hi All,

i tried to make a bootable linux mint usb. i thought i succeeded but when i pull out the usb and try to boot back into windows i still boot into linux mint. this is probably a stupid question but have installed linux mint over my windows mistakenly.

help....please

How did you try to make the bootable Mint usb, what software did you use?
After making the bootable usb, did you use it to install Mint?
Can you boot the usb? If so, do that and open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo fdisk -l(Lower Case Letter L in the command)

Post the output here and someone should be able to advise you.

You could try a Windows rescue disk:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/w...m-repair-disc?

That will tell you if your system is recoverable.

If you are lucky, it is just a bootloader issue...

Depending on the version, you have many ways to repair how Windows boots. Can we assume Windows 7?


This is why (even) I use a virtual machine to install linux on a usb. It prevents me from making a huge mistake.

i used unetbootin and intended to make a linux mint bootable usb

below is the output of sudo fdisk -l

> Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x000dc793
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sda1 * 2046 99608575 49803265 5 Extended
> Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
> /dev/sda5 2048 58593279 29295616 83 Linux
> /dev/sda6 58595328 97654783 19529728 83 Linux
> /dev/sda7 97656832 99608575 975872 82 Linux swap / Solaris
>
> Disk /dev/sdb: 31.6 GB, 31641829376 bytes
> 96 heads, 32 sectors/track, 20117 cylinders, total 61800448 sectors
> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x4deaed74
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sdb1 * 8064 61800447 30896192 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> mint@mint ~ $ ^C
> mint@mint ~ $

I hope you have backups of whatever you had on windows as the output you posted doesn't show any sign of a windows partition. If you want to try to recover data you might try using TestDisk, see the link below which has step by step instructions. If you want windows, you will have to reinstall. It's best when trying to dual-boot to use the manual method and perhaps read some tutorials before starting. In Mint, the manual method is referred to as "Something Else".

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Thanks Yancek. i did use the manual method "something else". i will try TestDisk and maybe try doing this again. luckily its a new pc i don't think i lost much

Why are you trying to install to a USB ?. Do you want a fully usable USB system (say an external hard disk), or just a liveUSB system you can carry around ?.
If the latter, just "dd" the image to the USB - you still have to "hit" the correct device of course.

If you want to create a full system, safest to pull the power from the internal drive - that way you can be sure you aren't trashing the wrong system. Also avoids the installer over-writing the MBR on the internal, which seems to happen a lot. If you can't get at the power cable easily (say a laptop), just be careful ....

Never heard of unetbootin installing to the internal drive.

I guess it could be some unusual issue where windows loader was actually on a secondary drive other than where /windows is.

The list you have is the USB flash??