Multiboot on a laptop: windows Solaris Linux

Hi

Just want to share....

Multiboot: winlinsos; June 2016

Lenovo x230, 4GB - No internal DVD driver

I have

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes, 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x710171a0

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048   127068159    63533056    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2   *   127070720   178187519    25558400   bf  Solaris
/dev/sda3       178188288   234434559    28123136   83  Linux
[root@localhost ~]#

I want windows 7, Solaris 11.3 and Centos 7 on my laptop.

1) install windows 7 or 10 on sda1 ; windows pre-install; using gparted (gparted liveCD) to create 3 primary partitions sda1, sda2, sda3

2) install linux centos7 on sda3 ; using USB ; not choose lvm &xfs , see below

Choose KDE if you like widgets (waether, comics, news, status, exchange rate....Very good)

NB: if using centos 7: boot and install from Live DVD (1.5GB); if using install DVD (4.3GB), 2min after boot you get "dracut-initqueue timeout" and 1min after everything sto
NB: just found out: because of unetbootin, try dd from e.g "Mint live DVD", it works!!

e.g:
dd if=CentOS-7.0-1406-x86_64-DVD.iso of=/dev/sdb ; sdb is my 8GB USB

if your iso is on ntfs FS, mount like this, using ntfs-3g
How to Mount a NTFS Drive on CentOS / RHEL / Scientific Linux
or "mint live dvd", it has ntfs-g3

NOT Choose LVM and xfs due to grub2. Make your partition with "Standard Partition" (e.g /dev/sda2 ) and ext3

3)install bootblock on the primary partition from step 2 above, for using Solaris grub2 late on step 4)
Dual Boot Oracle Solaris 11/11 and Linux (Ubuntu 11.10/grub2) (BC, DR, HA, SC and MdM) (Hartmut)

check with lsblk , my linux reside on sda3 (the 3. partition)

grub2-install --boot-directory=/boot --force --no-floppy /dev/sda3

output is: just ignore the warning

[root@localhost ~]# grub2-install --boot-directory=/boot --force --no-floppy /dev/sda3
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub2-install: warning: File system �ext2� doesn't support embedding.
grub2-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
Installation finished. No error reported.
[root@localhost ~]#

4) boot solaris LiveDVD 1.4GB ; I need to borrow an external USB DVD driver to overcome the USB install issue, see below

NB: if using "Text install iso" and unetbootin for USB, the boot will fail at 90% during the installation. I think if you use "dd" as shown above in step 2, "Text install iso" might work.

NOTICE, to get the right graphic driver you need to choose the VESA boot menu.The installation will remember the VESA setting. If not doing this, your screen on X230 will flick, blink (in graphic and console mode) no matter what you try.

From the Desktop, click "install oracle solaris" and install on a new primary partition, my is sda2

reboot

5) Solaris will only setup Windows and Solaris in it's grub2, it ignores your linux bootloader.
boot in solaris:
Create this new file /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst , put the following 3 lines

title Centos 7
root (hd0,2)
chainloader +1

6) extra (do it if you know what you are doing)

bootadm list-menu
bootadm set-menu console=text
bootadm change-entry -i 0 kargs="-v"

DONE

Good luck
van12

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