Mint 14 Reinstall

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Venom

Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by Venom »

I messed up something in my Mint 14 installation and now I would like to reinstall it. I have it alongside Win 7 on a separate partition (of course) and I want to ask is it enough to format my Linux partitions through Window's Disk Management and then try to reinstall (I have a bootable USB for that, worked like a charm the first time).
Will that mess up my Grub boot loader? Does it matter in what order I format these partitions (one swap, one standard)?
Unfortunately, I don't have a Win 7 installation DVD because I own a preinstalled OEM version. I read that is the only way to fix your MBR.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
viking777

Re: Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by viking777 »

You don't have to format it with anything, the installation procedure will do that for you. It won't 'mess up' grub it will reinstall it.
As regards Windows you can download a windows recovery cd from lots of places, or you can even make your own, which is better still http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5409/cre ... windows-7/ , so you don't need the original disk to repair windows (although you do to reinstall it).

Boot from your usb stick choose 'something else' installation option and mark the original mint partition as the the / partition and the original swap as the new swap partition. Elect to format both of them. That is all you need to do. You will lose any data and programs on your old mint partition of course.
Venom

Re: Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by Venom »

When Mint reinstalls Grub, will Grub still recognize my Win 7 installation?
viking777

Re: Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by viking777 »

It certainly should, that is what it is designed to do. There have been rare occasions when this hasn't happened, in which case you just boot into mint open a terminal and run

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub
On 99% or occasions you wont need to do that,windows will be detected and bootable.
Venom

Re: Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by Venom »

The installer crashed when I tried to reinstall Mint without previously formatting the partitions. So, should I format them through Disk Management or what?
viking777

Re: Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by viking777 »

If the installer crashes whilst trying to format partitions then either the installer is faulty or you have done something wrong.

In my opinion, you should never use windows to format linux partitions and vice versa. If you must format them before hand then use gparted from the live cd/usb, if that doesn't work then try windows, but only as a last resort.
Venom

Re: Mint 14 Reinstall

Post by Venom »

Everything seems to have went well the second time I tried to reinstall it through the Mint installer.
Thank you very much, viking777, you are a lifesaver :D
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