Duel Install Mint on Windows 7 partitioned drive

Ok Mr. Wizard. I am trying to follow directions, assuming that when I'm instructed to read tutorials, I am expected to work my issue myself and follow the directions. Again I am waiting for instructions. I didn't set up that partition like that, the Mint installer did. It also selected the area at the bottom [I think it referenced the whole disk], after that failed I tried again selecting sda3 which also failed] Boot repair puts the boot flag on the windows partition when Mint crashes due to grub failure. I do appreciate your assistance...especially in your wounded condition. I hope it heals gently and perfectly. I'm off to try to get the dialer working. Yes I understand now that those tar files are beyond me. Thanks for the info.
 


Ok Mr. Wizard. I am trying to follow directions, assuming that when I'm instructed to read tutorials, I am expected to work my issue myself and follow the directions. Again I am waiting for instructions. I didn't set up that partition like that, the Mint installer did. It also selected the area at the bottom [I think it referenced the whole disk], after that failed I tried again selecting sda3 which also failed] Boot repair puts the boot flag on the windows partition when Mint crashes due to grub failure. I do appreciate your assistance...especially in your wounded condition. I hope it heals gently and perfectly. I'm off to try to get the dialer working. Yes I understand now that those tar files are beyond me. Thanks for the info.

@Vicktoria @wizardfromoz

Hello Vicktoria,

Please read carefully what I am writing to you. Please slow down just a little bit.

When Wiz asks you to wait for further instructions from him, before proceeding; please wait until he gets back to you before you go forward and get things 'mucked' up: usually becoming worse than before. Believe me, I am speaking from experience. I was in much the same situation as you {with a different set of problems and questions} and got impatient. Because of my impatience, things got worse before they finally got better - as I learned to slow down and be patient.

One thing 'us' newbies need to learn is to slow down. Once we do that, things will begin to go much better; and we will have a much better understanding of what we are doing: and we will learn patience along the way.

Thanks for being patient enough to listen to ......
The Old Geezer
Tango Charlie
 
what is command to get man for wvdial specific?
When you install <wvdial> the 'man page' will be included. If you want to peruse the man page prior to installing the wvdial package it is available on-line.

How do you edit wvdial config?
"Run wvdialconf to generate a configuration file containing information on your modem and ISP information."
"Once you have run wvdialconf, you need to edit the /etc/wvdial.conf file to reflect the phone number to dial, and your username and password."
From here: http://support.real-time.com/linux/dialup/wvdial.html

Also useful: https://github.com/morfikov/files/blob/master/configs/etc/wvdial.conf

If I could get the grub boot in the proper place, I think the drive partition configuration is workable to install Mint. When the grub fails, and I have to go to 'Repair Disk' to get windows back, I think it reassigns the boot flag to the sda2 Windows partition. If i could install the grub to the proper partition all the issues would clear.
I still think you are 'putting the cart before the horse' if you are running Linux Mint from a Live USB and have not yet installed it to hard disk. Nevertheless - take a look at these pages which describe some installation of Grub2 scenarios.
 
Vrai, you're awesome. You are right of course, all else is putting the cart before the horse until we get Linux installed on the HD. Yet the culprit in this issue seems to be that grub is not installing in a manner that makes it functional. I have spent the day convincing windows to back up to my external drive and to get a recent iso image. It still refuses to make a 'repair disk', I get the message 'parameter incorrect (0x80080057), yet I have one from 2014. The Mint usb would not boot today and gave message 'minimal Bash-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions.' I got grub to list commands [made no sense to me. I tried <load Mint> and <reboot>and then gave up]. Tried to get it to boot again and the same thing happened. I'll make another bootable usb, which I was intending to do anyway, as I thought since there was a grub boot issue, perhaps it was corrupted. Will try that and go to Linux to see if I can get wvdial to work. Thank you for answering my questions Vrai. This is the 4th week now of at least 10 hrs a day every day. I do need to focus elsewhere. I hope all these glitches are not a failing Hard Drive. I can put a HD in a tower...can you put a new HD in a laptop, Do you know? With Much Gratitude.
 
