If I don't want to upgrade to Linux Mint 17 how do I ....

[austin.texas]

If you read the discussion that I linked to, you will note a comment about preserving any PPA that you have in Mint 15.
We can check to see if that needs attention.
Please boot Mint 15, open a terminal, and post here the result of the command:

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inxi -r

[goog64]

If you read the discussion that I linked to, you will note a comment about preserving any PPA that you have in Mint 15.
We can check to see if that needs attention.
Please boot Mint 15, open a terminal, and post here the result of the command:

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inxi -r

Thanks austin.texas I just read through that entire thread (40 posts) about your "method 3". My head is really spinning after that, and it seems like it was not straightforward for quite a few people, but I will try it if you think it's the easiest way.
Here is what you asked for (a problem with the repositories i.e. not being able to install gtkpod, is what started me off on this whole journey):

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jf@jf-Latitude-E6420 ~ $ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/andreas-diesner-garminplugin-raring.list
           deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/andreas-diesner/garminplugin/ubuntu raring main
           deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/andreas-diesner/garminplugin/ubuntu raring main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com olivia main upstream import #id:linuxmint_main
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu raring main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu raring-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ raring-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ raring partner
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-unstable-raring.list
           deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/unstable/ubuntu raring main
           deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/unstable/ubuntu raring main

[goog64]

Some questions about "method 3":
1. Will I still have my Virtualbox with Windows XP and my Windows programs when I'm done?
2. How do I know if I have a separate /home partition?

[austin.texas]

How do I know if I have a separate /home partition?
We can check that easily:
Run these commands and post the results:

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cat /etc/fstab

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mount

[austin.texas]

Looking at the results of your inxi -r command, you have two PPA's listed. When you install Mint 17 using Method 3, you will have to recreate these IF you find that you still need them - which is not certain. They may be PPA's that you used at one time for something, and no longer need. You would have to evaluate each to see what it is and decide if you want to activate it in Mint 17. But at least now you have a list of your old PPA's to refer to.
First, you have the garmin plugin:
Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/andreas-diesner-garminplugin-raring.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/andreas-diesne ... gin/ubuntu raring main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/andreas-diesne ... gin/ubuntu raring main
Then you have the webupd8 PPA:
Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-unstable-raring.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/unstable/ubuntu raring main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/unstable/ubuntu raring main
The other sources listed are Mint 15, which you won't need.
It may be as simple as copying those two .list files from your backup to Mint 17 after installation. (Assuming that there is no necessary key to add.) Anyway, that is not a difficult problem to solve after installation, now that you know what they are...

[goog64]

Here are the results. What does it mean? And will I still have my Windows programs in Virtualbox after method 3?

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jf@jf-Latitude-E6420 ~ $     cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=707e3c19-e36c-4e22-a359-77ede28c9eec /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=c4b7c7bb-a8ae-4bf4-8564-4292df174a66 none            swap    sw              0       0
jf@jf-Latitude-E6420 ~ $ mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=104857600,mode=0755)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/jf/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=jf)
jf@jf-Latitude-E6420 ~ $ 

[austin.texas]

As I mentioned before, I have no experience with Virtualbox (or Windows). But xenopeek mentioned earlier in this discussion, "I imagine you have a very good backup of your VirtualBox .vdi files then, because as you know hard disks don't last forever and can (and do) fail suddenly and unrecoverably. Nobody here is saying you should delete all your personal files, like VirtualBox .vdi files. Yes, please make a good backup of those and you can restore it all to Linux Mint 17."
According to that, the .vdi files can be restored to a new installation. And using my Method 3 should make that unnecessary, they should be preserved because you are not formatting the partition.

[goog64]

OK I guess I'll risk it.
What did that code output tell you?

[austin.texas]

The result of the command cat /etc/fstab shows that you do not have a separate /home partition. All you have to do during installation is chose your Mint 15 partition, sda1, as the / partition, and do not format, and then install. Everything on that partition will be preserved, including the .vdi files.

[goog64]

OK thanks. I will try it in the morning when I wake up.

[austin.texas]

OK, I have to go out and fix my fence...

[octathlon]

One other thing to be extra sure about your backup: Copy your windows virtual machine files to an external drive separately, so you still have them no matter what else happens.

I'm not knowledgable about Virtual Box, but there should be a (probably hidden) subdirectory in your home directory where it stores its data files. View|Show Hidden Files to see everything and see if your windows vdi files are in there; copy the entire virtualbox subdirectory to an external drive.