Linux Mint / Windows 7 / Ubuntu (Wubi) setup help

Check this tutorial. If it doesn't help, please tell us on which step you failed.

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-linux-mint-7-gloria

There is nothing special about installing Linux Mint, so no need to be walked through it.
You simply install it, and it will work along with the other installed OS's.
The problem you are encountering is unusual; so we need to know *exactly* what the error message is.

But I think the problem goes deeper: How did you actually manage to install Wubi on Win7, since it doesn't yet officially support this beta OS? I know that installing Wubi the ordinary way will fail, because Wubi does not add boot menu entries to the Win7 bootloader: https://bugs.launchpad.net/wubi/+bug/318135

Only workarounds are reported to get this going. One of them is to install EasyBCD by neosmart: https://bugs.launchpad.net/wubi/+bug/318135
Did you use this?
That would create a totally different situation, because now EasyBCD is the bootloader that Grub has to deal with and maybe there lies the problem.

What do you mean by installing Mint "alongside"? Does this mean installing the Mint bootloader into the Mint partition?
That should be the way to go, because then you could use the EasyBCD bootloader to boot all 3 systems.
Please let us know what you used; if it was EasyBCD, check out their documentation:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/EasyBCD+Documentation+Home
especially the chapter dealing with adding Linux distros:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Linux

I never used easy bcd to set up ubuntu via wubi in windows 7.

I tried to install mint by just booting off the cd and running the install app.  I also tried usijng unetbootin.

I'm going to try mint4win, if that doesn't work i'll take a picture of the error with my digital camera.

"What do you mean by installing Mint "alongside"? Does this mean installing the Mint bootloader into the Mint partition?"

I'm not exactly sure... if this mint4win thing doesn't work i'll take a picture

(i've attached a photo of bootloader and mint4win)

"I never used easy bcd to set up ubuntu via wubi in windows 7."

But you are using the EasyBCD bootloader; it is displyed on the left side of your attached image.

"Booting off the Mint CD and running the install app" that's the good and proven way to do it. But as I said above: if you are already running EasyBCD, this may be the reason why you run into a problem. Try to follow the instructions given for installing and adding another Linux distro to EasyBCD, as given here, under the header "Vista before Linux":
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Linux
(The trick is to not install the Mint bootloader to the MBR of 'hd0,0', but to the Mint root partition, then configure EasyBCD to run it)

I appreciate all the help as a struggle along in n00b land here...

"But you are using the EasyBCD bootloader; it is displyed on the left side of your attached image."
I didn't install EasyBCD until after i installed Ubuntu via Wubi, i was using it to try to get Mint to work.

My Ubuntu install is now hosed (but that's okay, i was planning on deleting it anyway).

"(The trick is to not install the Mint bootloader to the MBR of 'hd0,0', but to the Mint root partition, then configure EasyBCD to run it)"

This is exactly where i have no clue what to do.  I've attached a few screenshots of the Linux Mint 7 Install (from bootable cd-rom).  I'm currently at the "Advanced Options" part of the install (third attachment).  I would really appreciate some direction here.

Thanks!

in the last post I had selected "Specify Partitions Manually".  I then selected the 70GB EXT3 partition and formatted it and set the path to /.


"What do you mean by installing Mint "alongside"? Does this mean installing the Mint bootloader into the Mint partition?"
The prepare disks space jpg has a radio option for installing Mint "side-by-side" with windows.  That is what i was referring to.

If you wish to use EasyBCD as the bootloader for both, you need to click the arrow in the "advanced options" dropdown, then select the "sda2" partition as location to hold the bootloader.

After the installation, boot Win7 and follow the instructions in the link I posted above.

Here they are as a quote:

"EasyBCD makes installing Linux after you have Windows Vista up-and-running a breeze. These steps assume you have Windows Vista properly installed and booting, and are looking to install Linux on a second hard drive or partition. These steps also assume that you are using the default Windows Vista bootloader, and don't manually change the active partition around. If you had Linux installed before you installed Windows Vista, scroll down to the next section.

1. Put the Linux CD in the drive, and start the installation normally.
2. When prompted to set up the bootloader, make sure you specify to install LILO, GRUB, or whatever to the bootsector of the partition that Linux is being installed to and not the MBR of your hard drive.
3. Finish the Linux installation, take the CD out of the drive, and reboot.

At this point, you'll go straight back to Windows Vista. Don't panic, everything is OK - you'll be in Linux soon enough!

1. Turn on EasyBCD, go to the "Add/Remove Entries" screen and pick Linux from the tabs at the top.
2. Pick the appropriate bootloader from the drop-down menu (either GRUB or LILO),
Give the entry a user-friendly name (and if you want to keep "NST Linux Loader" as the text, we won't say no!)
3. The hardest part of this mind-numbingly difficult exercise (/sarcasm) is choosing the correct hard drive and partition numbers that correspond to the partition you installed Linux (and most importantly, the bootloader) to.
4. In EasyBCD (and Windows in general), drive numbers start at 0, and partitions start at 1. So the second partition of the first drive would be 0, 2.
5. Press "Add Entry" and reboot.

