Help - Windows/Linux boot problem

bbopveg

Member
I need some help please. I just finished a clean install on my pc, W7 Pro, and then installed, on a separate drive, LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition.)

My problem is that all I can get to now is the LMDE installation. The Grub2 loader comes up and has no option other than to boot to LMDE.

I can see the boot files in the W7 'system reserved' partition, which is automatically mounted, but that's all I can get to.

If I can't access W7 to install the easyBCD, is there another way that I can get the program into my system to get it set up? (Like a portable edition?)

Any thoughts here?
 
Tried that but when I boot to the W7 drive first, all I get is a GRUB screen (command line). Any other thoughts? I will point out that I have a seemingly complex configuration. There are 4 HDD on the computer. 1 is SSD 120GB and the other three are 1TB HDD 3.5" - The W7 installation, which I did first and, of course, did not think I was going to have a problem with so I did not load easBCD straight away, is on the first SATA port. The SSD, which is where I have LMDE (Linux) installed, is on the 4th SATA port. When I look through the LMDE setup/configuration, I have the SSD showing up as sda, which is as it should be, even though in the partition program, it is physically sdc. And the W7 drive, which is SDA in the partition program, is sdc in LMDE. The kicker? The System Reserved portion of the drive for W7, where the boot loader is, is showing up in LMDE as sda1, with the linux partitions as sda2 (/), sda3 (swap) and sda4 (/home).

I spent hours trying to get the GRUB2 to show up properly but I'm not cutting it. (Something that I'm not seeing, probably because of the physical configuration of the drives.) AAAHHRRGGHHH!

If I start over, and install easyBCD after Windows, will I be able to easily install the Linux OS to the SSD?

Again, your thoughts appreciated.
 
If you start over you are going to run into the same issue. EasyBCD is only a graphical tool to work with the BCD. It does nothing more than manipulate the boot loader for you to add or remove entries. It doesnt do anything in regards to the multi boot setup other than giving you a line of text to select on the selection screen.

So if you start over, you could very well end up in the same exact boat you are now. Cause it is something to do with what LMDE did, not EasyBCD.

I would start over, install Windows 7 but remove the drive when you install LMDE. Then connect the Win7 drive, make sure that drive boots and then add an entry for LMDE.
 
Are you sure that W7 is first in the BIOS boot sequence? (not the SATA port number, that's got nothing to do with which one boots first)
If you installed linux and it overwrote the W7 boot, then it should automatically dual boot it for you.
The fact that you are only seeing Linux as a boot option would suggest that it installed without seeing W7, i.e. it didn't overwrite W7's MBR, in which case W7 is untouched and just needs to be the first HDD you go to in the BIOS boot sequence.
Remember that whenever you disconnect HDDs temporarily to install an OS on a different HDD, the absent disk is removed from its place in the boot sequence and when you reconnect it it will not resume its former place in the queue. It will be tagged on at the bottom of the order and will need to be re-prioritized.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top