Booting Multiple

Operating Systems

Presentation to the Bowie Senior Computing Club

7/16/2015
Problem:
1. Our Computer Lab systems need to boot multiple operating
systems [currently handle Win7, Win8]
2. We have a single-“MBR”-disk configuration
3. Want to keep our image-backup scheme for system
maintenance [requires a large “Backup” partition]

Solution:
1. Utilize a multiple-partition configuration
2. Use a “boot manager” [we already do ---- “just” need to
add more partitions!]

Result: eventual success,

but many lessons learned.
Formats (make “1”s & “0”s meaningful)
Three tiers:
• File formats: e.g. pictures can be stored in JPG, PNG, PDF,
PDS, …. It’s the job of “apps” (software programs) to
understand / decode them. Note that it doesn’t matter
what kind of partition they’re in.
• Partition formats: e.g. FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Ext4,…. It’s the
job of operating systems to understand / decode these. If
the OS supports a partition type, you can ignore the details
– just copy, move, drag-and-drop, ….
• HDD primary structures (special concern is the boot
partition): In order to load the OS, something other than the
OS needs to control the HDD. This is the job of software in
non-volatile memory that’s not on the HDD. Two classes of
this stuff: old style=BIOS which handles only MBR disks;
new style=UEFI which handles MBR & GPT disks.
Utilities You May Need
• GNU Partition Editor (GPartEd): bootable
partition utilities – best for controlling the
“extended” partition
• Partition Wizard: bootable partition utilities –
best for moving / resizing partitions
• EasyBCD: a Windows-based utility to control the
Windows Boot Manager
• Windows Disk Management: >Control Panel
>Admin Tools >Computer Management >Disk
Management
Master Boot Record (MBR)
• The Master Boot Record is the first sector on every
disk. It’s small – just 512 bytes.
• The MBR contains the partition table for the disk
and a small amount of executable code that
examines the partition table, and identifies the
partition with the operating system. The MBR then
finds the system partition's starting location on the
disk, loads that boot sector into memory, and
transfers control to it.
MBR = 1 st 512 Bytes on the Disk

code &
data

disk “signature”

THE “Partition Table”

End-of-MBR mark
 Partition Table (MBR scheme)
• Has a 64-byte standard layout that is independent of
the operating system.
• Each entry is 16 bytes long, thus a hard limit of 4
entries!
• Each entry starts at a fixed offset from the start of the
MBR.
• Data include:
Boot indicator (Active?)
Start & end addr (head / cylinder / sector) – the size of
these fields creates a limit on total disk size!
Partition type (e.g FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, EXT4, extended,…)
“The MBR Rules”
• Only 4 primary partitions per hard disk. These can be
bootable.
• Of the primary partitions, only one can be marked
active. That’s the one that actually gets booted.
• One extended partition can be added in place of a
primary partition. Extended partitions hold only logical
partitions.
• Logical partition can not be booted!

But… are these

“Hard & Fast” or “Squishy”?
 BIOS Sequence
• Wait for “Power good”, POST, video card initialized, display startup
screen, initialize other devices, more diagnostics (beyond POST),
display system status, accept user re-configurations, …
• Look for boot disks. Order can be set in BIOS (maybe just “HDD or
more specifically HDD#2).
• Having identified its target boot drive, the BIOS looks at the master
boot record (the first sector on the disk). Code in the MBR is
executed, the partition table is analyzed, the active partition is
identified & its 1st sector is loaded into memory. Finally a JUMP is
made to it.
• This sector may be the boot record of the operating system, or
optionally a boot manager could be used. A boot manager analyzes
the primary partition(s) on the disk and then presents a menu to you
and asks which operating system you want to use.
Boot Managers
 So What’s the Problem…
• Our current computers have MBR disks (allowing 4
primary/bootable partitions)
• We need 4 operating systems. Seems OK, but…..
• Dell uses 2 of the 4 partitions for “other stuff”!!!
• Extended Diagnostics: During BIOS execution, you can
request either BIOS-based diagnostics, or much more
extensive disk-based diagnostics resident in a separate
partition. This partition is “hidden”. It can be seen – but not
deleted – by “Disk Management”.
• RECOVERY: Given its name & size, this looks like it holds the
data for making “recovery media”. And maybe it does – but
Dell made it the Active partition!!!!
GPT versus MBR
GUID Partition Table (GPT) is the next generation
partitioning scheme developed to lift restrictions of the
old MBR. It’s benefits include:
• Up to 128 primary partitions for the Windows
implementation (only 4 in MBR);
• The maximum allowed partition size is 18 exabytes
[1018] (only 2 terabytes [1012] in MBR);
• More reliable thanks to replication and cyclic
redundancy check (CRC) protection of the partition
table;
• A well defined and fully self-identifying partition format
(data critical to the platform operation is located in
partitions, but not in un-partitioned or hidden sectors
as this is the case with MBR).
GPT Experience
• Used a partition utility to convert an MBR disk to a
GPT disk. Win7 & 8 could read/write the new disk!!
• But.. the GPT disk was GREEK to BIOS!! The disk
is absolutely not bootable by BIOS, and there is no
upgrade-to-UEFI option from Dell.

So we’re stuck with BIOS & MBR. Time to

find out just how Squishy those rules are.
After Much Trial-and-Error
Eventually was able to configure the disk like this.
RECOVERY is still the “active” partition. The green
represents the “Extended” partition.
[Linux]
Ext4 Swap
Installation Sequence
1. Leave the 2 Dell partitions alone
2. Add Win7 (primary). Only one partition slot left.
3. Add an “Extended” partition. Make it the-rest-of-
the-disk.
4. Within the Extended partition, add Win8, Win10
& XTRA.
5. Install Linux. Let it create the Ext4 & Swap
partitions. These can either be “logical” (within
Extended) or primary (Extended is shrunk and
then partitions are added outside it).
 Back to Those Rules…
• Only 4 primary partitions per hard disk.
• Of the primary partitions, only one can be marked
active. That’s the one that actually gets booted.
• One extended partition can be added in place of a
primary partition. Extended partitions hold only logical
partitions which cannot be booted!

All were violated!

Only 4 primary partitions (?)
Apparently Linux does their partitioning very
differently. The Ext4 & Swap partitions aren’t
recognized by Windows Disk Manager. Partition
tools like GPartEd & Partition Wizard handle all types,
but even they were stopped by this rule. However,
the Linux installer was not!.

Linux doesn’t abide

by this rule.
Active Partition Gets Booted (?)
RECOVERY is the active partition. It holds no
operating system, but:
• It does hold the Boot Manager; and
• The MBR processing does in fact jump to the active
partition

Marking a partition “active” means that its

boot record gets executed after MBR
processing. This active partition isn’t
necessarily an operating system.
Logical Partitions Can’t Be Booted (?)

Well, when called from a boot manager…

…yes they can!

Questions?

And now it’s time to play with the systems!

All FOUR of them!