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Hello everyone!
I just bought new PC with 60GB SSD and 2TB HDD. I use Linux (Mint 12 distribution for PC) and the rest of my family uses Win (7 Home premium x64). I installed Win on SSD, and Linux on a smaller partition on HDD. Unfortunately I cannot boot Linux, Windows boots automatically and when I switch boot order from SSD to HDD i get something like "boot manager is missing, press ctr+alt+del".
If anyone could propose a solution, I would be very grateful.
Best regards :)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mjdodd

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Short diagnosis and cause: with Windows 7 on the 60GB SSD and Mint installed to a partition on the 2TB HDD, the message "boot manager is missing, press ctrl+alt+del" when selecting the HDD tells that the HDD currently has no valid bootloader (MBR/EFI entry) for starting Linux. Windows on the SSD is still providing the system boot path. The usual fixes are to install a boot manager that can start both OSes, or to chainload the Linux bootloader from Windows' boot manager.

Practical options (pros/cons)

  • Install the Linux bootloader to the primary disk (SSD) so a single menu (GRUB) appears first and can start Windows or Linux. Good when the SSD is first in BIOS; Windows reinstalls later will overwrite it again.
  • Install the Linux bootloader to the HDD and set BIOS to boot the HDD first. Keeps Windows MBR untouched but requires HDD-first BIOS and makes recovery harder if the HDD fails.
  • Keep Windows bootloader on the SSD and add a Linux entry to it (third‑party tools like EasyBCD can do this on Windows 7). Keeps Windows control but adds a dependency on a Windows-side tool.

Quick, safe reinstall procedure for BIOS/MBR systems (use a Linux live USB; adapt device names for the system):

sudo fdisk -l                         # identify disks and partitions
sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt            # replace sdXY with Mint's root partition
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
sudo chroot /mnt
grub-install /dev/sdX                 # install to the target disk (e.g. /dev/sda or /dev/sdb)
update-grub
exit
sudo umount -R /mnt
reboot

Replace /dev/sdX with the disk (not a partition) chosen to hold the bootloader. Back up the MBR first if unsure (sudo dd if=/dev/sdX of=~/mbr-sdX.img bs=512 count=1) and use lsblk/fdisk -l to confirm device names.

Notes and cautions: check whether the machine is UEFI or legacy BIOS ([ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS) — UEFI needs an EFI system partition and an EFI-capable GRUB install, and Mint 12 is old and may not handle UEFI well. As suggested, this is primarily a Linux-boot configuration issue; 's observation that a Linux bootloader typically replaces the Windows MBR is a common outcome and is exactly what these steps address. Always back up important data before changing boot records.

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Member Avatar for mjdodd

Grub is an easy boot loader that works. I installed a version of linux directly from a CD onto a computer with <xp on it and it made a partition and loaded linux and changed the mbr (master boot record) of windows to GRUB and that then gives the choice at boot up. It may be possible but only more wiser ones than me can tell you how to do that directly rather than the road I trod;
M

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