Windows7 Installation Not Recognized

[vinnywright]

strange that it is not giving you a side by side install option ,,,,,,,,maby because the "free" space IS unallocated (no file system or partition table)

I would like to see a picture of the installer if you chose the "manual option" (with no partition on your free space) AND one of it at this point if you partition the free space first as well .

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

No, Vinny, there's obviously a partition table on the drive, otherwise the first three partitions wouldn't exist. The installer should be detecting both the presence of windows and the unallocated space, and offer to create partitions in that unallocated space.

@gwnbr: Boot the CD again, and this time, choose "Try Kubuntu." Once the desktop appears, open a console window and run:

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

If you receive an ouptut that looks like this...

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

{...irrelevant bits removed...}

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1   mmmmmmmmm   nnnnnnnnn+  ee  GPT

...then run these:

sudo apt-get install gdisk

sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda

Report back here with the output of whichever command works.

[SteveRiley]

Hm, I think I know the problem. Remember how we discovered Windows 7 and 8 create that stupid partition hidden from Disk Management? If the partition table on gwnbr's disk is MBR, then I bet the problem is that the disk really has four, not three, primary partitions. And you can't have more than four primary partitions on an MBR disk.

We'll have to wait for the reply to my previous post to be sure.

[gnwbr]

Hi Steve,

Here are the results of the sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda command.

Gene

[SteveRiley]

Hm. This possibly blows my theory of your drive being maxed out at four partitions.

Would you please run the pair of gdisk related commands I mentioned earlier? Even though your disk is MBR, the gdisk utility will display more information. I'd like to see its output.

[gnwbr]

Hi Steve,

Here is that output.

Thanks,

Gene

[SteveRiley]

This is weird. I'm seeing quite a number of reports about the web where people mention Ubiquity (the *buntu installer) fails to detect Windows. Nobody seems to have an explanation why.

I'd like for you to manually create an extended partition and then try the installer. Boot the Live DVD and choose "Try Kubuntu." Once it's up, open a console window and run:

sudo fdisk /dev/sda

Then follow these steps:

1. When prompted for a command, press n to create a new partition

2. When prompted for a partition type, press e for extended

3. When prompted for a partition number, the default should be 4, just press Enter

4. When prompted for the first sector, the default should be 799545072, just press Enter

5. When prompted for the last sector, just press Enter to accept the default

6. When prompted for a command, press w to write the new partition to the drive

fdisk will exit after this. Reboot your computer. Start the Kubuntu Live DVD again. When you reach the disk setup phase, take another photo and let me see.

So far, all we've done is create an empty extended partition, which is a type of container for more partitions. I haven't had you create any in here because I want to see if the installer can figure out how to do that.

[vinnywright]

No, Vinny, there's obviously a partition table on the drive, otherwise the first three partitions wouldn't exist. The installer should be detecting both the presence of windows and the unallocated space, and offer to create partitions in that unallocated space.

yes sory bad wording , I meant no partition on the unallocated space .
whitch is why I wanted to see the manual selection and the same shot after making a partition on the unallocated space.

for my curiosity dose it mater that in his last picture it looks like his MBR got changed to GPT format and sda1 is now listed as linux instead of dell utility ?
the installer did seam to see that there was something on the 3 existing partitions , but just did not chose to offer to install in the unallocated space and leave them alone whitch is wy I wanted to see the manual option .

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

for my curiosity dose it mater that in his last picture it looks like his MBR got changed to GPT format

gdisk always prints that warning if you run it against an MBR drive. However, nothing actually gets changed unless you perform a write operation. On occasion, gdisk displays more useful information than fdisk. But here, we're seeing essentially the same output from both utilities.

and sda1 is now listed as linux instead of dell utility ?

gdisk doesn't know about all the different kinds of MBR partition types. You'll note in the smaller screen shot that gdisk admits it doesn't recognize type DE00 and instead will assign type 8300.

but just did not chose to offer to install in the unallocated space and leave them alone whitch is wy I wanted to see the manual option .

Think of it like this. You begin with a completely blank disk.

First thing you have to put on it is a partition table; sometimes this is referred to as initialization. There can be one and only one table, and you have to pick which kind you want -- MBR, GPT, a few others.

Next, you create partitions. Partitions don't have to span the entire space on the disk. Any space that isn't included inside a partition boundary is considered unallocated. This notion only makes sense after you create the partition table in the previous step.

Finally, you place a file system on a partition, a procedure also called formatting. This is what creates free space.

=========

Partition tables always span entire disks, so Ubiquity should be able to handle this situation without difficulty. But obviously that's not happening. So I'd like to walk gwnbr through a step-by-step sequence to find, and overcome, any bugs.

[vinnywright]

Next, you create partitions. Partitions don't have to span the entire space on the disk. Any space that isn't included inside a partition boundary is considered unallocated. This notion only makes sense after you create the partition table in the previous step.

Finally, you place a file system on a partition, a procedure also called formatting. This is what creates free space.

=========

Partition tables always span entire disks, so Ubiquity should be able to handle this situation without difficulty. But obviously that's not happening. So I'd like to walk gwnbr through a step-by-step sequence to find, and overcome, any bugs.

OK.
I was under the impression that "unallocated space " was blank and not included in the partition table until it was partitioned and formated ,,,,,,,,,I thought I had seen befor where the installer on older ver. had not know what to do with unallocated space untill it was partitioned and formated and then hence "free space" to be used ,,,,,heck even older ver. of windows wouldn't install to a new blank HD untill partitioned and formated .
on an old aptiva box I had 150Mhz CPU 90+Mb RAM you had to install EZ-BIOS to to a drive over 2Gib to get it to see it all and it had to have a partition on it first befor you could install win 95/98

I do agree Ubiquity SHOULD be able to handel this BUT it has not at times for me with no partition and file system on the unallocated space !!
exept once or twice in manual mode.

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

I do agree Ubiquity SHOULD be able to handel this BUT it has not at times for me with no partition and file system on the unallocated space !!
exept once or twice in manual mode.

That very well could be a long-standing problem with Ubiquity. TBH, I don't trust it much. That's why these days I build from the Ubuntu server ISO, becuse the CLI version of PartMan is better (but not by much). Then when the base system is finished, I purge the server stuff and run sudo tasksel install kubuntu-desktop. Followed by my usual customizations: kicking Plymouth off the rock, disarming AppArmor, de-LightDM-ing for KDM instead, killing the GRUBs, etc.

The only decent GUI installer is openSUSE's.

[vinnywright]

Followed by my usual customizations: kicking Plymouth off the rock, disarming AppArmor, de-LightDM-ing for KDM instead, killing the GRUBs, etc.

The only decent GUI installer is openSUSE's.

LOL ,,,,,all reasonable removals from the environment ,,,,,,,,,,,,,but GRUBs can bee a good source of protein in an emergency......

Hummm may half to finaly check out this openSUSE thing ,,,,,,, getting tired of the slackers hanging around in my environment(slackware).

@gnwbr it would still be nice to see what the manual option of the installer gives you ,,,,,,but do go on with @SteveRiley's enstructions!!

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

it would still be nice to see what the manual option of the installer gives you

I missed where you asked for that earlier. I agree, a photo of that would be useful indeed.

[gnwbr]

Hi Steve,

That didn't seem to have any affect.

Gene

[Guest]

If you go to ubuntu's webpage in the downloads section there is a windows program that will do a side by side install all you need is the iso image saved on your hd