25 replies to this topic

[Lee]

Firstly , I am completely unfamiliar with installing a Linux distro except the times I have used Puppy Linux to rescue windows files.. I already have XP and W7 installed. [attachment=10672:ScreenClip000002.jpg] What i tried to do was to install Ubuntu onto the unallocated 20Gb First off I formated the free space as a primary NTSF partition and gave it the letter "U" (was all that wrong?). I couldn't get Ubuntu to install (I have it on disk). It recognized that I have W7 installed but not XP and gave me the option to install over W7 or "next to" W7 Does "next too" mean that it wipes out my XP or Data partition? Another option was to choose elsewhere to install which then listed my partitions. I chose the 20GB but a window came up saying "No root file system is defined" and "Please correct this from the partitioning menu" didn't have a clue how to do that, but messed around a bit. Didn't matter what I seemed to do, that window kept coming up (?).All it did was change the partition letter to "C" and I lost my XP letter "C".. When I deleted the 20GB partition, XP got it's "C" back I need to start again. Any suggestions? Cheers, Lee PS Edit: OK, I have this disk setup now, ready to go. [attachment=10673:ScreenClip000064.jpg] I "imaged" my Data partition and then deleted the partition and made a 15Gb partition ready for Abuntu "next too" W7 I then restored my Data image back into the new Data partition.

Edited by Lee, 18 June 2011 - 07:20 PM.

[terry1966]

you managed it yet lee? never used ubuntu and whatever it uses to partition and install, so can't give you a step by step guide, but if you still need help i'll download a ubuntu cd and set up a triple boot system to test it for you on an old system i have here with a 500gb drive.. what i would do tho looking at your drive partitions is, 1st primary partition xp 45gb ntfs 2nd primary partition w7 pro 50gb ntfs 3rd primary partition 100gb data ntfs leave last 37gb unformatted now with ubuntu's installer create logical partitions(not enough primary partitions available so needs to be logical) with the unformatted space. 1st logical partition 2gb swap swap 2nd logical partition 10gb / ext4 3rd logical partition 15gb /home ext4 the 1st "swap" partition is for swap(page) files obviously and is formatted with the swap file system, the 2nd "/" partition is the root partition and where the os will be installed and is formatted with the ext4 file system, the 3rd "/home" partition is where the users data is stored and is formatted again with the ext4 file system. i don't think ubuntu uses a separate home partition by default but i always do it this way so i don't loose my data when i come to update/install a newer os on the root partition. hope that will help you some anyway. curious tho why you need 2, 7gb page file partitions, one for xp and 1 for win7, isn't it possible to use the same page file partition for both os saving you 7gb of drive space?

Edited by terry1966, 19 June 2011 - 12:11 PM.

[Lee]

curious tho why you need 2, 7gb page file partitions, one for xp and 1 for win7, isn't it possible to use the same page file partition for both os saving you 7gb of drive space?

I could use one, but I'm using separate page files as on shutdown a page file doesn't empty. I can make a setting to have the page file empty on shutdown (had that set when I used to use just one page file for both xp and w7), but shutdown then takes a long time. This way I have a quick xp and w7 shutdown without mixed files in the page file (probably doesn't matter much, but I like to think it does).


Well I did manage to install Ubuntu on that 15Gb partition I created next to w7, by choosing the "install next too w7" option and by not formating the partition, but letting Ubuntu do it in that Linux ext.4 format (I think that's what it's called).

This was the latest Ubuntu and I was very impressed with it to say the least Especially the super easy set-up. It automatically connected me to the Internet (it loaded some files from w7) and then nudged me to download the latest suitable Video Card driver. That was it, all done!

A couple of 'little" problems though

When I rebooted I only had the option to go to Ubuntu or w7 (no xp option). However, choosing W7 did not work, it would only go to Ubuntu

To cut a long story short, my regular MBR was hosed (something to do with "GRUB" I think) and Ubuntu had stolen my xp "C" letter and messed all the others up, so my xp and w7 image restore with their normal MBR in them didn't work !

In the end I reinstalled XP, deleted the Ubuntu partition and ran BCD to fix up the w7 letter back to "G" with priority boot and had it re-write the w7 MBR.
No big drama, but I might wait until I find out a bit more info before I reinstall that Ubuntu sucker again. It was a close call that it didn't wipe out xp AND w7. Then I would have been really angry

[terry1966]

To cut a long story short, my regular MBR was hosed (something to do with "GRUB" I think) and Ubuntu had stolen my xp "C" letter and messed all the others up, so my xp and w7 image restore with their normal MBR in them didn't work !

no idea why that happened linux doesn't use c/d/e etc for it's partitions/drives tables.

i'll dl the latest ubuntu cd and make a triple boot system, then i can give you step by step guide, grub shouldn't of hosed your mbr and the installer should of seen both your xp and win7 installs.

did you do anything special/different when you installed xp and win7 from the standard make partitions install xp then install win7?

