Windows 7 - Want to Triple Boot Windows 7\Windows 8 Beta\Ubuntu 11.04

CDavis504 · 08-18-2011

I currently have a 64 bit version of Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 64 bit installed but I want to try out the beta release of Windows 8 Milestone 3 Build 7989 that is floating around. How would I go about doing such? Please help.

pparks1 · 08-18-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by CDavis504

I currently have a 64 bit version of Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 64 bit installed but I want to try out the beta release of Windows 8 Milestone 3 Build 7989 that is floating around. How would I go about doing such? Please help.

Easiest way, install it in a virtual machine. I'd suggest downloading either VMware Player 3.x or VirtualBox, install it, and then install Windows 8 as a VM.

I do absolutely everything in a VM, haven't dual booted in forever.

CDavis504 · 08-18-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by pparks1

Quote: Originally Posted by CDavis504

I currently have a 64 bit version of Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 64 bit installed but I want to try out the beta release of Windows 8 Milestone 3 Build 7989 that is floating around. How would I go about doing such? Please help.

Easiest way, install it in a virtual machine. I'd suggest downloading either VMware Player 3.x or VirtualBox, install it, and then install Windows 8 as a VM.

I do absolutely everything in a VM, haven't dual booted in forever.

Trying that method now, but the install in Virtualbox has been stuck at 9% for quite a while now.

Bare Foot Kid · 08-18-2011

Hello CDavis504, welcome to Seven Forums!

To me the best way to dual boot is to use separate Hard Disk Drives for each OS, have a look through this information below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

Information

The easiest way to do away with boot issues between separate Operating Systems (OS) is to use the BIOS one time boot menu to select which OS to boot at system startup, each motherboard has an individual hot-key to tap during system start-up to access this menu.

If you have 2 separate Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and have one OS installed to one HDD and you want to install another OS to the second HDD, disconnect the HDD with the first OS installed on it and leave only the HDD you want to install the second OS to connected.
Install the second OS to the connected HDD and when complete and the system is booting good, power down and reconnect the first HDD with the first OS on it.

This way the OSs will boot independently of each other and there will be no boot conflicts between the 2 separate OSs to have to sort later.

Then set the BIOS to boot the HDD / OS you want as default and if you want to start the other (new) OS you use the BIOS one-time boot menu to select that HDD / OS to start when the PC is started.

Asus - F8
HP/Compaq - Esc
Sony - F2
Acer – F12
Packard Bell
Gateway - F10
eMachnes - F10
Gigabyte – F12
Toshiba - F12
Dell - F12
IBM/Lenovo - the blue Thinkvantage button

whs · 08-18-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by CDavis504

Quote: Originally Posted by pparks1

Quote: Originally Posted by CDavis504

I currently have a 64 bit version of Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 64 bit installed but I want to try out the beta release of Windows 8 Milestone 3 Build 7989 that is floating around. How would I go about doing such? Please help.

Easiest way, install it in a virtual machine. I'd suggest downloading either VMware Player 3.x or VirtualBox, install it, and then install Windows 8 as a VM.

I do absolutely everything in a VM, haven't dual booted in forever.

Trying that method now, but the install in Virtualbox has been stuck at 9% for quite a while now.

Are you installing it from the .iso on your HDD (preferred option) or from a CD?

theog · 08-18-2011

You may like to post a thread in
Windows 8 Installation & Setup
Your biggest problem is having Linux installed, installing Windows 8 may make Windows 7 & Linux unusable.
Dual boot Win8 with Win7
Windows 8 Build 7955 not install in Virtualbox.

Information

Quote: Originally Posted by Bare Foot Kid

The easiest way to do away with boot issues between separate Operating Systems (OS) is to use the BIOS one time boot menu to select which OS to boot at system startup, each motherboard has an individual hot-key to tap during system start-up to access this menu.

If you have 2 separate Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and have one OS installed to one HDD and you want to install another OS to the second HDD, disconnect the HDD with the first OS installed on it and leave only the HDD you want to install the second OS to connected.
Install the second OS to the connected HDD and when complete and the system is booting good, power down and reconnect the first HDD with the first OS on it.

This way the OSs will boot independently of each other and there will be no boot conflicts between the 2 separate OSs to have to sort later.

Then set the BIOS to boot the HDD / OS you want as default and if you want to start the other (new) OS you use the BIOS one-time boot menu to select that HDD / OS to start when the PC is started.
Asus - F8
HP/Compaq - Esc
Sony - F2
Acer – F12
Packard Bell
Gateway - F10
eMachnes - F10
Gigabyte – F12
Toshiba - F12
Dell - F12

CDavis504 · 08-18-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by theog

You may like to post a thread in
Windows 8 Installation & Setup
Your biggest problem is having Linux installed, installing Windows 8 may make Windows 7 & Linux unusable.
Dual boot Win8 with Win7
Windows 8 Build 7955 not install in Virtualbox.

Information

Quote: Originally Posted by Bare Foot Kid

The easiest way to do away with boot issues between separate Operating Systems (OS) is to use the BIOS one time boot menu to select which OS to boot at system startup, each motherboard has an individual hot-key to tap during system start-up to access this menu.

If you have 2 separate Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and have one OS installed to one HDD and you want to install another OS to the second HDD, disconnect the HDD with the first OS installed on it and leave only the HDD you want to install the second OS to connected.
Install the second OS to the connected HDD and when complete and the system is booting good, power down and reconnect the first HDD with the first OS on it.

This way the OSs will boot independently of each other and there will be no boot conflicts between the 2 separate OSs to have to sort later.

Then set the BIOS to boot the HDD / OS you want as default and if you want to start the other (new) OS you use the BIOS one-time boot menu to select that HDD / OS to start when the PC is started.
Asus - F8
HP/Compaq - Esc
Sony - F2
Acer – F12
Packard Bell
Gateway - F10
eMachnes - F10
Gigabyte – F12
Toshiba - F12
Dell - F12

I've only got 1 HD installed so this isn't an option for me, but thank you anyways.

@ WHS: I'm installing from the iso file on the harddrive

whs · 08-18-2011

Quote:

@ WHS: I'm installing from the iso file on the harddrive

Hmm, that has always worked for me - with various Linux distros and Windows 7 Beta. Must be something specific to that early Win8 distro.

What you could try is move Ubuntu into vBox and double boot Windows 7 and win8. But you first have to fix the bootmgr in the 100MB active partition and image that with Windows 7 only. Then you install win8. Later when you want to get rid of win8, you just restore the Windows 7-only 100MB active partition and reformat the win8 partition.

This trick gets you away from Grub which complicates the matter.

Windows 7 - Want to Triple Boot Windows 7\Windows 8 Beta\Ubuntu 11.04

Want to Triple Boot Windows 7\Windows 8 Beta\Ubuntu 11.04 problems?