Device for bootloader and "next" button are grayed out in partitioning section

[riccd]

Hi, I'm trying to install Ubuntu 23.04 on a system that has only one SSD and two other systems installed, Linux Mint and Windows. I want to try a triple boot. This is how the partitions are set:

I only managed to free those 166 GiB and allocate them for Ubuntu.
Then I run the USB pen installer (with acpi=off noapic commands or it won't start). When it comes to the partitioning part there are a few problems:
1-There is some kind of screen resolution problem as I can't see the format checkboxes. But this is just to tell.
2-Most importantly, the dropdown "Device for bootloader installation" only shows my SDD but it is grayed out and also, If I select sda8, the NEXT button is grayed out.


My laptop is an old ASUS K53SV, but I don't think this is the problem. Any suggestion?

[ubfan1]

I don't know what Ubuntu 23.04 does for a legacy install -- maybe since there is no choice, only one disk, the bootloader location location is greyed out.
Have you selected sda8, then change to make it root, ... then maybe the next button will work.

[riccd]

I don't know what Ubuntu 23.04 does for a legacy install -- maybe since there is no choice, only one disk, the bootloader location location is greyed out.
Have you selected sda8, then change to make it root, ... then maybe the next button will work.

Yes I added / as mount point for sda8 in the Ubuntu partition manager, which, in my knowledge means root. Despite this I can't go ahead. I'm now trying with 22.04 to check.

[Rubi1200]

I tried 3 times to install 23.04 with the new installer and each time the installation failed.

Try with the legacy installer, worked for me.
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop and scroll down the page to here https://prnt.sc/COz5p_sRxPqP

Hope this helps.

[tea for one]

Your screenshot shows an unusual partition scheme.
It looks like older style mbr with extended partitions.
/boot/efi is in the extended section (sda6) - I've never seen that before.

Which Windows version do you have?
Is it installed in Legacy/Bios mode?

How did you install Linux Mint - Legacy or UEFI?

I think that your first priority is to make sure that you have data backups.

[riccd]

I tried 3 times to install 23.04 with the new installer and each time the installation failed.

Try with the legacy installer, worked for me.
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop and scroll down the page to here https://prnt.sc/COz5p_sRxPqP

Hope this helps.

Thank you, yes after trying to install with the new installer many times I ultimately decided to use a legacy installer but I decided to install the 22.04 LTS version of Ubuntu as I was not really sure to install the 23.04. In the end I was successful. Do you think the 23.04 is worth trying?

[riccd]

Your screenshot shows an unusual partition scheme.
It looks like older style mbr with extended partitions.
/boot/efi is in the extended section (sda6) - I've never seen that before.

Which Windows version do you have?
Is it installed in Legacy/Bios mode?

How did you install Linux Mint - Legacy or UEFI?

I think that your first priority is to make sure that you have data backups.

ahah yes the fact is I install an OS at most once a year so I am not very practical with all the tech details that go into the partition scheme so it's well possible I installed in unusual ways maybe following some sloppy tutorial or such on dual boot. Knowing this, I backed up my data for good.
The laptop is very old, ASUS K53SV, It probably has more than 15 years, so the number of primary partitions allowed is 4.
According to a few checks I made, it seems both Windows and Mint are installed in legacy mode. I have to confess I wouldn't even know how to switch between the two installation modalities.
At this time I was successful at installing Ubuntu 22.04 in sda8, which is in the extended partition sda3. I had to manually prompt the grub that was previously installed to update itself in order to recognize Ubuntu as the installer wasn't able to add a bootloader in sda8

[Rubi1200]

Thank you, yes after trying to install with the new installer many times I ultimately decided to use a legacy installer but I decided to install the 22.04 LTS version of Ubuntu as I was not really sure to install the 23.04. In the end I was successful. Do you think the 23.04 is worth trying?

Stick with the LTS releases for more security and stability.

I was only testing 23.04 and also 23.10.

My main install is always the latest LTS release.

[mikf9191]

I had this problem too, with the Ubuntu Mate 24.04.1 LTS installer.

I tried the solutions above (except for the legacy installer) but none of those work.

I solved it in the end. My problem was that my hard-disk drive had no UEFI boot partition on it (/boot/efi). The manual-partitioning page doesn't seem to allow you to add one. And it will not enable the "Next" button if it's not there!

The only way I could fix this was to back up my hard-drive, and then go through the standard install page (instead of manual partition), and this worked - and it added the missing UEFI boot partition for me.

Then I looked at the installer again, and now the manual-partitioning page was working correctly. So it seems it gets stuck if it can't find a ready-made UEFI boot partition (/boot/efi) on there. I've raised a bug report for this on launchpad.net

[saint42]

You need to create a /boot/efi partition as VFAT first.
Then you can add other partitions, and the drop down box won't be grayed anymore and will let you chose /boot/efi you just created.