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Install Windows-controlled Dual-Boot of Linux Mint 16 (Petra) on a Windows 7 computer
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Details: Install Linux Mint 16 on first or other disk when Windows 7 was installed on first and leave Windows 7 in control of the dual-bootInstalling other operating systems on your Windows 7 computer may invalidate your warrantee.
Make your preparations
Make disk space available for Linux Mint 16You must create disk space and leave it as Unallocated or Free (not formatted). Decide first on how much disk space you wish to allocate to Linux and if you will create an extra partition (/home) for your Linux data (recommended). This data partition can be left intact should you wish to reinstall Linux at a later time. The Swap area size should be about twice your RAM size but you should allow less than twice if you have a lot of RAM. If installing Linux Mint 16 on a 2nd or 3rd hard disk:
If installing Linux Mint 16 on the first hard disk:
Install Linux Mint 16Raid/LVM was not an issue when testing and partitions were created manually during installation. Mint was installed on the previously created Unallocated space with its boot loader installed to the Linux Mint EXT4 / partition. Windows still booted automatically after Mint 16 installation. Finally EasyBCD was run in Windows to create the Linux Mint 16 entry in Win7's boot manager thereby creating the Windows-controlled dual-boot.
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Place a Linux Mint 16 boot option in Windows boot loader menu
Congratulations! You have created a natural dual-boot of Windows 7 and Linux Mint 16 (Nadia) when Windows 7 was installed first, the original MBR is unchanged, and the Windows Boot Loader menu is shown on bootup. Footnote: EasyBCD creates an NST folder on the root of the Windows 7 partition when it adds an operating system to the Windows 7 boot loader. This NST folder contains boot sector file(s) vital to booting added OSs. It must not be deleted. |
Remove/Uninstall Linux and reclaim spaceLinux Mint 16 is wonderful, regularly updated, and it's free! Nevertheless you may wish to remove it at some stage. Removing Mint 16 and regaining its disk space is quick and painless.
In another a few seconds you will have all the Linux space back in Windows 7. EasyBCD has an Uninstall shortcut in Start > All Programs > NeoSmart Technologies. |
Repair Windows 7 StartupYou will not have any problem if you follow the instructions as stated above. However you might encounter some freak occurrence like a power failure during an installation. Windows 7 will boot again if you execute the following procedure.
If still stuck for a solution, boot again from the installation DVD, select Repair your computer, highlight Windows 7, get to a Command Prompt, use DIR command (DIR C: or DIR D: etc.) to identify drive letter allocations (sizes and Labels will help), and type in:
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Help! I get only the GRUB boot menu!If you only get a GRUB boot menu on bootup, then GRUB was mistakenly installed to the Active partition, (hd0) - probably the Windows partition. The Windows boot loader has been overwritten by the Linux version but it's easily recovered. How to reinstall/recover the Windows 7/Vista boot loader (BCD)
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