installing ubuntu 12.04 LTS in MBR disk

[tahir2]

Hi guys I am new to Linux , I am trying was trying to install Linux in my hp laptop which have only one disk . and it is in MBR format . in Linux setup it is not showing my free space partition instead it is showing whole 750 gb free space . anyone knows how to install Ubuntu in MBR disk .. waiting for your help guys

[Quackers]

It shouldn't be a problem to install to a MBR partitioned disc. Something is wrong.
Either the installer cannot see your partitions because the partition table is damaged/corrupt. Other things could also be wrong. Have you partitioned this drive at all?
Have you tried booting from the live cd/usb and selecting "try Ubuntu"? Does it boot to a usable desktop? If so, open up gparted and see what that reports or open a terminal and run
sudo fdisk -l and report the output please.
(The -l at the end is a lower-case L, not a 1)

[tahir2]

yeah i am botting from my usb and the i sued live dektop .. here r the result


sudo fdisk -l
WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

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: 0x68bbfca1
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 718847 358400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 718848 410318847 204800000 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 410318848 719976447 154828800 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4 719976448 1465145343 372584448 6 FAT16
/dev/sda5 410320896 719976447 154827776 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk /dev/sdb: 30.9 GB, 30943995904 bytes
32 heads, 63 sectors/track, 29978 cylinders, total 60437492 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: 0x0ea7379f
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 60435647 30217792+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

[tahir2]

i saw in the disk utility ... its not showing any partition there

[Quackers]

As the first line of the output states you seem to have a GUID partition table not MBR. Although your partitions appear to MBR type.
Does your pc use UEFI booting?
You can read more about GPT here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
I would read some more and familiarise with what exactly you have and what you can do with it before making any changes to your system.

[Quackers]

Has this hard drive been used in a different computer previously? Maybe in a Mac, for instance.

[tahir2]

yeah I am using windows 8 . I am trying to dual boot it . there's separate partition for Linux . so any way to install

[tahir2]

nope I bought this laptop few months back .. I just reinstalled the windows tried few commands from internet to change GPT to MBR to create parititions during setup

[Quackers]

STOP entering things for the moment!
We need to know how or why there is GPT data on the disk. You may need that and you may not, in which case you can destroy that GPT data with gdisk.
Obviously if you need that data for some reason you will not then be able to boot anything.
Was the laptop brand new when you bought it? Are you using UEFI to boot or BIOS?

[tahir2]

yup the laptop was new and I am using BIOS to boot I disabled UEFI .. and there's no data right now in laptop . except windows 8 in one of the partitions . which I installed yesterday

[Quackers]

Ok, thanks. I am not familiar with UEFI booting on Windows machines and am not sure how that works.
The Ubuntu installer is looking at your hard drive and seeing both GPT data and MBR data so stops at that point in order to stop you from making any changes that may damage your system.
You could run the Ubuntu live cd/usb and select try Ubuntu then install gdisk and follow the instructions below for destroying the GPT data but follow them all - including the answering "n" to the MBR wipe.
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/wipegpt.html

But beware!!!!
If you destroy that GPT data Windows may not boot in UEFI mode again (or even boot at all as I understand it).

My own feeling is that you could destroy the GPT data and everything would be fine but I'm not the person who would have to re-install everything if it doesn't work.
The decision is yours.

Maybe you should wait and see if anybody else can give more information on this before you do anything.

[tahir2]

yeah lets see.. by the way I followed this procedure before installing windows 8 .
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282793

but I don't understand even there's a part of hard disk which is still in GPT the Linux setup should see it as free/used space . its showing whole 750 gb disk as free space

[Quackers]

Right, I understand more now. You've actually changed a GPT disc to a MBR disc.
However, it seems that the method you used has left some stray GPT data on the disc which needs to be deleted. The method shown above will do that and everything should be fine. DO NOT answer "y" to the MBR wipe section or all will be lost!

The reason the Ubuntu installer refuses to see your partitions is because both GPT data and MBR data is present on your disc. So, in an effort to stop you doing damage to your system the installer refuses to allow you to change anything.

[tahir2]

got this error ..

gdisk /dev/sdc
The program 'gdisk' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install gdisk
You will have to enable the component called 'universe'

sudo apt-get install gdisk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package gdisk

[Quackers]

duplicate post

[Quackers]

You will have to enable the 'universe' repository to get the package. Go to software & updates (or software sources) and tick the box where the description ends with universe.
Then in the terminal run
sudo apt-get update

Once installed you don't want to run gdisk on /dev/sdc like you did above!
The disc you want to run it on is /dev/sda so in the terminal you would run
gdisk /dev/sda

[tahir2]

yeah i installed the its from synaptic . here's the result

first i checked my partition

sudo fdisk -l

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


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: 0x68bbfca1

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 718847 358400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 718848 410318847 204800000 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 410318848 719976447 154828800 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4 719976448 1465145343 372584448 6 FAT16
/dev/sda5 410320896 719976447 154827776 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 30.9 GB, 30943995904 bytes
32 heads, 63 sectors/track, 29978 cylinders, total 60437492 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: 0x0ea7379f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 60435647 30217792+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

then ,

sudo gdisk /dev/sda1
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.1

Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present


************************************************** *************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format.
THIS OPERATION IS POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE! Exit by typing 'q' if
you don't want to convert your MBR partitions to GPT format!
************************************************** *************

Exact type match not found for type code 7200; assigning type code for
'Linux filesystem'
Exact type match not found for type code 6C00; assigning type code for
'Linux filesystem'

Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
3888964533 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.

this result is same for all except sda 4 which is

sudo gdisk /dev/sda4
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.1

Partition table scan:
MBR: not present
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present

Creating new GPT entries.

[tahir2]

can't find any gpt

[Quackers]

You've run gdisk on a partition not the disc!!!!
sudo gdisk /dev/sda NOT sudo gdisk /dev/sda1

[tahir2]

oh yeah sorry my mistake .. thanks alot it worked its been whole i was trying to solve this .. marking it as solved .. again thanks alot mate ...

[Quackers]

Glad to hear that - well done!
I hope gdisk didn't damage any of your partitions. I don't think so.
Enjoy Ubuntu!