[How To] Dual Boot Linux Mint Cinnamon with another Linux Distro.

[jeffk969]

Hello All,
This is for newbie’s like myself, I found it hard to find how to just do a straight dual boot NOT with/alongside windows. So after a bunch of
research, and asking here on the forum, I finally have a machine with 2 Linux OS’s, in a dual boot, with Linux Mint Cinnamon (LMC) 19 as the main
OS. The other is Zorin 12.4 (Ubuntu). So without further ado, here are the steps that were done to achieve this…..

Important factors to note: My BIOS is Legacy (not UEFI), Machine Model: Dell Inspiron-3847, used DVD/RW’s with ISO’s for install.

1) Download and burn to disk - Boot Repair (As a just in case). I believe you can use USB’s also, but I used DVD’s and can’t answer questions related
to using USB’s. 2) I did a fresh install of LMC. But if you currently only have 1 Linux OS installed, you should be good. Here’s what my hard drive
looked like (Used Gparted to obtain image) after. I also used GParted by running the LMC live ISO from the install DVD.

After install.png

3) Next I created a 4 GB swap. Now, I’ve read you need to, but also have heard you don’t have to.
I don’t know which is the correct answer, so I just created a 4GB (4096 MB), and moved forward.
Here’s what the hard drive will look like after.

After swap.png

And here’s how using Gparted: (Used Method 2)
https://www.fosslinux.com/1064/how-to-c ... -mint.htm/

4) Next step, created a 2nd partition, 400 GB. Here’s a Video on how to. There are several video’s and many step by step instruction guide online.
Just do a google search for more info.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5kh_-6e4kk
Guide: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/28/gpart ... beginners/

It should look something like this --

After partition and Swap.png

Courtesy of fabien85:
- open gparted, select the linux partition (sda1, blue one in your screenshot), click Partition > Resize/Move, use the slider to choose the space you want to leave free, click resize/move then "apply all operations"
- grab a cup of coffee, this may be a bit long.
It's much faster on an SSD than on a magnetic hard drive. It gets slower the more data you have, so in fact it would have been better to do it just after installing the system, before restoring all your backups. Anyway just wait, with a good SSD it can take only 10 minutes.
- when it's finished, close gparted, shutdown, unplug the live USB
- check you can still boot to your Mint, just in case. (there should be no problem, but it's always good to check)

5) Loaded up Zorin 12.4 ISO on DVD/RW disc and followed fabien85 instruction’s:
Please note, again, I used DVD’s, not usb’s...
- boot the live USB of the second OS you want to install. If it is ubuntu-based, the installer should provide an option "Install alongside Linux Mint"
which should work out of the box. If it is another OS, you will have to ask them how they provide the option to dual-boot.

So now I had two Linux OS’s installed. The tricky part after this is which one do you want to boot into when you power up. It will automatically
boot to the 2nd OS, most recently installed. To change this to boot into the 1st, in my case LMC, I did the following… But before I get to that.
I first downloaded grub customizer. I read that could be leading to big trouble/issues. So by following further instructions from my new LM mentor,
he’s like the Yoda of Mint, I would imagine, I did the following…

But first… When you boot up, you will see a list (sorry couldn’t figure out how to do a screenshot of this). In my case, it had Zorin on top, then a
few memtest, then Linux Mint. LM was the fifth one down, and what I wanted to boot to. The top of this list is 0. LM was 5th, so it would be 4….
So if you don’t want to boot into the 2nd OS, count how many lines down the OS you want to boot into is, and pick that number. Again, it goes 0, 1,
2, etc. So when I did the following, I used 4 instead of 2.

In terminal: sudo nano /etc/default/grub

change the line GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=2 (adapting the number if necessary, like mentioned, I used 4 and not 2),
ctrl+o to save, ctrl+x to exit. Then tell grub to account for the changes by running:

From terminal run: sudo update-grub

Then reboot to verify it boots into the OS you want it to…

Congrats….

If you have any issues, use Boot-Repair… It can be a lifesaver…

I would like to Thank fabien85, Pierre, slipstick & frosh for their assistance. If not for them, this wouldn’t be here to hopefully help you achieve
dual booting 2 Linux distro’s…

Hope you find this helpful, good luck, and enjoy Linux…!!!

[rbeltz48]

To jeffk969, Over the past 12 years I have found that the Boot Repair disk does not always work. I have run it a number of times and it shows the repair was successful when it really was not. Others to consider are SuperGrub 2 and System Rescue CD.

[gm10]

- boot the live USB of the second OS you want to install. If it is ubuntu-based, the installer should provide an option "Install alongside Linux Mint"
which should work out of the box.

If it's using an installer with that option, your instructions can be reduced to:

1. Install Linux Mint in automatic mode
2. Install other Ubuntu-based Linux in "alongside" automatic mode
   • if you don't want it to replace the boot loader, install with ubiquity -b command.
   • if you forgot the above, boot to whichever install you want to "lead" and run

     Code: Select all

     sudo grub-install
     sudo update-grub

[jeffk969]

Thanks Gents....
Haven't yet used either of those rbeltz, but it's good to let others know they are out there. And I hear what you're saying with
boot repair. I haven't myself used it too much either, but when I have, it helped me big time... I'll look at the other 2, can
never have too much help...
Gm10, thanks for reducing. I used those lines because they were given to me and were easily understood. I didn't want to
get too technical, for many noobs may not understand/know the terminology. Was hoping to keep it simple. Heck, I'm pretty
simple minded myself, maybe that's why I understood fabien's post.... He dumbed it up for me..ha

[jeffk969]

Update: After a few months when I wanted to try another OS all I did was booted up with the Linux Mint 19.1 Install DVD,
and ran Gparted. Deleted the partition with Zorin (it was still a separate partition). Updated grub, and rebooted. It
booted into Linux Mint. Than I put in Solus 3.999 Budgie Install DVD and repeated the steps. Installed with no problems.

[rickNS]

Instead of choosing the "alongside" method and wasting all that 400GB for just one testing/auxiliary OS, I would have chose the "something else", and gave Zorin something sensible like 20-50GB (depend on how much you might use it). You would not had to delete it (zorin), and could have added a bunch more testing distro's.

[jeffk969]

Thanks for the tip rickNS. I've yet to do an install using Something Else. Wasn't sure how that worked. I will have to try it next time.

[jeffk969]

Hello,
Being a few years older then when I originally posted this, and trying something new just to do it. UEFI is definitely the way to go over Legacy if you can, when setting up a Dual Boot machine. A lot easier (using the slide bar when allocating the space for 2nd OS), pretty straight forward. You still have to adjust Grub to decide which to boot into. Would recommend UEFI, highly. Just wanted to update this old post, if it helps just 1 person...lol

[pbear]

UEFI is definitely the way to go over Legacy if you can ...

Are you talking about partitioning or Grub? For partitioning, there's a simple way to use GPT partitioning on a BIOS/legacy system. All you need to do is create a special partition to replace the MBR. Now you can have up to 128 primary partitions. See, e.g., this tutorial. If you're talking about Grub, I think gm10's advice above is apt, that it's not difficult to manage if you know the two tricks he mentioned. Also, it's not difficult to reinstall Grub from a live session (easier than configuring and running the Boot Repair app, IMHO).

That said, if the system is already set up for UEFI, I tend to agree it's better to use it than resort to legacy mode.