[SOLVED] Dual-boot or multi-boot of Linux Lite (and others) with Windows 7

[gold_finger]

It's clear from your post that you've done your research well.  You've got a good basic understanding of what needs to be done.

Despite computer having a Windows recovery partition, it's a good idea to make a set of recovery dvd's or a recovery usb for Windows.  (There should be a built-in program allowing you to create that.  Do a search for "recovery" from Start menu button if necessary.)  If hard drive itself dies, the recovery partition won't do you any good.  If MBR gets messed-up by either Linux or EasyBCD, the recovery dvd's/usb will make repairing it easy to do.

As far as I know, if you want to keep Windows MBR in tact you need to use EasyBCD for adding Linux distros to boot menu.  I haven't used that in years myself, but believe it's relatively easy to add more than one Linux distro.  I'm guessing that you can either add boot choices to it one at a time (as you add Linux distros), or add all at once if you install all Linux distros one after the other before running EasyBCD.  Don't think it's a problem either way.  When using EasyBCD, install each Linux distro's grub to their respective Root partitions.  None of them should be directed to the MBR (/dev/sda).

If you choose to have Linux's grub boot loader take over booting, you are correct that best way is to install Linux Lite's grub to the MBR (/dev/sda) and have all other distros install theirs to their respective Root partitions.  After adding other distro(s), just boot into LL and run "sudo update-grub" to have their entries added to the boot menu.

Creating an NTFS formatted data partition (to be used by all Linux distros  and Windows) ahead of time is a good idea and will not add any complications to your Linux installations.

You shrunk Windows and made space for the Linux distros -- good.  However, it's best to just leave the resulting free space un-used and un-partitioned and do the partitioning for Linux distros with a Linux tool like GParted.  So, boot into Windows and delete both /dev/sda5 (logical partition) and /dev/sda3 (extended partition) before you get started with Linux installs.  Then reboot into Windows one time to let it adjust to new disk format.  (Not sure if that's necessary, but can't hurt.)


From here on out, I'm just going to outline what I would do in your situation.  (There's no one right way to proceed, so feel free to make any adjustments you want to suit your needs.)

1.  Make partitions ahead of time for various Linux distros and the shared data partition.  To do that, boot from LL dvd/usb and open the GParted program.  (Menu -> System -> GParted, or Partition Drives.)

• Make one large "Extended" partition covering all of the free space on drive.
• Rest of partitions listed below will be "Logical" partitions within the extended partition.
• Make one "Ext4" Root partition (20-25GB) for each distro.  (To make later identification easier, label each partition.  Eg. "LinuxLite", "Mint", etc. -- without quotes and don't have spaces in the names.)
• Since you'll be saving data to separate shared partition, I wouldn't bother making Home partitions for the distros.  (If you want to do that, feel free but they won't need to be any bigger than 1-3GBs.)
• Make one Swap partition that will be shared/used by all distros.  If you plan to use hibernation, make Swap => 8192MiB.  If not, you should be fine with size = 2048MiB or so.
• Make shared data partition covering the remaining space in extended partition.  Format it as NTFS.  (It's not required that you make this partition ahead of time -- just easier than adding it later.)

2.  Install each distro using the manual install method. ("Something else" install choice for LL and Mint; not sure what PCLinux will call it.)  For each distro:

• Use the same "username" on each distro so you don't run into any permission problems on shared files.
• Set the Root mount point ("/") on it's designatated partition.
• If installer allows, manually type-in and set a mount point (eg. "/mnt/DATA") for the shared data partition.  (Use same mount point in all your distros so it's easy to remember.)  Setting up data partition can be done after installation too, so don't worry if you forget to do it or can't figure out how during install.
• For LL and Mint, no need to specify anything for the Swap partition during install.  Not sure about PCLinux.  If it wants you to select and format the Swap partition, that's fine.  That won't negatively affect anything when Swap gets used by other distros.

3.  Add each distro to boot menu choices.

• For EasyBCD, find and follow instructions to add new distro choice.  (I don't know procedure myself.)
• If Linux Lite's grub is in charge of booting, just boot into LL after installing another distro and run this command in a terminal to add the boot choice:

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sudo update-grub

4.  Setup DATA partition for use with all operating systems.

• If you did not set DATA partition during install, follow this tutorial to do it after install.
• In the Linux distros, ownership of the mount point will probably be set to Root initially.  You'll need to change that so your user is the owner.  Open a terminal and enter this command to take ownership of the mount point.  (Substitute your real username in place of "username" in the command.  And change "/mnt/DATA" to your mount point if that is not what you used.)

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sudo chown -R username: /mnt/DATA

• Open file manager and navigate to the data partition.  (You can do this in any Linux distro, or from Windows.)
• Create the folders you want to use for data files.  Eg. Documents, Downloads, Music, etc.
• Create symlinks from the DATA partition folders to your Home in each Linux distro.  You'll need to boot into each distro one-by-one and perform same basic steps:
• Navigate to Home folder and delete all current folders except the "Desktop" folder.
• Create symlinks from the DATA partition folders to your Home.  (Embarrassed to say that I don't know how to use GUI method for this, so can only give you command line method.)  Open a terminal.  You can enter a separate command for each folder that you want to link to Home using format like this:

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ln -s /mnt/DATA/Documents /home/username

• Or, you can create all of the symlinks at once with a command like this:

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ln -s /mnt/DATA/{Documents,Downloads,Music,Pictures,Videos} /home/username

• Just make sure that the folder names in the command are spelled out exactly as you made them on the DATA partition.
  
  
• When you're done with symlinks, you will now see those folders when you open your Home in the file manager and when you save things to them the data will end up on the DATA partition and be useable by all operation systems.
• I don't know Windows procedure for creating symlinks from DATA partition to Home, but Window 7 forum likely has answer to that.  Or you can just navigate to "D: drive" and save things in the folders that way.

