Win10, Hackintosh & Linux boot on windows machine

GarrukApex · 23 May 2016

I've been planning on installing Linux on my old Gateway laptop for some time now. It's a Gateway NE56R49U, with an I3, 4gb ram and processor integrated graphics. I'd like to install Ubuntu, Kali Linux, OSX, and keep the Windows 10 install that is already on there. What is the best way to go about doing this? Where should I install the boot loader? I would like to use GRUB, but I'm not quite sure which partition to put it in. Do I need a Linux swap partition for both Kali and Ubuntu? How should I go about installing OSX for this multi-boot system?

Here is my current drive layout, with only a partition for Kali.
http://imgur.com/B7gAo3v

Thanks for all the help.

LMiller7 · 23 May 2016

Be aware that installing any Apple OS on non Apple hardware is a violation of Apple's EULA.

DeaconFrost · 23 May 2016

Do you have some unique piece of hardware that needs to be support natively by all of these OSes?

If not, leave dual-booting in it's grave. Virtualize all but the primary OS.

badrobot · 23 May 2016

One thing is for sure. You'll spend more time fixing your bootloaders than using the OSes themselves. Every Windows 10 updates will come with headaches for you multi-boot setup.

ramram55 · 23 May 2016

I have been using linux mint with windows 10 on my windows PC, no problem, only with my macbook pro has problem dual boot, cannot install loader with linux. windows 10 with linux one distribution should be enough. IMO.

GarrukApex · 23 May 2016

I know it's a violation of the EULA. I'm not sure about VMs because I don't want too much lag in the system. I need OS X for developing on IOS, as well as both Ubuntu and Kali for personal use. Could I just not update Windows? Wouldn't that solve the update problem? Thanks for all the responses...

DeaconFrost · 23 May 2016

I've run multiple Linux VMs on a system with less power and they always ran fine. I wouldn't suggest it if you were developing 3D models, but virtualization was designed for such things as coding on multiple platforms. Besides, a restore of a VM is extremely simple, and it won't muck up the primary/host machine.

GarrukApex · 23 May 2016

Thanks DeaconFrost, I think I'll definitely use a VM for OSX.

I'm pretty sure that I want to have a tri-boot then. Will this cause a ton of problems with windows? Should I use GRUB or another bootloader?

Should I write the bootloader to /dev/sda? And is there a way to get everything to work without switching between Legacy Bios and UEFI?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm a bit of a beginner to dual booting.
Thanks for all the help.

jimbo45 · 24 May 2016

Hi there.

unless you actually need to run physical hardware why not as a previous poster says run your PRIMARY OS (for example Windows 10) then install either HYPER-V, Virtual Box or Vmware player and then run the other stuff as Virtual Machines.

Not sure if the Apple OS can be easily virtualised so apart from legal restrictions from Apple you could get that running as your primary OS and then use Parallels (not free though) to run the other OS'es under Apple OS as VM's - or I think Apple used to have a virtual machine program called Bootcamp --I've never tried it though.

Using VM's IMO is far better than any form of dual / multi-booting and you really these days should only multi-boot if you can't avoid it or really need to test specific hardware on a real machine. Most USB hardware - even quite complex stuff will run easily on a Virtual Machine.

Note also that provided your HOST GRAPHICS supports it Virtualisation CAN support 3D and hardware acceleration - although I wouldn't use a VM for testing out extensive gaming on a specialized GPU. I've run things like PHOTOSHOP very successfully on a Windows VM though.

If you really must dual boot / triple boot -- IMO Linux CENTOS is the easiest Linux distro to install without messing up the other OS'es -- in the setup simply choose which HDD's you want to install on and where you want the bootloader. If you put the bootloader on a separate HDD to Windows then your Windows system won't be touched at all and you just boot from your BIOS boot menu choosing the boot HDD.

Note you boot then from the BIOS boot menu. You can also change in the BIOS the default boot device so you only need to use the BIOS boot menu if you change the default boot device. This method IMO is far superior to messing around with individual bootloaders - especially as Windows doesn't play nice with other bootloaders.

If you only have ONE HDD then I'd avoid dual booting altogether and go for the Virtual Machine option.

CENTOS also runs quite nicely from an EXTERNAL USB HDD (or even a USB stick) quite nicely too -- if you have a USB3 HDD even better -- an old laptop HDD also makes a good device -- simply connect via SATA-->USB2 or USB3 connector. Response time will be fine - and if you have an old SSD even better. Most Linux distros also will run from external HDD's --the CENTOS setup though makes it simple to select the destination Disk(s) and bootloader so you don't need to touch other HDD's in the system.

If you do install CENTOS add package ntfs-3g to read and write ntfs (windows) files - this package isn't installed by default. If you install other distros check also as you will need that if you wish to read / write Windows NTFS files from your Linux system.

Most Linux distros will boot either UEFI or MBR - doesn't matter - but if you aren't using MBR then keep all the OS'es as UEFI. Turn off Protected Boot though.

Cheers
jimbo

DeaconFrost · 24 May 2016

GarrukApex said:

Thanks DeaconFrost, I think I'll definitely use a VM for OSX.

I'm pretty sure that I want to have a tri-boot then. Will this cause a ton of problems with windows? Should I use GRUB or another bootloader?

Should I write the bootloader to /dev/sda? And is there a way to get everything to work without switching between Legacy Bios and UEFI?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm a bit of a beginner to dual booting.
Thanks for all the help.

I would still say virtualizing is your best bet. If you are going to do one, why not do them all as VMs? If you are a beginner to multi-booting, then it is the perfect time to skip it all together. One change in the bootloader, and you end up with three non-booting OSes. If you only have one host OS, then a repair is much easier to do.

Virtualizing is a much simpler process, and brings about many other benefits, such as being able to run more than one OS at a time...no reboots, etc.