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Dual boot Linux Mint and WIn7 on seperate HD's

Mars999

Mars999

Senior member
I am sure this can be done, as I remember back in the DOS/Win98 days doing it, but can't remember for sure how to, IIRC we used a .bat file or something with some simple script code....

What I want to do is when the computer boots up I want a simple menu to select Win7 or Linux to boot into, and I will have Win7 on its own HD and Linux on its own HD...

IS this possible? If so is there software to set this up now? Or do you have to hack the MBR?

Thanks!
 
Easy BCD will set up a boot menu using the Windows boot loader. That is what I use. I am pretty sure GRUB and GRUB2 will do this also.
 
if you have win7 installed first, pretty much any version of linux installed after will see that its there and create a boot menu for it
 
Dahak said:
if you have win7 installed first, pretty much any version of linux installed after will see that its there and create a boot menu for it
Click to expand...

Easy BCD can also do this regardless of which OS was installed first. I like the Windows 7 Boot Loader better than GRUB or LILO or GRUB2.
 
Dahak said:
if you have win7 installed first, pretty much any version of linux installed after will see that its there and create a boot menu for it
Click to expand...

This would be what I would have suggested as well. I've done it with Mint and Peppermint relatively recently.
 
I'd use the device selection key at startup, and let each O/S have its own bootloader. That way, if one system goes tits up, it's easy to boot into the other to rescue it.
 
Mars999 said:
Do you mean the boot menu in the BIOS? when the MB boots up?
Click to expand...

Correct It's usually the F8 key, but it can vary. The downside is it requires slightly more attention at boot to change O/Ss, but most people who dual boot use 1 O/s much more than the other. With that being the case, you can set your primary O/S drive as default, and if that's the one you want at a particular time, you don't have to do anything. It'll boot up without any interaction from you.
 
lxskllr said:
Correct It's usually the F8 key, but it can vary. The downside is it requires slightly more attention at boot to change O/Ss, but most people who dual boot use 1 O/s much more than the other. With that being the case, you can set your primary O/S drive as default, and if that's the one you want at a particular time, you don't have to do anything. It'll boot up without any interaction from you.
Click to expand...
F8?

Not sure what computers have you used. It's been F11 on everything that I have used 🙂

What is it that uses F8... I WANT IT !!!1111
 
Magic Carpet said:
F8?

Not sure what computers have you used. It's been F11 on everything that I have used 🙂

What is it that uses F8... I WANT IT !!!1111
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure my P4P800SE uses F8, and some older computers of unknown design have also. I thought it was mostly a standard, but maybe it's more variable than I thought. My Eee uses esc to select drive.
 
Well I have a Asus P67 Deluxe and F8 gets me to a boot menu.... How the hell do I get into safe mode now with Win7? I thought F8 at boot time when you were booting into Windows allowed you to select what you wanted to do? I tried hitting F8 now after I selected my drive and skips it? Maybe you can only select the drive or after it starts to boot then hit F8 to go into safe mode? Is this an either or situation?

Thanks!
 
Thanks for sharing.
lxskllr said:
I'm pretty sure my P4P800SE uses F8, and some older computers of unknown design have also. I thought it was mostly a standard, but maybe it's more variable than I thought. My Eee uses esc to select drive.
Click to expand...
Interesting... I have about 10 computers from different era... and all* of them use F11. (none are Asus, though).

*Or don't have "quick boot" feature at all.

Mars999 said:
Well I have a Asus P67 Deluxe and F8 gets me to a boot menu.... How the hell do I get into safe mode now with Win7? I thought F8 at boot time when you were booting into Windows allowed you to select what you wanted to do? I tried hitting F8 now after I selected my drive and skips it? Maybe you can only select the drive or after it starts to boot then hit F8 to go into safe mode? Is this an either or situation?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
F8 boots you Windows Safe Mode, try pressing and holding it down right after boot sequence initialization. F5 should also work, that way you won't get stuck with Boot selection after power on ;-p
 
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With Lenovo Thinkpads, press 12 for a boot menu. On my desktop, I prefera hardware solution. Each drive in a mobile rack with power switches, This way the drive not being used is totall off -resting. 🙂

This my preference - I have always found hardware to be more reliable than software.

EZ-Swap3.jpg
 
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