problem installing PRECISE in Win 7 laptop

[mark allyn]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to install 12.04.1 in a Win7 HP laptop. I tried using a DVD with a ISO image. However, when I get to the setup page where I have a choice of what I want to do, I get only TWO choices: install UBUNTU, or SOMETHING ELSE. There is no option to install it alongside WINDOWS, which is really what I want to do. I'm making a guess here, but could someone confirm whether or not this is because all the primary partitions on my hard drive are used up by WINDOWS 7. If so, what should I do?

Thanks,
Mark Allyn

[The Enigma]

Hi, i'm having the same issue as you . please see my post here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2090523

Maybe we can help each other out

[mark allyn]

Hello Enigma,
Hello Enigma,

Certainly if I can be of help, or this thread, by all means let it happen.

One option you might consider, and possibly have considered, is to use WUBI.EXE to install UBUNTU "inside" the Windows filesystem. On booting, you get an option to load either Windows or Ubuntu. It's not as clean as a separate partition, but it is very easy to do and does not require messing around with partitioning. It has all the look and feel and functionality of a stand alone installation.

WUBI can be downloaded from the Ubuntu website under the guise of "Windows Installer".

Cheers,
Mark Allyn

[Bartender]

What's the exact model of the laptop?

Unfortunately for me, I've got to start being more careful about handing out installation advice because of UEFI and the upcoming Windows Secure Boot nonsense. I'm OK with the old-school BIOS but don't have a handle on this new stuff.

Do you have a thumb drive laying around? If so, go ahead and boot from the 12.04 install disc again. Go into "Try Ubuntu". When you have the desktop up, plug in the USB thumb drive. It should mount and appear in the upper-left hand corner as a "Device" when you click on "Home Folder" in the Launcher (the launcher is that vertical bar on the left-hand side of the screen).

Once you've checked to see that the thumb drive mounted, and noted what it's called, I need you to open the Dash. Either click on the Super key on your keyboard (the one with the Windows icon, lower left hand corner) or go back to the Launcher and click on the Dash icon (the one on top). Start typing in

gparted

You'll probably only get to "gp" before Dash offers to start "GParted Partition Editor". Click on that, wait for it to come up. Once it gives you a picture of your partitions, go back to Dash, click on it, and start typing

screenshot

Again, you'll probably only get to "sc" before Dash offers to start "Screenshot". Start that. Choose "Select area to grab", then click "Take Screenshot" and draw a box around the GParted window. When it asks where to save, save it to that thumbdrive.

Then come on back here and attach that image to another post.

Oh, yeah, one thing - the Screenshot app tends to give the screenshots goofy, long-winded names that may not work when attaching. So rename the attachment something really simple, like "gp1.png" or what have you.

If we can see the partitions, we can tell you whether there are four primary partitions, and whether the PC uses UEFI or BIOS.

If all that was too complicated, just go back to Dash, and start typing

terminal

Click on "Terminal" and copy/paste this command

sudo fdisk -l

Copy/paste the output to the forum.

I prefer the gparted screenshot, because it's easier for me to read and it definitely identifies EFI partitions, but the above works too.

[monkeybrain2012]

I never used "install along side", when I dual booted briefly with XP (before getting rid of it altogether) I manually shrinked the XP partition first and then installed Ubuntu on the space thus freed up.

[oldfred]

The issue is with Windows 7 almost all vendors have the drive configured to use all 4 primary partitions. Windows uses 2 directly, a hidden 100MB boot/repair and the main install. Then the Vendor uses 2 - one for the Vendor recovery which is just the image of the hard drive as when you purchased it and a smaller vendor Utilities which often is not worth much.

Post partition layout as requested by Bartender, so we can offer suggestions.

If you know you have all 4 primary partitions you can read ahead.

Good advice on how to handle all four primary partitions used. - srs5694
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1686440
Be sure to create recovery DVD(s) first. And a Windows repair CD.
HP tools partition discussion - similar for other vendor partitions:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteboo...on/td-p/228360
For a complete blow-by-blow on dealing with HP's four partitions, see Full Circle Magazine, issue 41, page 36. - gordintoronto
http://fullcirclemagazine.org/

[The Enigma]

Mark: i have no intention of installing ubuntu via WUBI, even though it is present on the install usb/disc image. i want a real install on a real partition that lives on an actual hdd. using WUBI would most likely cause minor performance issues, however slight, and besides that WUBI is also akin to running Ubuntu or another OS in a virtual machine. but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Bartender: the exact model of my laptop is an ASUS G75VW, it's relatively new and was only released to market about midway thru this yr. I will get around to posted the screenshots later today, because shortly after you posted (but before i had a chance to read it just now), my 8 install crashed, and it seems to have botched both itself and the Server partitions. so i'm just going to wipe the hdd clean, reinstall 8 and Server 2012 exactly as i've described before. i'm 100% certain that the issue will come back once again. I'll also do the command you talked about and post the output of that as well.

