How Can I Run Multiple O.S.'s on the Same Computer?

Towhid

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Hello,

I know very little about computers except the general so I'm really struggling in my operating systems course that I'm taking in college right now. So any help is much appreciated.

My problem is that I don't know how to download and use multiple operating systems on the same computer (without erasing my present O.S. or affecting it in any way). Is there a way I can do this and if so where can I download this software?

Thanks a lot in advance…
 
One way would be to partition your hdd and install another OS on the partition then set up dual booting
 
What OS do you have in mind? If it is linux then you will be able to download it for free (which i'm hoping you are wanting) If you are hoping for a linux such as Ubuntu then you can find many tutorials for dual booting, just search google:

Ubuntu Help Page Dual Booting Tutorial

[URL="http://www.google.com/search?q=dual+boot+ubuntu+tutorial]Google Search[/URL]
 
Thanks, can you tell me the steps I need to follow to partition my hard drive and set up dual booting?

I was looking for something called VMware, I was told that it can be used to run multiple O.S. that are artificial and not the real thing and yet acts as though its real. I tried just now to download it but all I get is a zipped folder with some random files in it (at least that's what it seems to me). Does anyone know how to actually open the player and then how do you put the downloaded O.S.'s in there?

Sorry if these questions sound elementary but as I said I'm pretty illiterate at this stuff.
 
What OS do you have in mind? If it is linux then you will be able to download it for free (which i'm hoping you are wanting) If you are hoping for a linux such as Ubuntu then you can find many tutorials for dual booting, just search google:

Ubuntu Help Page Dual Booting Tutorial

[URL="http://www.google.com/search?q=dual+boot+ubuntu+tutorial]Google Search[/URL]

At the moment its imperative that I learn to use DOS but I was hoping to learn as many as I can including Linux. Thanks for the links I will look into them in a sec.

BTW is there a DOS version that is considered standard, if so what is it called?
 
to install linux just make a new partition and choose to install it to the new one during setup. same with any os really. the boot loader will sort its self. you will run into some problems if you install vista, then xp, etc.
id recommend either partition magic to sort your partitions or use the in built features during the os setup
 
There are a few way to do this.

as the first reply said you can partition your harddrive and install windows, then on another partition install an OS like linux, (or another version of windows).

you'll get a menu when you start the computer asking what OS you want to boot into, in this way you have multiple opperating systems and use onoly one at any time.

another way of using multiple opperating systems is to use VMware or microsoft virtual machine.

Personally I recommend VMware over MS virtual machine.
www.vmware.com

it's a free download.

you run this on our computer, then you click to add new virtual machines to your computer, in this way your computer acts as a host opperating system to other environments, (the only limitation being you hardware).

VMWare allows you to run windows and linux n the same box.
an advantage that vmware has over MS virtual machine is the networking.

you can have your virutaul machines (VMs) running sharing the host PCs network adapter (each having their own address on the network) or you can give your VMs no network adapters), or multiple network adapters,
also you can give your VMs their own private network so that the VMs can communicate with each other but not machines outside of your host machine.

it's a fairly straight forward installation.

the only thing that MSVM does that is slightly better than VM ware is the way in which the virtual hard disks are setup.

in MSVM you create a disk and that disk grows to the maximum size allowed by your hosts hard drive.

in VMware you create a disk of a set size, (eg 8GB) and that will create an 8GB drive size. the VMs on the VMware box can only use that 8GB.

both will let you pass through the USB connections and serial connections on the machine as well as the CD drive (vmware also lets you mount ISO images as the CD drive).

both let you manage the amount of ram used by the VMs quite nicely as well.
 
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