When the Vista bootloader asks you what OS you'd like to boot into, select Linux to continue the first-run configuration for your brand-spanking-new Linux install."
(end quote)

I discovered something odd about your partition setup.

Should you encounter a bootloader problem again, please boot into the Mint Live system (from the install CD), and check the system/administration tools for "GParted" or "Partition Manager".
Run it, and make a screenshot of what it displays about your hard drive setup and post it here.

i hit an error during the install (see screenshot).  I also attached the requested gparted screenshot.

please let me know if there is anything else i can do to help.

thanks!

Yep, it's as I thought: you have an extended partition (sda3) with a logical drive (sda5) *in the middle* of two primary partitions (sda1 and sda2).

In 15 years of multibooting I never had a setup like this, and I should even have thought it's impossible to create. This could very well be the cause of this "fatal error".

Please do this:
- Rerun GParted (I'd suggest to use a separate version of GParted, not the one included into the installer; partitioning is a delicate matter - it's wise to apply changes pretty often in between a longer procedure. If you don't have the Mint Live CD, use Parted Magic, it's only 80 Mb: http://iso.linuxquestions.org/download/737/2150/http/downloads.sourceforge.net/pmagic-4.1.iso.zip)
- delete all partitions underneath the Windows one; use this sequence:
---- Swap
---- Extended
---- Unallocated
---- sda2 (ext3)
- apply changes
- create a new extended partition encompassing all the unallocated space at the end of the disk
- apply changes
- inside the extended, create a logical partition for Mint (all space minus 3 GB, formatted ext3)
- create a logical partition for Swap at the end of the drive (3 GB, formatted swap)
- apply changes

Then reboot from the install CD, select sda5 as mountpoint for "/", sda6 as mountpoint for Swap, and install the bootloader to sda5.

If it works, congratulations.
If not, we'll have to dig into the fact that this is a pretty huge disk, and what this could possibly mean for Grub and booting Linux on a sector that is 1300 GB deep down inside the drive. Personally, the highest sectors I ever booted Linux from were around 600 GB.

Thanks for the all the info, i'm booting in to gparted now (i have a gparted live disc).

I'm actually going to be installing OS X 10.5.2 Leopard via iATKOS after I install Linux Mint.  

I think i just need an extra primary partition for that.... not sure if you are famillar with this kind of setup.

No sorry, I am not familiar with setting up OS X on a multi-boot PC.
But I'm pretty sure you will need a primary partition for that.

So you could either take the space away from Mint, and create another Primary prior to creating the (smaller) Extended, or you could take the space away from the Windows partition. In this case you could proceed with Mint, and resize the Windows partition later on.
But mind you: resizing a OS partition is always risky business, and resizing such a huge one will probably take literally for ages: there are only 270 GB of free space left on your Windows partition, which means that roughly 700 GB may have to be moved. Personally, I wouldn't have a good feeling with this.

Here's another possible scenario (which is the solution I'd choose if I had to do this):

- Purchase and install an additional 250 or 500 GB SATA drive (they should be around 40-50 $ at the most).
- Partition it into 3 Primaries for: Mint, Mac OS, Linux Swap (format the Mac partition FAT or NTFS, since GParted can't really handle the Mac HFS+ filesystem, I think)
- In the Extended on disk1 (originally meant for Mint) create a FAT32 logical partition which you could use to store data that is meant to be read-write accessed by all OS's
- Install Mint on disk2, into what will most likely be drive "sdb1"
- Check the Known Issues about iATKOS (http://iatkos.wikidot.com/known-issues) and make sure that your system specs are not concerned
- Study the EasyBCD guide on Mac OS: http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Mac+OS+X
(Don't forget to pay attention to the external links at the bottom)
- Install Mac OS

Good luck.

ps:
This scenario would also be the solution to the huge disk problem mentioned by me above, in case fatal bootloader errors keep reappearing even after adopting the partitioning scheme I suggested.

Sorry, there is an error in my comment above:
"format the Mac partition FAT or NTFS" should read instead: "format the Mac partition FAT or EXT3".

Thanks.  I am working with the HP IQ506 (all in one touch 22" touch screen PC).  It has a mobile chipset.  I actually took it apart and threw in a 1.5TB drive.  It only has room for one drive.  I just adjusted it and gave it 250GB free.  I'll try what you mentioned above.  Thank you so much for all the advice!

I used gparted live and made some changes.... i attached a screenshot.  Does this setup make sense?  do you think it will work?


Thanks!

well that didn't work, failed again while executing grub install sda3 (where i had /)

i removed the previous mint4win install.  used easy bcd and made sure everything was clear except the windows7 entry.  ran mint4win in vista sp1 compatibility as admin and the install went through and it added an entry in BCD.

and sweet jesus it worked!