Windows7, CentOS and Ubuntu Triple Boot on One HDD

By Posted in Linux, Windows

Need to install both CentOS and Ubuntu on my Windows & Systwm with only one HDD.

First installed Ubuntu and the Window7/Ubuntu dual boot system worked fine. When installing the third CentIOS with most default selections but on free HDD space, this installation kicked Ubuntu out at least from the GRUB boot menu even though the right option was selected to keep all other partitions including Ubuntu untouched. The two brothers seemed not like to co-exist with each other under the same roof, what a sin!

The reason is actually that both GRUB legacy used by CentOS and GRUB 2 used by Ubuntu were put in the MBR partition by default installation procedures. To avoid this, we need to manually select GRUB legacy and GRUB 2 locations in CentOS and Ubuntu  partitions respectively.

Found a very helpful post on how to deal with this problem titled “How to triple-boot Fedora 15, Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7“. Followed the same procedure to install CentOS and Ubuntu and verified that mostly were working and true for my case with only slight variations.

Summary of the repeated installation procedure is as follows:

  1. If you have failed installations as I did in above description, remove the Linux partitions as described in post “Uninstall Linux from Windows/Linux Dual Boot Computer“,
  2. Spare HDD space for new Linux OSs using Windows Disk Management tool.
  3. Exit the Disk Management tool, then boot the computer from the CentOS installation CD or DVD.
  4. When the installer starts, select “Install or upgrade ….”
  5. When see “Disc Found” pop-up asking for media test in “Welcome to CentOS i386”, you can choose either “OK” or “Skip”. Test media will check the installation CD — an time consuming optional step.
  6. click on “Next” several time till the installer screen shows “Basic Storage Devices” and “Specialized Storage Devices” selections. Select the default “Basic Storage Devices” and click on “Next”
  7. Input “host name”, select “Time Zone” and “Root password”  and click on “Next”
  8. Select “Create Custom Layout” and then follow the procedures in post  “How to triple-boot Fedora 15, Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7“.