Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Linux dual boot PC issues

charlieegan3

charlieegan3

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 16, 2012
2,394
17
U.K
Note: I think this is the best place for this thread, if not please feel free to move it.

I have a custom PC running Windows 7, I want to dual boot a linux distro for some programming tasks, as well as just to test something out.

I've been creating Live USBs and booting from them, I've tried:
Ubuntu 32
Ubuntu 64
Mint Cinnamon 32

All of them open up fine in to the Unetbootin loader and then when you choose to run the OS from there It just sits for hours at a time (Longest I left one was 1.5hrs)

Both Ubuntu ones just sit at the 1st screen with the little dots.

The Mint one just sat at a lit black screen for ages.

I'm going to assume that these are linked.

All the live usbs passed the disk checks.

I'm guessing there are load of different things that could have caused this but is there anything that is more likely? Just seems really odd to me.
 
charlieegan3

charlieegan3

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 16, 2012
2,394
17
U.K
smartcardindia6 said:
1. When attempting to dual-boot on a computer with one hard drive, always install Windows first, followed by your Linux distribution.

2. If you are going to dual-boot on a computer with an existing installation of Windows, and you do not want to re-install Windows, it means you will have to shrink the Windows partition to create room for your choice of Linux distribution.

3. When attempting to dual-boot on a computer with one hard drive, do not install Linux or make the mistake of installing Linux on the same partition that Windows is installed on. That is the same thing as deleting your C drive. So look before you install.

4. By default, the boot loaders of operating systems are installed in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of a hard drive, which is located at the very beginning of the drive. That is the best location for it. However, when attempting to dual-boot Windows and a Linux distribution on a computer with one hard drive, you have another option: Install the Linux boot loader on a separate boot partition, and have the Windows boot loader be responsible for dual-booting both operating systems.

5. When attempting to dual-boot on a computer with two hard drives, it is best to install the respective boot loaders on their operating system’s hard drive. Keeping them completely apart in that fashion makes troubleshooting and management a bit less of a hassle. Keep in mind that even in this type of setup, you can still locate an NTFS partition on the second hard drive, that is the Linux hard drive. And that NTFS partition can be before or after the Linux partitions, that is, at the beginning or end of the hard drive.

6. Normally, you would set up a dual-boot system using two regular hard drives, but now that Solid State Drives (SSDs) are being shipped with some computers and are relatively cheap to acquire, you might want to use a combination of an SSD and a regular hard drive for dual-booting. With a combination like that, the best approach for dual-booting, is to locate the Windows system partition on the SSD, and the Windows data partition (the C drive) and the Linux distribution on the HDD. The C drive can be before or after the Linux partitions, but the Linux boot loader must be installed in the MBR of the HDD.
Click to expand...

thanks very much for the lengthy reply and for taking the time to write all that out.

however I think the issue is different from what you described.

it's not that I'm unable to install it, it's that the live usbs won't even start, let alone let me install them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom