how to install windows 7 on an existing linux mint cinnamon 17.1 desktop pc 64 bit

[pine55]

Hello fellow linux patrons,
Need Help Please. How to install windows 7 on an existing linux mint cinnamon 17.1 desktop pc 64 bit.?? I've got gparted on my live cd. and got Multibootusb on usb and the windows 7.iso. I was able to partition my bootable 32 gb usb with gparted into 3 partitions namely 4.7 gb, 5.2 gb, and 5.2 gb.
My desktop pc has 500 gb hard drive and has the following:

File system
Partion 1
251 gb extn. 4
/dev/sda1
Linux (Bootable)
Ext4 (version 1.0) — Not Mounted

Extended Partition
Partition 2
249 gb
/dev/sda2
Extended
Extended Partition


Filesystem
Partition 6
247 Gb Ext. 4
247 GB — 171 GB free (30.8% full)
/dev/sda6
Linux
Ext4 (version 1.0) — Mounted at Filesystem Root


Swap
Partition 5
2.0 Gb Swap
/dev/sda5
Linux swap
Swap (version 2) — Active

Free Space
1.1 Mb

Gparted is asking to where do I want to install the windows installer and it shows my two partitions - 250 gb and the other 250 gb partion. Originally i just wanted to install windows 7 on the usb however, I'm thingking of just installing it to my hard drive. I don't want to loose my present linux mint. But I do understand from the forums that I have to install windows 7 first then linux mint since windows will destroy the bootlooder sequence and will not see linux. How do I know which partition to format or to partition? Is it automatic the first 250 gb hard drive that gparted listed is the one with the linux mint os installed.?
Please explain in a step by step manner. Thanks a lot.

[kukamuumuka]

You must shrink and move /dev/sda1, because Windows requires at least one primary partition.

1. Download Super Grub 2 CD or USB for booting Mint after Windows-installation.
2. Shrink and move
3. Make a NTFS-partition in the front of /dev/sda1
4. Install Windows, but DO NOT let Windows to format the partition.
5. Disable hibernation and sleep-functions from Windows.

Code: Select all

powercfg /h off

6. Boot Mint using Super Grub 2 and repair the bootloader.

Code: Select all

sudo os-prober
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub

[pine55]

Thank you very much administrollaattori I'll try to comprehend and apply your solution. Thanks.

[pine55]

Hello. I was able to download the supergrub 2 and placed it on a brand new usb. However I'm not sure it is ok since the usb is readible since prior to putting supergrub 2 it was functioning. Now i have installed supergrub in the brand new usb. But it seems it is not readable. It states it is a gpt filesystem.

From the CD-RW where Gparted i had installed it now sees my hard drive as 7 mib ..( im not sure about this)
I have tried to partition sda1 but Gparted does not see it anymore. ( i don't know why )

Please kindly help again.
Thank you very much.

[kukamuumuka]

Hello. I was able to download the supergrub 2 and placed it on a brand new usb. However I'm not sure it is ok since the usb is readible since prior to putting supergrub 2 it was functioning. Now i have installed supergrub in the brand new usb. But it seems it is not readable. It states it is a gpt filesystem.

From the CD-RW where Gparted i had installed it now sees my hard drive as 7 mib ..( im not sure about this)
I have tried to partition sda1 but Gparted does not see it anymore. ( i don't know why )

Please kindly help again.
Thank you very much.

What tell terminal-commands

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

Code: Select all

inxi -po

[pine55]

Hello administrollaattori greetings to you. Thanks again for all the help. I appreciate it very much.
Here's the output:
Model: ATA ST500DM002-1BD14 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 251GB 251GB primary ext4 boot
2 251GB 500GB 249GB extended
6 251GB 498GB 247GB logical ext4
5 498GB 500GB 2012MB logical linux-swap(v1)


Model: Generic Flash Disk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 15.7GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
3 32.3kB 4721MB 4721MB primary fat32
2 4721MB 5240MB 518MB extended
1 5240MB 10.5GB 5240MB primary ntfs boot
4 10.5GB 15.7GB 5248MB primary fat32


