Triple boot - El Capitan, Ubuntu & Windows 8.X

[iceman4321]

Hey guys - has anyone managed to get triple boot working with El Capitan, Ubuntu & Windows 8.X?

Newbie here hence forgive my lack of understanding - Do I need to disable System Integrity Protection (rootless) first and then install rEFInd and then Ubuntu and then Windows then enable SIP?

Does it matter if I install Windows with Bootcamp first?

I appreciate questions are pretty loaded here, however any direction would be awesome!

cheers all.

 

[pituin]

I'm currently triple booting El Capitán, Windows 10 and Ubuntu. I installed Windows 7 a long time ago via Bootcamp and upgraded to Windows 10 via Windows update. I installed Ubuntu via a USB drive and installed reFind from there. It works whether you have SIP on or off as far as I know, but only if you run it from Ubuntu I guess.

It all works like a charm. Just be careful with Ubuntu's installation, don't mess the boot options or your partitions!!

 

[iceman4321]

Awesome! .... glad to hear it works for someone! btw, I have NEVER managed to get booting into Ubuntu via USB key drive working on el cap yet - do you have step by step instructions somewhere that I can follow? I have seen gazillions of videos on youtube, read articles on ubuntu.com and other blogs - none of them have worked. I think I am missing a step perhaps. Or actually, do I need to install reFind FIRST before doing the whole boot from USB key (holding option when restarting)? thanks a lot .....this gives me hope haha

So you recommend this right:

1) Install Windows 8.1 with Boot Camp first
2) Install reFind
3) Install Ubuntu via usb key
4) Done!

yep?

 

[pituin]

You just have to create a bootable USB from Mac following the instructions found in Ubuntu's web: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx

Then, after installing Windows, you can install reFind or just go ahead and restart holding the option key. The USB should be listed either way. Just boot into Ubuntu, select "Install", and go ahead. Then, as a final step, run reFind once again and you should be done. Just remember to be careful when installing Ubuntu, and remember to create the partitions from Mac OSX, and not via Ubuntu's install screen. Create 2 partitions, one for the swap (a gb will do) and another for the install, for best performance.

 

[iceman4321]

thanks pituin - I have tried following the instructions on the ubuntu site you mentioned but it doesnt talk about which specific ISO I should download for the mac e.g. is it amd 64 something version etc? Any ideas?

Also, just came across the article below too - this talking about installing ubuntu without letting it install a bootloader etc. did you do all of this? Thanks!

https://askubuntu.com/questions/688632/dual-boot-mac-el-captain-along-with-ubuntu-14-04

 

[pituin]

You should download the 64 bit version, yes.

I didn't follow those instructions, but you should!! I did it the other way because I'm not afraid of messing something up, I can always recover things pretty quickly. But having read that guide... it's definitely safer that way, and not too difficult