Multi-booting is the act of installing multiple

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

s on a single computer, and being able to choose which one to boot. The term dual-booting refers to the common configuration of specifically two operating systems. Multi-booting may require a custom

boot loader A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader or called boot manager and bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer. When a computer is turned off, its softwareincluding operating systems, application code, an ...

Usage

Multi-booting allows more than one operating system to reside on one computer; for example, if a user has a primary operating system that they use most frequently and an alternate operating system that they use less frequently. Another reason for multi-booting can be to investigate or test a new operating system without switching completely. Multi-booting allows a new operating system to configure all applications needed and migrate data before removing the old operating system, if desired. A possible alternative to multi-booting is

virtualization In computing, virtualization or virtualisation (sometimes abbreviated v12n, a numeronym) is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something at the same abstraction level, including virtual computer hardware platforms, st ...

, where a

hypervisor A hypervisor (also known as a virtual machine monitor, VMM, or virtualizer) is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called ...

is used to host one or more

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized har ...

s running guest operating systems. Multi-booting is also useful in situations where different

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

requires different operating systems. A multi-boot configuration allows a user to use all of their software on one computer. This is often accomplished by using a

such as NTLDR,

LILO Lilo or LILO may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Lilo (name), a list of people with the nickname or surname * Lilo (footballer), Brazilian footballer Murilo Rufino Barbosa (born 1983) * Lilo (actress), stage name of German-born French actress and s ...

, or

GRUB Grub can refer to Grub (larva), of the beetle superfamily Scarabaeoidea, or as a slang term for food. It can also refer to: Places * Grub, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland * Grub, St. Gallen, Switzerland * Grub (Amerang), a hamlet in Bavari ...

which can boot more than one operating system. Multi-booting is also used by

software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development inv ...

s when multiple operating systems are required for development or testing purposes. Having these systems on one machine is a way to reduce hardware costs.

Technical issues

Number of operating systems per volume (logical drive)

In an OS/2 dual-boot configuration, the C drive can contain both DOS and OS/2. The user issues the BOOT command from the DOS or OS/2 command line to do the necessary copy, move and rename operations and then reboot to the specified system on C:. Other systems provide similar mechanisms for alternate systems on the same logical drive.

Number of operating systems per storage device

In a multi-boot computer each of the multiple operating systems can reside on its own storage device, or some storage devices might contain more than one operating system in different partitions. The boot loader in or loaded by the

MBR MBR may refer to: Computing * Master boot record, the first sector of a partitioned data storage device, used for booting * Memory buffer register * Minimum bounding rectangle * Minimum bit rate Publications * ''The Malaysia Book of Records'' * ...

displays a menu of logical drives and loads the selected boot loader from the PBR of that drive. An example of a computer with one operating system per storage device is a dual-booting computer that stores

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

on one disk drive and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

on another disk drive. In this case a multi-booting boot loader is not strictly necessary because the user can choose to enter BIOS configuration immediately after power-up and make the desired drive first in the boot-order list. However, it is more convenient to have a multi-booting boot loader on one of the drives, set BIOS once to always start booting from (i.e. load the boot loader from) that drive, and then allow the user to choose an operating system from that boot loader's menu. No special disk partitioning is necessary when each operating system has its own dedicated disk drive. An example of a computer with multiple operating systems per storage device is a dual-booting computer that stores both Windows and Linux on the same disk drive but where the BIOS in the system does not let the user boot individual drives and partitions. In this case a multi-booting boot loader ''is'' necessary. Also, the disk must be partitioned to give each operating system its own partition on the disk drive. This is necessary because each system has its own set of files and operating instructions. Also, when a completely separate operating system is used partitions may need to be formatted to a different format. For example, if a user intends to install both

and

, then the Windows partition will be most likely formatted in the

NTFS New Technology File System (NTFS) is a proprietary journaling file system developed by Microsoft. Starting with Windows NT 3.1, it is the default file system of the Windows NT family. It superseded File Allocation Table (FAT) as the preferred f ...

format as Windows cannot run off of

ext4 ext4 (fourth extended filesystem) is a journaling file system for Linux, developed as the successor to ext3. ext4 was initially a series of backward-compatible extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File Systems fo ...

