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Triple Boot Question
I am dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 8. Before Windows 8 I was dual booting Win 7 and Linux Mint, which was hosed when I installed Windows 8.
I would like to reinstall Linux Mint on my PC for a triple boot. I don't want to do it using a VM.
I have free space allocated. I guess my question is will Grub pick up Mint and the Windows 8 boot which includes Windows 7, or will it pick up all three OS's? The reading I have done on this issue seems to indicate Windows 7 will not be picked up by Grub, but can be booted when selecting "Windows 8 Boot Environment". Is this a risky proposition? I have been dual booting for years with no problems but never tried this.
My first post! Any help and advise would be appreciated.
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I thought I would give this a bump. ;)
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Looks like I'm talking to myself. :eek:
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you need to wait for people to answer. you're not their top priority. As for me...sorry, i don't have the knowledge to help you. Hang in there. they have an awesome community
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One day is not a long time to wait on a forum staffed by volunteers and hobbyists. Sometimes it can take a while before the right person sees and answers a question.
On that note, I might have some info for you.:p
The most reliable method of dual-booting Linux and Windows is to install Linux first. The reason being that the Windows installer will overwrite other bootloaders.
I've not used Windows 8, so I can't say anything about anything concerning it. But GRUB usually does a great job of detecting and loading various OSs, including Windows.
In fact, if installing Win8 started the problem, mint might still be on the drive. You can boot up a LiveCD, open a terminal window and execute:
If there is a Linux partition there, you can re-install GRUB. If it's not there, then installing Mint to the available space will do the job.
Do this after backing up all important data, though... just in case!;)
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I am aware of how these boards work. I've been using Linux since Mandrake 9.0, so I just assumed the post got lost in the shuffle. ;) No harm.
As for the question I posed, it is important to understand that when dual booting Win 8 and Win 7, the boot files are installed in Windows 8 not Windows 7 (leave it to Microsoft). I had grub installed already. After several days of research, I prepared the Windows 8 partition using Gparted and 'flagging the partition' so that Grub, once reinstalled, would have 3 entries. It didn't work. I got the Windows 8 Bootloader. Mint was still on its own partition, but no matter what I tried I was unable to install Grub or for that matter, mount Mint. I just got rid of it at that point.
I was only using Cinnamon in Mint anyway, so it really was no great loss. I am waiting for Ubuntu 12.04 (I hate Unity) before I try again as I consider Ubuntu 11.10 and Mint 12 transitional at best. Gnome-shell just does not play well with ATI drivers. It is getting better, but they have a way to go before Gnome-shell is stable. Catalyst 12.1 is a nice start.
Thanks for the input.
