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Currently I am using a dual boot with Windows7 and Ubuntu 12.04LTS.

I would like to try Windows8. Not because I like it, but more and more people are using it.

I have created a partition where I would like to install it. I have only one physical drive.

What should I do to create a triple-boot and don't mess up my Ubuntu? This is my primary OS. But occasionally I need my Windows7.

Sander
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    Not much you can do, other then convince Microsoft management to change their corporate policy regarding dual booting and supporting different bootloaders. Let us know, as soon as there is any progress. Good luck. – mikewhatever Jul 27 '14 at 20:02
  • maybe installing normally then using boot-repair from a ubuntu live usb could do the fixing necessary? – Geo Jul 27 '14 at 20:09
  • If you just want to try it, then consider installing it in a virtual machine under one of your already present operating systems. I have bad experiences in general with two or more operating systems on the same physical drive - it just takes a single disk utility that use the whole drive to mess everything up. One such example is the Windows Backup restore program, which wipes OS X when being restored into a boot cap partition. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Jul 27 '14 at 22:19

2 Answers2

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Install Windows 8 on a separate partition, then boot to Linux and update grub. You'll then have Windows 8 added to the boot option.

$ update-grub

Updating grub will add all OS installations to the list.

Update:

I thought this was kind of elementary because this pop up all the time: RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows:

  1. Boot to your Live Ubuntu CD
  2. Install and run Boot-Repair
  3. Click "Recommended Repair"
  4. Now reboot your system.

I was initially more focus on the part where it's standard to have multiple boots. If you have 10 partitions you can actually have an OS on each and updating grub will automatically add each to the boot menu. YOu can even include USB drives or pen drives as some of those partitions.

L. D. James
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  • Doesn't the Windows installer overwrite MBR? How do you boot into Linux then? – kraxor Jul 27 '14 at 20:04
  • James are you sure? Did you tried it by yourself – Dishank Jindal Jul 27 '14 at 20:05
  • @Dishank Yes. I do it all the time. I'll update my answer with the information. – L. D. James Jul 27 '14 at 20:08
  • I do this all the time with win7 also but windows 8 is a different beast have you tried this with windows 8 and if so what version of windows 8 does this work with. – mchid Jul 27 '14 at 20:22
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    @mchid The version was Windows 8 trial. I have since purchased Windows 8 to give support to my clients who run it. However, I haven't performed the multiple boot on the machine yet. I'm sure it'd be the same as the trial. You can actually test this by installing Ubuntu on a pen drive, make the pen drive the boot disk the the disk with the grub install. You can perform this without touching your Windows 8 installation or touching the Windows 8 disk. After you complete the operation and boot to the pin drive you should see the dual boot which will include Windows 8. (2 characters left!) – L. D. James Jul 27 '14 at 20:43
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Installing Windows will overwrite the boot record so you will lose access to Ubuntu temporarily. Don't worry though, you can resintall GRUB easily afterwards.

Community
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kraxor
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  • If you overwrite the mbr with grub using windows 8, are you still able to boot into windows 8? I've done this with windows 7 but windows 8 is different. – mchid Jul 27 '14 at 21:07
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    @mchid It works well as the same about windows 8, I tried this for myself before. – αғsнιη Aug 10 '14 at 13:53