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I'm quite the newbie at operating systems etc., so forgive me if my question is dumb. Is it possible to install Linux and Windows on a Mac, to run side by side with OS X? I'm about to start a new study, and I would like the new retina MacBook Pro for it, but for my study I'm definetely going to be programming C# and for that I'll prefer Windows. And I've recently started exploring C++, and I really love Linux and would like to make some apps for it, so that's why I'd like to have Linux on there as well.

Question summary: On a new retina MacBook Pro, is it possible to install Windows and Linux next to Mac OS X so I can choose which OS I want on boot?

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Aug 11 '12 at 14:42

5 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

It's possible to install them in multiple partitions and multiboot. But the resulting setup will be a little "rigid".

Doing OS X and Windows is easy. Adding Linux to the mix is a little more complicated.

I suggest you do not multiboot and only install OS X as the main OS and then use a virtualization solution, like Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. With those you can basically run a whole operating system, like Windows or your favorite Linux distribution, as if they were OS X applications.

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VirtualBox is another great virtualization solution – ephsmith Aug 11 '12 at 15:49
+1 I've been using Parallels for the past week (only got my iMac a little over a week ago). So far I have not run into anything that doesn't work well in Parallels. A friend of mine runs some Linux distribution from Oracle under Parallels and has had no problems. I was thinking of using BootCamp at first, but it doesn't look like it's going to be necessary. – MetalMikester Aug 11 '12 at 23:13
Would WUBI (Ubuntu coexisting with a Windows partition) work well on a Mac? – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Aug 31 '12 at 19:59
up vote 4 down vote

I recommend that you check out rEFIt for your Partition boot manager on Mac. It works great for triple booting a mac, with robust documentation.

http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/

First install refit, then install Windows via BootCamp Assistant in Mac. You will need to partition your Mac drive again and install Linux (settings depend on the distro). It should work out of the box. If you need more help, post on www.superuser.com

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up vote 2 down vote

Technically, it's possible using Apple's default boot manager utility, Boot Camp. You'll need to make some extra effort to install Linux however, as Boot Camp supports Windows only officially (but, as I said, some people have already done it).

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up vote 2 down vote

A fairly easy way to do this is to install Windows through Bootcamp, then Ubuntu Linux using Wubi. This negates the need to install a boot loader. There's a writeup on it at lowendmac.

If you want to get a little more technical, or use a different Linux distro, a little familiarity with boot loaders might help. Here's a good triple boot guide that goes over the process, step by step.

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up vote -3 down vote

this method doesnt require any extra boot managers like refit. check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O40UG1guLeo

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Answers on Ask Different need to be more than just a link or a reference to a YouTube video. It's okay to include a link, but please summarize or excerpt it in the answer. The idea is to make the answer stand alone. – patrix♦ May 11 at 8:41

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