Linux Mint - Windows 7 - Mountain Lion on same HDD

[T1hom7as]

Hi, I already had Lion, Windows 7 and Mountain Lion installed and working fine with my laptop all running off of the same HDD and booting via Chimera.
Now I want to change Lion for a linux distribution so I decided to install Mint. I formatted the partition that was Lion and created another partition for the swap. I have installed linux but I can't get Chimera to see it in the bootloader, I think I need to do something with GPTSync??? However on Mint this was a bit difficult, I managed to find the right command and it gave me this:

[b]sudo gptsync /dev/sda [/b]

Current GPT partition table:
 #      Start LBA      End LBA  Type
 1             40       409639  EFI System (FAT)
 2         411648     16410623  Linux Swap
 3      117860352    235046911  Basic Data    [b]Windows 7[/b]
 4      235046912    918902783  Basic Data    [b]Data storage[/b]
 5      918902784   1065385983  Mac OS X HFS+   [b]Mountain Lion[/b]
 6     1065648128   1250001543  Mac OS X HFS+   [b]Back-up[/b]
 7       16410624    117860351  Basic Data     [b]Linux Mint[/b]

Current MBR partition table:
 # A    Start LBA      End LBA  Type
 1              1   1250263727  ee  EFI Protective

Status: MBR table must be updated.

Proposed new MBR partition table:
 # A    Start LBA      End LBA  Type
 1              1       409639  ee  EFI Protective
 2         411648     16410623  82  Linux swap / Solaris
 3 *    117860352    235046911  07  NTFS/HPFS
 4      235046912    918902783  0b  FAT32 (CHS)

By the looks of things though it is asking me to change my GPT/MBR hybrid into a full MBR table which I don't want.

So the question is how do I get Linux to show up in my Chimera? As right now I have it installed but cannot boot it, I can only boot off my USB but that acts as a whole different installation to the one on my hard drive.

Thanks.

 

[RehabMan]

Hi, I already had Lion, Windows 7 and Mountain Lion installed and working fine with my laptop all running off of the same HDD and booting via Chimera.
Now I want to change Lion for a linux distribution so I decided to install Mint. I formatted the partition that was Lion and created another partition for the swap. I have installed linux but I can't get Chimera to see it in the bootloader, I think I need to do something with GPTSync??? However on Mint this was a bit difficult, I managed to find the right command and it gave me this:

[b]sudo gptsync /dev/sda [/b]

Current GPT partition table:
 #      Start LBA      End LBA  Type
 1             40       409639  EFI System (FAT)
 2         411648     16410623  Linux Swap
 3      117860352    235046911  Basic Data    [b]Windows 7[/b]
 4      235046912    918902783  Basic Data    [b]Data storage[/b]
 5      918902784   1065385983  Mac OS X HFS+   [b]Mountain Lion[/b]
 6     1065648128   1250001543  Mac OS X HFS+   [b]Back-up[/b]
 7       16410624    117860351  Basic Data     [b]Linux Mint[/b]

Current MBR partition table:
 # A    Start LBA      End LBA  Type
 1              1   1250263727  ee  EFI Protective

Status: MBR table must be updated.

Proposed new MBR partition table:
 # A    Start LBA      End LBA  Type
 1              1       409639  ee  EFI Protective
 2         411648     16410623  82  Linux swap / Solaris
 3 *    117860352    235046911  07  NTFS/HPFS
 4      235046912    918902783  0b  FAT32 (CHS)

By the looks of things though it is asking me to change my GPT/MBR hybrid into a full MBR table which I don't want.

So the question is how do I get Linux to show up in my Chimera? As right now I have it installed but cannot boot it, I can only boot off my USB but that acts as a whole different installation to the one on my hard drive.

Thanks.

It is going to make a hybrid GPT/MBR for you. From your MBR you'll be able to see only the first three partitions, which is probably OK since it only matters for Windows.

And I can't tell you how, having never installed Mint, but you need to be sure that grub2 is installed to the Mint partition, not the disk. In Ubuntu, it is easy, since they give you this option right on the main installer page. Not sure about Mint.

 

[T1hom7as]

Ubuntu - Win 8 - OS X 10.8.3

Ok so now I have decided my computer can boot off of UEFI so I guess there is no point trying to do the Hybrid MBR/GPT.

I think I will need a whole reformat of my system, which is fine but maybe not ideal.
I have Windows 8 Enterprise 64bit installed via UEFI (I think) and Mac OS X 10.8.3 installed currently, I have no bootloader for the Windows 8. So at the moment when the system starts a cold boot it boots directly into Windows 8. I can change this by pressing F12 at the BIOS loader screen which allows me to select my boot device, if I select the HDD it boots into Chimera thus then being able to select Mountain Lion (Win 8 not showing up). I know that I will probably need to install Clover maybe at some point so that I can select which OS to boot.

But what I would like help with is installing the Linux system. I have a 8GB swap partition already and a partition ready for Ubuntu, I would like to install it via UEFI also, so how can I go about that?
Last time I tried to install Linux it would not boot from the hard drive so this time I would like to get it working.

UPDATE: I thought I was booting off UEFI but I thought this meant that the NTFS file system was not used for Windows? In GParted in Ubuntu my Windows partition shows up as NTFS, is that correct? Or am I using a Hybrid MBR/GPT?

Regards,

 

[RehabMan]

Ok so now I have decided my computer can boot off of UEFI so I guess there is no point trying to do the Hybrid MBR/GPT.

