Dual boot Mint 9 with Win 7

testmaniac · 01 Jul 2010

Hi guys,

I am having an issue with getting Linux Mint 9 dual boot with Win 7 utilizing EasyBCD.

The equipment is an outdated Dell 8400 with a single WD 1 TB hdd. I have four partitions on this drive; Linux Primary partition 125 GB, Linux swap partition 4 GB and two Win 7 partitions (100 MB and the main partition ~865 GB).

I am intrigued by testing various various dual boot o/s combos. The combo of Win7 followed by Linux Mint 9 (utilizing Linux boot loader) went great without any problems.

In my next testing stage, I loaded Mint 9 first and then Win 7. I downloaded EasyBCD which I have used in my dual boot with Win 7 and XP.

Running EasyBCD I enter the "Add/Remove Entries". Clicking on the Linux entry tab I chose "Grub" as my version. The drive chosen is the main "Linux native 125 GB".
Clicked on the "Add Entry" and saved the entry.

"View Settings" shows two separate entries; Win 7 and Mint 9. The bootloader path for Mint 9 is "\NST\nst_grub.mbr " which I know is not correct since when I reboot I get two os options. Clicking on Mint 9, the message displayed reads: "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware/software change might be the cause..."

Clicking on the Win7 option works since it is the current boot loader.

How do I fix my problem? Thanks.:)

MilesAhead · 01 Jul 2010

It's been a few years since I did much with Linux. But I'd hazard a guess the problem is Windows doesn't know about Linux, but Linux knows about Windows.

Seems to me when I used a Dos/Windows booting utility, I still had Grub on the partition with the Linux kernel. So the machine booted into Boot Magic or whatever is was called, but when I selected Linux I got Grub which then gave me Linux booting options such as which kernel build etc..

I think Windows still sees Linux type partitions as "unknown". You are prolly better off just using Linux stuff to boot everything.

Mark Phelps · 02 Jul 2010

For support on EasyBCD, you should go to their product forums -- at NeoSmart Technologies. They have support forums as well as FAQs.

eldinv · 02 Jul 2010

mint has always been my favorite, im thinking of installing on my labtop.

housry23 · 02 Jul 2010

Install it using Mint4Win. It is on the iso if you mount it in a virtualization software like Daemon Tools. It installs Mint 9 just like any other Windows app and you can uninstall at anytime. You will get a choice to boot to Mint or Windows 7. I find it easier for me this way and easier to get rid of if I decide I don't want it.

WiFi Ed · 02 Jul 2010

testmaniac said:

Running EasyBCD I enter the "Add/Remove Entries". Clicking on the Linux entry tab I chose "Grub" as my version. The drive chosen is the main "Linux native 125 GB".
Clicked on the "Add Entry" and saved the entry.

Doesn't Mint 9 use Grub 2? If so, I'm pretty sure EasyBCD has that choice in its drop-down menu.

testmaniac · 02 Jul 2010

Fantastic help guys. Thanks very much.