P.s.
I don't think legacy grub in PCLinux will cause any problems with EasyBCD or if you decide to have LL's grub2 in charge of booting.

[br1anstorm]

I'd appreciate advice and help over the choices, and the procedure, for setting up a dual or multi-boot of Linux Lite and others with Windows 7.

I'm a newcomer to Linux, and not comfortable with command-line or terminal working unless I am VERY clear about the instructions (too often, advice tends to assume or take for granted steps which need to be spelled out!).  One of the challenges is that there seem to be several ways of achieving the setup I want;  and the more I research and read up, the more confused I get!

First, the basics.  The laptop I want to install on is a Samsung RF511, Intel i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD.  It is running Windows 7 as originally supplied.  When learning about partitioning, I shrank the Windows partition and created a new empty partition - so the disk now shows up now as having two 'drives' - of 512GB and 217GB.

Not quite sure which partitions are seen as being on which of the two drives that now notionally exist on this single hard disk. I have looked at the HDD using GParted, and the current configuration is this:

/dev/sda1          ntfs         SYSTEM                       100.00 MiB                              boot
/dev/sda2          ntfs                                             202.00 GiB   63 GiB used         (contains Windows7 OS)
/dev/sda3          extended                                     476.89 GiB                              lba
/dev/sda5          ntfs                                             476.88 GiB       
/dev/sda4          ntfs         SAMSUNG_REC               19.65 GiB      19.63 used       diag

Now, what I want is.......

i)  to keep Win7, ideally with its MBR intact.  I know most stock dual-boots suggest installing the Linux GRUB bootloader instead.  But I'd prefer to keep the Windows installation complete and separate rather than having to rebuild or reinstate the Windows MBR if (however unlikely!)I ever revert to Windows only;

ii) to install Linux Lite (at least) as an alternative, dual-boot, OS on the hard drive;

iii) a bit more ambitious, to have not only LL but also two other distros I like, Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS, also installed - ie a multiboot setup;

iv) if possible and not too complicated, I'd like to have a single "Data" partition for all my documents, pics etc - at least shared by the Linux distros, if not by the Windows OS as well.  On this, I understand that a Data partition shared by all Linux OSs is not too complicated (though I don't yet understand symlinks and/or binds....).  But if I want a single Data partition with folders which both Linux and Windows can read, this might require the partition to be formatted to ntfs?

Now for the possible constraints...

v) as mentioned, I want to keep the Windows MBR, not replace it with GRUB;

vi) the Samsung laptop has a "Recovery" partition which I understand is linked with the Samsung OEM backup and recovery software.  That partition is at the end of the HDD - if that is relevant;

vii) I know from forum posts that the LL Grub2 doesn't play nicely with other Linux Grubs (because it has been modified to make dual booting with Windows easier).  So I assume this may make a difference to what-grubs-go-where if I seek to have more than one Linux OS in a multiboot setup;

viii) I also know that PCLinuxOS still uses Grub (Legacy) while LL and Linux Mint use Grub2.  In simple terms, in a multibooot setup, if Grub2 is the "lead" or only bootloader it can "see" and work with Grub Legacy if updated after the latter is installed;  buy legacy cannot detect or connect to Grub2.  This, too, seems to make a difference to what-grubs-go-where and how they talk to each other.

So what options - or routes - do I have to set up the arrangements in the way I have indicated?

Is using EasyBCD the only way of installing Linux distros alongside the Windows 7 on the same HDD without modifying or replacing the MBR?

As I understand it, I would need to install Linux Lite, including its GRUB2, on a partition (primary or logical??) on my HDD.  Easy BCD then - in plain language - provides a 'connection' which tells the MBR to look for and boot from Grub2.  Seems simple enough.  I have looked at the youtube video by Matthew Moore at .   

But I haven't yet established whether or how Easy BCD can be used to set up more than one Linux OS in a multiboot.  Is it just a matter of repeating the same steps (each Linux OS and its Grub into its own partition, then update easy BCD)?  And does it matter, or make any difference, that PCLinuxOS uses Grub Legacy?

Am I right to assume that my other objective - of having all my documents in a separate Data partition - can only be sorted out after I have completed the installation of my dual or multiple Linux OSs?  It does however seem to me that if I want eventually to do this, then the partitioning (and formatting) of the HDD to create a common Data partition should be planned and done before I begin any of the installing.  It also presumably determines whether I have separate /root and /home partitions for each of the Linux OSs when I first install them?

Do I have any ways other than using Easy BCD of putting one or more Linux OSs on to that internal hard drive without messing with the Win7 MBR?

It seems neatest and most practical - if possible - to put my three Linux distros on to the internal laptop drive if there is enough room for them as well as the Windows7.  As an alternative I have contemplated putting my three preferred Linux OSs as a multiboot setup on to a separate external USB3 1TB HDD which I happen to have.  I would then boot into that USB drive using Esc at bootup on the Samsung (like F12 on my older Dell)  to bring up the boot options.  This would not need Easy BCD.  But I would still need detailed advice on the installation and the sequence in order to ensure that Grub2 and Grub Legacy talked to each other.  I guess it would require the LL Grub2 on the mbr of that external USB drive, and then the Linux Mint and PCLOS Grubs on their respective root partitions?  There would still remain the additional question of how to organise a single Data partition to store all my documents etc whichever of the three linux OSs I happen to want to use.

Lots of questions, I know.  I'm sure the answer is to do it one step at a time.  But i need to have a clear blueprint as to the eventual outcome, if only so that I do the basics (like partitioning) correctly from the start.  It seems to make sense first to decide on location (internal HDD or external) then to clarify the exact steps needed for whichever location is chosen.