I'm off to try to get the dialer working.

and

and go to Linux to see if I can get wvdial to work.

in order to get it working you are best-advised to put on its frontend.

that is gnome-ppp

gnome-ppp is called the frontend for wvdial because it makes the dialer accessible from your desktop, the GUI

wvdial is called the backend for gnome-ppp, and is used from the CLI (client user interface - Terminal in linux, cmd/command in windows)

but wait for instructions first, please

i need to know at least 2 things from you before we proceed

1. do you want to configure the dialer AND the installation of linux mint from home (it can be done) or from your friend's house? there is a different approach to be taken under each set of circumstances.

2. what is the exact name of your linux mint? i know you said near the start

Mint-Mate 18

but there is 18.0, 18.1, 18.2 and 18.3, and the .isos they are burned from to disk will have names such as

linuxmint-18.2-cinnamon-64bit.iso

etcetera

3. if you are burning a new usb stick using UNetBootin, and want persistence, see

https://unetbootin.github.io/

if you want a blow-by-blow on how to use it, see this Post I made about a year ago

https://linux.org/threads/store-ins...ace-with-my-original-lm-18-3.23017/post-68365

wizard
 
Wizard, Thank you so very much for your excellent guidance. It helps me understand when I see the language defined and can really understand at least at my level, what is going on. I'm driving into town tomorrow to connect to hi speed. It's an hour away. I'll do all the downloading there. and then configure the modem at my friends house using my modem after the software is installed. Now that I know about persistence, I may as well go that way, so I'll get UNetBootin and use that to make the bootable usb, rather than Etcher. I can get gnome then as well, thanks for the clarity. I intend to install the Mint at my friends as well with access to hispeed, although I hook modem up to dialup to configure it. The distro is Linux Mint 18.2 Mate 64bit - Sonya, which we have been working with. I was looking at 19.2 Cinnamon tonight. Unless you suggest another. As I say I care not as long as it works, although I think I want to stay with debian. It's pushing 2am here, and I want to get up early to hit the road, so I'll stop for now. Again my gratitude for your efforts. How's the shoulder?
 
How's the shoulder?
still crook, but gaining a little flexibility, physio possibly starting next couple of weeks ... ta - aussie for thankyou pron. "tar"

out for my evening

wizard

btw - many of us feel mint is a good starting point for ex-windows beginners. using a more recent version will entail less download of updates - 19.3 "Tina" is most recent :)
 
Wizard: Thanks I'll get 19.3 then now. Got it. Every chore meets with issues. I just got it on usb ready to go when I know what to set my partitions to. Could not download libraries needed to run gnomeppp or gtkppp. The missing pkg were listed in synaptic as could not be downloaded. Can they be downloaded through terminal? I'll keep trying. The Mint install wants an EFI partition to install boot loader to. I'm asked for a '/' and a 'boot' and an EFI down at the bottom dropdown which lists drives. If you make a partition EFI it cannot be a root or a boot.

Screenshot at 2020-03-30 22-28-48.png


Vrai: Thought I posted this already. Thanks for info. Bootin must not support Mint. Tried it and Linus desktop was not able to interact with me. Had to use other one without persistence. Read the link from Wiz and suspect it is not....seems that is what the link was about. So I'm stuck again till I get a front end to config wvdial...unless I have terminal notes which I may have.
 
Bootin must not support Mint
Are you referring to "UNetbootin"? It most certainly does support Linux Mint. I used it just a few days ago to make a Linux Mint Live .iso USB stick with persistence.
Be sure you get it from here < https://unetbootin.github.io/ > and NOT from that other place.

Could not download libraries needed to run gnomeppp or gtkppp. The missing pkg were listed in synaptic as could not be downloaded. Can they be downloaded through terminal?
Do you NOT get this when trying to install gnome-ppp using "apt" in Terminal?
gnome-ppp.png


It might really help people to help you if you could post error messages and/or screen-shots of messages or error messages. Even a picture of the screen taken with a phone might be helpful.
 
