you install Vista. No need to install Ubuntu entirely again.

Here are the steps on how to do so:

   1.  Boot your computer with Ubuntu CD.
   2. Go through the install process until you reach "[!!!] Disk Partition."
   3. Select Manually Partition.
   4. Mount the appropriate linux partions:
      /
      /boot
      swap
      DO NOT FORMAT THEM
   5. Finish the manual partitioning.
   6. Select "Yes" when it asks you to save the changes.
   7. It will give you errors saying that "The system couldn't install ....." after that; ignore them. Proceed with selecting "continue" until you get back to the Ubuntu installation menu.
   8. Jump to "Install GRUB."
   9. Once it is finished, simply restart your computer.

Or alternatively:

 1. Pop in the Live CD, boot from it until you reach the desktop.
2. Open a terminal window or switch to a tty.
3. Type "grub"
4. Type "root (hd0,6)", or whatever your harddisk + boot partition numbers are (my /boot is at /dev/sda7, which translates to hd0,6 for grub).
5. Type "setup (hd0)", ot whatever your harddisk nr is.
6. Quit grub by typing "quit".
7. Reboot.

You can install Vista comfortably then realize what you've done and read this thread and get your GRUB back again

Methods from - UF

[vaithy]

Welcome to Linux adventures Club!!

My vista experience is only three days old..The usual boot loader entry in the menu.lst wouldn't work here...since you dont want to lose your Linux partition.. for this (I may be correct or not) you have to forget windows XP! just now..
You need Gparted Live cd disk and a software called Easy BCD 1.60
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1
first use Gparted cd to resize the partition for vista, than right click on the manage partition entry, to remove the bootable tick mark then commit and close it,, restart with windows vista DVD install it on the partition that you resized now Vista installed but you may lose your GRUB entries so when you reboot only vista will be there ( even XP entry will be vanished) however again boot with your ubuntu cd open terminal type
sudo grub

This will put you in superuser mode and launch the GRUB application.

To find the partition with the GRUB boot files, type in:

find /boot/grub/stage1

then type,

root (hd0,X) X is where Ubuntu partition

then type,

setup (hd0,X)

Now grub installed in it root

then type
quite
Boot back into Vista. Download EasyBCD 1.60 and install it. EasyBCD is third-party GUI front end to the BCEDIT bootloader editor in Vista.

Then launch the EasyBCD program. Go to Add/Remove Entries in the left menu, and then the “Linux/BSD” tab.

n the Linux/BSD tab, under the “Type” dropdown menu, select Grub. The default name is “NeoSmart Linux" but you can change it to “Ubuntu” or whatever. Click the Drive drop-down menu and choose the correct partition -
Select "Add Entry" and then "Save". Exit EasyBCD and restart the machine.

Now you should be presented with a boot menu with two boot options - Vista and Ubuntu. Select the Ubuntu boot option and it will load GRUB and boot from the Ubuntu partition.

I don't know whether using this tool you can add Win XP entry in the EasyBCD.. if so GOOD LUCK!! Please report back your experience..

thanking you,
Vaithy

[sandeepkochhar]

Thanx qwery and vaithy...Vaithy the EasyBCD method was the fst one that i tried and it worked....Triple boot is possible via this...Now I m running Vista, XP and Ubuntu...Though in Ubuntu, again I have to reselect Ubuntu from the list of XP n Ubuntu...I tried to make Ubuntu default...But Ubuntu then gave a bootloader problem..I guess repeating the same process again will solve that prob too...Will try and let u know...