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I am planning to do a fresh install of windows and ubuntu 12.04 on my laptop. I plan to do it with my 4 gb pen drive. What the problem is that I want to have both the bootable windows installer AND ubuntu installer together. (Because once I install windows I'd be formatting my drive and reserving space for the subsequent ubuntu install and I cannot make a bootable ubuntu) Is there a way to make a bootbale pen drive which would install windows and ubuntu both?

PS: The windows iso is 2 gigs and the ubuntu one is like 700 mb, so it should fit in the pen drive, right?

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OK, so I found the best possible easiest solution there is. Simply download and install Yumi Multiboot installer in windows. Download here. Follow the instructions and keep your iso s handy. After installation of one OS installer is done, you may proceed to install another. This was probably the easiest solution I could find. And now I have a 4g gig pen drive with windows 7 and ubuntu 12.04 installer.

Cheers!

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You really might want to install Windows first and let it do it's own thing. Then use the capability of the Ubuntu installer to create the space you require dynamically and do a proper dual boot installation. As you have to boot the USB you can only boot one image or the other, so I would say your suggestion is a non-starter.

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  • Thanks for the info. But once I install windows there will a partition for windows, on which it will be installed. If it occupies all the space then ubuntu would go and I woould have one partition with windows installed in it.Is it possible during running the windows installer to partition (one for windows and one for ubuntu)the hard disk, like it can be done in ubuntu?
    – digvijay91
    May 10, 2012 at 9:20
  • No - Windows normally installs to the entire disk. If the disk is partitioned first, you can make Windows use only the one partition. Otherwise, the Ubuntu installer can re-size the Windows partition before installing Ubuntu.
    – barrydrake
    May 10, 2012 at 16:58
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It's totally doable. Use grub4dos. Follow this tutorial to put Windows 7 on that stick: http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-installation-upgrade/44151-tips-using-grub4dos-install-windows-7-usb-pendrive.html You can mount/extract windows 7 ISO under Linux and copy its content onto the flash drive.

Then go here to prep you flashdrive for Ubuntu - you can either have it as a persistent, or live, read-only version, just read the guide: http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/ubuntu

The last thing to do is to install the bootloader, which can be done either from Windows (using RMPrepUSB as described in step 3 of that Ubuntu installation tutorial above), or from Linux.

If you want to do it using Linux, then download this zip: https://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/detail?name=grub4dos-0.4.5c-2012-04-24.7z&can=2&q= extract it and execute bootlace.com file like so: ./bootlace.com /dev/sdX (where /dev/sdX is you flash drive), then copy the file called grldr to the root of your flash, unmount it and you should be good to go :)

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You would have to be pretty savvy but, with a little homework, I bet you could pull it off using this...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/

...or if you want to make the multi-boot using windows...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/xboot-multiboot-iso-usb-creator/

....you can even use the remaining 1Gb+- as a persistent 'micro'hard-drive for linux...

....The second option is probably your best bet (as stated above, you'll want to install windows first). Using this method still requires you to install one OS/distro at a time but, that's a small price to pay for a sweet hack. If it works, let us know. Have fun 8^) ....This kind of talk makes me want a desktop and a laptop, with identical dual-boot installs and, I want them to sync quietly and automatically when they get within blue-tooth range of each other. If either hard drive becomes corrupt, the sync program must be the first program to terminate, triggering a selective format and re-sync. Yup,That would be cool.

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