Vrai, you're a life saver thanks again. I'll research it well tomorrow. Downloaded lots to read today on high speed. It took a good 5 minutes after I got to this page to be able to respond. The email links take me to the 1st page. It is very slow going on my dial-up. It is 1 am here and I'm beat after an all day session. Had to check one last time before going to bed. I was having connection issues with windows. It is acting up badly. I did download UNet Bootin, may have gotten it from Sourceforge. I need the software to be freeware, and I may have had issues finding what to download from that link. Will try again at your link. I think I figured out how to use it and to input the MB of space for 'persistence', yet when I made the bootable usb, and then tried it to install 19.3 on the hard drive...it had issues. I stumbled upon the window showing a terminal like area showing the lines of installation dialogue. The Mint 19.3 usb seemed stuck. I liked the look of the installation. Clearer guidance regarding the need for an EFI partition and root and boot. Yet it stayed in the EFI area on the terminal like screen for over a half hour. I very well may have designated the wrong partition EFI. I figured it was broken so I shut the machine down. It made seemingly hundreds of lines 'referring to various kernel numbers hpet1: lost [various numbers again] rtc interrupts'. I have several 'paste bin' links and the last message from the most recent boot repair: /var/log/boot-repair/20 200 330_135953/Boot-info-20200330_1359.txt. Other Links:
p/BHK3fFyKdP/
p/W5KX2qmDFS/
p/X9YVhDK83Q/
most recent p/PhsCS3Wnzt/ the first with 19 I believe.

MODERATOR'S NOTE - LINES ABOVE WITH STRIKE-THROUGH ARE NON-EXISTENT, REMAINDER ARE OK

I will try to do a better job of noting error messages. Sooo, if Mint 19.3 is compatible with dial up all can be well. I will try to install wvdial from terminal. I've tried to install the front end gui from synaptic but it speaks of missing packages, and I don't know what to do. I did note the missing package name. Can I use another repository to get gtkppp or gnomeppp to input modem phone number etc, or is there a different one I can use as a front end gui? Synaptic didn't show any others I could see. Plan on probably staying home to read all I downloaded today and to work the dialer issue. I need to know what partition gets the EFI, Root and Boot. Seems that might fix the Mint install. Maybe the unetbootin download was from sourceforge and was bad. Will try again next hispeed day. Thank you. opps, in the re-read i see you stated specific names. I did see them in synaptic. Great get them next hispeed. Maybe I will hit the road again tomorrow.

Last question to all: Should I choose the encrypt the /home directory in Mint install. I always afraid when I have issues of not being able to access my data. Of course it is obvious I don't know what that is all about.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks Alexzee, Do you by chance know the command line to 'run' wvdialer from terminal. It is suppose to be installed [I succeeded from terminal] and it says I can run it, yet I can't find it in the apps nor can I figure out the proper phrase to run it from terminal. Maybe all of this requires a successful install of Mint on the HD. I will check the partitions again in a moment. I've been trying to figure our the modem dialer issue all day today. I thought the partition structure was properly accomplished following directions in the Ubuntu partition tutorial, and the Mint installation process with the help of boot repair. It was stated that it was installing...got the welcome window, and required password input. Then a message that 'grub failed. I followed Wizards directions and deleted sda 3 & 4. Then followed tutorial: after the 'sys' sda1 and windows sda2 partitions, and created 25GB Root primary partition, a 9GB swap and the rest /Home, which resulted in an extended partition being created containing the swap and Home. I'd send a screen shot if I could get one in windows...grrr. sda1 'sys' ntfs 41MB 'do not use this partition'; sda2 'windows 7' ntfs 241642 MB 'do not use' unknown; sda3 '25000 MB ext4 / mount point; sda5 swap 8999MB unknown; and sda6 ext4 ext journaling file sys /home mount point; both sda3 and sda6 were marked with an 'x' in a box preceeding their info, with the device for boot loader being sda. The installer proceeded to install with a welcome screen, during installation, and a window to set password, and then the message 'Grub failed to install grub-efi-amd64-signed 'pkg failed into /target/. It will not boot. Crashed. Tried again installing boot on sda3. This time we get a blank black screen, with the driver blinking light on the front of the machine blinking, with Linux Mint Live usb blinking periodically. Get message 'Grub installation failed again -Bug report. Boot repair for windows MBR told me to run these commands 'grub-pc pkg upgraded. Select devices to install grub. install to be automatic. There was talk about installing it on all drives, which I would have selected if I was given the option, but it never offered the option. It also said 'It is possible to install Grub to partition boot records as well, and some appropriate partitions offered here, however block fist mechanism must be used and makes it less reliable.' Again I saw no options. Then it said ' Grub install devices: /dev sda 7846MB; VBox Harddisk; /dev/sda1 (3634MB; /).' Hit enter. Saw purge grub sda3, reinstall grub. Creating past bin http://past.ubuntu.com/p/bF4h7b7bDGDT/. Then it said 'You may want to retry after creating a /boot partition (EXT4, to 200MB, start of the disk) , which you can do in gparted. Then select this partition via the [separate /boot partition:] option [Boot Repair]. (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot Partition)' I'm stuck. Have no clue what to do. Need guidance on how to make screen shot in windows, and how to 'run' an installed program wvdialer from terminal. All help greatly appreciated.
Simply open a fresh terminal and type:
wvdialer
And press Enter.

