[MULTI BOOT] Dual Boot Windows 7/8 and Kubuntu 12.04 LTS

[jjet76]

Hello all
This is my First post and I really hope it will be helpful.

Basically the process is to disable secure boot in the bios and then convert the drive from GPT to MBR as this will allow you to create multiple partitions. Note: you might want to try with a kubuntu livecd first and attempt to perform the GPT to MBR conversion as the way I did it was by performing the steps below. Remember Install Windows first then install kubuntu in order for grub to become your boot manager.

http://www.ehow.com/how_12119053_con...mbr-linux.html

Dual Boot Ubuntu and Windows 7/8 in a EFI/Uefi Computer


Prior to anything I had allocated space on the drive by creating an unallocated partition.

I install Kubuntu and then follow this steps to convert gpt to mbr..

1.Click "Applications." Point to "Accessories," then click "Terminal." Input the following into Terminal: sudo fdisk -l

2.Press "Enter" to see the disk devices connected to the computer. The device with the asterisk next to it is the boot device. Write down the filename (for example, /dev/sda) assigned to the disk.

3.Input the following into Terminal: sudo apt-get install gdisk. Press "Enter" to install the partitioning tool to Ubuntu.

4.Input "sudo gdisk" into Terminal, then press "Enter" to run gdisk as a superuser. Input the name assigned to the boot device, then press "Enter" again.

5.Press "r," then hit "Enter," to switch to the recovery and transformation options. Press "g," then press "Enter," to select the option to convert GPT to MBR on Linux.

6.Press "0," then press "Enter," to convert GPT to MBR on the primary partitions. Then press “w” to write and Press "y," then "Enter," to finalize and exit.

The last step should read press 'w' then enter, as the command 'o' omits the partition of your choosing.






Note: since kubuntu was already install grub got messup but nevertheless reboot and install windows then install kubuntu and everything is fine.

Knowledge is Power, Keep sharing...

[SteveRiley]

Hello, welcome to KFN.

I would advise against using MBR disks. GPT certainly allows multiple partitions: in fact, you can have up to 128 partitions (typically) on a disk, and the need to concern yourself with primary vs. extended goes away. GPT partitions can exceed 2 TB. GPT stores two copies of the partition table on the disk (one at the beginning and one at the end), providing redundancy.

UEFI prefers GPT (they were designed to work together). Depending on your hardware, Linux may be able to boot into UEFI mode with an MBR disk; or it may fall back to BIOS compatibility mode. Windows requires that the boot partition be on a GPT disk to boot into UEFI mode.

[jjet76]

I agree with most of the stuff you are saying, but if you need to dual boot a system that uses UEFI with secure boot it won't work, A single OS should be fine.
GPT is great but I found that if you don't convert back to MBR one cannot create multiple partitions while attempting to load a secondary OS like Linux while having Windows pre-install in the system as GPT will give you an error and all it wants is a single partition.
I worked on a HP Laptop with windows8 pre-loaded that had UEFI with secure boot and my goal was to install Windows 7 and Kubuntu, I loaded windows 7 and then made the attempt to load Kubuntu but when I did it never detected windows 7 or its partition and the system will only recognize the whole drive therefore overwriting everything
the only way around it was to convert from GPT to MBR success..
Knowledge is Power, Keep sharing...

[SteveRiley]

I agree with most of the stuff you are saying, but if you need to dual boot a system that uses UEFI with secure boot it won't work, A single OS should be fine.

Actually, it will work. I've built dual boot Windows and Linux with Secure Boot multiple times.

I'm unsure what you mean by "A single OS should be fine." Aren't we discussing dual boot here?

GPT is great but I found that if you don't convert back to MBR one cannot create multiple partitions while attempting to load a secondary OS like Linux while having Windows pre-install in the system as GPT will give you an error and all it wants is a single partition.

The error is not from GPT. GPT supports up to 128 partitions per disk. But you must use partition management tools that understand GPT. An MBR-style tool will not read the partition tables on GPT. MBR-style tools will see only the "protective MBR" partition, a feature of GPT that prevents MBR-style tools from attempting to create partitions. The protective MBR partition looks like a single partition that spans the entire disk. This is by design. I suggest you read the Wikipedia article on GPT.

I worked on a HP Laptop with windows8 pre-loaded that had UEFI with secure boot and my goal was to install Windows 7 and Kubuntu, I loaded windows 7 and then made the attempt to load Kubuntu but when I did it never detected windows 7 or its partition and the system will only recognize the whole drive therefore overwriting everything

There are ongoing problems with Ubiquity (the *buntu installer) and GPT. That's one reason why some of us here no longer use the graphical installer, but instead use the text installer on the Ubuntu server ISO and then add Kubuntu desktop later. Furthermore, certain builds of GRUB have a broken operating system prober; it won't detect Windows and won't create the necessary boot stanzas.

the only way around it was to convert from GPT to MBR success..

Heh... I wouldn't define this as "success," as not using UEFI and GPT means you're missing out on some useful capabilities. Switching to MBR helps work around some of the problems in 12.04. I hope these will finally be fixed for good with the installer and GRUB in 14.04.

[jjet76]

Im Confuse, why are there so many users experiencing problems with UEFI systems and not being able to dual boot them..
I don't believe everything I read I believe in what I manage to get done by doing. but please can you elaborate on how you manage to dual boot Windows and Kubuntu on a system that uses secure boot with UEFI firmware and use grub as the main boot manager..

Knowledge is Power, Keep sharing...

[SteveRiley]

Im Confuse, why are there so many users experiencing problems with UEFI systems and not being able to dual boot them..

Partly because of inexperience. UEFI is still very new for many people. It doesn't behave the same way as BIOS. For example, a UEFI machine requires a small partition just for booting, and this must be formatted FAT-32. On Windows, this partition is hidden (which I think is a bad design decision). People have been operating UEFI machines for years and didn't even know it. Linux doesn't hide anything about UEFI; you must know how to configure and operate it. And if you want to run with Secure Boot, there's even more work to do, involving shim bootloaders.

Another aspect is the supporting software. Many well-understood disk tools only know how to work with MBR disks, not GPT disks. Ubiquity, as I mentioned, seems not to understand GPT disks very well either -- the Internet is littered with reports of people trying to install dual boot, and Ubiquity completely fails to notice that partitions already exist on the disk.

I don't believe everything I read I believe in what I manage to get done by doing. but please can you elaborate on how you manage to dual boot Windows and Kubuntu on a system that uses secure boot with UEFI firmware and use grub as the main boot manager..

I don't use GRUB because I'm of the opinion that GRUB is unnecessary for UEFI machines. Part of the reason that GRUB is so cumbersome and unwieldy is that its authors have tried to support every imaginable scenario and do it on MBR, which is really quite basic. On UEFI machines, all operating systems store their boot loaders in the EFI boot partition, which greatly simplifies the task of any boot manager. In fact, you need only a simple mechanism to detect all installed operating systems and present them in a menu. A boot manager called rEFInd serves this purpose very well. GRUB is no longer needed.

I also don't install any *buntu with Ubiquity. Instead, I use the text-based Debian installer that comes on the Ubuntu server ISO. See my how-to for more information. The Debian installer is more sophisticated, can handle dual boot just fine, and -- crucially -- just works.