[Dual-boot] Rafaella+Windows 7

Hello wmh - Just so you're aware of it, my guide is actually aimed at installing Linux Mint alongside Windows on UEFI systems, not on MBR systems. Here is one of the main differences between the two: UEFI systems are installed on a disk with a GPT partition table. This allows you to do two things you cannot do on a disk with a MBR partition table: 1.) You can use a disk that is larger than 2.2GB in size. 2.) You can create up to 128 primary disk partitions on the disk.

On the other hand, MBR systems use a disk with a MBR partition table, which only allows up to four primary disk partitions -OR- up to three primary disk partitions plus an extended partition, which can contain an additional number of logical disk partitions. Using extended and logical partitions is the only way you can create 5 or more disk partitions on a MBR disk.

I hate to say it, but if you should really start over and set up the disk properly using Gparted, then reinstall Linux Mint, otherwise you will not be able to use the 695GB of unallocated space to create any new partitions. Here's an outline of what you must do:

1.) Boot into a live CD session of Mint using your installation media, then open Gparted and delete all of the existing Linux partitions. Starting with the last one and working up, right-click and select "Delete" for each one, leaving the 100GB NTFS Windows partition as the only partition on the disk. Verify that all the three pending disk operations shown at the bottom of the panel are correct and you are deleting only the three Linux partitions. Then go up and click "Edit" and select "Apply All Operations". When the panel refreshes you will find the 100GB NTFS partition as the first line and the rest of the disk shown as "unallocated" on the second line. NOTE: When you click "Edit", you also have the option to "Undo the Last Operation" or "Cancel All Operations". This allows you to correct any mistakes - keep this in mind for later.

2.) Right-click the line marked "unallocated" and select "New". Then for "Create as", select "Extended". Do not alter the partition size - you want to use the entire unallocated space on the disk to create the extended partition. Click "Add" and verify that this appears in the list of pending operations.

3.) Now create your swap partition. Right click the line marked "unallocated". a.) For "Create as" select "Logical". b.) For "Filesystem" select "linux-swap". c.) For "New Size" enter 8192MB(8GB). d.) For "Label" enter "Swap". Then click "Add" and verify that this appears in the list of pending operations.

4.) Now create your root partition. Right click the line marked "unallocated". a.) For "Create as" select "Logical". b.) For "Filesystem" select "ext4". c.) For "New Size" enter 24576MB(24GB). d.) For "Label" enter "Root". Then click "Add" and verify that this appears in the list of pending operations.

5.) Now create your home partition. Right click the line marked "unallocated". a.) For "Create as" select "Logical". b.) For "Filesystem" select "ext4". c.) For "New Size" enter 102400MB(100GB). d.) For "Label" enter "Home". Then click "Add" and verify that this appears in the list of pending operations.

6.) Now take one last look at the partition table and the pending operations to verify that everything is correct. Then go up and click "Edit" and select "Apply All Operations". When the panel refreshes, you will find /dev/sda2 is assigned to the extended partition, /dev/sda5 is assigned to the swap partition, /dev/sda6 is assigned to root, and /dev/sda7 is assigned to home. Keep this in mind for installation.

Now there is one thing left to do: Right-click the line for swap and select "swap on" from the menu. This mounts and activates swap, saving you a step during installation. Now you can close Gparted.

7.) Now make your internet connection and begin installation. When you get to the screen marked "Installation Options", select "Something Else", and on the next screen you will find a partition table similar to the one in Gparted. Begin by clicking the line for your root partition - /dev/sda6. Then go down and click the "Change" button. On the pop-up menu that appears, you must do three things: a.) For "Use as" select "Ext4 journaling file system". b.) Check the box marked "Format". c.) For "Mount Point" select " / " - the symbol for root. When you are done click the "OK" button.

Now click the line for your home partition - /dev/sda7. Then go down and click the "Change" button. On the pop-up menu that appears, you must do three things: a.) For "Use as" select "Ext4 journaling file system". b.) Check the box marked "Format". c.) For "Mount Point" select "/home". When you are done click the "OK" button.

There is one last thing to do on this screen. Where you see "Device for bootloader installation", use the default choice "/dev/sda" - this is the correct choice on MBR systems such as yours. DO NOT select a numbered partition! Now you can click the "Install Now" button and finish the installation.

8.) When you are done, you may find that the grub boot menu does not appear and you cannot boot into Windows. The fix is easy. Boot into Linux Mint and open the Terminal. Then enter the command "sudo os-prober" and verify that Windows appears in the output. Then enter "sudo update-grub". The next time you boot the system, you will find the grub boot menu appear and it will offer you the choice of booting Linux Mint or Windows.

 

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Hello wmh - When you re-installed Windows, how many partitions were created for Windows? Is there just the Windows C: system partition, or is there a 100MB Service partition at the start of the disk plus the Windows C: partition?

 

@wmh - It's " sudo os-prober " - you left off the "r".

EDIT #1: Thanks for the screenshot. What you can try is this: Boot into a live CD session of Mint using your installation media. Then use Gparted to create a NTFS partition in the space marked "unallocated". After you do this, boot into Windows and see if Disk Management lets you assign a drive letter to the new partition. It should work.

EDIT #2: Yes, you should install any Level 3 updates. DO NOT install anything marked Level 4 or Level 5 - if you see any, they're there for developers/testers, not mainstream users like us.

 

Hello whm - Use the 698Gb at the end of the disk to create the new NTFS partition. A 100MB partition won't be very useful.

 

@wmh - In response to Edit #1: Yes, you can change mirrors and use one that's closer to you. Go to Menu > Administration > Software Sources. You will see two bars in the middle of the panel: The top is Main (rafaela) and the second is Base (trusty). Click on one at a time and wait for it to search all of the available mirrors. When it's done searching, the fastest mirror will be shown at the top. Then just click on the line to select it and click "Apply". After you have done this for both Main and Base, go to the upper right corner and click "Update the Cache". That's it.

 

@wmh - In reply to Edit #2, I'm not aware of what this error message is about. You have to understand, I installed Mint 17 Quiana about a year and a half ago, then upgraded from 17 to 17.1 and again from 17.1 to 17.2. So it's been quite a while since I've done a clean install and update.

Give me a chance to look into this error. I can PM someone on the Linux Mint forum and see what they have to say about it.

EDIT: This is a bug that had been reported in bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu and it seems that it's been around for some time.

Here is the fix - open the Terminal and enter:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall gdk-pixbuf2.0-0

The developers claim it has no significant impact on the system, so fixing it is very low on their list of priorities.

 

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I don't know why people does all kind of mess installing linux.

1) Format the disk with windows disk manager, then just change the partiton IDs and format them from linux or, even better, use acronis or paragon or whatever to create directly the linux partitions required.

2) don't install GRUB/LILO/Syslinux/whatever on the MBR, install it in the linux boot partition (or in the only linux partition)

3) after linux is installed reboot in windows (is the only thing you can do using that way) fire easybcd and add the linux boot (or only) partition to the windows bootloader

4) reboot and chose linux

That's all.

 

Hello wmh - I'd be very careful using ntfs-3g with the Windows C: system partition because it allows read/write access. If you unintentionally modify or delete a Windows system file, you could cause yourself some very big problems. That's the reason you use read-only with Windows C: and set up a different NTFS partition for shared data that allows read/write for Linux.