[terry1966]

ok, just finished and it installed and works perfectly, this is what i did. started off by installing 1 of my back up drives(500gb) to install the 3 os onto, inserted xp disc into drive and booted to it, cleared all old partitions and created 3 new ones, c: 100000mb(approx 100gb), d: 100000mb, e: rest of space approx 250gb installed xp onto first 100gb partition then labeled and formatted the other 2 partitions after install completed. partition d: win7 ntfs. partition e: data ntfs next inserted win7 dvd and installed it to the win7 partition d, so now on start up i have a menu to start win7 or other windows os. now for the bit your interested in, installing ubuntu. insert cd and reboot pc when the cd boots it'll ask to try or install ubuntu, click on the correct language for you on the left(default is english) then click on install ubuntu next page checks some things, like internet connection and memory and asks if you want to download updates while installing and if you want to install 3rd party software(i recommend ticking both boxes, but for speed i left them at the blank defaults) click forward click on the install ubuntu next to win7, click forward now it shows you where it's going to install, on this setup it wants to divide the windows data partition in half, 150gb for files(/dev/sda6(ntfs)) and 150gb for ubuntu(/dev/sda7(ext4)), you'll notice the drive is sda (linux doesn't use c:,d:,e:, etc drives are sda,sdb,sdc etc) and the partition on the drive is denoted by a number, so dev/sda6 for the windows data partition(linux labels all primary partitions sda1 to 4 and logical partitions sda5 and above, seems win7 and the data partitions are seen as logical for some reason, can't think why at moment, looks like xp only makes 1 primary partition and the rest of drive is extended with logical partitions) the new partition it is going to create for ubuntu is called dev/sda7.(now if you don't know what it's showing or want to double check which partition it's going to install to, click on the advanced partitioning tool, here you'll see all your partitions, for me its sda1 which is the xp partition, sda5 which is the win7 partition, and sda6 which is the data partition, so now i know it's altering the data partition sda6, just click back to get to the install alongside win7 screen to continue the auto install procedure) i don't want to use all that obviously so i just mouse over the join, when the pointer shows 2 arrows either side just click and drag to shrink the ubuntu partition to the 30gb size i want the install to use. click install now you'll get a warning box just click continue now click on your location to set the time zone and click forward click on the keyboard/language you want and click forward now enter your username/password click forward now this is where you'll need to import accounts xp win7(loader) (sda1) so you can use the windows os already installed(and my guess where you went wrong) make sure there's a tick in the box then click forward now it will install, when it's finished it, click restart then it will eject the cd drive and say remove cd and hit enter. so do it. on reboot you should now see 5 choices, 1st boot standard ubuntu 2nd boot ubuntu in recovery mode 3rd boot memory test 4th boot memory test 5th boot win7 loader on dev/sda1 to boot either xp or win7 you just choose option 5. there you go nice and easy, going to run through the whole thing again now just to double check, so might make some edits to this post with anything i think might help explain things better. did notice the default install used the 30gb space and created at least 2 partitions on it sda7 26gb for / and sda8 4gb for swap(will check this for more accuracy when i complete the 2nd round of installs). finished again with same result installs no problems and can use all 3 os

Edited by terry1966, 20 June 2011 - 12:07 PM.

[Lee]

Nice work Terry, I really appreciate the effort You last post was very informative and I see a couple of areas where I think I went wrong. In fact I'll print your last post out as a keeper and also copy and paste it into my OS installs sub-folder in my "Tips and Tricks" as a canned XP / W7 / Ubuntu triple install. If you find any adjustments needed, I can edit them in later. Thanks. The main purpose of wanting to install Ubuntu is to get to know the Linux distro. Become familiar with it. I build a few PC's here for local, small (poor) community groups and the generally disadvantaged. Hardware has never been a concern as I obtain that for free. People are always upgrading their PC's. The problem is OS cost and "Malware for Windows" and that's where Ubuntu comes in. I think it is user friendly enough for basic computing. It's free and without all the malware problems, which seems to be the main reason for the pc help call outs I receive. Inevitably, people download things or click on things that land them in PC hell I'm going to try out the triple boot install method you outlined, but firstly, I'm going to get it down pat on a spare PC ! I'll let you know how I go and thanks again for all your help. Cheers, Lee

Edited by Lee, 20 June 2011 - 01:42 PM.