It should launch after pressing Enter.
If not it will show you a message if there is an error.

To make sure that wvdialer is installed run this:
dpkg -L wvdialer

If it's installed the terminal will return that it's installed.
 
If you decide to encrypt DON'T forget to write down your password.
 
that's wvdial, not wvdialer

wizard back soon
 
vicktoria - this is like spot the differences between two pictures

first one is about 3 days ago

vicktoria-before-gparted.png


2nd one is the latest

vicktoria-after-gparted.png



what differences can you see with the flags?

now, on the gparted menu, click View, and then check the box Device Information, and tell us or show us what it says at Partition Table:

finally, click the windows 7 line so it highlights, then right-click and choose show information - tell us what the warning says

wizard out for the night
 
Vrai, you're a life saver thanks again. I'll research it well tomorrow. Downloaded lots to read today on high speed. It took a good 5 minutes after I got to this page to be able to respond. The email links take me to the 1st page. It is very slow going on my dial-up. It is 1 am here and I'm beat after an all day session. Had to check one last time before going to bed. I was having connection issues with windows. It is acting up badly. I did download UNet Bootin, may have gotten it from Sourceforge. I need the software to be freeware, and I may have had issues finding what to download from that link. Will try again at your link. I think I figured out how to use it and to input the MB of space for 'persistence', yet when I made the bootable usb, and then tried it to install 19.3 on the hard drive...it had issues. I stumbled upon the window showing a terminal like area showing the lines of installation dialogue. The Mint 19.3 usb seemed stuck. I liked the look of the installation. Clearer guidance regarding the need for an EFI partition and root and boot. Yet it stayed in the EFI area on the terminal like screen for over a half hour. I very well may have designated the wrong partition EFI. I figured it was broken so I shut the machine down. It made seemingly hundreds of lines 'referring to various kernel numbers hpet1: lost [various numbers again] rtc interrupts'. I have several 'paste bin' links and the last message from the most recent boot repair: /var/log/boot-repair/20 200 330_135953/Boot-info-20200330_1359.txt. Other Links:
p/BHK3fFyKdP/
p/W5KX2qmDFS/
p/X9YVhDK83Q/
most recent p/PhsCS3Wnzt/ the first with 19 I believe.

I will try to do a better job of noting error messages. Sooo, if Mint 19.3 is compatible with dial up all can be well. I will try to install wvdial from terminal. I've tried to install the front end gui from synaptic but it speaks of missing packages, and I don't know what to do. I did note the missing package name. Can I use another repository to get gtkppp or gnomeppp to input modem phone number etc, or is there a different one I can use as a front end gui? Synaptic didn't show any others I could see. Plan on probably staying home to read all I downloaded today and to work the dialer issue. I need to know what partition gets the EFI, Root and Boot. Seems that might fix the Mint install. Maybe the unetbootin download was from sourceforge and was bad. Will try again next hispeed day. Thank you. opps, in the re-read i see you stated specific names. I did see them in synaptic. Great get them next hispeed. Maybe I will hit the road again tomorrow.

Last question to all: Should I choose the encrypt the /home directory in Mint install. I always afraid when I have issues of not being able to access my data. Of course it is obvious I don't know what that is all about.
Wowza! There is a lot to digest there :)
It is somewhat confusing to me as it seems to meander from one issue into another.
It may be beneficial to focus on one issue at a time.