However, i'm sure that i'm only using 3 out of 4 available primary partitions, since the 8 and Server installs would have their own partitions, which makes 2, and i'm also certain that they would also share a common boot partition, which makes 3, as would both Vista and 7 as well (if they were being installed in my case, which they're not). but i could be wrong. this time around i'll be careful to check in Disk Management during partitioning in 8 to see if i'll end up using 3 or 4 primary partitions. also, like i said, the 20 gigs allocated for Ubuntu was unformatted and in RAW mode, not sure if that makes a difference, and not sure whether the partition would be primary or not. I'm also certain that both 8 and Server 2012 utilize UEFI by default. but i'm confused about your mention of BIOS utilization. all PCs have a BIOS, i'm sure, so wouldnt they use the BIOS as well? if someone can clarify this, then thanks.

oldfred: my laptop came with a recovery partition, however i wiped the hdd clean when i first installed 8 in lat Oct/early Nov, and deleted the recovery as well. so that possibility of the recovery using up a primary partition is out in my case. the utilities/drivers installers were also rolled up into the recovery partition, in addition to being included on a separate dvd that was also included during purchase. however, the drivers are for 7, and obviously are no help in regards to drivers for Ubuntu. and they're outdated at that, some of them dont even work properly, if at all, on 8 (i tested). and thanks for the link.

Lastly, i would like to "chainload" (after installing Ubuntu), so that GRUB will hand off control to the Windows bootloader if i choose to load 8/Server, but yet still have all 3 OSes included in the same menu to be chosen from. once the Windows bootloader gets control, i would also like it to display its' own default options (boot normally, Safe Mode, choice between the 2 Windows OSes, etc), as if Ubuntu werent even present at all. is this scenario possible since 8/Server 2012 both use UEFI, and if so, can someone provide links with more info? on a side note, i'm also looking into using EasyBCD as an alternative to GRUB for choosing between the 3 OSes. anyone have any experience with this?

Well, thanks for the help!

[mark allyn]

Good morning, everyone.

Had to attend my 70th birthday party so couldn't respond quickly to all the folks who wrote in.

Bartender: The specific model of my laptop is HP ProBook 4525s. I have to reread your extensive response, but it appears to do the job. I need to read what everyone else has contributed. I'm terrified of messing with my hard drive....

More later.

Thanks,
Mark

[mark allyn]

Hi Bartender:

I did the fdisk -l command on the laptop and got this:


administrator@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 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: 0x5147c726

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 616447 307200 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 616448 589488127 294435840 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 589490176 620947455 15728640 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 620947456 625131519 2092032 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Looks like 4 partitions to me.

Any guidance much appreciated.

Mark

[oldfred]

Happy birthday mark allyn.

You will have to decide what partition to delete. See the links I posted above. Ofter you can backup or copy vendor utilities into the Windows partition as it is small to give you another primary partition. You still have to shrink Windows from inside Windows with its MMC tools to make enough space for Ubuntu. Reboot a couple of times to get Windows to see its new size. It usually runs chkdsk and may make other updates.

Then you make the last primary the extended partition and can put as many logicals in it that you want. Some make the vendor utilities & have said it stiil works as a logical, others do not really care. I also usually suggest making Windows a bit smaller and create a shared NTFS data partition for any data you may want in both systems. I had my Firefox & Thunderbird profiles & all photos for Picasa in my shared and used each application in Windows or Ubuntu to access the same data.

For the Total space you want for Ubuntu:
Ubuntu's standard install is just / (root) & swap, but it is better to add another partition for /home if allocating over 30GB.:
Ubuntu partitions - smaller root only where hard drive space is limited.
If total space less than about 30GB just use / not separate /home or standard install.
1. 10-25 GB Mountpoint / primary or logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
2. all but 2 GB Mountpoint /home logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
3. 2 GB Mountpoint swap logical

Depending on how much memory you have you may not absolutely need swap but having some is still recommended. I do not hibernate (boots fast enough for me) but if hibernating then you need swap equal to RAM in GiB not GB. And if dual booting with windows a shared NTFS partition is also recommended. But you usually cannot create that as part of the install, just leave some space. Or partition in advance (recommended).
One advantage of partitioning in advance is that the installer will use the swap space to speed up the install. Thanks Herman for the tip.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DiskSpace
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2021534