Vista and MInt

[barkhat]

Hello!

I just installed Linux Mint onto my computer. It is a Vista computer but it has a separate hard drive onto which I installed Mint. I still have things to use on Vista, however, and need to access it. When I booted up after installation, I didn't see any way to get to the Vista drive. I need help, please. How can I access Vista?

Thank you, in advance!

[gollum1971]

Quick answer till you get a more permanent one.

Open your BIOS settings when you first boot on your laptop, (one of the F keys normally), go to boot options
And select the other hard drive.
That will get you going until Husse or Clem explains how to do Linux stuff with your MBR

[barkhat]

Quick answer till you get a more permanent one.

Open your BIOS settings when you first boot on your laptop, (one of the F keys normally), go to boot options
And select the other hard drive.
That will get you going until Husse or Clem explains how to do Linux stuff with your MBR

Oh, great idea! Thank you, Gollum1971. I'll do this and hope to hear from them, too, for a more permanent solution.

Wow! This Mint (4.0) is slick!

[barkhat]

Oh, darn!

I tried to boot in through the bios way but all I got was the Grub screen. Even though I switched to the other hard drive in the bios, I still couldn't do it.

Any other ideas? Now I feel desperate.

[yuri21]

If I'm not wrong, you can use SuperGrub cd to reinstall your Grub menu.

Also, for some computers, your hdd order in Bios could be critical.

For me, both Windows and Linux are installed on one hdd but nothing loads if I don't put my 80 gb hdd as the first hdd to boot in Bios. But since you've Linux and Windows on 2 separate hdds, perhaps you could... I dunno, experiment with the hdd order?

[barkhat]

Thanks, Yuri

Will the Supergrub make it possible to 'see' the Vista? As that is what is happening now--I only see Linux. I did try switching around hard disk order in bios, but that didn't make any difference. All I got was a black screen that said" Error
15, press any key to continue..." something like that, and that took me to the list of Linux Mint choices.

There seem to be two choices on my computer F2 for the bios and F10 for boot up. When choosing F10 and trying to select the Vista hard drive (not identified by name ) that still doesn't help. Can't figure out why I don't get anything either way.

Being cavalier, I thought when installing the Mint that it would select the hard drive on it's own so I didn't change the bios in the beginning. I figured I could boot into it. I didn't back up any of my data. Now I can't get to the Vista drive at all.

I'm at a loss and desperate for things I can try. I'm not that experienced with Linux so I don't know where to go, or how to think about things, or even correct language to use to describe things. I'm hoping someone will have some good ideas.

[yuri21]

Hmmm... have you tried booting with only the Vista hdd attached?

Hmm... the Supergrub cd might help but actually, you might want to wait for Clem or someone more experienced with dual-booting on 2 hdds before proceeding further.

[barkhat]

No, I hadn't tried unplugging the second drive. Maybe I will. But I will definitely hope someone of experience can help me.

Thank you, though, for your great ideas! I appreciate it.

[viciousknid]

I'm having a similar issue.
I have XP on Sata1, Daryna on Sata2, and a spare on Sata3.
I installed xp first then installed daryna onto sata2. But when I boot there is not Grub menu, it just boots directly into XP. Just incase it didn't instal the boot loader i went back and did the daryna install again and still get the same thing. If i switch the hd order in the box daryna sata1 xp sata2 It asks for a setup disk when trying to boot. When i try to just switch the boot order in the bios it tells me it can't run the OS.
Really seems to me like a grub issue but i'm at a loss.

[viciousknid]

Bump

Anyone have any idea's on how to fix the problem posted above?

[viciousknid]

Nevermind. Found the fix

http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... _your_grub