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It's been a long time since I installed anything, but since I was given this laptop so I thought I'd try to triple boot from it's current state of Windows 7 and Kubuntu 18.0.4 v5.12.4. I don't think it's possible without first:

  1. Deleting the linux partition in Windows Disk Management.

  2. Create an Extended partition in GParted (USB install.iso) with the unallocated space.

  3. Create boot, /, /home, swap as ext4 logical partitions within the Extended partition.

If all this is correct what is the proper technique for installing the third OS with the remaining unallocated space to complete the triple boot installation. Do I create the same exact additional logical partitions again. I know I will be prompted as to the location of where to install grub. I'm not totally sure.

Current dual boot setup

Output:

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.5

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present

***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. 
***************************************************************

Disk /dev/sda: 976773168 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Model: TOSHIBA MK5055GS
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 5BF792C9-9EBA-4361-A7B1-786AF5B0CECD
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976773134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2239 sectors (1.1 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048          206847   100.0 MiB   0700  Microsoft basic data
   2          206848       525930495   250.7 GiB   0700  Microsoft basic data
   3       525930496       968564735   211.1 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   4       968564736       976772909   3.9 GiB     8200  Linux swap
karel
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JustJazz
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  • To start with, which version of Linux have you installed  (Ubuntu server, Ubuntu desktop, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, et al.) , and which release number? Please click [edit] and add that vital information to your question so all the facts we need are in the question. Please do not use Add Comment. – K7AAY Mar 10 '20 at 23:36
  • You don't need to add more than the root ( / ) partition to add another distro, and both distros of Linux can use the same swap partition. – K7AAY Mar 10 '20 at 23:49
  • So it's safe to resize sda2 and sda3 partitions then use that combined unallocated space to create one new root / and add the new distro? – JustJazz Mar 11 '20 at 00:03
  • When a partition table is MBR/msdos only four primary partitions are allowed. Ubuntu 18.04 (and flavors like Kubuntu) can use swapfiles instead of a swap partition, so you could have two other OSes on a partition each as @K7AAY said, but given windows has already used two; you'd need a fifth partition for swap. Kubuntu 18.04 can use swap space instead of swap partition/ What you describe will work, but there are many ways of doing it, and the unnamed other OS may influence best way (it's installer may cope with anything, but may have limitations). ubiquity in Kubuntu 18.04 is flexible. – guiverc Mar 11 '20 at 00:04
  • @guiverc If there's already a swap partition, does Ubuntu use it instead of a swap file? – schrodingerscatcuriosity Mar 11 '20 at 00:11
  • Sorry I'm no expert with swap and don't know every combination of install possible, but my system was ubiquity installed (17.10 back then; release-upgraded and is 20.04 now) and uses a swap partition only. I dual boot with what is now 18.04 LTS on another partition and it shares the swap space (I would have to boot into 18.04 to check it also doesn't use swapfile but I doubt it would). I have separate /home partitions on mine (which are encrypted for test purposes); my 4 primary are /, /home & swap plus extended (which contains / and /home for 18.04); no windows for me :) – guiverc Mar 11 '20 at 00:52
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    If you have a swap partition, it will use it unless you specifically say not to use it. you can click on the swap and say do not use and then it will use a swap file. If multiple installs often better to keep /home inside / (root) and use a large data partition (or two). I used both NTFS & Linux data partitions when I still had Windows, but now only have a large ext4 data partition which I mount in every install. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1013677/storing-data-on-second-hdd-mounting Does not have to be a second drive as discussed. – oldfred Mar 11 '20 at 03:05
  • We need to confirm the partition table type used before providing a definitive answer. Please run sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda , copy the resulting text, then return here, click [edit], and paste the text into your answer. Note: You wrote in a comment is 20.04 now . Please note we do have limits on what we can provide in supporting the next version. Although this issue is supported, please consult https://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/871/when-are-questions-about-ubuntu1-appropriate before posing other Ubuntu+1 questions. – K7AAY Mar 11 '20 at 15:12
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    Does this answer your question? How to triple boot windows and two linux distros – karel Mar 11 '20 at 23:28
  • I think I get the part about choosing swap location but in my case should I delete swap, use that space to create an extended partition then inside recreate another swap,. / and home partitions? – JustJazz Mar 12 '20 at 00:39

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