, and the

partition will most likely be formatted in the ext4 file format as Linux cannot run off of NTFS. However, if a user intends to dual-boot two versions of

(i.e.

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearl ...

and

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

) or two versions of Linux (i.e.

Linux Mint Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu (which is in turn based on Debian), bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications. It can provide full out-of-the-box multimedia support for those who choose to ...

and

Ubuntu Linux Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', '' Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All ...

), then the same file system (e.g. NTFS or ext4) can be used across both drives and partitions.

Partitioning

The basic concept involves partitioning a disk to accommodate each planned installation, usually including separate partitions for boot, root, data storage and backups.

MBR loader

An MBR loader, such as Air-Boot, replaces the standard boot code in track 0 with code that displays a selection menu and loads the selected system. Some, e.g., Air-Boot, can be configured either automatically or by the user at boot time, rather than requiring an external configuration menu.

Linux boot loaders

Linux loaders such as GRUB and LILO, can reside in the MBR or in a PBR. They use configuration files in /boot to control their selection menus,

OS/2 Boot Manager

The OS/2 Boot Manager must be installed in a primary partition. The OS/2 partitioning utilities can configure up to four systems in the menu, each of which can be either in a primary partition or in a logical volume within the extended logical partition. It is possible to include a boot loader such as GRUB in the OS/2 Boot Manager menu, and it is possible to include the OS/2 Boot Manager in the menu for another boot loader. Newer loaders such as Air-Boot,

and

offer more flexibility.

Microsoft Windows and Linux

One popular multi-boot configuration is to dual-boot Linux and Windows operating systems, each contained within its own partition. Windows does not facilitate or support multi-boot systems, other than allowing for partition-specific installations, and no choice of

is offered. However, most current Linux installers accommodate dual-booting (although some knowledge of partitions is desirable). Commonly installations proceed without incident but upon restart, the boot loader will recognize only one of the two operating systems. There are some advantages to installing a Linux

boot manager A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader or called boot manager and bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer. When a computer is turned off, its softwareincluding operating systems, application code, an ...

/loader (usually

) as the primary bootloader pointed to by the

master boot record A master boot record (MBR) is a special type of boot sector at the very beginning of partitioned computer mass storage devices like fixed disks or removable drives intended for use with IBM PC-compatible systems and beyond. The concept of MB ...

. Windows operating systems will be found by properly installed Linux bootloaders, but Windows boot managers do not recognize Linux installations (nor does Windows deal natively with Linux

file systems In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...

). The MBR boot code can be backed up and restored with dd, available on

System Rescue CD SystemRescue (Previously known as "SystemRescueCD") is a Linux distribution for x86 64 and x86 computers. The primary purpose of SystemRescue is to repair unbootable or otherwise damaged computer systems after a system crash. SystemRescue i ...

. It is often recommended that Windows be installed to the first

primary partition Disk partitioning or disk slicing is the creation of one or more regions on secondary storage, so that each region can be managed separately. These regions are called partitions. It is typically the first step of preparing a newly installed disk ...

. The boot loaders of both Windows and Linux identify partitions with a number derived by counting the partitions. (Note, both Windows and Linux count the partitions according to the ordering of the partitions ''in the partition table'', which may be different from the order of the partitions on the disk.) Adding or deleting a partition at the end of a hard drive will have no effect on any partitions prior to it. However, if a partition is added or deleted at the beginning or middle of a hard drive, the numbering of subsequent partitions may change. If the number of the system partition changes, it requires boot loader reconfiguration in order for an operating system to boot and function properly. Windows must be installed into a primary partition (and in older systems this must be the first partition). Linux can be installed into a partition in any position on the hard drive and can also be installed into logical partitions (within the extended partition). If Linux is installed into a logical partition within the

extended partition An extended boot record (EBR), or extended partition boot record (EPBR), is a descriptor for a logical partition under the common DOS disk drive partitioning system. In that system, when one (and only one) partition record entry in the master boot ...

