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    #1

    Dual boot kubuntu 14.04 and Windows 7 pro

    I have a new HP 15 laptop pre-loaded with windows 7 professional. I am a linux user and need Windows one time a year for TurboTax, and I am trying to set up a dual boot so that I can use easily use Windows for the few time I will need it. My previous laptop, which I dropped and broke allowed easy access to the Hdd so I just swapped the hdd's when I wanted to change. The new laptop requires disassembly to get to the hdd.

    So I installed the Kubuntu 14.04 ISO on a usb stick and booted and ran into my first problem. I had planned to install Kubuntu alongside Windows, but the install program does not offer that option. Interestingly, the Ubuntu install routine offers the option, but only boots into Windows. Can anyone tell me what is going on here, especially with the Kubuntu install? Is there another way the Kubuntu install can be performed? I have been reading a lot of stuff on line and in this forum, but I still cannot understand how to get Kubuntu installed in a dual boot.

    Does anyone know of a cook book approach I can use to get this job done? The laptop supports UEFI but came configured for compatibility mode, so I had expected fewer problems. Does the Kubuntu install expect a manual installation?

    What I have already done: I used Windows disk partitioning to shrink the C: drive. This produced enough unallocated space to install Kubuntu, but Kubuntu would not use this space.

    If anyone can help, I would appreciate hearing from you. Also, let me know what other information I can supply.

    Thank you,
    Monon
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    #2
    Do you have one HDD or two?

    Can you use whatever Windows uses to show us your hard drive information--any utility that shows the partitions on your HDD(s).

    (I'll be in and out the rest of the day, will try to check in as I can, but most helpers will want to know this info. If you have a special System partition (EFI), and a GPT disk, you will want to go with UEFI. If so, you need the Kubuntu 64-bit, not the 32-bit. If it turns out that you do not have UEFI now, you have two choices: (1) switch to UEFI (by changing a BIOS setting); or (2) Go ahead and install Kubuntu in compatibility mode. General: it is always best to partition and format your HDD before running the Kubuntu installer. You could do this in Windows if you know how to use Windows partitioning utilities. Or you could download a good one, GParted Live CD, and use it: http://gparted.org/livecd.php For Kubuntu, you may want 3 partitions: one for the root system, one for your /home, and a swap partition--can't figure the sizes until we know how much space you have available.)
    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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      #3
      Note:
      https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post327462
      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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        #4
        Volume Layout Type File System Status Capacity Free Space %Free Fault Tolerance Overhead

        C: Simple Basic NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) 441.00 GB 395.6 GB 90.% No 0%
        HP_TOOLS Simple Basic FAT32 Healthy (Primary Partition) 99 MB 76 MB 77 % No 0%
        Recovery (D Simple Basic NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition) 24.46 GB 2.60 GB 11% No 0%
        SYSTEM Simple Basic NTFS Healthy (System, Active, Primay Partition) 199 MB 165 MB 83 % No 0%

        Hope this is what you requested. Posted this yesterday but i did something wrong and it didn't stick.

        Also, the 14.04 Kubuntu installation does not prompt for any kind of dual boot. I had expected it to ask if I wanted to install Kubuntu alongside windows 7, but it did not even recognize that windows was installed.
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          #5
          Another opinion here?

          monon, I'm thinking we need someone to jump in here who has or knows Windows 7.

          From your output:
          Code:
           SYSTEM Simple Basic NTFS Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) 199 MB 165 MB 83 % No 0%
          I can't tell if that would be the special UEFI ESP partition put there by Windows. However, you did imply that you have not enabled UEFI but you are booting in Compatibility mode; so, that would explain why there is no identifier in that output pointing at it being an ESP--except it is not formatted Fat32, which it should be for an ESP. The HP Tools partition is FAT32, but I would think that is for HP stuff and not for the ESP, but I can't be certain.

          Here's what's on my mind for your case:
          I do not want to mess up your Windows!
          If it were me, I would enable booting in UEFI mode and install Kubuntu 64-bit that way.

          Cutting to the quick:

          If you maintain booting in Compatibility mode, and you install Kubuntu that way, the Kubuntu bootloader (GRUB 2) will overwrite the Windows 7 bootloader in the present Master Boot Record (MBR). So, you'd have to accept that and go with it.

          If, on the other hand, you switch your computer to enable UEFI booting, and you test it first with Windows 7 only, then you could install Kubuntu 64-bit in UEFI mode, selecting the Manual method during the installation of Kubuntu, and indicating that GRUB should be placed in the same HDD as Windows (/dev/sdX). That way, GRUB would be set up in the same ESP partition as your Windows is (which I think is that System partition), and it would work.

          Also, the 14.04 Kubuntu installation does not prompt for any kind of dual boot. I had expected it to ask if I wanted to install Kubuntu alongside windows 7, but it did not even recognize that windows was installed.
          I don't think this is or would be an issue. But first, I would complete the partitioning of the partitions needed for Kubuntu--a partition for root / , one for /home (both of them to be ext4), and one partition for swap. I would do this easily with GParted Live CD. Then, when you install Kubuntu, select the Manual method, and Kubuntu would see these partitions and use them as you direct.

          But, as I say, to be certain and safe here--not to mess up your Windows 7--we really need someone with Windows experience to jump in and lend an opinion. (Unless ... you get what I've said and have the confidence to proceed with an UEFI setup and installation as I've outlined here ...)
          An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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            #6
            Qqmike, thank you for your excellent advice and help. I believe you have given me something I can work with. It may be a while yet, but the exercise is worth it.
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              #7
              Qqmike, thank you for your excellent advice and help. I believe you have given me something I can work with. It may be a while yet, but the exercise is worth it.
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                #8
                OK, monon, we're here if you continue. I'm sure you have articles or can poke around and find articles on Windows 7 installed in UEFI, like these I found:
                http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/a...-computer.aspx
                https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...=ws.10%29.aspx
                https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...=ws.10%29.aspx

                There are several ways to investigate what you have, like looking for this directory and file on your HDD:
                \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI

                I think you are not in UEFI at the moment. This is important because to be in UEFI, your Windows DVD installer would create a different partition scheme called the GPT (instead of the Legacy BIOS + MBR scheme). Thus, it is not easy to simply flip a switch and convert from non-UEFI to UEFI without re-installing Windows 7.

                Fact is, in most ways, being in UEFI+GPT simplifies this dual boot business. If you stay in non-UEFI, as I said above, when you install Kubuntu in non-UEFI, it will install GRUB to over-write your Windows bootloader in the MBR, so GRUB will control the booting on your computer--the booting of Windows and the booting of Kubuntu. That's OK as long as you know. If you delete Kubuntu or change it, you may have to mess with the bootloader-thing again to ensure Windows 7 still boots OK; some people end up restoring the Windows bootloader if they delete their Linux OS. Now, at least, you know the options and issues. Again, maybe someone else will chime in with a fresh, simplifying POV.
                An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                  #9
                  Here's a recent case that is very similar (Windows dual boot with Kubuntu, but with UEFI -- it shows how easy UEFI can be):
                  https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post371067
                  An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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