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superhornet01
June 20th, 2011, 01:39 AM
The only options I get for loading Ubuntu 11.04 on my HP 2000-219DX Laptop is: 1. completely remove windows 7 and download Ubuntu, or 2. Manually partition the HD. I'm no computer wiz and am fairly new to GNU/Linux so I really don't know what the problem might be. I need the windows os for work but would prefer to run the Ubuntu distro for personal computing. I have the same problem with Ubuntu 10.10, so no Ubuntu for this laptop until I can get this problem solved. Any advise would be appreciated!

Mark Phelps
June 20th, 2011, 06:10 PM
IF there is no option presented, that generally means that your preloaded Win7 PC came with the maximum of 4 Primary partitions allocated -- and you can't have more than that.

Thus, the installer is not going to give you an option that requires creating another partition.

If you want to see for yourself, boot from the Ubuntu CD, select the Try mode, open a terminal, and enter "sudo fdisk -lu" (that's a lowercase L, not a one). That will list out your partitions.

Also, you could go into Win7 and use the Disk Management utility to see the partition layout.

If you already have four allocated, you will then be faced with having to delete one in order to install Ubuntu to its own partition.

oldfred
June 20th, 2011, 06:15 PM
Some more info on the 4 partition limit:

Good advice on how to handle all four primary partitions used. - srs5694
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1686440
Besure to create recovery DVD(s) first.
HP tools partition discussion:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware/Hp-Tools-Partion/td-p/228360
Shrinking a Windows 7 partition is best done in Windows.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/
The Hedge show graphically how to delete & create partitions:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1713649

Basics of partitions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowtoPartition

superhornet01
June 20th, 2011, 10:49 PM
Thanks to Mark and oldfred for their help in getting this resolved. I now have Ubuntu 11.04 running along side of windows 7. Working fine so far!

jimbo99
June 21st, 2011, 12:09 AM
Thanks to Mark and oldfred for their help in getting this resolved. I now have Ubuntu 11.04 running along side of windows 7. Working fine so far!

You asked an important question and got a wide array of variables in those two replies you received. So, the question for everyone that is reading your thread: what did you do to accomplish this?

Not wanting to sound like a sour-puss, but you asked the question and others (with the same problem) are reading it, or they will be reading it in the future. Wouldn't it be nice if they read that you resolved your issue and then you detailed steps on how you did it?

I would certainly appreciate some details. Thanks in advance.

superhornet01
June 21st, 2011, 04:37 PM
You are correct. I should have given a detail explanation of what I did. Here it is:

Per Mark’s reply, I needed to understand that I can only have 4 partitions on my computer. If all 4 are in use, then I needed to delete one of them. This, I was not aware of.
Per oldfred’s reply, I read through the first link, http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1686440 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1686440)
and followed the instructions of “srs5694”. In srs5694’s steps I chose to delete the “Recovery” partition and leave the “HP Tools” alone. I failed to give credit to srs5694 on my reply, so thank you very much to srs5694! The only thing I did different is, before following any of srs5694’s steps I had defragged my disc just to make sure everything was together and not spread out all over the “System Volume” partition. The system volume is were I was going to be stealing space from for the “Extended Partition” that I was going to create per srs5694’s steps. I’m not sure that was necessary but I did it anyway.
3. After following srs5694’s steps I inserted the Ubuntu 11.04 Live CD. When it came to the point of giving me choices on how I wanted to install it one of them was to install along side of Windows. This is the option I was originally looking for and is what I chose. It loaded perfectly along side of windows. I booted up Ubuntu and insured all programs were running and then booted up windows and made sure everything was running there also. So far everything is good. Thanks again to srs5694, and to Mark, and to oldfred!

jimbo99
June 21st, 2011, 05:37 PM
I have another question. Since Linux wants 3 partitions for itself how did removing 1 partition solve your problem? As I see it your set up had 4 partitions. One was the recovery, one was the tools, and one was the Windows partition. I'm not sure what the 4th one was/is. So, if Windows uses 4 and you zapped one, that left three used and 1 free. How does Linux function when itself needs 3 partitions?

dFlyer
June 21st, 2011, 05:39 PM
I have another question. Since Linux wants 3 partitions for itself how did removing 1 partition solve your problem? As I see it your set up had 4 partitions. One was the recovery, one was the tools, and one was the Windows partition. I'm not sure what the 4th one was/is. So, if Windows uses 4 and you zapped one, that left three used and 1 free. How does Linux function when itself needs 3 partitions?

You create an extended partition out of the free space you opened up.

Quackers
June 21st, 2011, 06:32 PM
In an MBR partitioned drive you can have a maximum of 4 PRIMARY partitions.
As an option you can have 3 PRIMARY partitions plus an extended partition. This extended partition can have as many LOGICAL partitions as you want, within it.

superhornet01, did you create a set of recovery dvd's before you deleted the recovery partition? You may need those to get your Windows system back when it self-destructs!
It is usually a better option to delete the HP TOOLS partition, as the diagnostic tools within that partition can be downloaded from the HP website (if you ever need them).

superhornet01
June 21st, 2011, 07:53 PM
Yes, that was the first thing I did when I got the computer.

Quackers
June 21st, 2011, 07:57 PM
Good :-)
Keep them safe!
If you don't have a repair cd you should make one.
In Windows go to Control Panel and then Backup & Restore centre then in the left pane click on "make a recovery cd". Pop a cd into the drive and 30 seconds later you'll have a repair disc. This can be used for repairing the Windows bootloader, or other things. These functions will not be available from the recovery dvd's.

superhornet01
June 23rd, 2011, 11:51 AM
Will do. Thanks for the help!

Quackers
June 23rd, 2011, 12:00 PM
You're welcome :-)
Happy Ubuntuing!

uberl
June 25th, 2011, 09:43 PM
As I just dealt with this issue myself, here is a quick cheat sheet to get Ubuntu to install along side win7 with hp laptops.

Since HP uses all 4 partitions on the drive, one of them need to be removed. As specified on HP.com, HP_Tools can be removed, but you should first create a set of recovery disks. After the recovery disks are complete, do the following:

1) Delete the HP_Tools partition.
2) Shrink the C drive to the space desired for Ubuntu (can be done with windows disk manager).
3) To remove the gap in the partitions, I used easeus to move the recovery partition over.
4) Optional: create extended partitions if you want Ubuntu to span multiple partitions to split out swap/root/everything else.
4) Restart the computer with the Ubuntu install cd loaded and you should now have the option to install alongside windows.

Cheers