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Methods, Problems and Solutions

Tricks on creating a Multi Boot PC with more than 4 operating Systems

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[Overview and General Ranting]
[Installation Options]

Warning: Given the fast changes happenining in hard disk partitioning and boot managing software, some or all of the following may not be correct. The following is not a substitute for thinking for yourself.

Overview and General Ranting

Getting around the 4 Primary Partition Limit on a single disk

PCs have a limit of only allowing 4 usable primary partitions per hard disk. However, new freeware and shareware boot manager software are now using tricks to get around this which can be very useful for software developers (requiring multiple operating systems for testing on a single PC: DOS 6.2, Win95, Win98, WinNT 3.5, WinNT 4.0, Windows 2000, SuSE Linux, Redhat Linux 6.0, Redhat Linux 6.2, etc). These boot managers can also getting around the limits within which a bootable partition normally had to reside in. Plus they can also have extra features such as passwords per each partition, etc (e.g., using the GPL'd Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL)). This can be useful if you are working at home and wish to restrict kids from messing with your work Operating system while they are free to play with other parts of the PC for games.

The following tutorials use the Freeware/Shareware Ranish Partition Manager (RPM) as this software is a work of genius, is friendly to use, and gives maximum flexibility. It is not only a partition manager but also quite a nice and flexible "boot manager".

The other software used is the GPL'd freely available GUI based Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL) boot manager which also incorporates the Ranish Partition Manager (RPM) and can boot 24 "boot items".

Relevant links:

  • "The REAL Multi-boot"

  • Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL) Boot Manager - GPL'd by Geurt Vos

Various Install options for > 4 OS Multiboot PCs

Ranish Partition Manager


Ranish Partition Manager (RPM) and the GUI based Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL)

The following is quite contrived as only two operating systems are present (Win95 and Redhat 6.2). (The PC I normally do Multi-OS work with is on temporary loan)


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