[clug] Any 'triple boot' experts on list? (Vista, XP, Linux)

[steve jenkin]

I'd settle for any 'Vista' plus anything expert :-)
-> Does anyone else on the group boot Vista-XP-Linux, especially w/o
install media? How have you managed/solve it?

I've discovered a major difference with managing/moving/co-booting Vista:
  they *finally* run a 'boot manager' (think LILO).

It comprehensively ignores the normal 'active' flag in partitions by
fdisk. i.e. with a Vista & XP partition, marking the 'XP' partition the
only active partition changes nothing. Still boots into Vista.

And you can't move the position of the Vista boot loader (winload.exe) -
think early LILO. (The Neosmart Visa Repair CD sorta fixes this.)

If the laptop vendor actually supplied 'install media', not "preloaded"
system (with rescue/recovery - revert to factory state) this would be a
lot easier.  I have yet to follow the 'convert/manipulate the preload'
line of investigation.

I've discovered some tools (Neosmart "Vista Repair Disk" & EasyBCD), the
new (BOOTMGR) and old (NTLDR), and the new Vista tool bcdedit.

Unrelated, but worth mentioning:
  The external disk I used to store partition images, I only had
formatted with FAT32 (lowest common denominator) - max file size is 4Gb
:-(  I had to use 'dd if=/dev/sdaX|split -d -b 2G - file-prefix')

There's an article on dual-booting by Microsoft:
<http://port25.technet.com/archive/2006/10/13/Using-Vista_2700_s-Boot-Manager-to-Boot-Linux-and-Dual-Booting-with-BitLocker-Protection-with-TPM-Support.aspx>

An article on Vista 'diskpart'
<http://vistarewired.com/2007/04/07/how-to-work-with-partitions-in-windows-vista-xp-when-disk-management-doesnt-work>

Ultimate Boot CD has a collection of (DOS) tools:
<http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/>

This recipe for 'cloning a multi-partition disk' doesn't stress *change
nothing*, but does mention it in passing:
<http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=149328>

And Aus PC has a "Dual boot Vista (linux first)" guide - but skips the
boot manager issues:
<http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm>


cheers
steve

-- 
Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist.
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin