Win+BSD+Linux-Install.pdf

Windows + OpenSolaris + CentOS Installation Guide

Subhasish Ghosh

sghosh.oxon at yahoo dot co dot uk

Version: v2.0

Last updated: June 9, 2009

Revision History:

v1.0: Initial release, reviewed by The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP). A few minor structural

changes and corrections incorporated; Chapters "Troubleshooting" and "Installing OpenBSD 3.2-

RELEASE" added.

v1.1: Further edits, corrections incorporated. FreeBSD section updated to cover 4.8-RELEASE and

chapter "Installing NetBSD 1.6.1" added.

v1.2: Chapter "Troubleshooting" updated. Information on Linux updated to cover Red Hat Linux 8.0

(Psyche Edition) and FreeBSD to FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE.

v2.0: Further edits, changes incorporated to replace entire BSD section with OpenSolaris 2008.11

and Red Hat Linux 8.0 with CentOS 5.2

This document exemplifies how three different operating systems (OSes) could be installed and configured

on a single hard disk. The reader may choose from: Microsoft Windows NT/2K/XP + OpenSolaris

2008.11 + CentOS 5.2. Only x86 & x86-compatible architecture multi-booting is discussed and GNU

GRUB is the boot loader of choice. Drop an email at sghosh.oxon at yahoo dot co dot uk in case of

queries/questions/comments. Thanks!

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of this Guide

1.2 What is Multiple-booting?

1.3 Multi-booting Pros and Cons

1.4 List of Assumptions

1.5 Acknowledgements

1.6 Legalese

1.7 About the Author

2. FAQ

3. Organization

3.1 Chapter 1: About the Operating Systems

3.2 Chapter 2: Installing Microsoft Windows

3.3 Chapter 3: Installing OpenSolaris

3.4 Chapter 4: Installing CentOS

3.5 Chapter 5: Configuring a Tri-boot with GRUB

4. Conclusion

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of this Guide

This document represented in the form of a Guide , is intended to help those Windows, OpenSolaris and

Linux users who believe in the method of "learning by doing". Multiple-booting systems is not an exact

science. You come across a document, you read it, find it interesting, do it yourself, make mistakes and then

finally you achieve the desired aim. That is how you're supposed to learn. That is how I learnt. That is how

the UNIX experts learnt a long time ago! Learning by doing!

By the end of this document, you would have a clear understanding of the basic topics required for

successfully installing and configuring three different OSes on a single hard disk of a computer. I've tried

my level best to describe each and every topic in a clear and easily understandable simple language.

Most multi-booting installation HOWTOs and guides available on the Internet are incomplete because either

they assume too much leaving the readers to do most of the difficult stuff themselves or are blatantly simple.

I've tried my best to find a perfect balance between the two!

1.2 What is Multiple-booting?

The Webster's New World Computer Dictionary (9th edition) by Bryan Pfaffenberger, defines the term

"dual-booting" as: 'A computer that enables the user to choose between two OSes at boot time'. Rightly so.

Considering this definition as our boilerplate, we may frame our own definition of a "multiple-booting" or

(in short) a multi-boot system i.e., a computer that enables the user to choose between more than two OSes

at boot time.

This document explains how three varying OSes can be successfully installed and configured on the same

hard disk of a computer thus enabling it to become a "multi-boot" system. The OSes chosen for this

illustration include: Microsoft Windows XP, OpenSolaris 2008.11 and CentOS 5.2. I would install a

Microsoft Windows OS first, then proceed installing OpenSolaris and finally round-off by installing

CentOS. GNU GRUB is the boot loader of choice.

1.3 Multi-booting Pros and Cons

An idea or thought as: Hey! Dual and multi-booting computer systems have advantages only and absolutely

no disadvantage is wrong. Often an important question is: Why would someone need to multi-boot a PC?

Where does it make sense to multi-boot a PC? The answer to this question is simple: Multi-booting

systems only make sense where you would like to experiment with a number of configurations (or OS

in general) than you have computers for and more significantly where data is NOT at risk .

Let us consider a situation like this: Peter is a software programmer who works from home; has a single PC

that runs Debian Linux. His significant documents and downloaded files from the Internet are stored on it.

He now decides to learn and practice hacking the FreeBSD Kernel. Thus, he decides to make his PC a dual-

boot system. Converting one's only or in other words, the primary PC at home or at work into a dual

or multi-booting system is a bad choice. If a primary home PC must be used as a dual or multi-booting

system, it will be much safer to add a second hard disk and leave the first relatively untouched. A powerful

boot loader like GRUB will allow booting from the other hard disk.

I personally have a test lab setup at home, with multiple PCs ranging from PI, PII, PIII to PIV running

Windows XP (for playing games), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (for RHCE exam preparation), CentOS (used

for doing office work at home), OpenSolaris (tweaking here-n-there), Ubuntu (do most of my daily tasks

like checking mail in Evolution, surfing the Net and so on). One or more of these machines which does not

have any significant data on themselves, is multi-booted. This can be considered as an ideal situation for

playing around with multi-booting.

NOTE: Multi-booting Windows with OpenSolaris and CentOS on the same hard disk can lead to a

fatal hard disk crash where all data contained therein could be lost! You have been warned! Backup

any significant data that you maybe having.

1.4 List of Assumptions

The reader possesses an intermediate (i.e. theoretical & practical) level of experience of partitioning

hard disks utilizing Microsoft fdisk, BSD style partition table editor, Linux fdisk and so on.

The reader understands hard disk geometries, concept of a primary partition, an extended partition,

logical disks within an extended partition; Linux disk naming and partitioning schemes, BSD style

disk labeling and partitioning schemes.

The reader possesses an intermediate (i.e. theoretical & practical) level of experience of compiling

and configuring custom Linux and OpenSolaris Kernels.

The reader possesses knowledge of basic UNIX commands common to both Linux and BSD OS.

E.g., mounting filesystems, editing configuration files etc.

The reader is using an x86 or x86 compatible system.

The reader is using a hard disk whose BIOS supports the Logical Block Addressing (LBA) mode of

representing data on the disk. By using LBA mode, the 1024 Cylinder Limit on old hard disks is

dealt with.

Before proceeding any further, make sure you browse through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

section of the guide.

1.5 Acknowledgements

I wish to offer my sincerest regards and thanks to:

1. Guylhem Aznar < guylhem at metalab dot unc dot edu >, Chief coordinator, main contact of TLDP

for making this guide possible.

2. Tabatha Persad < tabatha at merlinmonroe dot com >, Linux Documentation Project Review

Coordinator, for technical reviews and for answering my million queries.

3. To every Open-Source community contributor around the world.

Additionally, whilst writing this document, I did consult the following books, online journals, magazines

and official papers:

1. Modern Operating Systems, by Andrew S. Tanenbaum

2. Understanding the Linux Kernel, by Daniel P. Bovet, Marco Cesati

3. CentOS online documentation at http://www.centos.org/docs/5

4. OpenSolaris online documentation at http://opensolaris.org/os/documentation/

5. Free book authored for installing, configuring and managing OpenSolaris

2008.11, http://dlc.sun.com/osol/docs/downloads/minibook/en/820-7102-10-Eng-doc.pdf

1.6 Legalese

Trademarks are owned by their owners.

Although the information given in this document is believed to be correct, the author will accept no liability

for the content of this document. Use the tips and examples given herein at your own risk.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free

Documentation License, Version 2.0 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with

no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is located at

www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

1.7 About the Author

The author, currently aged 28, possesses a decade of hacking / administering experience on Linux (Red Hat,

Fedora, Slackware, Debian, ASP Linux, ALT Linux), FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Sun OS 4.x, Sun

Solaris, OpenSolaris platforms. He holds a BTech degree in "Informatics & Computer Science engineering"

from Moscow Power Engineering Institute (Technical University); studied for an MSc at Oxford University.

Holds MCSD & MCSE certifications from M$; currently working towards Red Hat Certified Engineer

(RHCE) certification.

