boot loader

[billmcguire]

Why in the name of progress would you let the boot loader go out and over-wright the mbr on a disk that it's not installing on? that is a windows kinda thing to do!!! and how do I undo the damage now? grub is on a disk that
doesn't have mint on it and windows won't boot either. not having a good day.

[JasonLG]

Why in the name of progress would you let the boot loader go out and over-wright the mbr on a disk that it's not installing on? that is a windows kinda thing to do!!! and how do I undo the damage now? grub is on a disk that
doesn't have mint on it and windows won't boot either. not having a good day.

The installer only did what you told it to do. It doesn't make much sense to get mad at the gun after you shoot yourself in the foot with it. Pay better attention next time. Try reinstalling Mint but this time put GRUB where it's suppose to be. If that doesn't work you'll need a Windows install or recovery disc.

[vincent]

As a further comment, the exact location of the option to choose where to install Grub to, is located by pressing the "Advanced" button on the step where you confirm the installation. Why the Ubiquity developers put it there, and not in a more prominent location, is another question...that's why I always recommend removing all external drives and the like when installing Linux, in case you install Linux and/or the Grub bootloader to the wrong drive by mistake.

[billmcguire]

Not at all helpful Jason and I see how the software got this way. I did the pull down menu select and told it witch drive to
install on. I told it to use the whole drive, hell I thought I was being pretty generous and yet that wasn't enough.
It had to use the other drive to, well next time I want to show off mint to a friend I'll physically disconnect everything
that I don't want mint to wright on. BTW most guns only shoot at what their pointed at.
Well damage done , is there any way to put the windows loader back where it came from? Or do I have to go
buy a windows cd.

[dawgdoc]

...is there any way to put the windows loader back where it came from? Or do I have to go buy a windows cd.

see this post for a recovery disk for Win7. The same people offer one for Vista and WinXP I believe.

[JasonLG]

Not at all helpful Jason

I told you what to do, I don't see how that's not helpful? You're the one who came to the forums all grumpy and insulting an OS that we happen to like very much. What did you expect, flowers and air kisses?

I told it to use the whole drive, hell I thought I was being pretty generous and yet that wasn't enough.
It had to use the other drive to, well next time I want to show off mint to a friend I'll physically disconnect everything
that I don't want mint to wright on.

Again, you told the installer what to do. There's no use blaming the installer because you didn't know what you were doing.

BTW most guns only shoot at what their pointed at.

Apparently your aim is off.

[oobetimer]

Why in the name of progress would you let the boot loader go out and over-wright the mbr on a disk that it's not installing on? that is a windows kinda thing to do!!! and how do I undo the damage now? grub is on a disk that
doesn't have mint on it and windows won't boot either. not having a good day.

You can remove grub using Mint-live-CD

Terminal commands (a net-connection must be on)

1. Install package LILO

sudo apt-get install lilo

2. Check the media

sudo fdisk -l

3. Remove grub (from disk sda for instance)

sudo lilo -M /dev/sda mbr

[walterav]

The installer only did what you told it to do. It doesn't make much sense to get mad at the gun after you shoot yourself in the foot with it. Pay better attention next time. Try reinstalling Mint but this time put GRUB where it's suppose to be. If that doesn't work you'll need a Windows install or recovery disc.

If I'm not mistaken the summary page says it will only change/affect disc Y, while the grub2 bootloader will still go to /dev/sda but you have to press "advanced" to see that. So billmcguire has a point I think...

[JasonLG]

The installer only did what you told it to do. It doesn't make much sense to get mad at the gun after you shoot yourself in the foot with it. Pay better attention next time. Try reinstalling Mint but this time put GRUB where it's suppose to be. If that doesn't work you'll need a Windows install or recovery disc.

If I'm not mistaken the summary page says it will only change/affect disc Y, while the grub2 bootloader will still go to /dev/sda but you have to press "advanced" to see that. So billmcguire has a point I think...

My point is that if you're going to do anything other than a generic default install you should do your homework first(you should still read up a little even on a default IMHO), not just rush in. I generally hate it when people come to the forums with basically what amounts to "I had no idea what I was doing and I totally screwed up my computer because I tried something that was over my head and didn't bother to do any research on the subject beforehand. But it's totally Mint's fault because it let me do it. Now I'm so mad grrrr."

[billmcguire]

oobetimer Know his sh*t thank you worked like a charm!!! Now to get back to the original problem,
with that new banking trojan I think a lot of newbies will be here trying to get a alternate os setup on an external
drive, if one of the gurus could find in their heart to post a guide to do that (not the way I tried,the right way)
People like me would be forever in your debt.

Sorry about being mad it was late and I thought I was boned.