A question about partitioning for an dual install

[elder73]

At the present time I am running Windows XP and Mandriva on my main computer.

I would like to be able to replace the Mandriva with Kubuntu, without losing Windows.

When I get to the partition part of the install the following is what I get when I choose "Manual" for the partitioning.

/dev/sda1 ntfs
/dev/sda5 ext3
/dev/sda6 swap
/dev/sda7 ext3
/dev/sda2 fat32

Some help moving forward from here would be appreciated. For example, which partition is Windows and which one the Mandriva?
Why is there two ext3 partitions?

Thank you.

[james147]

ntfs is the windows partition, ext3 and swap and linux partitions fat32 most likely also belongs to windows. If you give more information such as the output of

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

we could tell you more about what each one is likely to be used for. You can also boot the livecd mount and look at the contents of each partition to see what it was used for.

My guess from what you have given is:
/dev/sda1: Probably the windows operating system or a recovery partition.
/dev/sda2: Could also be the windows operating system or a data drive.
/dev/sda5: Probably a boot partition for mandriva if not the root partition
/dev/sda7: Either the root partition or data partition (ie /home) for mandriva (most likely root)
/dev/sda6: The swap partition for mandriva

But I cannot be sure without more info.

[elder73]

ntfs is the windows partition, ext3 and swap and linux partitions fat32 most likely also belongs to windows. If you give more information such as the output of

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

we could tell you more about what each one is likely to be used for. You can also boot the livecd mount and look at the contents of each partition to see what it was used for.

My guess from what you have given is:
/dev/sda1: Probably the windows operating system or a recovery partition.
/dev/sda2: Could also be the windows operating system or a data drive.
/dev/sda5: Probably a boot partition for mandriva if not the root partition
/dev/sda7: Either the root partition or data partition (ie /home) for mandriva (most likely root)
/dev/sda6: The swap partition for mandriva

But I cannot be sure without more info.

Thank you james147 and as you suggested I did the fdisk and go the following:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 185149124 92574531 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 372145725 390716864 9285570 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3 185149125 372145724 93498300 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 185149188 210339044 12594928+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 210339108 218516129 4088511 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 218516193 372145724 76814766 83 Linux

The last three are obviously the linux partitions. The "home" directory must be tucked away in one of them. The "swap" is shown.
If you were me which ones would you format. All of my Windows stuff is backed up on a Cloud drive, so if I mess it up I will not have lost anything.

Cheers, elder73

[oshunluvr]

A more useful output might be "mount" which would show you what was mounted where, or examining your /etc/fstab file. Another excellent command to know is:

sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list

which list all your partitions UUID's, filesystems, device names, labels, and mount points in one fell swoop.

Assuming you're currently dual-booting successfully with Mandriva there's no earthly reason why you would have difficulty installing Kubuntu and dual-booting. I would recommend a "clean" home directory. If you want to use your current /home partition and use the same username you were using with Mandriva, I'd use the liveUSB or CD to mount the current /home partition and just rename your home folder to something else. Then once you're running with Kubuntu, all your files will be intact.

KEY POINTS:
Opt for "Manual Partitioning" during drive setup in the installer so you can select to correct partitions.
Select YES to format the install partition, but NO for the /home partition!!!
Pay attention to the location to install the boot loader. It a vary small and easily over-looked pull-down tab below where you set up your drive partitions.

[elder73]

Assuming you're currently dual-booting successfully with Mandriva there's no earthly reason why you would have difficulty installing Kubuntu and dual-booting. I would recommend a "clean" home directory. If you want to use your current /home partition and use the same username you were using with Mandriva, I'd use the liveUSB or CD to mount the current /home partition and just rename your home folder to something else. Then once you're running with Kubuntu, all your files will be intact.

I did as you suggested and got the following:

[root@localhost ~]# sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list
device fs_type label mount point UUID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1 ntfs HP_PAVILION (not mounted) 940C8C440C8C22FA
/dev/sda2 vfat HP_RECOVERY (not mounted) 7A68-4E03
/dev/sda5 ext3 / 494a13ed-db30-474c-adc9-befc76ddc809
/dev/sda6 swap <swap> 23c11d06-9df9-4655-ab10-349858fef9bc
/dev/sda7 ext3 MCNLIVE /home 2084d2d3-8908-4b5f-b394-632d5afe1866
[root@localhost ~]#

I am wondering what /dev/sda5 ext 3 is. Does it belong to Windows or Mandriva. Same with MCNLIVE on sda7.
Again I am not clear on: "I'd use the liveUSB or CD to mount the current /home partition and just rename your home folder to something else."

Thank you for your help, it is truly appreciated.

[james147]

device     fs_type   label         mount point   UUID
/dev/sda1  ntfs      HP_PAVILION   (not mounted) 940C8C440C8C22FA
/dev/sda2  vfat      HP_RECOVERY   (not mounted) 7A68-4E03
/dev/sda5  ext3                    /             494a13ed-db30-474c-adc9-befc76ddc809
/dev/sda7  ext3      MCNLIVE       /home         2084d2d3-8908-4b5f-b394-632d5afe1866

So /dev/sda5 is mounted at / (ie it is the root file system where Mandriva was installed) and /dev/sda7 is mounted at /home (which is where all your user files are for Mandriva).

