What's a triple boot method(macOS, Linux, Windows 10) that is safe and (relatively) easy to do?
I originally thought it was as simple as using Bootcamp and then making a partition for Linux. But apparently installing Linux breaks the Windows installation.
I currently have High Sierra installed on my rBP 13" 2014. I wish to add Linux Mint 18.3 and Windows 10. What would be the general procedure?
Below is the output from the command diskutil list
.
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *251.0 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 250.8 GB disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +250.8 GB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume macOS 16.8 GB disk1s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 22.3 MB disk1s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 517.8 MB disk1s3
4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk1s4
You can install Windows via Bootcamp, Apple provides instructions for that. For Linux, follow these detailed instructions: https://www.lifewire.com/dual-boot-linux-and-mac-os-4125733. You can basically install as many Linux distributions as you have space for.
I have a dual boot setup with macOS High Sierra and Windows (via Bootcamp) and a Linux distribution on a USB stick (permanent installation, not a Live USB stick), effectively making it a triple boot setup. I am using rEFInd as boot manager. The only downside I experience is that I have to hold down the option key every time I reboot my MacBook and choose the OS to boot from, because otherwise it finds no OS to boot and displays some EFI error screen. Don‘t know why and if it will be an issue for you but not a big deal either.
Judging by the volume of questions we receive, no dual boot setup meets your safe and easy criteria. I would just be sure you have a really good backup of all your data and keep your setup media, license keys and setup scripts well documented and handy so you can always just wipe your drive and start over.
A macos wipe and reinstall from saved media takes 20 minutes. If you take a week to make the perfect setup, you’ll never recover that effort. Better to be able to set things up quickly than perfect a complicated setup.
Also, quality virtualization has such a low performance penalty, why even triple boot?