Should I choose the encrypt the /home directory in Mint install.
NO! Goodness gracious no. Let's not add another degree of complexity at this time.
I did download UNet Bootin, may have gotten it from Sourceforge. I need the software to be freeware, and I may have had issues finding what to download from that link. Will try again at your link.
I provided that link because my browser security popped up warnings from some of the other 'download' sites. That link is to the 'official' page and has nice big buttons to click for obtaining the proper download. I make no comment at this time regarding downloads from 'Sourceforge'.

I looked at a couple of the PasteBin posts: The first one looks good with just a couple of 'raised eyebrows'. The "most recent" one looks very concerning :/

I've tried to install the front end gui from synaptic but it speaks of missing packages, and I don't know what to do. I did note the missing package name. Can I use another repository to get gtkppp or gnomeppp to input modem phone number etc, or is there a different one I can use as a front end gui? Synaptic didn't show any others I could see.
I am guessing that the "missing packages" in Synaptic issue is related to trying to install software while running from a Live USB. The Repositories Synaptic is looking in for additional software is probably only on the USB and does not include the missing packages. When I tried installing it on my Linux Mint it did not ask for anything additional. You can try adding the required repositories or download the missing packages to disk and point Synaptic to the download location.

I need to know what partition gets the EFI, Root and Boot.
This is one reason I am 'concerned' regarding the PasteBin posts. The first one shows no EFI but shows Grub as installed. The "most recent" one shows an EFI partition. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think your computer has EFI?

I think there may be too many cooks stirring this particular pot so I am going to back out and observe while you work with @wizardfromoz on getting your partitions straightened out and Linux installed to disk. If someone asks I will chip in but I think there may be too much information coming at you from people like me (with the best of intentions!)
 
Ok Vrai, I understand. We'll wait on Wizard. You are correct I believe, my computer does not have EFI. Yet Mint seems to require it. Since Mint seems to support dial-up, that seems to be possible. Now I'll see if I can make a Mint 19.3 bootable usb with persistence, get wvdial working on that and wait for Wizard to direct me in the installation. Thanks for all your work and patience.

Wizard, I'll see if i can answer your questions and wait to follow your directions. I don't think I manually created the extended partition, although I understood from the link you sent me to read, that was the intention. It just happened during some process. I am again at hispeed, except I forgot my folder of notes, so we are starting from scratch today, which might be a good thing, since I'm learning how to take better notes, and how to get screen shots posted. So I'll try to organize an answer and return hopefully shortly. Thanks for your help and patience.

Sorry Wizard, I'm so used to getting kicked off dial-up I try to convey what is needed, and then go back to read what is on this page. I do not see where I answered your question about modem installation. I have the modem with me and the numbers local to my current location. If I can get the Mint 19.3 usb bootable with persistence, I'll try to install modem from this location, unless it gets too late. I want to get out of this guys hair when he comes home. Otherwise I'll install from home. If I get the front end of wvdial location won't matter, am I correct in that assumption? So back on mission...make a bootable usb with persistence, [ I have one without persistence] get wvdial and front end gui working, but before that answer your questions about partitions and flags. That relative to the current configuration.
 
Last edited:
Ok Vrai, I understand. We'll wait on Wizard.......and wait for Wizard to direct me in the installation.
Hey Vicktoria,
I think at this point that may be your best course of action.
I would dearly love to help but I don't want to make things worse by throwing too much information out there (although I do feel rather guilty tossing the ball to @wizardfromoz with his 'gimpy' shoulder and all. Will wait and see what he has to say about it.)
In the mean time - if there is anything I can help with I am more than happy to do so! :)
You are to be commended for your patience and perseverance! You are quite the 'trooper'.

P.S. This is how I learned the most about Linux - when stuff didn't work :/ At one time I had PPP figured out through a lot of trial and error.
 
Can't have too much info. Windows is now throwing me off hispeed. Might be some network configurations. I just don't have deep programing understanding or functionality. However that is changing. I like to learn. Just need computer for work. I will not encrypt /home, thanks as always. Trying to fix windows and linux at the same time. Off to get gparted on windows and answer Wizard. Thanks for being there.
 

Members online


Latest posts

Top