[Doug]

Nice work People,

Seems to me that Post #5 would be a nice Pinned Topic here in Open Source.

Anybody up for "neating it up" a little (Bolded or Colored, and bulleted for easy recipe-like presentation) ?

[terry1966]

if you want it as a pinned topic doug i'll see if i can do it all again in a virtual pc later this week, that way i'll be able to take screen shots of everything. besides the default partitioning and install, i'll also show how to manually set up the partitions so you have a separate home partition for the users data.(definitely my preferred method of installing a linux os) and i'll also look into removing the ubuntu install without breaking the mbr options to boot into either windows os when grub is removed.

[Lee]

Nice work People,

Seems to me that Post #5 would be a nice Pinned Topic here in Open Source.

Great idea Doug

[terry1966]

well the virtualbox install went easy enough, so now have about 25 pics that need cropping and uploading to add to the default install tutorial, i'll start a new topic to make it easier to pin, off to bed now. haven't gotten around to seeing about uninstalling ubuntu and leaving just a working windows setup guide or the manual partitioning for the ubuntu install guide yet either.

[Doug]

Thanks in advance Terry.

[terry1966]

this default install guide came about while helping a member to install ubuntu 11.04 32bit onto his pc, he already had a dual boot system with a partition setup similar to the one used here:-

1st partition is 30gb where the xp operating system is installed
2nd partition is 30gb where the win7 operating system is installed
3rd partition is 90gb where the data for both operating systems is stored

the partitions look like this when in xp :-

and like this when in win7 :-

notice the partitions show up as hard drives(after installing xp i gave them labels, "win7", "xp", "data"), even tho there is only 1 hard drive in the pc, more about this later.

it's the 3rd(data) partition we're going to shrink to create a 30Gb partition and install ubuntu onto.

before you start the install you want to :-

1:- MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING BACKED UP!!!
last thing we want is for you to lose any data,
i suggest using drive imaging software or at the least have all your data backed up along with the means available to re-install your windows operating systems and all the programs you use.

2:- clean and defrag the partition where your going to install ubuntu.
================================================================================
step 1:-

download and burn the latest ubuntu live cd from here:- http://www.ubuntu.co...ubuntu/download

you should already have done this really, and been using it as a live cd long enough to decide you like ubuntu and want to permanently install it on your hard drive.
================================================================================
step 2:-

put the cd into your pc and reboot it.
on the reboot it should load and give you this screen :-

if it doesn't boot to this screen you will either need to go into bios and set the cd/dvd drive to be first boot device or tap a certain key(this key depends on your pc but is usually something like "F12") on the post screen which will then open a menu list so you can choose what device to boot from first, chose the cd/dvd drive.
still doesn't boot to this screen? check the burn/cd is good maybe try a different cd and burn again or start a help topic so one of the techs can help you.

now you're at this screen :- you need to first select what language you want to use on the left, the default is English, then you want to click on the "Install Ubuntu" button to start the install process.
================================================================================
step 3:-

now you're at this screen :- i suggest you place ticks in both the "download updates while installing" and "Install this third-party software" boxes, i never for speed of install reasons only.

some people won't tick the "Install this third-party software" box because they only want to use open source software,
as for the updates box, they are going to be needed at sometime anyway so why not during the install.
boxes ticked or not, your choice, now click the "Forward" button.
================================================================================
step 4:-

now you're at this screen :-
the "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7" is set as the default choice(shown by the dot next to it) so no need to do anything here except click on the "Forward" button.
================================================================================
step 5:-

this tells you where it's going to install and is probably the most important part so i will go into a little bit of detail about linux drives/partitions so you'll understanding what your actually seeing.
now you're at this screen :-
what you're being shown is a single partition being divided into 2 halves,
you'll notice one half is /dev/sda6 (ntfs) and is 49.2GB and the other half is /dev/sda7 (ext4) and is 48.9Gb in size,
so what exactly does this mean?
well unlike windows which uses letters c,d,e, to show both the drives and the partitions, linux uses sda, sdb, sdc etc, to show drives and then adds numbers to show the partitions on that drive, 1 to 4 are reserved for primary partitions and numbers 5 and above are for logical partitions.
so /dev/sda6 (ntfs) tells you the drive is the first hard drive("sda") and the partition being divided up is the 2nd logical partition("6", 5 being the 1st logical partition) formatted with the ntfs file system.
/dev/sda7 (ext4) tells you the installer is going to create a new 3rd logical partition on the first drive and is going to format it with the ext4 file system for the Ubuntu install.

