Dual boot Mint 9 with Win 7

[Iamjosh]

Hey guys, I am trying to install a dual boot with Linux Mint 9 being first and Win 7 being last. I am using EasyBCD 2.0 (beta) version as a boot loader/os selection.

I have a single hdd ( 1.0 TB) with four partitions in total;

Partiition 1: Linux Mint 9 / 433 GB;
Partition 2: NTFS Win7 / 100 MB;
Partition 3: NTFS Win7 / 488 GB;
Partition 4: SWAP (Linux) / 9 GB.

The choice of installing Win7 second is a personal preference. I had tested dual boot system utilizing Mint 9 boot loader and works great but using windows boot loader I am running into a problem. I realize the issue is related to organizing a bootloader path. Does anyone have any idea how to resolve this? Thanks very much.

http://i32.tinypic.com/34payja.png


http://i32.tinypic.com/1fy2d5.png

I forgot one crucial bit of info; Under current setup when I attempt to boot into Linux Mint 9, I get the following message:

" Try (hd0,0): EXT2: "

I was told that the message should disappear shortly when it locates GRUB but unfortunately it does not.

[kilgoretrout]

You are trying to chain load Grub2 from windows and it won't work. That's pretty much the beginning and end of it AFAIK. In fact, you can't chain load Grub2 with Grub legacy either; it's a well known limitation. Grub2 is currently in a state of heavy development and it will be a while before it calms down. Many have criticized Debian, ubuntu and its derivatives for going to Grub2. All other linux distros are staying with Grub legacy because of the stability issues with Grub2. Note, the method you are attempting, i.e. chainloading the linux bootloader from the windows bootlaoder, will work with Grub legacy if you want to try another linux distro that uses Grub legacy.

Edit: I just noticed that in your configuration screen, you are specifically selecting Grub legacy as the bootloader. If there is an option for Grub2, you can try that but given the reported problems, I am not hopeful. Grub legacy will certainly not work since Mint uses Grub2.

[Iamjosh]

I have explored all combination without any success. The screen I posted was more of an example but it does not seem to work. I do have a question regarding some youtube videos I have seen where people have shown a dual or even triple boot os systems utilizing windows boot loader (i.e Mint,OSX and Win 7).

[kilgoretrout]

Ubuntu just switched from Grub legacy to Grub2 with the 9.10 which was released on October 29, 2009. If you upgraded to 9.10 from an earlier ubuntu release instead of doing a clean install, ubuntu did not replace legacy Grub with Grub2 because they knew they would be swamped with booting problems if they did. I would assume that Mint followed a similar path since Mint follows Ubuntu releases very closely. Mint is pretty much Ubuntu under the hood with many nice userland tweaks to make Ubuntu more user friendly to someone coming from windows. If the version of Mint that you saw on the youtube video used Grub legacy, than the windows bootloader should have no problem with it. Can't comment on OSX as I am unfamiliar with its booting methods.

If you want to just dual boot Mint and Windows7, just use Grub2 to chain load the windows bootloader. Mint will automatically set this up for you if you install Mint after you install Windows7. The Mint installation routine will automatically detect the presence of the Win7 installation and create a boot entry for it in Grub2.

[kbkatz]

I'm running Windows with Linux Mint 9 as the Primary (boots first). I used the default bootloader that came with Mint. I installed Mint and the Bootloader to a 2nd HDD, changed my master and slave jumpers on my 2 x HDD, thereby making the Mint 9 default with the option of booting into Windows if I should choose.

Linux Mint 9 works great so far.


you may also want to try Mint's XChat IRC or the Mint forum too.

[Iamjosh]

Originally Posted by kbkatz I'm running Windows with Linux Mint 9 as the Primary (boots first). I used the default bootloader that came with Mint. I installed Mint and the Bootloader to a 2nd HDD, changed my master and slave jumpers on my 2 x HDD, thereby making the Mint 9 default with the option of booting into Windows if I should choose. Linux Mint 9 works great so far. you may also want to try Mint's XChat IRC or the Mint forum too.

Thanks very much for your help. I've explored that version of Mint as the primary and it worked without a flaw. I just wanted to try the other way out of my own curiosity but still can't seem to get it working. I'll keep working on it.