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+--- Thread: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? (/showthread.php?tid=103811)
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Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - JEBB - 09-23-2010
At the local Senior Center the Windows computers they have been using for computer instructions are dying. I want to suggest replacing them with Mac Minis. Among the people who go there there is a growing interest in learning Mac OSX that the Center has not been able to serve. But in addition, the need for teaching courses centered on Windows XP will continue as will the interest in its replacement, Windows 7. Some are also asking for classes in Linux. So my question is: Can a Mac have all four operating systems on it, say using Boot Camp, that are each separately bootable? Thanks.
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - rz - 09-23-2010
Using Boot Camp? No
Using Virtualization (Parallels, Fusion, VirtualBox)? Yes
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - JEBB - 09-23-2010
Could the HD be partitioned and some boot loader, like Chameleon, be used to set up for booting from the different partitions?
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - jdc - 09-23-2010
Maybe, but why make it harder.
Parallels or Fusion is the simplest setup by far.
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - cbelt3 - 09-23-2010
Virtual is FAR safer. Set up a virtual environment for each. Heck, you can set up the environment to dump and refresh after each user is done (must save own files to flash drive !). That way you won't have to do the obligatory nuke and pave every week.
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - Wailer - 09-23-2010
Senior Center? Linux?
Ohmygosh. I wish my dad would try and understand what an OS does.
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - microchip - 09-23-2010
Yes! As many as you want. Take a look at rEFIt. It's an alternate bootloader; very easy to use.
With that said, I'd still go with VMs for everything(I think you can now even run OS X in a VM under Virtualbox or VMWare) because then you can just have disposable clean images.
rEFIt and some forethought - gabester - 09-23-2010
I'll second the use of rEFIt as being able to help you immensely if you plan to truly multiboot and not just virtualize things. VirtualBox is freely available for personal use, but probably also circumstances like this (not familiar with the actual license terms).
You might also want to look at lockdown software such as Faronics Deep Freeze to keep these computers working without getting in the way of what the learners want to figure out.
Be aware that XP requires an MBR partition to boot off of; Mac OS X's boot camp tricks it by creating an MBR wrapper when it partitions the disk. Additionally, XP and 7 both must be on one of the first 4 partitions on the disc to boot.
I've worked around MBR and multiboot limitations in the past in a couple of ways:
1. Used Boot Camp first, then the command line to shrink the OS X partition and split the boot camp partition. I was able to multiboot XP, 7, and two versions of OS X on this setup (10.4 and 10.5) so I don't see why linux would stop you.
2. Format the disk as MBR - but this will get hairy with OS X installation and updates as they will check the disk and demand GPT or APM.
3. Put your XP and 7 installs in the 2nd and 3rd partitions on the disk respectively; linux and other OS X installs can go later.
There's also some stuff about this on MacOS X Hints - http://www.macosxhints.com - just search for my username over there I've got a fairly extensive and somewhat dated post; also search for multiboot as I believe there were a couple more recent hints.
You can PM me as well but I may not have a lot of time... I think the above posters recommending virtualization are on the right track in general but if performance is a factor then you want native boot.
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Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - Forrest - 09-23-2010
VirtualBox works fine with Linux, Windows XP, Vista and 7 and it's free.
Re: Can one put four operating systems on a Mac? - Seacrest - 09-23-2010
With all those OSes, you're gonna need a pretty Big Mac™.