I think I will need a whole reformat of my system, which is fine but maybe not ideal.
I have Windows 8 Enterprise 64bit installed via UEFI (I think) and Mac OS X 10.8.3 installed currently, I have no bootloader for the Windows 8. So at the moment when the system starts a cold boot it boots directly into Windows 8. I can change this by pressing F12 at the BIOS loader screen which allows me to select my boot device, if I select the HDD it boots into Chimera thus then being able to select Mountain Lion (Win 8 not showing up). I know that I will probably need to install Clover maybe at some point so that I can select which OS to boot.

But what I would like help with is installing the Linux system. I have a 8GB swap partition already and a partition ready for Ubuntu, I would like to install it via UEFI also, so how can I go about that?

I've never installed Linux in UEFI mode, so not sure about that...

Last time I tried to install Linux it would not boot from the hard drive so this time I would like to get it working.

UPDATE: I thought I was booting off UEFI but I thought this meant that the NTFS file system was not used for Windows? In GParted in Ubuntu my Windows partition shows up as NTFS, is that correct? Or am I using a Hybrid MBR/GPT?

You're confusing lots of different things there.

Easy way to see if you are booting UEFI is check the partition format of the disk that has Windows on it. If it is GPT not MBR, then you are booting Windows in UEFI mode. If it is MBR not GPT then you are booting BIOS/Legacy mode. This is because Windows supports booting BIOS mode only on MBR, and (I'm pretty sure) supports booting UEFI only on GPT.

NTFS is a file system format, not a partitioning format and has little to do with the way the OS is booted.

If you are using a hybrid GPT/MBR you have both GPT and MBR partition tables (which must be always kept in sync by using something like gptsync or editing the partition tables always in a hybrid-aware program, like OS X Disk Utility). In Linux, you can use advanced partitioning tool 'gdisk' to view both MBR and GPT tables of a hybrid.

 

[T1hom7as]

I've never installed Linux in UEFI mode, so not sure about that...



You're confusing lots of different things there.

Easy way to see if you are booting UEFI is check the partition format of the disk that has Windows on it. If it is GPT not MBR, then you are booting Windows in UEFI mode. If it is MBR not GPT then you are booting BIOS/Legacy mode. This is because Windows supports booting BIOS mode only on MBR, and (I'm pretty sure) supports booting UEFI only on GPT.

NTFS is a file system format, not a partitioning format and has little to do with the way the OS is booted.

If you are using a hybrid GPT/MBR you have both GPT and MBR partition tables (which must be always kept in sync by using something like gptsync or editing the partition tables always in a hybrid-aware program, like OS X Disk Utility). In Linux, you can use advanced partitioning tool 'gdisk' to view both MBR and GPT tables of a hybrid.

Sorry for the confusion here, I think it was just with my wording... I just checked the format of the disk that Windows is installed onto in Disk Management in Win8, and here it says the whole disk is GPT (see image).

I know NTFS is a file system I just wasn't sure if it was supported via GPT.
If I was to install Linux via UEFI, would I need a boot loader like Clover to boot my system? Also do you know what would happen with my current OS X installation? Can I leave it as it is and would it be picked up as UEFI installation or is that something different?

Regards,

P.S. May I ask how your desktop is booting? Is that though a Hybrid MBR/GPT?

 

[RehabMan]

Sorry for the confusion here, I think it was just with my wording... I just checked the format of the disk that Windows is installed onto in Disk Management in Win8, and here it says the whole disk is GPT (see image).

I know NTFS is a file system I just wasn't sure if it was supported via GPT.

GPT is just a format for partition tables. In general, partition tables don't care what kind of file systems exist in the individual partititons. NTFS must be supported because that is the file system used for Windows (no sense in having a partition format that doesn't support the most used OS in the world).

If I was to install Linux via UEFI, would I need a boot loader like Clover to boot my system? Also do you know what would happen with my current OS X installation? Can I leave it as it is and would it be picked up as UEFI installation or is that something different?

You would need Clover (or some other UEFI-capable boot loader). Because Chameleon/Chimera cannot boot either Linux or Windows in UEFI mode. Clover would be able to boot your already established OS X partition (as well as Windows UEFI, Linux UEFI) assuming you can get it to work.

P.S. May I ask how your desktop is booting? Is that though a Hybrid MBR/GPT?

My desktop has two SSDs for OS installs. SSD#1 is Win7/Win8 MBR and is the BIOS boot drive (has to be that way because my BIOS will not boot to a GPT or hybrid GPT/MBR drive). SSD#2 is ML/Lion/SL/Ubuntu GPT. I have Chimera stage0 (boot0md) installed to SSD#1, and Chimera stage1 (boot1h) on the ML partition of SSD#2, where it finds Chimera stage2 (/boot) on the ML HFS+ partition.

 

[T1hom7as]

GPT is just a format for partition tables. In general, partition tables don't care what kind of file systems exist in the individual partititons. NTFS must be supported because that is the file system used for Windows (no sense in having a partition format that doesn't support the most used OS in the world).


You would need Clover (or some other UEFI-capable boot loader). Because Chameleon/Chimera cannot boot either Linux or Windows in UEFI mode. Clover would be able to boot your already established OS X partition (as well as Windows UEFI, Linux UEFI) assuming you can get it to work.


My desktop has two SSDs for OS installs. SSD#1 is Win7/Win8 MBR and is the BIOS boot drive (has to be that way because my BIOS will not boot to a GPT or hybrid GPT/MBR drive). SSD#2 is ML/Lion/SL/Ubuntu GPT. I have Chimera stage0 (boot0md) installed to SSD#1, and Chimera stage1 (boot1h) on the ML partition of SSD#2, where it finds Chimera stage2 (/boot) on the ML HFS+ partition.

Oh ok, cool.

Yes thought I would need Clover, I'm going to give it all a go, but depends how far I get and how tedious it may become.

Thanks for your help.