# On Installing Multiple Linux Distros on a Computer

**URL:** <https://community.unix.com/t/on-installing-multiple-linux-distros-on-a-computer/309308>\
**Category:** Fedora\
**Created:** [April 29, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/on-installing-multiple-linux-distros-on-a-computer/309308 "2012-04-29T07:28:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hMeU](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/hmeu/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@hMeU](https://community.unix.com/u/hMeU)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/on-installing-multiple-linux-distros-on-a-computer/309308/1 "2012-04-29T07:28:52Z")

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Guys, I was planning to install Ubuntu, Fedora and Backtrack on the same computer (along with Windows 7). My Specifications are:

2.67 Core i5  
4GB DDR3 RAM  
500 GB HDD

I have a system running Windows 7 with 3 partitions (240, 130, 130) GBs. And I was planning on freeing out 30GB of space and diving it into 3 new partitions. And, then, installing one linux-distro on each. Will the idea work ?

I've been running Ubuntu on vmware for some time but I'm quite not happy with it. So, I was planning to install it along with Windows. And, then, the idea came to have Fedora and Backtrack too. But, then, came the fear of conflict between these distros...

So, are there any chances of conflict between these distros when installed side-by-side ?

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**Author:** ![fpmurphy](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/fpmurphy/32/110_2.png) [@fpmurphy](https://community.unix.com/u/fpmurphy)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/on-installing-multiple-linux-distros-on-a-computer/309308/2 "2012-04-29T09:04:58Z")

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There should no conflict between the distros. However, you should pick one distro as the "main" distro and manage GRUB2 configuration from it.

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**Author:** ![ThomasMcA](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/thomasmca/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@ThomasMcA](https://community.unix.com/u/ThomasMcA)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/on-installing-multiple-linux-distros-on-a-computer/309308/3 "2012-04-30T11:07:37Z")

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Note that there are limitations to running multiple OS's on multiple partitions - you can only use (log into) one at a time, and it is difficult to change the allocated disk amounts (partition sizes.)

If you install your preferred distro on the entire drive, then install multiple VMs via VirtualBox or VMware, you can run more than one at the same time.

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**Author:** ![drl](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/drl/32/542_2.png) [@drl](https://community.unix.com/u/drl)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/on-installing-multiple-linux-distros-on-a-computer/309308/4 "2012-04-30T12:12:23Z")

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Hi.

Some help from [How to install and boot 145 operating systems in a PC - JustLinux Forums](http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147959) , but I often like to have more than 1 OS running, yet not on more than one box, so I use virtual machines. I liked VMWare, and lately I have been using VirtualBox.

Best wishes ... cheers, drl