If you have no important data on these partitions then it is safe to reformat them when you install kubutnu, you could even delete the partitions and let kubuntu use the free space as it sees fit.

If you do have data in /home then you don't need to reformat that drive (but I would backup the data on it first as well) just pick the manual partition option and set /dev/sda5's mount point to / and /dev/sda7's mount point to /home and make sure you choose not to format /dev/sda7.

Windows cannot natively read ext# filesystem so they defiantly do not belong to it.

/dev/sda1 looks like where Windows is installed and /dev/sda2 looks like the recovery partitions for Windows. You probably don't want to touch these two partitions when installing Kubuntu.

[elder73]

Thank for your help and advice, I'm ready to go now. Tomorrow here is Sunday and I will give install Kubuntu.

[oshunluvr]

With regards to sda3. here's the "rules:"

MBR (Master Boot Record) hard drives are limited to 4 partitions, called "Primary" partitions.
One of those four primary partitions may be an "Extended" partition that can then contain up to 63 partitions called "Logical" partitions.

In your case, HP had used 2 partitions for the OS and recovery. The Mandriva installer created the Extended partition (sda3) and then put itself, swap, and your home in Logical partitions- thus sda5,6,7.

The "missing" sda4 is the reserved number for the fourth (and missing) primary partition. If you were to clear some free space on your drive or could either create a fourth primary partition and it would be sda4, or you could increase the size of the extended partition (sda3) and add another logical partition (sda8). You actually don't access partitions directly. You create a filesystem on a partition and then you access the filesystem. sda3 - since it is an Extended partition - will never have a filesystem. It's busy holding all your logical partitions.

It's is often mis-spoken to say "I mounted the partition." which actually can't be done. You actually mount the filesystem. I hope this isn't too messy to understand!

Just to throw a final twist into it - newer computers with UEFI use GPT partitioning instead of MBR so most of the above rules are removed.

[elder73]

HELP!
Thank you all for all of your help and today I went ahead with the dual install of Kubuntu with Windows.
When it came to removing the DVD and restarting the computer what came up was "Input not supported". This simply floated around on the screen and nothing further happened.
Without rebooting, if I put the DVD back in the drive Kubuntu will come to the screen. On a listing screen I saw HP listed and when I clicked on it I saw my Windows files were present.
As I passed through on the installation I was asked for a user name and password and I used the ones I used for Mandriva. I was never asked for a root password. Also I opted to log in automatically.
Help would be really appreciated. I'm guessing that the MBR might be at the root of the problem.
Thank you.

[oshunluvr]

This error usually means your video resolution is not supported by grub.

Tell us what exactly you see and what happens when you start up.

I assume you get the "Input not supported" message and in about 10 seconds, the computer starts booting (watch the drive activity light).

If this is the case, try this:

Open a terminal (konsole) and type

kdesudo kate /etc/default/grub

Then look for the line

#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

and change it to

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768

or whatever resolution your monitor is and save and exit kate. Then, in the terminal type:

sudo update-grub

and when that's done, type:

sudo reboot

You should see your boot menu this time.

As for the "root password" issue: Ubuntu derivatives don't use a root password by default. The Ubuntu way is to use "sudo" or "kdesudo" (for graphical programs) to invoke root privileges without logging in as root. Only a user with admin privileges can use sudo and your first installed user gets admin rights by default. This is considered a safer approach for several reasons. You may, of course, create a root user password if you wish but I suggest trying it our way first. You may find it no more or less cumbersome than logging in as root instead. If you need to issue several command in the terminal as root, you can use "sudo -i" to give yourself a root terminal. I also suggest installing the Root Actions Service Menu http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=48411 as this gives you easy root access through dolphin.

[elder73]

Thank you for the above, I did as you suggest above and it worked. Unfortunately that success was not the end of the story.When I called for Windows from the menu it loaded but on the entry screen for Windows a notice came up that told me that there was a error in the configuration file and I should contact support to fix it. The problem is that it would not allow me to enter Windows then. So I powered down and re-booted but all that came up was Windows and not the entry screen from Grub, so I'm stymied for now. If I can get back into Kubuntu I would be able to get at the most important files on Windows.

[oshunluvr]

All you have to do is to re-install grub by booting to the LiveUSB or CD. However, Windows 7 may over write grub every time it does an update or detects a "corruption" in the boot sector. One way to get around this is to use the Windows 7 boot manager instead of grub.

[SecretCode]

However, Windows 7 may over write grub every time it does an update or detects a "corruption" in the boot sector.

For what it's worth I have not experienced this problem with the Windows 7 pre-installed on this laptop. I keep it updated (not that I boot it very often) and it's never objected to having grub on the machine.

[elder73]

Thank you oshunluvr. I now have a menu. I am now going to transfer all of my files from Windows. If then I can get the same results with those files (non-executable that is) I will look in to what I have to do to get rid of the Windows partition.

Best wishes, elder73

[oshunluvr]

For what it's worth I have not experienced this problem with the Windows 7 pre-installed on this laptop. I keep it updated (not that I boot it very often) and it's never objected to having grub on the machine.

The only Win7 computer I had never got booted back to Windows once I installed linux... which was the first hour of ownership!

I have read of others having the same experience as elder73 so I presumed it might re-occur.