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Old 01-14-2014, 06:14 PM   #1
JayReed
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Trouble Formatting Hard Drive in Linux Mint (Trying to Install Another OS)


So let me just preface this by saying I'm not great with computers which means I'm even worse with Linux.

I built a computer not long back but forgot to factor in the cost of an OS so I installed Ubuntu. Everything was alright for awhile until suddenly Ubuntu stopped connecting to the house wifi. Tried everything but nothing worked. Eventually I thought maybe switching OS's would work (Don't know why I thought that) and installed Mint over Ubuntu. Needless to say, the problem didn't sort itself out.

Now I'm trying to install Windows 7 using a USB (No CD drive on my PC) because I don't have to know-how or patience to deal with Linux anymore. Got to the install screen when it said there were no drivers. Someone told me it's because Windows doesn't sharing space with other OS's and that I'd need to format my hard drive to rid it on Mint. I tried doing that but I keep getting error messages, mostly this one:

http://i.imgur.com/6e7zIxZ.jpg

I have no idea what any of that means. I don't know how to fix this problem or where to even start. I've tried looking at other threads on here but all the technical and Linux jargon gives me a headache.

I just need some suggestions on how to get past this problem. Remember that I can't connect to the internet on my PC (for some reason) so I can't go on it and download programs. I could download programs onto a USB and try and open them in Mint but I'd like to avoid that because I only have one USB and it has Windows 7 on it right now.

Thanks in advance.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 11:21 AM   #2
TenTenths
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Where did you get your Win7 USB key? There should be an option to re-partition / reformat your hard disk and Win7 shouldn't need drivers unless you've some strange controller card for your HD.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 11:42 AM   #3
yancek
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You aren't specific about how you are doing this but, based on the message you are getting, I would guess that you have boot Mint on the hard drive and are trying to format its partition from within that partition. In order to format, you first need to unmount the partition which you can't do when you are using it. Use the usb drive or whatever medium you used to install Mint to do the unmount and format and give it another try.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 12:51 PM   #4
JayReed
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I'm going to the disk menu, clicking the largest partition, hitting format, selecting NTF5, and trying to format. That's when I get that error.

Can you run me through on how exactly to do that or point me in the direction of a tutorial on how to unmount the partition? Google isn't being very helpful right now.

Am I going to need to format the USB drive I'm using and rewrite the version on Linux Mint I installed onto it again? That's what it sounds like you're trying to say.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 12:54 PM   #5
MARogue
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Sounds like a frustrating experience. Though, these ordeals are when we learn the most. To start with, why not get the network and internet in Linux running so you can look up support articles/forums on partitioning. First thing I would try is to restart the networking. Type the following into the terminal...
Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
If this is not productive we can have you enter some command to see why your networking is not working.

Regards
 
Old 01-15-2014, 01:10 PM   #6
JayReed
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I have a netbook next to me so I can look up stuff if I need to. Doesn't help much because I can't wrap my head around the technical jargon in 90% of the threads and articles I find.

I don't know what exactly that command is going to do. I rent a room from a friend so it's his internet I'm using. If I need to do anything wonky to the internet I need to pass it by him first so I need to know what exactly that is going to do.

I mean I'm essentially trying to get rid of Linux Mint completely but if that's too much of a hassle I'll settle for being able to use the internet on my PC again.

Last edited by JayReed; 01-15-2014 at 01:15 PM.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 01:31 PM   #7
TobiSGD
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The easiest way to get rid of Linux and set up the harddisk to be formated for Windows is to just overwrite the partition table with zeroes. You don't need to format the drive before you install Windows, the Windows installer will take care of this. To overwrite the partition table start into the Mint system, open a terminal and type
Code:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
After that command finishes (shouldn't take more than a fraction of a second) just restart the computer and start the Windows installation.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 02:40 PM   #8
JayReed
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I don't know what I did to my computer but it kept bringing me to a screen saying "insert Boot Media" no matter what I put the boot order as. I didn't know what to do so I just reinstalled Linux Mint (Windows wouldn't work).

