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    4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Hi,

    Is it possible to have 4+ operating systems on 1 machine and on start-up you can select which OS to boot. I want to have 4 partitions running a different operating system(Vista Ultimate x32, Vista Ultimate x64, XP x32 and XP x64). In the future I would like to add Win 7. Is this idea possible to implement????

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Yes.
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    ok then how would i go about implementing this? Will I just install each of the O/S's on a separate partition or will i need to mess around with the boot manager as well ?

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Yeah, it's possible. Any particular reason you want to have so many? Dual boot is the most common.

    Also remember it's recommended (but not neccasry) to setup/install a multi-OS setup in order of versions.

    So you would install XP, Vista and then Windows 7 <-- recommended way.

    What isn't recommended is installing say Windows 7, then XP, and then Vista. You can do it, but then you'll get all sorts of problems with the boot managers/loaders.

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    this is the type of think VMWare is for really.
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    I need it for work testing graphics cards that come in on differnt operating systems, benchmarks and other tests. I will save alot of time if i can implement this idea. I feel that vmare is not the way to take because vmware its self will use system resources and mess up benchmark scores

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    If you're planning to use a none Windows based OS at any point, you'll probably want to start looking at Grub or one of the many bootloaders out there.

    I don't know if there have been many improvements with Windows 7, but previous versions of Windows were truly horrendous when coming to multiboot with none Windows OS.

    I'm going to budge this thread over to software so the regulars in there can see it, they'll be able to answer you a bit more in depth
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    You could only do it automatically if you install OSes in an order where the next OS reconises the previous OS and can set everything up for you. Otherwise you will need to mess around with boot managers and if you reinstall any of the OSes you will have to mess with the boot manager anyway.

    In your case I would install XP32, XP64, Vista x32, Vista x64.....in that order and they should set up the boot loader for you.

    There are a couple of good utils to help once you are installed as well....Vista Boot Pro is one but I prefer EasyBCD.

    If you do not want to play games under any of these OSes, then I would follow Jays advice and virtualise them.
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by fortune2k View Post
    ok then how would i go about implementing this? Will I just install each of the O/S's on a separate partition or will i need to mess around with the boot manager as well ?
    With different versions of Windows seperate partitions are not required, but recommended, and yes, you will need to mess around with the Windows boot-loader. I am not giving you any specifics because this particular activity has various tutorials one google away.
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by fortune2k View Post
    I need it for work testing graphics cards that come in on differnt operating systems, benchmarks and other tests. I will save alot of time if i can implement this idea. I feel that vmare is not the way to take because vmware its self will use system resources and mess up benchmark scores
    hmm

    not what VMWare is really for then

    If it was a temp thing I would just get 4 80GB SATA drives and boot from each, if its for testing then I would say this would give better results as it does count out any other issues multi OS may introduce to the mix
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Another solution I would prefer is to have 1 hard drive for each OS and use the boot selector found in most modern BIOSes to select the drive to boot from.
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    well I have a 80gb hard drive going to split it 4x 15gb and 1 x 20gb install xp32 first and then so on I will tell you how I get on.

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by fortune2k View Post
    well I have a 80gb hard drive going to split it 4x 15gb and 1 x 20gb install xp32 first and then so on I will tell you how I get on.
    God speed bother!
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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by fortune2k View Post
    well I have a 80gb hard drive going to split it 4x 15gb and 1 x 20gb install xp32 first and then so on I will tell you how I get on.
    Can't see any issues with that, good luck mate

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by fortune2k View Post
    well I have a 80gb hard drive going to split it 4x 15gb and 1 x 20gb install xp32 first and then so on I will tell you how I get on.
    15 gig is too small for a 64-bit vista install. and certainly windows 7.

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    Re: 4+ Operating Systems on 1 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    15 gig is too small for a 64-bit vista install. and certainly windows 7.
    Agreed, best bet is an 80 gig drive for each OS to be honest

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