The author is currently employed with www.123greetings.com as TL - Email Deliverability Specialist. He

could be reached at <sghosh.oxon at yahoo dot co dot uk>

2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This FAQ only reflects the installation guide in its present form, and various many queries which were

present in the earlier versions have been edited and left out. If you have something to ask which is not listed

herein, shoot an email at < sghosh.oxon at yahoo dot co dot uk >

What is the aim/purpose of this guide?

The information in this guide can be used for installing and configuring three different OSes on a single

hard disk of a computer. Firstly, Windows XP is installed, then OpenSolaris 2008.11 is installed and

finally, we round-off the guide by installing CentOS 5.2

Why have you used 3 OSes for this guide?

I personally wouldn't want any more! I do have a system which has Windows XP, FreeBSD, Ubuntu &

OpenSolaris installed, but the overall installation, configuration and post-installation configuration in the

multi-boot loader is too cumbersome to exemplify in a written manner. Thus, I thought of sticking to

three OSes.

Did you yourself try out the steps mentioned in this guide?

Yes, I did test each and every step mentioned in this guide on my personal computer systems. Once

successful, I often replicate the entire procedure on other systems of varying configurations to re-check

and validate errors, if any.

What is the config of your test bed?

My test bed consists of multiple machines with varying configurations. The PC which was used for this

guide is an ACPI x86-based PC, Mercury PIG31T mainboard, Intel Celeron CPU @ 1.80GHz, 1.0

GB RAM, a single 150GB ATA HDD and other usual accessories which runs Microsoft XP (Service

Pack 3), OpenSolaris 2008.11 and CentOS 5.2

All your installations are "CD/DVD-ROM" based installation types. What about "Ethernet",

"FTP", "HTTP", "NFS" installation types?

This guide has been kept as simple as possible. It is intended for all types of users, ranging from

intermediate Linux users to the most experienced UNIX experts. Since, NFS, HTTP, FTP and other such

installation types usually require network access with servers up and running, which is impossible for an

ordinary home-user to have access to, I have only covered the CD/DVD-ROM based installation types.

Why would anyone ever need to run 3 OSes on the same hard disk of a computer?

For lots of reasons. Fun, for learning new installing and booting methodologies, for gaining inside

knowledge of multi-booting, partitioning schemes, how boot loaders operate and so on, or simply

because you just cannot afford 2 separate hard disk drives for the 3 different OSes you want to tinker

with. Last but not the very least, if you do wish, you can always install and configure your computer

system with 3 varying OSes installed in 2 separate hard disks. Not only is it highly recommendable,

but mandatory if you have significant data in question.

Why CentOS? Why * not * RHEL, Debian, Slackware, Caldera, SuSE, TurboLinux and

others?

Using CentOS is virtually same as using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) which is virtually same as

using earlier builds of Red Hat Linux. CentOS is a community-supported, freely-available OS which is a

100% compatible rebuild of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Since most of my past Linux projects and

work in general has been related to RHEL and currently with CentOS; CentOS has been considered over

other Linux distros. If you are using any other Linux distro, follow the same steps by replacing with

adequate steps from your specific Linux distro. If something fails, shoot an email at < sghosh.oxon at

yahoo dot co dot uk >

Where can I get the CentOS and OpenSolaris CD/DVD installation media?

CentOS can be freely downloaded from http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/5/isos/i386/. OpenSolaris

can be freely downloaded from http://www.opensolaris.com/get/index.jsp or register online to request

for an OpenSolaris 2008.11 x86/x64 media kit. A media kit would be shipped from Sun Microsystems

absolutely free of cost to your doorsteps.

Why OpenSolaris? Why * not * Sun Solaris, Digital UNIX, HP-UX, IBM-AIX and others?

OpenSolaris is an open source OS based on Sun Microsystems' commercial version of UNIX, Solaris.

OpenSolaris is gaining wide popularity amongst students, Web 2.0 developers and deployment, open

source OS developers worldwide, since apart from the source code which is 100% freely available,

documentation & support is readily available as well. Since the motto of writing this document is to

keep it as open-source and thereby as 'free' as possible, OpenSolaris has been chosen over other

commercial versions of UNIX.

Which kernel version have you used for CentOS 5.2?

Linux Kernel 2.6.18-92.el5 has been used for CentOS 5.2.

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