, it is unaffected by changes in the primary partitions.

Neutral MBR

An alternative to storing GRUB in the MBR is keeping Windows' or other generic PC boot code in the MBR, and installing GRUB or another bootloader into a primary partition other than that of Windows, thus keeping the MBR neutral. Operating system selection at boot time consequently depends on the bootloader configured within the primary partition that has the boot or "active" flag set on its partition table entry, which could be a bootloader of

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...

eComStation eComStation or eCS is an operating system based on OS/2 Warp for the 32-bit x86 architecture. It was originally developed by Serenity Systems and Mensys BV under license from IBM. It includes additional applications, and support for new hard ...

ArcaOS ArcaOS is an operating system based on OS/2, developed and marketed by Arca Noae, LLC under license from IBM. It was codenamed Blue Lion during its development. It builds on OS/2 Warp 4.52 by adding support for new hardware, fixing defects and l ...

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) is a discontinued operating system based on Research Unix, developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Be ...

, in addition to Linux or Windows. With the boot flag set on the Windows primary, the

Windows Boot Manager The booting process of Windows Vista and later versions differ from the startup process part of previous versions of Windows. In this article, unless otherwise specified, what is said about Windows Vista also applies to all later NT operatin ...

can be used to chainload another installed bootloader through use of a program like

EasyBCD EasyBCD is a program developed by NeoSmart Technologies to configure and tweak the Boot Configuration Data (BCD), a boot database first introduced in Windows Vista and used in all subsequent Windows releases. EasyBCD can be used to set up multi-bo ...

. This means the active partition's boot manager will first prompt the user for selection what OS to boot, then load another if necessary, such as GRUB, even a bootloader installed to a logical partition, and then GRUB will load the Linux kernel as it normally would were GRUB installed to the MBR. The active partition could also be one that exists for no purpose other than choosing an operating system to boot, such as the boot manager that shipped with IBM's OS/2 Warp and its derivatives.

Apple's Boot Camp

Boot Camp allows owners of Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers to install Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 on their Macs. The software comes bundled with

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

since version 10.5 (Leopard). Previously the application was available in beta version as a download from Apple's website. Boot Camp allows non-destructive disk partitioning and resizing of

HFS+ HFS Plus or HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended or HFS Extended) is a journaling file system developed by Apple Inc. It replaced the Hierarchical File System (HFS) as the primary file system of Apple computers with the 1998 release of Mac OS 8. ...

filesystems In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...

, boot menu options, and an option to burn a CD with necessary

device drivers In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and o ...

. Since

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...

is incompatible with

Extensible Firmware Interface UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples ...

(the successor to legacy

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...

), the firmware on early

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...

Macs needs to be updated to support BIOS emulation first. BIOS emulation is achieved with a compatibility support module (CSM). Apple does not support non-Windows partition formats or drivers so therefore configuring other operating systems is not directly possible through Boot Camp itself. However, any operating system which can utilize the BIOS emulation of Intel Macintosh can be made to work, including non-XP versions of

. The

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', '' Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All th ...

Linux distribution is particularly popular for this purpose because they provide an option to use proprietary device drivers along with open source drivers.

References

External links

Multiboot Specification

Dual, Triple, Quad Boot a Macbook with Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux, Windows XP, and Windows Vista
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818045054/http://hydtechblog.com/2009/01/26/dual-triple-quad-boot-a-macbook-with-mac-os-x-ubuntu-linux-windows-xp-and-windows-vista/ , date=2011-08-18
Installing Windows XP:Dual-Booting Versus Single Booting
Booting Disk partitions