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I have a machine that is Win 7 Enterprise. I installed an Ubuntu 64-bit on a dual boot. However, it turns out that I have software requiring 32-but Ubuntu. Can I install another instance of Ubuntu as 32-bit and three boots?

Also, how can I change my Ubuntu to be the primary boot rather than Windows?

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    Please clarify what exactly your software requires from 32-bit Ubuntu.
    – dobey
    Sep 9, 2012 at 18:01

4 Answers 4

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You can run 32-bit applications on 64-bit Ubuntu. You may simply need to install the ia32-libs-multiarch package, or if you require some libraries not in that package, simply installing the library by appending :i386 to the package name may allow you to install the 32-bit version alongside the 64-bit version. Note that not all packages support multi-arch yet.

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Though you haven't explicitly said about Wubi install, I guess you are asking about Wubi installation of Ubuntu.

The short answer to your question is, Yes, If your CPU can support 64bit computing. In recent days, almost all CPU support 64bit OS. So, your chance is very high.

If your CPU support 64bit OS, then of course you can install another instance of 32bit Ubuntu inside your Windows. All you have to do is, Install the second instance of Ubuntu on a separate partition than the one, where you installed 64bit Ubuntu. That means, if you installed 64bit Ubuntu of D: drive, You can't install another instance of Ubuntu on the drive D:, so choose another partition for it.

After you installed 32bit Ubuntu, you should have three entries in Windows Boot Manager. The First one is "Windows" and the second and third one will be labeled "ubuntu". The first "ubuntu" entry is the 64bit Ubuntu (which you installed first) and the second one (the third entry) is 32bit Ubuntu , you installed later.

To make an Ubuntu entry as Default boot:

  1. Boot to the Windows

  2. Right Click on the Computer icon, either in the start menu or in the Desktop and select Properties.

  3. In the Properties Window, in the left blue side bar, there will be four link. Select the link saying "Advanced System Settings".

  4. In the new window, Select "Advanced" tab and in the "Startup and Recovery" section, click on the "Settings" button.

  5. Under "System startup" select an Ubuntu entry from the dropdown menu. Close all the windows.

    Reference

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You can install multiple Ubuntu using wubi.More on it is answered in this question. To make Ubuntu to make your primary boot(by primary boot,I am assuming that you don't want Wubi),you have to install ubuntu on a different partition.For that you can see Ubuntu Community Page.

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The short answer, yes you can.

But you need to use manual partition option, to create separate partition for each OS. As far as Ubuntu, you can use the same swap for both the installs.

I would recommend the use of either VirtualBox or VMware. VirtualBox is free, and can be installed for both Ubuntu and Windows. With virtual machine you wouldn't have to reboot your computer.

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