3 Format Drive And Install Linux

The Linux Mint installer is able to automatically format all unallocated space on your hard disk. To install, boot from your installation medium and double-click Install Linux Mint:

Select your language:

Continue if your machine matches the prerequisites:

On the next screen, select Install Linux Mint alongside Windows 7. Linux Mint will then take all unallocated hard disk space, format it and install itself on it:

4 Configuring Boot Order

Linux Mint comes with GRUB, its own bootloader, and will set itself as the default OS to boot with. On boot, you will be presented a selection screen for the different choices where you have ten seconds to choose:

You can change this order however if you rather want to boot from your Windows volume again. To do so on all systems derived from Ubuntu, open the grub.cfg as root:

sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Although the file tells us to NOT EDIT it we will do so, but with care. The boot options are specified inside this configuration file. You will see a list of entries looking somewhat like this:

[...]
menuentry 'Linux Mint 12 64-bit, 3.0.0-12-generic (/dev/sda5)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        recordfail
        set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7df91f6c-5351-4336-a3c5-eac1cf58efca
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=7df91f6c-5351-4336-a3c5-eac1cf58efca ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
        initrd  /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 12 64-bit, 3.0.0-12-generic (/dev/sda5) -- recovery mode' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        recordfail
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7df91f6c-5351-4336-a3c5-eac1cf58efca
        echo    'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...'
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=7df91f6c-5351-4336-a3c5-eac1cf58efca ro recovery nomodeset
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
[...]
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7df91f6c-5351-4336-a3c5-eac1cf58efca
        linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7df91f6c-5351-4336-a3c5-eac1cf58efca
        linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
[...]
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ntfs
        set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7EE8C5C2E8C578C3
        chainloader +1
}

[...]

These are the operating system choices you are given on boot. They are numbered from 0 to n, n being the number of entries -1. To change the default option, look for the following block in the beginning of the file...

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"

... and change the number in set default to the one of your choice. Remember that if you want to use Windows 7, which is the fifth entry in my case, you have to put in a 4, since the numbering starts with 0.

If you also want to shorten the time the system takes to automatically boot the selected option, look for the following block a few lines further down...

if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi

... and replace the number in set timeout=10 with a number from 0 upwards. This will determine the time in seconds the machine waits before it boots the selected choice without your interaction.