Installing mint in place of ubuntu and keeping windows 7

[Reorx]

Excellent...

First, I can see that my description of your partition scheme was inaccurate. There are 4 Linux partitions on that HD!...

You have installed Rosa to SDA11 with no separate /home partition... So, what is on SDA5 and SDA8??? If there is no important data on either, you might consider a re-install with a little different partitioning... For your consideration...

From a Live session, run Gparted and remove SDA5 and SDA11... and in the unallocated space created by removing those partitions, create a single ext4 partition that is ~30 GB. "Apply" all changes and when complete, close Gparted... Then click the Install icon on the Live desktop... Select the 20 GB partition for /, and use the ~30 GB partition for /home...

Edit: Alternatively, you could install Rosa to the 20 or 30 GB partition and format the other space as something which both Win and Linux can read (like FAT32) if you want to share data across both OSs...

Does that make sense???

P.S.: It looks as though you old Ubu installation is still on SDA5!...

[atheistsunited]

Thank you Reorx, sda5 is where ubuntu is installed I guess. sda8 was something I had created when I could not overwrite ubuntu with mint. But I could not install mint on it. There are absolutely no important data on them.
When you say live gparted session, do you mean booting gparted from usb?

While using gparted I get the options of delete. resize/move and format to. Out of these should I select delete option for removing sda5 and sda8?

[Reorx]

A "Live session" is booting from your Mint USB or DVD...

READ my suggestion carefully! I said nothing about removing SDA8... Your mentioning this causes me to think that you have some other partitioning scheme in mind... PLEASE give details of exactly how you would like to partition the HD. My suggestion above decreases the total number of Linux partitions to 3 and uses /, /home, and swap for the installation.

Alternative idea >>> if you could relocate the data on SDA7 (an NTFS partition), you could remove SDA5, 6, 7, 8, & 11 and in their place have a continuous 70 GB space where you can install Rosa. This could be subdivided into a 4 GB swap space and the rest for / (or perhaps 4GB swap, 20GB /, and the rest (~45GB) for /home) in your new Rosa installation...

Don't delete any partitions until you are ready to do the re-installation...

[atheistsunited]

Could you explain to me what did you mean by this "run Gparted and remove SDA5 and SDA11... and in the unallocated space created by removing those partitions" what does "remove" mean here? Apologies. I think I misunderstood you.

SDA11 is where Mint is installed. How do I "remove"this partition? Will my comp boot if I "remove" this?

SDA5 is ubuntu. I have nothing important here, I wish to "remove" this.

SDA8 has nothing in it. I had created it and this I can change in windows using mini tool partition wizard which I find quite easy to use.

The only reason I am a bit worried to remove ubuntu is I am not sure whether it would give me again this grub rescue issue. Because then I will have no option but go for a clean windows install and then install Mint.

My big question is, is there any way i can remove ubuntu completely without having to face grub rescue issues?

[Reorx]

Could you explain to me what did you mean by this "run Gparted and remove SDA5 and SDA11... and in the unallocated space created by removing those partitions" what does "remove" mean here? Apologies. I think I misunderstood you.

"Remove" = delete

SDA11 is where Mint is installed. How do I "remove"this partition? Will my comp boot if I "remove" this?

In greatest probabliy, when you remove SDA11 your computer will NOT boot (from the HD). That is the reason why I said "Don't delete any partitions until you are ready to do the re-installation (above)..."

The only reason I am a bit worried to remove ubuntu is I am not sure whether it would give me again this grub rescue issue. Because then I will have no option but go for a clean windows install and then install Mint.

My big question is, is there any way i can remove ubuntu completely without having to face grub rescue issues?

When you remove Ubu AND install Rosa, you should not have any problems with any GRUB issues.

The reason that you remove/repartition/install ALL in the same live session is that mucking around with your partitions can and probably will make your computer unable to boot from the HD until after you have installed Rosa (and GRUB with it)...

So, lets talk partitioning... What partition scheme would you like to use??? I have suggested several but you may have ideas of your own... (I am rather fond of the 70 GB continuous space option I suggested above)

[Reorx]

Observation >>>

The 2 screenshots you posted are different (according to the context of the thread, they should be the same!) - they seem to depict a different partitioning scheme on the same disk... The blue screenshot shows SDA1 (aka C:) larger by about 14.5 GB (compared to the Gparted screenshot) and does not show SDA11 (which is about 14.5 GB and shown in the Gparted screenshot)!!!