The internet problems still persist.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MARogue View Post
Sounds like a frustrating experience. Though, these ordeals are when we learn the most. To start with, why not get the network and internet in Linux running so you can look up support articles/forums on partitioning. First thing I would try is to restart the networking. Type the following into the terminal...
Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
If this is not productive we can have you enter some command to see why your networking is not working.

Regards
I did this and got an error message that says "Calling a sysvinit script on a system using upstart isn't supported. Please use the 'service' command instead."

No idea what this means.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 02:50 PM   #9
JayReed
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dhdhdfhdghsu
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayReed View Post
I don't know what I did to my computer but it kept bringing me to a screen saying "insert Boot Media" no matter what I put the boot order as. I didn't know what to do so I just reinstalled Linux Mint (Windows wouldn't work).

The internet problems still persist.



I did this and got an error message that says "Calling a sysvinit script on a system using upstart isn't supported. Please use the 'service' command instead."

No idea what this means.
I looked up the error message and it brought me to a thread that said I should try typing in just "sudo service networking restart."

I did, it made a weird noise, the computer and home icons changed, and now I can't write in the terminal box. It's mostly black except for the "[name]@[name] ~ $" part. I mean it seems like i'm typing, it's just you can't see what you're typing is all.

Not only that but I can't seem to open certain things like the "Disk" window and the one for the network and network setting. I click them in the start menu, the little loading thing spins for a few seconds, and nothing.

No idea what I did and no idea how to fix this.

EDIT: Ok I think what I was seeing was Fallback Mode. I logged out and when I logged back in it kept saying "Cinnamon had crashed and was in Fallback Mode." Hard reset computer and Linux is back to how it was before I put in that command I mentioned.

Last edited by JayReed; 01-15-2014 at 02:59 PM.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 03:07 PM   #10
TobiSGD
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JayReed View Post
(Windows wouldn't work).
How did you copy Windows to your USB device?
 
Old 01-15-2014, 03:14 PM   #11
JayReed
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It was an .iso I downloaded and installed onto a USB. Obviously didn't work. I've sort of given up on it. It's not worth the headache. I'm more focused with just getting my internet to work on Mint. It's either that or not have a computer at all it looks like.

I'm probably just going to make another thread later tonight after work specifically for my wireless internet problem.

Thanks for trying to help guys.
 
Old 01-15-2014, 04:03 PM   #12
TobiSGD
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JayReed View Post
I'm probably just going to make another thread later tonight after work specifically for my wireless internet problem.
Indeed the best approach to your problem. Don't forget to include all relevant information in the new thread.
 
Old 01-16-2014, 02:22 AM   #13
TenTenths
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JayReed View Post
It was an .iso I downloaded and installed onto a USB.
Buy a legitimate DVD of Windows 7 and a $25 external USB DVD drive.
 
Old 01-21-2014, 02:12 PM   #14
sietze1977
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maybe this will put you on the right track:

you have to make a bootable usb stick from the iso file:

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/creat...usb-drive.html

this works from Linux

within Windows you might use something like this:

http://www.isotousb.com/

and then make sure in the bios it boots from usb instead of disk
then follow the usual install procedure, just make sure that
you remove and reformat the Linux partition if you want to remove it.

if you want to make a dual boot system it might be better to
re-install windows and not use all the disk space,
then afterwards install Linux again.
This makes sure that Windows is in the first partition of the first disk.
Because windows usually needs that.
Then afterwards you can choose if you want that to you can install
Linux in the remaining space on the disk and when you boot Linux
again update and alter the boot manager depending on what flavor it might
have already recognized the partition or you would have to do that manual
by tweaking grub.
Then when booting again you can choose either to run windows or Linux.
don't be alarmed when you boot and don't see windows, it is still there
boot just needs the bootmanager to point to it.

Kind regards

Sietze van de Burgt
 
  


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