Issues with Dual Booting on Mint 13

[chicanito0129]

so I have Mint 13 installed on my hard drive, deleted Windows Vista, and I'm trying to dual boot Ubuntu off of an USB.
The .ISO is already on the USB I think when I deleted Vista it deleted that boot screen where I could choose between
Windows or Mint now I'm unable to choose Ubuntu and just go straight into Mint how can I fix this issue? thanks in advance (:

[jungle_boy]

Can you run Linux mint?

Try:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

Reboot

[thegreatgazoo]

If you installed Linux mint the traditional way (partitioning the drive and installing into the partition), then deleting the vista partition should not have prevented you from booting to linux mint. This is because the MBR (master boot record) is pointed to the Mint partition.

If you installed mint usint WUBI inside of windows, then deleting windows will prevent you from booting into linux. This is because Linux lives inside a file on the windows partition. so deleting windows in this situation deletes everything.

So, to better assist you we need to know how exactly it was installed, and if possible provide partition info before and after things went wrong.

[chicanito0129]

Can you run Linux mint?

Try:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

Reboot

tied it, wouldn't work, still went straight into Mint

[chicanito0129]

If you installed Linux mint the traditional way (partitioning the drive and installing into the partition), then deleting the vista partition should not have prevented you from booting to linux mint. This is because the MBR (master boot record) is pointed to the Mint partition.

If you installed mint usint WUBI inside of windows, then deleting windows will prevent you from booting into linux. This is because Linux lives inside a file on the windows partition. so deleting windows in this situation deletes everything.

So, to better assist you we need to know how exactly it was installed, and if possible provide partition info before and after things went wrong.

Well I partitioned an 8gb USB (FAT32) with Mint installed, after a few months I decided to install it onto my hard drive, deleteing Vista, I used a program that was on the Mint desktop to install Mint permenatly. The icon was a CD if that helps at all. Now I'm trying to dual boot into Ubuntu using a USB but the option I used to have to choose which OS i wanted to use when booting up my computer was deleted.

[thegreatgazoo]

So, just to be clear

before:
computer had windows only
ubuntu on the usb

then:
windows erased
installed Mint 13 in its place
ubuntu still on the usb

problem:
grub screen with O.S. selection not showing up
mint installed on hard drive works fine
ubuntu on usb cannot boot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My only question is, how did you get ubuntu on to the usb in the first place?
Because It kinda sounds like you used WUBI (ubuntu's windows installer) to dual boot vista and ubuntu on the usb drive.
Does this sound right?

[chicanito0129]

So, just to be clear

before:
computer had windows only
ubuntu on the usb

then:
windows erased
installed Mint 13 in its place
ubuntu still on the usb

problem:
grub screen with O.S. selection not showing up
mint installed on hard drive works fine
ubuntu on usb cannot boot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My only question is, how did you get ubuntu on to the usb in the first place?
Because It kinda sounds like you used WUBI (ubuntu's windows installer) to dual boot vista and ubuntu on the usb drive.
Does this sound right?

close, I had Windows only and Mint on the USB
then erased Windows to perminently install Mint
then I had the Ubuntu .ISO installed to a USB using UNetbootin

and yes the grub screen isn't showing up, Mint works perfectly, but since the grub screen isn't there I'm unable to boot into Ubuntu

[thegreatgazoo]

Ahh, there we go.
Ubuntu on the USB using Unetbootin will not show up in grub.
Grub only checks for installed operating systems.So if grub only sees one installed operating system, it skips the selection screen and just boots it directly.

Unetbootin isn't really installing Linux, is just copying the install CD files to the USB and making it bootable.
To boot Ubuntu on the USB, you will have to press whatever key is necessary to bout to a USB drive. (Usually F9 or F2)
There is a way to manually add a grub menu entry to boot to the USB, but I've never tried that.
Here is a page with instructions http://m.wikihow.com/Boot-an-Ubuntu-ISO-from-Your-Hard-Drive

[chicanito0129]

Ahh, there we go.
Ubuntu on the USB using Unetbootin will not show up in grub.
Grub only checks for installed operating systems.So if grub only sees one installed operating system, it skips the selection screen and just boots it directly.

Unetbootin isn't really installing Linux, is just copying the install CD files to the USB and making it bootable.
To boot Ubuntu on the USB, you will have to press whatever key is necessary to bout to a USB drive. (Usually F9 or F2)
There is a way to manually add a grub menu entry to boot to the USB, but I've never tried that.
Here is a page with instructions http://m.wikihow.com/Boot-an-Ubuntu-ISO-from-Your-Hard-Drive

so I'm having trouble with step three, don't really understand what I'm doing within nano, or how to use it