Error: /dev/sr0: unrecognised disk label

eugene@eugene ~ $ inxi -po
Partition: ID: / size: 227G used: 71G (33%) fs: ext4 ID: /media/eugene/5A9A-1937 size: 4.9G used: 4.0K (1%) fs: vfat
ID: /media/eugene/5A9A-1933 size: 4.4G used: 4.0K (1%) fs: vfat ID: /media/eugene/28AABA4A07C45F8C size: 4.9G used: 3.2G (66%) fs: fuseblk
ID: swap-1 size: 2.01GB used: 0.32GB (16%) fs: swap
Unmounted: ID: /dev/sr0 size: 0.05G label: GPartedCD uuid: N/A
ID: /dev/sda1 size: 250.68G label: N/A uuid: f6339f40-cbf1-4240-9205-6076a23e94eb fs: ext4
- - - - -------

Since sda1 is not mounted i tried to mount it. And then went to gparted in the live cd . booted on the cd but still gparted could not see/detect sda1. Sir the purpose of partitioning sda1 is to put windows 7 first and the secondary partition of sda1 will be to put linux. Is this correct Sir? I also tried to install gparted to my hard drive by going to the terminal and typed : sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install gparted
prior to this i downloaded the removed package. And this is the output - "Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead."

Thank you very much and looking forward to your most valuable help .

[pine55]

the window set up says it can not install windows to my hard drive since it is not ntfs file . At present it is ext4 .
I understand it . However, I am unable to make a partition on sda1 and format it into ntfs file since gparted can't see the hard drive only the usb. Thank you.

[kukamuumuka]

the window set up says it can not install windows to my hard drive since it is not ntfs file . At present it is ext4 .
I understand it . However, I am unable to make a partition on sda1 and format it into ntfs file since gparted can't see the hard drive only the usb. Thank you.

Look your problem like in the next page?
http://www.rodsbooks.com/missing-parts/

[pine55]

Thank you my friend from Finland for helping me on this.
Since I'm having a hard time installing gparted on my hard drive but it is already in my download file. But in the menu whether accesories or administration there is no gparted icon. In the search box i type Gparted and it would show it is installed. However, unable to use or open it. So i'm now trying to upgrade my 17.1 to 17.3 but it failed to download all the parts needed thru the software manager. The removed.list.bck seems to be recurring file . Attach are screenshots of my attempts to fix. But still no fix. I've been googling and reading the other forums to try and help myself but still unsuccessfull.

[vansloneker]

...
4. Install Windows, but DO NOT let Windows to format the partition.
...

May I ask why Windows should not format it's own partition?

[kukamuumuka]

...
4. Install Windows, but DO NOT let Windows to format the partition.
...

May I ask why Windows should not format it's own partition?

Windows breaks partition table, because Windows does not understand linux´s logical partitions and swap partitions.

[sdibaja]

...
4. Install Windows, but DO NOT let Windows to format the partition.
...

May I ask why Windows should not format it's own partition?

Windows breaks partition table, because Windows does not understand linux´s logical partitions and swap partitions.

I do agree with that, windows does not "see" the existing Linux type partitions and can destroy them.
Windows does not like GPT tabes at all, it tends to change it to msdos without warning...

Use Gparted to do partitioning tasks.

BTW: "disks" is also known to not see partitions, do not use it for anything other than viewing... (better to remove it entirely)

[vansloneker]

Uh yes, I've experienced that too. Didn't think it would even happen when formatting a single partition during an install. Learned something new. Thanks for the replies!

[pine55]

Hi Hello my friend from Finland. I still could not have a dual boot of windows 7 and linux mint 18.3.. I need help please.
I have a succesful linux mint 18.3 running. Windows 7 is also running well. In the grub the choices are there first is the linux mint 18.3 and somewhere below is windows 7 choice. If i choose windows 7 to booth then ok it is running. However when i finish with windows and then i boot into linux . ok linux is running good too. But when i boot again to windows this time it does not allow. I get a black screen with some lines. To fix this i tried to use supergrub2 usb and I was able to rebooth into windows 7 succesfully. However, if I boot again to linux - linux will run ok . However, when i go back to reboot to windows 7 - again windows does not work. Only a black screen. I think Linux destroys the boot of windows. How to fix my problem of having a succesfull dual boot of windows 7 and linux mint 18.3. I would appreciate your further help. Thanks.
Here below is the disk partitions.
How to fix as well? thanks.


Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 2048 58597375 58595328 28G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 58597376 420368383 361771008 172.5G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 * 420368384 489609215 69240832 33G 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 489611262 976771071 487159810 232.3G 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 489611264 497803263 8192000 3.9G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 530573312 538385811 7812500 3.7G 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 538386432 976771071 438384640 209G 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 497805312 530563071 32757760 15.6G 83 Linux

Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
Partition table entries are not in disk order.

[pine55]

Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0001ad99