Linux Mint Forums

So, I decided to install Linux Mint 14 (cinnamon) alongside Windows 7 (which I already have). I think I successfully installed it, but I'm not sure how to access it. I will give the full story, so hopefully and expert can see what I did wrong/ what I need to do.

Full story: I burn the ISO onto the CD, then go into my BIOS which has two boot options: Windows boot-loader and the boot from CD/DVD option. Since nothing happened when I just started the computer with the CD in it (windows just starts up), I changed the boot options so that I would boot from CD first. So I started it then, and success! So then I go through all of the set-up picking username, password etc. but also doing the option to install it alongside windows. I assumed that the partition for Mint was going to be on the right (it was unlabelled, really LINUX?) so I chose about 100GB for that. So, I was able to use the OS when the CD was in (access the internet, explore the programs, etc.) but here comes the whole trouble: setup is complete so I eject the disc, and it restarts. What I expected: (was I foolish to expect this? I didn't really mention earlier as I should have that I am a beginner with computers, but truly wish to get better - Linux was really exiting) okay tangent aside now, I was thinking that my BIOS would give me the option to now either select Window 7 or Linux Mint. But, I forgot that I had set it to boot from CD. No problem, just restart again, access the BIOS, and change the boot order so the the windows boot-loader goes first. Windows starts. No option to access my newly installed Linux, which I m fairly confident had a successful installation (it looked so beautiful ='/ . Then, this like disc check thing? Sorry I really don't remember much but it was a black screen with white text, and it would read like: numbers/numbers and then part 1 of 3 complete. Then I completed all three parts. I logged on to Windows 7, everything works fine, but no Linux. So I go to disk management, and see that there is in fact a new partition, but the file system is RAW, and it is 100% free. I looked around online for a solution, but I'm still not sure what to do. Do I need to re-install Linux? Do I need a new boot-loader? Is there a problem with how I did things? Do I need to re-format the HD and put Linux on a certain part with the customize option during setup? Because now I believe I am left with a successful installation (it was awesome when I messed with it from the CD) but no way to access it. Please help

I will answer any other questions you have about my system, if that helps you better understand my problem. Thanks in advance for your help, and in your response, remember that I am a beginner, so I may struggle with stuff like code (I saw this mostly when I googled my problem).

Additional Details
Oh and the partition as I saw it with Windows 7 disk management was only 85.02 GB, not the 100 that I set aside (I think, because they are different) but it is the only new partition I noticed (so it would have to be on that one, right?)

The "part 1 of 3" was Windows running its check disk utility. It likes to do that when partitions are resized or otherwise altered without its knowledge.
Windows doesn't support the typical linux filesystem types, such as ext4, so that might be what its interpreting as RAW.
Anyway, the problem appears to be that your disk is booting into the Windows bootloader instead of GRUB (the linux bootloader).
You could fix this by booting into the CD and installing the linux bootloader manually, but an alternate solution you might consider is using a program such as EasyBCD to add Mint to your Windows bootloader instead.

It doesn't show Mint in my Windows Bootloader. It just shows Windows 7 and boot from CD:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7
Timeout: 10 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: C:\

Entry #1
Name: CD/DVD Drive
BCD ID: {adfa7411-d8af-11e1-9a09-c76eed5fe6a8}
Device: Unknown
Bootloader Path:

Entry #2
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.efi

What do I do know?

Go to Add New Entry > Linux/BSD, make a GRUB2 entry and call it whatever you deem appropriate, then click "Add Entry".
You may need to go to Bootloader Setup and then hit "Write MBR".
After that, reboot. If all went as planned, you should have an entry for Mint under the name you gave it above. If it works, Mint was indeed installed correctly.

okay, I got the first part

"You may need to go to Bootloader Setup and then hit "Write MBR"."

How do I do this? Is it in my BIOS?

Nope, same application. "Bootloader Setup" should be one of the sections on the left side of the application.

What I'm Seeing on mine is that Write MBR is a choice with a red stop sign icon w/ a white exclamation mark on it. And it is under a "BCD Development" on the left. Above this, it reads: MBR configuration options: Install the Windows Vista/7 bootloader to the MBR (which I have selected). Why do I need to do this? What will this do to my computer? I already tried booting after just doing the first step, and I got an error. Is that normal? Thanks in advance.

I guess the name has changed, but it sounds like it's in the right place.
If adding the linux boot entry earlier was successful, this option will write a new bootloader record to your MBR.
ie. Previously Windows only recognized itself. With EasyBCD you can add your own entries with the steps listed earlier, then write your new entries to the bootloader.

What error did you receive before? If you weren't able to create the linux entry, then it's entirely possible that your original Mint installation failed, hence why the linux bootloader was never installed.

Yeah, it didn't work. All I got was this:

http://www.technoish.com/wp-content/upl ... orrupt.jpg

except the path was File: \NST\AutoNeoGrub.mbr

What do I do now? Just re-install? I can't believe the first installation was unsuccessful, I'm sure I did everything right.
Arrrghh. Oh well. I'll probably just install it over the old one... if I can do that. How do you do that?

Thanks again for the help

Yeah, same process as last time, but since you have a partition for linux already you can select the partitions manually and just use the one it tried to use last time.
ie. Do everything the same as last time, but choose "Something else" with the partitioning stage, and allocate the partition you created last time to /.

Do you perhaps have two disks? If that's the case you might have installed the linux bootloader to the other disk.

Nope. Just one HD. I'm probably going to try it all again tomorrow. Thanks for the help, I'll post updates after the installation.

I hope I'm not hijacking, but I think my problem is similar, though with Windows 8:
For some reason I never got the grub menu to come up, so I tried using Easy BCD and get this error: 0xc000007b, no operating system. It has something to do with AutoNeoGrub.mbr but I don't know what to do about it. Why don't I get grub like I did when I had this dual booting in win7?