to show this better and to double check where Ubuntu is going to install, click on the orange " advanced partitioning tool" link just below the partitioning diagram,

on this screen near the top:- you can see how the drive/s and partitions are identified in linux, notice on this system there is only 1 hard drive and it has 3 partitions each colour coded, green for sda1 (ntfs) 31.5GB(which is the xp partition), orange for sda5 (ntfs) 31.5GB(which is the win7 partition), and blue for sda6 (ntfs) 98.1GB(which is the data partition and where we wanted the install to go).

the reason all the partitions are not primary partitions(sda1, sda2, etc) is because they were created during the xp install which only creates 1 primary partition then extends the rest of the hard drive and creates logical partitions on it.

now you have a better understanding of linux partitioning/drives, i hope.
so click on the "Back" button to get to this screen again :-

click on the "Forward" button to get to this screen again:- sorry about the slight diversion but we're now where we want to be.
we only wanted a 30Gb partition for ubuntu so mouse over the join between the two partitions in the diagram until the pointer changes and looks like the one in the picture, now right click and drag it to the right until you get to the size you want:- when it's at the correct size, click the "Install Now" button
================================================================================

Edited by terry1966, 22 June 2011 - 10:39 AM.

[terry1966]

step 6:-

now you'll get a warning popup that looks like this:-
this is your last chance to go back and alter anything before changes are made to your hard drive, we don't need to, so just click on the "Continue" button.
================================================================================
step 7:-

now you're at this screen :- just click on your time zone on the map or type your location in the box to select your time zone, then click on the "Forward" button.
================================================================================
step 8:-

now you're at this screen :- select your keyboard and if needed type in the box to test it, then click on the "Forward" button.
================================================================================
step 9:-

now you're at this screen :- just enter your name and create a strong password, use letters,numbers and characters, eg:-W2£a2tgh*^ , i'd also change the default setting so when i started ubuntu it would take me directly to the desktop instead of asking me to log in, do this by moving the dot from the circle next to " Require my password to log in" to the circle next to "Log in automatically" by clicking on it, you may also want to put a tick in the "Encrypt my home folder" for a little bit of extra security, i don't use this feature or know anything about it, so couldn't tell you if it has any effect on the speed of use or how much extra security it offers a user.
again these are user preferences so choose what you think is best for you, then click on the "Forward" button.
================================================================================
step 10:-

now you're at this screen :- this is IMPORTANT!!! if you don't put the tick in the "xp Windows 7 (loader) (sda1)" box before clicking the forward button when you reboot you won't have the option to boot into your windows operating systems so PUT THE TICK IN THE BOX NOW!!
click on the "Forward" button.
================================================================================
step 11:-

now you're at this screen :-
ok it's now installing, so have some fun and read a bit about ubuntu just click the arrows on the side of the screen..here's two of the info screens.

================================================================================
step 12:-

when it's finished installing you'll get this screen:-
just click the "Restart Now" button

when it's finished shutting down it'll pop open the cd/dvd drive and you'll get a screen similar to this:- just remove the cd from the drive and then hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard" to finish the shutdown and restart.
================================================================================
that's it finished,

from now on when you start your pc you'll get a screen like this :- if you do nothing it will always boot into ubuntu.
when you want to boot into either windows operating systems just use the down arrow key until "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" is highlighted and hit enter.:-
it will then take you to the windows screen you saw on start up before installing ubuntu, where you can choose which windows os to boot. :-

anyway hope this isn't to long winded and helps at least one person.

Edited by terry1966, 22 June 2011 - 10:44 AM.

[terry1966]

ok finished the guide but had to split it into 2 posts because of all the pics, any suggestions to make it better from anyone before doug does what he wants with it??

[Lee]

================================================================================
step 10:-

now you're at this screen :- this is IMPORTANT!!! if you don't put the tick in the "xp Windows 7 (loader) (sda1)" box before clicking the forward button when you reboot you won't have the option to boot into your windows operating systems so PUT THE TICK IN THE BOX NOW!!
click on the "Forward" button.
================================================================================

Yep, that's where I went wrong. Forgot the tick and went from bad to worse from there on.
Tried the triple boot out again and it worked fine. Couldn't have done it without your peerless help. Thanks.

You might have to halve the pixel rate on those images, as anyone on dial-up is going to take a long time working their way through those instructions


Cheers,
Lee

Edited by Lee, 21 June 2011 - 07:46 PM.