So, my question is this >>> Did you change the partitioning between when you took the blue screenshot and the Gparted screenshot or are these 2 screenshot actually supposed to show the same partitioning???

[atheistsunited]

Yes I changed:) because I wanted to install mint and then the grub issue. and then I kept reinstalling ubuntu until I saw the message from autsin texas.

Ok what you are suggesting is,

remove ubuntu and mint by deleting the drives. And then install Mint?

I was thinking of allocating a special drive for Mint - perhaps 40 gb before I install mint.

If I get succeeded here, then I will install mint Rosa on my new asus windows 10. But before that I want to be 100% sure that I have not messed it up Besides, have promised some friends who have been wanting to get out of windows' vicious circle that I would help them install mint on them system. So hope it works this time

[Reorx]

OK, it's kinda clear to me that we are not exactly on the same page... so let me ask a few simple questions that might make things a little clearer for me...

1) Do you want a separate /home partition for Mint or is it OK to install everything in 1 (/) partition? (Do you understand the idea behind a separate /home partition?)

2) How much total size would you like to devote to your Mint installation? I have suggested schemes which would devote 30 GB, 50 GB, & 70 GB to Mint... are any of those more attractive than the others? 30 is easy - just combine SDA5 & SDA11 and install Mint there. 50 is also easy - combine SDA5 & SDA11 and use that space for /home and install / on SDA8. 70 is a bit more complicated but easily do-able.

3) Can you live with the current size of SDA1 (C:) or do you need to give the ~15 GB back to your SDA1 (C:) that you took from it to make another partition between the 2 screen shots?

4) If you are considering a 70GB Mint installation >>> What is on SDA7 and would you mind relocating that data to another NTFS partition?

[atheistsunited]

Thank you for getting back,

1: I wish to have a separate partition for mint. I would go with 30 GB
2: I wish to expand the size of C drive where my windows 7 is installed.

To the question whether I understand the difference between home and separate partition. It is subjective, To me, Home is where windows sits and separate partition is where Mint would move in. Is this right?

You wrote " just combine SDA5 & SDA11 and install Mint there" . I am not used to gparted at all. I will try it with windows mini tool partition wizard. Or if you could explain how I do it with gparted, it would be great.

Thanks very much Reorx. Greatly appreciate your help

[Flemur]

1: I wish to have a separate partition for mint. I would go with 30 GB

You have to have a separate partition for the OS. IOW, you can't install it to a directory under windows, etc.

To the question whether I understand the difference between home and separate partition. It is subjective, To me, Home is where windows sits and separate partition is where Mint would move in. Is this right?

/home is where user directories and data are stored (actually under /home/username for each username). It can be either a separate partition - in addition to the two other separate partitions where windows and mint are installed - or it can be just another directory in the linux/mint installation partition. "Home" has nothing at all to do with windows.

Edit: /home is like the windows "Users" directory.

[Reorx]

Thank you for getting back,

1: I wish to have a separate partition for mint. I would go with 30 GB
2: I wish to expand the size of C drive where my windows 7 is installed.

To the question whether I understand the difference between home and separate partition. It is subjective, To me, Home is where windows sits and separate partition is where Mint would move in. Is this right?

You wrote " just combine SDA5 & SDA11 and install Mint there" . I am not used to gparted at all. I will try it with windows mini tool partition wizard. Or if you could explain how I do it with gparted, it would be great.

Thanks very much Reorx. Greatly appreciate your help

OK, I think I have a solution... it will be implemented in a few steps... But first >>> Can you start Windows and move everything on SDA7 (G: or maybe H:) to SDA1 (C:)? In my new plan, SDA7 will be deleted and the free space will be used as part of your Mint installation space... You never told me what is on SDA7... is it just data or do you also have programs installed there as well???

[atheistsunited]

7 G is just data, no programs.

[Reorx]

OK, great... this is my plan >>>

Step 1, boot Windows and >>>
1) Copy all data you want to keep from SDA7 (known as G: or H: in Windows) to SDA1 (aka C:)
2) When the copy operation is complete, remove (delete) SDA7 if you are able to do so from Windows.

Let me know when you have completed step 1...

