Trying to dual boot Mint 14 along Windows 8 on Lenovo y580

[AttaZahedi]

Hello. This is my first time posting despite having used Mint for a year now.
I am having trouble with installing Mint alongside Windows 8. I have disabled secure boot, and enabled legacy mode. However when I install Mint my windows 8 OS won't boot anymore saying "files are missing". Are there any detailed walkthroughs on how to do this successfully? I am getting overly frustrated.

[laconic]

I have been researching this also.
I have currently ubuntu installed along side windows 8 and both work in efi mode.
Problem is i dont like ubuntu.

efi is like bios only not and they arent compatible.

My understanding is that the regular distribution of mint is not efi compatible. This means you have to install it in compatibility mode which should be a setting somewhere on your computer.

After that you have to mess around with the boot manager.

Anyone have a how to mess around with the boot manager for dummies and not brick your windows install?

[laconic]

Hello. This is my first time posting despite having used Mint for a year now.
I am having trouble with installing Mint alongside Windows 8. I have disabled secure boot, and enabled legacy mode. However when I install Mint my windows 8 OS won't boot anymore saying "files are missing". Are there any detailed walkthroughs on how to do this successfully? I am getting overly frustrated.

The reason windows wont boot is that it requires efi mode and you switched to compatibility mode. You will have to switch to efi mode to boot windows and back to compatibility to boot mint. Very annoying.

[laconic]

Hey I guess there is a way to convert your linux install to efi mode. This is from srs5694:

"If you've installed Linux in BIOS mode, the trick will be to get it booting in EFI mode, since switching between BIOS-mode and EFI-mode boots is awkward on most computers. There are a number of ways to do this. The easiest are to use Ubuntu's "Boot Repair" tool or to install rEFInd from Mint. In either case, you may need to fiddle with your firmware settings to get the computer to boot in EFI mode rather than in BIOS mode."

I guess you could try the ubuntu boot repair utility. Good luck! maybe someone who has done this will post.

[AttaZahedi]

Thanks a bunch guys. So do I install rEFIt in Mint after I install Mint? Then how does that work?

[cheZ]

any additional info on this question / subject that anyone may have , most appreciated ! BUMP

[arealvel]

I think it is better if you reinstall Mint in UEFI mode. To do this:
With Secure boot disabled (UEFI not disabled) place your MInt's DVD in the DVD drive (or attach the USB containing Mint), enter Bios and see if in the Boot Priority Tab there is an entry for UEFI-DVD (or for the USB pendrive). Surely there will be an entry to boot from DVD (or for USB), but you've to see if there is another entry reading UEFI-DVD or something like that. If you have it: boot from that entry and install MInt. Otherwise: you should try to boot from a not-aged USB pendrive.