Hi,
X. is installed as sda1-4. "Unallocated Space" 120 GB. Now I want to install Mint. I watched a few vids, but I am not sure, how to install the second OS.
Thanx a lot for your advice.
Hi,
X. is installed as sda1-4. "Unallocated Space" 120 GB. Now I want to install Mint. I watched a few vids, but I am not sure, how to install the second OS.
Thanx a lot for your advice.
We need to know more about your hardware to be able to help.
Does it use MBR/BIOS or UEFI?
How old is it; what make and model?
What current partitions do you have for Xubuntu, and which version is it?
Please show us the output ofin terminal.Code:sudo fdisk -l
Please use Code-Tags for terminal output. See my signature below for a How-to
Code-tags --- Boot-Repair --- Grub2 wiki & Grub2 Basics --- RootSudo --- Wireless-Info --- SolvedThreads --- System-Info-Script
Moved to MINT sub-forum.
BIOS/MBR or UEFI/gpt?
If MBR, you may have used all 4 primary partitions.
But default installs often put swap into an extended partition which you would have to extend.
Post these:
sudo parted -l
sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list
Nijia'ed by ajgreeny
UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.
Lenovo T400, ~10 years
MBR/BIOS
Xubuntu 16.04.3 LTS
Code:Model: ATA SamsungSSD 850 (scsi) Disk /dev/sda: 250GB Sector size(logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table:msdos Disk Flags: Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 1049kB 1000MB 999MB primary ext2 boot 2 1000MB 31,0GB 30,0GB primary ext4 3 31,0GB 37,0GB 6000MB primary linux-swap(v1) 4 37,0GB 117GB 80,0GB primary ext4 ~$ sudoblkid -c/dev/null -o list device fs_typelabel mount point UUID ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /dev/loop0 squashfs /snap/core/3604 /dev/loop1 squashfs /snap/core/3748 /dev/sda1 ext2 /boot bd3146dc-7e3e-4f35-9697-f89135c1e76b /dev/sda2 ext4 / 9053101e-536e-473a-8abd-e702ad248531 /dev/sda3 swap [SWAP] bffe9dad-a643-446f-95f7-55453931d4fc /dev/sda4 ext4 /home 9ed459da-0cec-42ac-bcae-a0cfd6e758b5 xux@x-Acer:~$ sudofdisk -l Disk /dev/loop0:83,8 MiB, 87896064 bytes, 171672 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 /dev/loop1:83,8 MiB, 87863296 bytes, 171608 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 /dev/sda: 232,9GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 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 Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier:0x77e2ec7d Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 * 2048 1953791 1951744 953M 83 Linux /dev/sda2 1953792 60547071 58593280 28G 83 Linux /dev/sda3 60547072 72265727 11718656 5,6G 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda4 72265728 228515839 156250112 74,5G 83 Linux
You have a problem, because your disk is partitioned ms-dos, which allows only 4 primary partitions and you have used them all up.
There is no easy answer. Consider either abandoning the whole idea of dual booting with Mint, or if you are willing to start over, partition the disk with GPT partition table, which allows by default 128 partitions. Then install Xubuntu and Mint. Since your machine is BIOS, you will also need a bios_grub partition to install in BIOS mode on a GPT disk.
Also realize that you don't need a separate home partition, and unless you are encrypting, you don't need a separate boot partition.
You could delete swap, but then when done have to manually update fstab with new UUID from a new swap. Comment out current swap in fstab so you do not have issues booting. Then you can uncomment it and change to new UUID.
Moving /home into swap space will take a long time if it has a lot of data. Do not interrupt or you lose all data. And you then must have good backups before you start, just in case.
Then you can create a new extended partition, for a new ext4 for Mint's / (root) and a new swap partition.
You cannot share /boot nor /home.
If you may want data in both installs better to have /home inside / and separate /mnt/data partition that you can mount in all installs.
But there are advantages to gpt.
You would have to reinstall grub in current install.
Do not know if Mint has a way to not install its grub into MBR, but you can go back into Ubuntu and reinstall its grub to MBR.
GPT Advantages (older 2010 but still valid) see post#2 by srs5694:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1457901
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...antages_of_GPT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
Converting to or from GPT
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html
gdisk to convert from gpt to MBR
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html#gpt2mbr
Last edited by oldfred; January 9th, 2018 at 07:58 PM.
UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.
Ouch, seems to be something for experts? What about deleting the OS and installing both? It is true, Gparted complained those 4 primary partitions...
There is an easier solution that should work and would not require any reinstall of Ubuntu or moving the existing home partition.
Basic Outline - working from live media you could:
1. Delete the swap partition with gparted, leaving a small unallocated space which will not be used. This will allow you to create an extended partition in what must be a relatively large unallocated space after sda4.
2. With gparted, create the new extended partition in the space after sda4.
3. Create 2 new logical partitions (which will be located inside the new extended partition) with gparted: ext4 for install of Linux Mint and a swap partition that both can share. (The number of logical partitions are not restricted.)
4. Install Mint to the new ext4 partition by chosing the "something else" option of the installer. After this install, computer will startup to grub menu on Mint; Ubuntu will boot from Mint's grub menu.
5. For Ubuntu to use this same swap partition, you would need to change UUID of its swap in its /etc/fstab file to the that of the new swap partition.
Looks like a reasonable plan. Think it over.
@Dennis N: I am not quite sure, if I understood completely. Therefore a screenshot:
Screenshot_2018-01-24_15-23-18.jpg
For partitioning I would boot a Gparted CD, because a running OS would not allow partitioning?
Last edited by xipho2; January 24th, 2018 at 03:41 PM.
You do not show much data in /home, is it a new install?
If so then a new install may make sense as you can then change partitions around.
If re-installing do not use /boot keep that inside / (root).
Some very old systems only like to boot from files that are inside the first 137GB of a hard drive. So I might make 2 / (root) partitions at beginning of drive. And all other partitions as logical. Make extended the entire rest of drive, and place swap at end (or far right in gparted view), so out of way.
You also cannot share /home. I often suggest separate /home as then it is a bit easier to backup and reinstall into a new / . But if using two operating systems and you want to share data, create another ext4 partition for that data. Disadvantage of data partition is you have to manually mount with fstab and set ownership & permissions which with /home is automatically done.
UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.
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