[Reorx]

Deleted... <OP went off the reservation and borked the system... post was moot...>

[atheistsunited]

Thank you Reorx. Using windows disc manager I tried to delete the partions where ubuntu and mint were stored. I tried the ubuntu swap partition first. During the process, my comp froze and then i could not even start with safe mode. So now I have to do a windows clean install. After that i would install Mint Rosa. In a way, it is fine because I can get rid of ubuntu completely from my system. I dont think it is Ubuntu that caused the crash. Ever since i coul not remove ubuntu and install mint, i have been reading tutorials posted by every tom, dick and nancy and i may have got some viruses through some links. Thanks Austin.texas for your messge. I wish I had read it somewhere even before I started installing mint.

Those who wish to remove ubuntu without altering windows boot process, it seems there is a free windows based program called easybcd. Before you delete ubuntu partition, one should restore the windows boot loader using easybcd. I have not tried this option so pls do your research before you restore your windows boot loader.

[Reorx]

... Using windows disc manager I tried to delete the partions where ubuntu and mint were stored....

WHY would you do this??? You asked this forum for help and promptly got specific answers and specific (simple) instructions... and then you proceeded to do something completely different... I don't get it!

You don't have to do a Windows re-install unless you really want to.

In the process of your flailing in Windows, you broke the bootloader (GRUB) on your system... but the system is otherwise intact (I believe). Question > did you copy over the data from SDA7 before you borked your system?

If you would like to repair the problem without going through the trouble of re-installing Windows > Boot the Mint Live USB or DVD and get a Gparted screen shot of the HD and post it here.

If you don't want to repair anything and are opting for a Win re-install, I wish you well...

In either case - Enjoy the Mint!

[atheistsunited]

No, Reorx, the system is not intact. Something has gone seriously wrong and now i cannot not even install windows! it gets stuck at the start itself. I tried to install mint but it showed memory error. I did memory test on BIOS and it passed the test. I saw a message on windows 7 froum and the guy had done exactly the same what I did. He Installed ubuntu and then while trying to remove it from windows, his system crashed and got the same error -out of memory. I will try to borrow a comatible harddrive and memory stick and will try it out. nOw it feels like it is an hardware issue. I will fix it soon. I would have been a bit shaky if it was my high end ASUS. I am glad that it happened on my hp.

when it comes to formating-deleting partitions, does gparted perform better than the other programs? My request was not really about partitioning, my subject line explains my need. I wanted to install mint and overwrite Ubuntu. Untill I saw the message from Austin.texas, I was clueless about why Mint wa not letting me overwrite Ubuntu. By then it wa too late, So i think it would be better if I start another thread requesting help on how to use gparted

thank you all

[Reorx]

Simple question > since your "crash", have you tried to boot the Mint Live medium? If so, what happened? If not, why not?

In terms of Gparted performing "better" than other programs - The only other partitioning programs I have any experience with are Partition Magic and Microsoft's Fdisk and none of those experiences are recent!... I consider Gparted to be a rock solid GUI partitioning tool that is the defacto standard for the majority of the Linux world. It is best to run it from a Live removable medium like a USB stick or DVD (Like the Mint installation medium).

If you seek information about using Gparted, starting a thread might not be the best (initial) idea. Google "Gparted totorial" and have a look at some of the hits the search returns. THIS is an example of a good Gparted tutorial but there are many others...

P.S.: You might be right - this may indeed be a hardware issue (failure). Trying to boot the Mint Live medium will tell us a little about that...

[atheistsunited]

The only thing i see after inserting the bootable usb mint is a memory error message and then the mint logo at the center of the screen. Then it freezes. This is why i think it could be some hardware failure.
As far as partitioning is concerned, there are several methods available. I have recommended mini tool wizard to those who are familiar with Windows. It is free and it works well. On a space like this, which is dedicated to linux newbies, which basically means people who wish to migrate from windows, let people choose the tool they are at ease with when it comes to minor issues like partitioning. Im really happy that i found out how to overwrite ubuntu on this forum. On a Windows forum i learned to solve the boot loader issue.

[Reorx]

The only thing i see after inserting the bootable usb mint is a memory error message and then the mint logo at the center of the screen. Then it freezes. This is why i think it could be some hardware failure.

Yep, sounds like a hardware issue... try removing and then reseating the RAM chips... if that has no effect, change the RAM out... when you get the machine to boot, I believe the problem is fixable without re-installing Windows... Post back when you figure the problem out and/or fix it...

Enjoy the Mint!