9.10 Keeps Installing Every Time I Boot

[rjm83]

First let me try to set up the situation as best I can. I am using a Sony Vaio laptop (model PCG-6L1L) which had Windows Vista installed. I formatted and installed Windows XP and used wubi to install 9.04 and everything ran wonderfully for months. I recently uninstalled using wubi 9.04 (to upgrade of course) then upgraded to Windows 7. I then used wubi from the live cd to install 9.10.

My problem: Every time I choose Ubuntu from the boot loader (for some reason grub did not overwrite the Windows 7 boot loader) Ubuntu does an install check and continues the install just as the first time I booted. I read somewhere to go to system -> preferences -> sessions and uncheck ubiquity. I do not see a sessions tab under preferences in 9.10; startup applications did not have ubiquity on the list.


2nd issue: The boot loader has two ubuntu choices. I am wondering if this is a left over from 9.04. I am considering if nothing else can solve my issue, doing a complete format of the HDD then reinstalling Windows 7 and using wubi to install either 9.10 or 9.04 again. Will that cause the boot loader to generate a 3rd Ubuntu choice? I would like it to be only Windows 7 or Ubuntu.


Thanks for the Help,

rjm83

[realzippy]

Choose recovery mode and run sudo update-grub

[rjm83]

Choose recovery mode and run sudo update-grub
Updating grub will cause ubuntu to not try to reinstall every time I boot? Or will this address my second issue only?

[darkod]

You said 'I used wubi to install'. Why do you expect win7 bootloader to be overwritten?

Wubi installs ubuntu INSIDE windows, just like standard windows app. It adds entry for Ubuntu to the win7 bootloader, and you will have Ubuntu in your add/remove programs (like you saw with your 9.04 version before).

Why didn't you install it properly, booting with the livecd and selecting Install option?

As far as I know wubi is for only within windows. If you open windows disk management I guess you will see that the whole hdd is taken by your windows partitions, you don't have ext4 partition etc.
In my opinion wubi is just to test if you like ubuntu, like you tested first with 9.04. You should do the 9.10 as a full install. Only then will grub2 be on your MBR. Now it's sort of virtual ubuntu, that's why you see first win7 bootloader and then grub2 if I'm not mistaken.

[rjm83]

You said 'I used wubi to install'. Why do you expect win7 bootloader to be overwritten?

Wubi installs ubuntu INSIDE windows, just like standard windows app. It adds entry for Ubuntu to the win7 bootloader, and you will have Ubuntu in your add/remove programs (like you saw with your 9.04 version before).

Why didn't you install it properly, booting with the livecd and selecting Install option?

As far as I know wubi is for only within windows. If you open windows disk management I guess you will see that the whole hdd is taken by your windows partitions, you don't have ext4 partition etc.
In my opinion wubi is just to test if you like ubuntu, like you tested first with 9.04. You should do the 9.10 as a full install. Only then will grub2 be on your MBR. Now it's sort of virtual ubuntu, that's why you see first win7 bootloader and then grub2 if I'm not mistaken.
Ahh ok. I understand what you are saying. I simply used wubi again since everything worked fine with 9.04. For a dual boot option using grub 2, I suppose it is best to format the HDD then which do I install first, Windows 7 or 9.10?

[darkod]

You don't have to format. As long as you have free space on your hdd (free as without any windows partition on it, not free space inside windows partitions) or a windows partition that you want to delete (obviously not the main C: windows drive).
First of all, go into add/remove programs and remove wubi. You have to do it that way for windows not to complain later, like you remove any windows app that way.
Do you have space to install?
How big is your hdd and how big are your current partitions? Where do you plan to install ubuntu?

[rjm83]

Only windows partition - 110gb. I have no issue with formatting and partitioning; windows has nothing installed other than wubi so far, I did both upgrades yesterday.

[darkod]

Well I assume the drive is larger than 110GB. If you keep the rest of the space for Ubuntu, just boot with the cd, select Install and go from there.
Don't forget to remove wubi (ubuntu) with add/remove programs first, just to avoid any confusion.

[rjm83]

Well I assume the drive is larger than 110GB. If you keep the rest of the space for Ubuntu, just boot with the cd, select Install and go from there.
Don't forget to remove wubi (ubuntu) with add/remove programs first, just to avoid any confusion.
well unfortunately the HDD is not any larger it is a 120gb with 110gb usable.

Let me make sure I completely understand what you are telling me.

1) Add/Remove -> remove wubi
2) Insert and 9.10 CD and Boot from CD
3) Select install -> Ubuntu will partition the drive and allow dual boot of Windows 7 and 9.10.

correct?

