Boot option menu for Windows 7 and Mint

Software & Operating Systems Linux
1

I've got Windows 7 running on one SSD and have just installed Mint 17.1 on another.

How can I set it up so that I get a boot option when I start up my PC?

Ideally I would like it so that when I turn my machine on it POSTs and then asks me whether I want to boot into Windows or Mint

2

If you installed Windows 7 first, and then Mint, then it should just give you the option to boot to either or upon start.

If you do not get an option to choose, then you can just edit GRUB to include the W7 OS. You can try this command as well.

And reboot.

3

Does that apply to the O/S on different drives or would they need to be on the same drive?

4

It depends. How do you have this setup? How did you get into this state? Did you just add the Mint drive, or did you install it later on?

5

I have had Win7 installed for close to a year.
I added a second SSD today and installed Mint via USB to it.

6

The try the grub update. It should solve it. If not (and sometimes happens with UEFI stuff) then boot again from the live USB you have and use this to configure grub (install it in the live usb via terminal):

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

Just follow the instructions given by the application blindly (it might ask you to run some lines in the terminal). Never got a situation that boot repair did not work eventually.

1 Like
7

OK I'll give that a go and report back

8

just use the boot repair disk works like a charm.

9

OK so I didn't realise the boot menu was only on the Linux drive

I have now set the default boot drive to this and now I can pick and choose when I turn it on :)

Thanks for your help anyway