Installing Mint 14

Lovely Bloke

this is a weird issue i've not run into before - I've installed numerous distros on a couple of machines, and even this very machine and set up I'm trying at the moment.

Background - was dual booting Win7 and Mint on my laptop, I got a SSD and installed a fresh copy of Win7 (I need to keep Windows for SkyGo/Netflix- I'm not getting into to convoluted set up in Linux for those) - the set up of Win7 was a nightmare, and took me a fortnight to get it fully functional, so I am not prepared to uninstall it a third time.

Mint worked "out of the box", perfectly, and I had it installed alongside Win7, on the SSD, having installed Win7 first.

There were issues with the initial install Win7, and I decided to completely wipe the SSD and start again.

But now I can't install Mint - I am not getting the option to make a partition for it. Or any other distro. I have Ubuntu, Fedora, Sabayon, PCLinux and Lubuntu all downloaded and variously on USB sticks, all bootable and running, but I can't actually install them.

It's weird.

PrzemoF

What do you have on the disk right now? Win7? Or it's wiped out and you can't make partition?

Lovely Bloke

PrzemoF wrote: »

What do you have on the disk right now? Win7? Or it's wiped out and you can't make partition?

Win7, and the usual way that is partitioned.

Stuxnet

sounds like you have 4 partitions already on the hdd....you need to remove them all start again......you cant have >4 primary partitions

run ubuntu/mint "live" and run gparted app to see your current partition setup, and re-setup again accordingly

if were me, create one primary partion ntfs for windows what ever size you want to spare for it, and create a second partition from the left over and make it logical, (all this done through gParted app) and use this for your linux installs, you can have many partitions on a logical partiton, be sure to install windows first, will save you some headache, grub will see it

Lovely Bloke

Stuxnet wrote: »

sounds like you have 4 partitions already on the hdd....you need to remove them all start again......you cant have >4 primary partitions

I don't know how you are deducing that from what I've put up here already.

I had Win7/Mint installed, then totally wiped the HDD and re-installed only Win7

Now I can't get any Linux installed.

shizz

TheNinthGate wrote: »

I don't know how you are deducing that from what I've put up here already.

I had Win7/Mint installed, then totally wiped the HDD and re-installed only Win7

Now I can't get any Linux installed.

It does seem unlikely but Its worth trying anyway. Just run gparted and see how many partitions are defined.

Lovely Bloke

shizz wrote: »

It does seem unlikely but Its worth trying anyway. Just run gparted and see how many partitions are defined.

I can tun Minitool in Windows, and see only the Windows partitions.

I will do what you suggest, but I'm 99.9999% certain there is only the Windows partition - there is no way for there to be another.

When I go to install whichever Linux, and it is asking me do I want to replace Windows, or install beside Windows, and I select beside, it shows me only a Windows partition there too.

shizz

TheNinthGate wrote: »

I can tun Minitool in Windows, and see only the Windows partitions.

I will do what you suggest, but I'm 99.9999% certain there is only the Windows partition - there is no way for there to be another.

When I go to install whichever Linux, and it is asking me do I want to replace Windows, or install beside Windows, and I select beside, it shows me only a Windows partition there too.

IIRC when using the install beside function it shows you just a windows partition because you haven't manually partitioned a space for Linux yourself. So aren't you able to then resize the windows partition from the installer to the desired Linux installation size?

Its safe to say you don't have the problem previously mentioned because if you did it wouldn't give you the option to install beside windows, as I have had that problem previously.

Stuxnet

TheNinthGate wrote: »

I don't know how you are deducing that from what I've put up here already.

I had Win7/Mint installed, then totally wiped the HDD and re-installed only Win7

Now I can't get any Linux installed.

Im not deducing, Im offering you a possibility cos I've seen this problem a hundred times,

your windows tools wont show anything linux fs formatted....you must check with gparted, just to rule it out,

You could have a hidden manufactures partition, windows partition, mbr partition ,and a left over ext4 partition....then you wouldn't be able install anything

shizz

Stuxnet wrote: »

Im not deducing, Im offering you a possibility cos I've seen this problem a hundred times,

your windows tools wont show anything linux fs formatted....you must check with gparted, just to rule it out,

You could have a hidden manufactures partition, windows partition, mbr partition ,and a left over ext4 partition....then you wouldn't be able install anything

I don't think he would have all that though? Didn't he install windows on to an SSD he bought and installed himself? But yeah it is a possibility there are some left over partitions from the multiple installs he has done, but judging by what he's said I think it should be possible to install Linux he just needs to specify how much he wants to shrink the windows partition? I think mint has the same installer as Ubuntu (don't hold me on that) but if it does it wouldn't give the option to install alongside windows if all of the partitions were taken up.

Stuxnet

ya I know its unlikely...but worth checking out in gparted.... is my point

ya mint/ubuntu installer are the same, could be a TRIM issue, enabled by default on win 7 ssd installs, but not linux

Lovely Bloke

Here's what gparted is showing



And this is what I see when I go to install, and select "install beside Windows"



And the message I get when I click "Install"

Lovely Bloke

Bollix, sorry about the huge pics.

I don't want to delete the partition because it will mean installing Win7 a fourth time on the SSD - and I do not wish to go through that again.

Stuxnet

cool,

go into windows 7, hit start, type computer managment, go into it, then go into disk managment, right click c: and select shrink partition, shink by what ever you want....30gigs loads if your just messing about with ubuntu/mint

re-run ubuntu installer

profit

Lovely Bloke

Stuxnet wrote: »

cool,

go into windows 7, hit start, type computer managment, go into it, then go into disk managment, right click c: and select shrink partition, shink by what ever you want....30gigs loads if your just messing about with ubuntu/mint

re-run ubuntu installer

profit

Brilliant, thanks.

I've done that and I can see the 30gb free space, off to boot into Mint again, and I'll post from there when installed

Stuxnet

cool no worries, you could of done this via the ubuntu installer, via manual install option, (something-else..i think they call it)
safer shrink firstly in windows tho

if you go into "something else" you can select this partition, ext4, and / as mount, and install away....will do as a beginner setup

Lovely Bloke

Not going to do it now though, going to the pub to chat to a mate.

I've never used a full install of Sabayon, so may go that route.

Is it possible to install Linux, but not have it take over the boot menu? The reason I ask is because I believe it is quite a task to just uninstall Linux, even from the new partition.

If I installed Mint, then decided I wanted to change to Ubuntu, or some other flavour, or even ditch Linux altogether, would I run into issues

Stuxnet

no you should be cool, if you keep installing to that 30gb partiton, grub menu scans and updates itself after each install will pick up windows and whatever new OS you have

to "uninstall" linux...see this post

makes life very easy

Lovely Bloke

Stuxnet wrote: »

no you should be cool, if you keep installing to that 30gb partiton, grub menu scans and updates itself after each install will pick up windows and whatever new OS you have

Yep, I understand that - but what if I clear the partition, remove Linux completely and Grub is then gone - will I still be able to boot into Windows.

Stuxnet

TheNinthGate wrote: »

Yep, I understand that - but what if I clear the partition, remove Linux completely and Grub is then gone - will I still be able to boot into Windows.

sorry i edited my post before i saw this, yes see my answer above, exactly what you want

Lovely Bloke

Cheers.

Going to take a day or two now to decide which Linux to go with.

I've already got Mint on a laptop permanently connected to my TV.

Didn't really like the Ubuntu interface.

Stuxnet

cant go far wrong with mint, if your just looking for a different UI, its just a matter of installing that particular desktop environment, and you can select what desktop UI to use at the login screen, most of them are in the package manager, if not simple to add a repo that has what you want

ie, you can install KDE, Cinnamon, MATE, Unity, lxde, xfce, awesome, all on a single install

good luck

BopNiblets

You mentioned you need Windows 7 for SkyGo and Netflix, have you tried the Netflix app for Linux?
It's still Wine but looks easy enough to setup:
http://lifehacker.com/5963726/netflix-finally-comes-to-ubuntu-in-the-form-of-an-unofficial-desktop-app

Might give it a go myself on Mint even though I don't have Netflix yet.

Lovely Bloke

I'm going to sit down over the weekend and see if I can do that.

I went with Mint in the end.

Can someone tell me where the "Network" section is - in Windows I click it and can see the other devices connected to the network, I can normally see my other computer, my wife's netbook and my Western Digital player with HDD attached.

BopNiblets

If you have the sidebar on in Nemo it should be at the bottom:
http://www.linuxmint.com/pictures/screenshots/nadia/nemo.png

Edit: maybe you have MATE desktop, in that case the file manager is Caja I think.

Lovely Bloke

BopNiblets wrote: »

If you have the sidebar on in Nemo it should be at the bottom:
http://www.linuxmint.com/pictures/screenshots/nadia/nemo.png

I wasn't looking for Nemo though, but I sure am glad someone found him.

:pac:

200motels

Hi Lads I'm trying to install Linux Mint 14 and I get as far as trying to put it on a partition of my hard drive but it keeps saying there is no root folder, I'm new to Linux but I like the look of Mint 14 so would like to install it.

Stuxnet

when your at the select partition part,

from the drop down menu, you need to select a file system type, EXT4 best then select the mount point, which is "/" and that defines the that partition as root

http://i50.tinypic.com/2hf1kyg.png
http://i50.tinypic.com/a9s3li.png
http://i48.tinypic.com/dwvp6t.png
http://i47.tinypic.com/ftgggz.png
http://i45.tinypic.com/358z1x1.png

obviously yours will be different, but ^^^ should give you an idea

Khannie

Fair play to you.

Stuxnet

lol, a picture paints a thousand words, was easier then trying to explain :-p

200motels

Stuxnet wrote: »

when your at the select partition part,

from the drop down menu, you need to select a file system type, EXT4 best then select the mount point, which is "/" and that defines the that partition as root

http://i50.tinypic.com/2hf1kyg.png
http://i50.tinypic.com/a9s3li.png
http://i48.tinypic.com/dwvp6t.png
http://i47.tinypic.com/ftgggz.png
http://i45.tinypic.com/358z1x1.png

obviously yours will be different, but ^^^ should give you an idea

Thanks for that got it working. Very nice O/S. I'm a Windows user since the 90's and I have to say what a great O/S Linux Mint is, it will take a bit of learning but I like it.