This will solve the issue of Ubuntu trying to install every time I boot?

[darkod]

Since the hard drive is only 120GB and you don't mind reinstalling win7, it is better to do that. Shrinking the partition would take long and maybe even corrupt win7. And since you will be deleting the hdd don't worry about deinstalling wubi. :) Not needed.

First, make plan how big you want your partitions. Taken the size of the whole drive into account, for ubuntu you might dedicate 10GB for root, 2GB or 4GB for swap, and at least 5GB for /home (if you want it separate). The rest would be fro win7 but install win7 FIRST.

Option:
Win7 ntfs primary 88GB
/ (root) ext4 primary 10GB
swap logical 2GB
/home ext4 logical 10GB

If you want one more ntfs partition, or you want to combine / and /home into one / partition of 20GB just adjust the numbers. The choice is yours.

My advice IMPORTANT: Do not reformat and create the windows partition with win7 installer. In that case it creates a small 100MB boot partition which is not really needed and when you have a single hdd it only takes one primary partiton away.

Boot with Ubuntu CD, select option Try Ubuntu, open System -> Administration -> Gparted. It will show your hdd and current partitions. Select them one by one going back to front and delete them. That will create empty unpartitioned hdd.
Then create the first partition as ntfs with the size 88GB or whatever you decided the size should be. That's for win7. The format box should be ticked by default, if not select that.
For start create only that partition. Click on Apply button and Gparted will execute the commands. You will end up with 88GB ntfs partition and the rest of the disk unpartitioned.
Shut down. Boot with win7 dvd and install it. When asked where to install select the ntfs partition you created, it will be the only visible. There should NOT be a message that 100MB partition will be created by the installer.
After you are done with win7, boot with the ubuntu cd again, this time select Install option. I think it's step 4, when asked where to install, select Manual Partitioning. You will see the 88GB ntfs partition and the rest will be blank.
Create the partition for / (root), the size you decided, as primary, select ext4 for filesystem and / for mount point.
Then create the swap partition as logical, filesystem swap, there is no mount point. Then create partition for /home if you decided to have it separate, also logical, ext4, the size you decided.

I think this is the best plan because you still have option for additional primary partition if you decide later on. You can shrink some partition and have one more primary.
When ubuntu is installed it should autodetect your win7 installation and create the correct grub menu for you automatically. That should be it.

[darkod]

The sizes of the partition I wrote above are only a suggestion. It depends whether you want more space for win7 or ubuntu. Also, since windows is more space demanding, I allocated more space for it. Ubuntu will be able to "see" the ntfs partition and you can use any free space on it from ubuntu.
For example, basic win7 ultimate install is almost 18GB and ubuntu 9.10 install is 2.7GB approx. Even with adding software later the ubuntu partition does not grow that fast.
You need to decide how to plan your partitions according to your needs. My numbers were only a suggestion from my own (limited) experience.

[realzippy]

Can't you shrink it from windows?!

[darkod]

Vista and Win7 can finally shrink/extend partitions but not nearly as good as gparted or similar. I had a case with my vista where I had 25GB unused and wanted to shrink by 15GB but was offered to shrink only by 2GB. That is because if there are files saved it doesn't move them I guess. Plus windows often puts system files that it can't move.
Since the OP said that win7 is recently installed and ready to do it again, I think that's a better approach.
In my case even defragmenting with diskeeper didn't help, I could only shink by 2GB from within windows. Didn't try the built-in defragmenter though.

[rjm83]

Thanks! I will try this as soon as I can tonight.

[rjm83]

In conclusion,

I did a little more research about partitioning the drive for this task and stumbled upon a lifehacker article. I chose to follow this article since it created a shared partition for files such as docs, music, pics, and vids while also giving the OS's space for their programs to be installed. Everything is working perfectly now.


A link to the lifehacker article can be found here.

http://lifehacker.com/5403100/dual+boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-in-perfect-harmony (http://lifehacker.com/5403100/dual+boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-in-perfect-harmony)


Thanks again for all of your help.

[Simulation Brain]

I had the same problem recently. I'm glad you found a workaround that was OK with you, but this is NOT a solved problem- you still cannot use Wubi to set up windows 7. Since Wubi is by far the simplest way to do it, and can be used without a Windows install disk, not shipped with new computers, the workaround doesn't work for me or many people. We're anxiously awaiting a real solution to this problem!

Again, this thread should NOT be marked solved! More expert input would be very useful!