linux - How to install ubuntu 12.04 amd64 while there is an installation of windows 7

07
2014-07
  • Zeinab Abbasi

    I have a Windows 7 amd64. I want to install ubuntu 12.04 amd64 desktop version. I have downloaded the iso file from ubuntu official web-site. I have wrote it on a DVD and start it from boot. I have selected install ubuntu and then along with windows 7 in the install wizard. Then it told me to remove the media and press enter; I did so. The computer restarted and it loaded from windows, there was no OS choices menu or anything else; nothing has been installed. What is the problem??? I have two disk partitions; one is for windows and the other is completely free.

    EDIT 1:

    I tried to use live version and install the OS from it. It gave me following error:

    enter image description here

    EDIT 2:

    I tried steps here; it tells me to shrink a drive which I did so. When I tried to select New Simple Volume, I got this:

    enter image description here

    I was confused about the message, so I pressed cancel. I should also mention that this un-allocated part is listed as unusable in the disk list through ubuntu installation.

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    multi boot - Install Windows 7 on second hard drive after Ubuntu 12.04... with UEFI
  • Jeff Hillman

    What I would like is to have Ubuntu installed on my 60GB SSD and Windows 7 installed on my 1TB HDD in a 100GB partition, leaving the remaining 900GB as a NTFS data partition that I could access from Ubuntu or Windows.

    My PC boots in UEFI mode, which seems to throw a wrench in most of the currently available guides for setting up a dual boot situation with Windows and Ubuntu.

    My first attempt at this was to install Windows first. I pointed the installation at the second hard drive and let it go. Everything went fine, and I could boot into Windows just like you would expect. When I booted into the Ubuntu live CD, Windows was detected, and I chose the option where you can look at the current partitions and set them up how you would like for the Ubuntu installation. I discovered here that Windows had put a 100MB partition on the SSD, which is the "system reserved" boot partition, and the actual Windows OS on the HDD. I was hopeful that the Ubuntu installer would be smart enough to deal with this, and went ahead and installed Ubuntu the SSD. The installation completed successfully, but I couldn't boot into Ubuntu, no matter what options I played with in the boot settings.

    I tried this process again, this time disconnecting the SSD before booting the Windows installation DVD. This left the SSD untouched, but I still couldn't boot into Ubuntu after a clean installation to it.

    Having Ubuntu running properly is my first priority, so I opted to get it installed and running first, which is where I am now.

    The 60GB SSD currently holds a booting, working Ubuntu 12.04 installation. In GParted, it is /dev/sda, and its partitions look like this:

    Partition  File System  Mount Point  Size
/dev/sda1  fat32        /boot/efi    100MB
/dev/sda2  ext4         /            48GB
/dev/sda3  linux-swap                8GB

    I haven't really touched the 1TB HDD (/dev/sdb), so it looks like this:

    Partition  File System  Size
/dev/sdb1  ntfs         932GB

    My concern is if I now try to install Windows to the HDD, will it overwrite something on the SSD which will orphan my Ubuntu installation? If so, is that something that boot-repair or some other tool/process can resolve?

    If I disconnect the SSD and install Windows to the HDD, will the SSD still be recognized as a bootable device when I reconnect it? I really don't understand how UEFI works, and I don't know if disconnecting and reconnecting drives is safe.

    What is the safest way to proceed given my current setup?

    Update: rschuler provided a couple of good options, but I would like to be confident that I am not going to lose my current Ubuntu installation when I install Windows. I'm putting up a bounty to see what else is out there.


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  • wbeard52

    I don't have a UEFI machine but what seemed to always work for me was removing the hard drives that I didn't want the installation to write to during the install of the OS. In your case, I would remove the SSD and have Windows install to the 1TB drive. The 100MB system reserved partition will be on the HDD instead.

    To dual boot, replace the SSD, set it to be the active drive then setup your grub files accordingly.

  • rschuler

    It is normal for modern windows installers to put a 100MB system reserved boot partition on the first drive enumerated by the startup firmware (BIOS or UEFI).

    Because I have had windows update automagically "fix" my grub installations I generally use the windows boot loader system on my dual boot machines. According to the docs I have been reading the overall procedure is the same BIOS or UEFI.

    1. Install windows normally.
    2. Install linux being careful to install the booting stuff into a partition and not the MBR (BIOS) or system partition (UEFI).
    3. While still running off the linux installation CD use dd to capture the first 1MB of the linux boot parition and write it to a file that will be readable by your windows installation.
    4. Boot windows and use bcdedit to add a boot record for that 1MB file you created in step 3.

    Edit: Here are instruction from somebody who has actually done it on a UEFI machine.