Can't boot from installation media

[CanyonRoss]

I have been doing more reading online and the issue may be that that HDD is set to RAID not AHCI, and so if I switch off secure boot and switch it to AHCI it may well work. I have backed all of my data up and created a bootable Windows installation media, and checked that and it seems to work, so worst case scenario if it does mess everything up including the boot loader I could go back into the BIOS, set it back to RAID and secure boot, then reinstall windows...I need the Windows software later this afternoon but I may give it a crack this evening if I get the chance. Still a bit unsure though!

[claydoh]

I have been doing more reading online and the issue may be that that HDD is set to RAID not AHCI, and so if I switch off secure boot and switch it to AHCI it may well work. I have backed all of my data up and created a bootable Windows installation media, and checked that and it seems to work, so worst case scenario if it does mess everything up including the boot loader I could go back into the BIOS, set it back to RAID and secure boot, then reinstall windows...I need the Windows software later this afternoon but I may give it a crack this evening if I get the chance. Still a bit unsure though!

Yes, probably the Intel RST raid thing that does not work with Linux. At least a couple of us have come across this on our systems - both Lenovos. Switching to AHCI will not harm the windows disk at all.
At least on my system, I have had to switch that setting a number of times as the silly Lenovo BIOS updates always reset all the settings back to stock, and I have to go and re-do them.

***HOWEVER, NEED TO DO THIS TO SWITCH CORRECTLY******
I can't recall having to do this, but I am sure I had to do this (source).

Some systems will have the Windows operating system installed using RAID drivers including the Intel Rapid Storage Technology. SSD drives typically perform better using AHCI drivers. There is in fact a way to switch operation from either IDE / RAID to AHCI within Windows 10 without having to reinstall. Here are the steps:

1. Click the Start Button and type cmd
2. Type this command and press ENTER: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal (Alternative command to try: bcdedit /set safeboot minimal)
3. Restart the computer and enter BIOS Setup
4. Change the SATA Operation mode to AHCI from either IDE or RAID
5. Save changes and exit Setup and Windows will automatically boot to Safe Mode.
6. Right-click the Windows Start Menu once more. Choose Command Prompt (Admin).
7. Type this command and press ENTER: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot (ALT: bcdedit /deletevalue safeboot)
8. Reboot once more and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers enabled.

Disabling secure boot is not mandatory, but it does not hurt. I have not disabled it on my laptop. Disabling Fast-boot in the bios may be useful on some systems, if some hardware is not initializing in Linux, and can be a good troubleshooting step.

And as the booting take place form the EFI folder, bootloaders no longer 'take over' like they do when they are installed to the MBR. If the Lig)nux Grub does not boot windows for some reason, you can always choose a different drive to boot from. i.e: if the Windows drive is set as the first boot device, then you will not even see the Grub menu at all, it will go straight to Windows. If you set the Linux drive to be first (or select it from the system's boot selection hotkey, like F9 or something) then you will get the Grub menu where you can choose Kubuntu or Windows, and go from there.

[CanyonRoss]

Thanks for that, I must admit it does sound a little daunting! May well give it a go though.

[CanyonRoss]

Also I assume the "bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal" includes the bracket and "current" yes?

...would my steps be the following...

1. Click the Start Button and type cmd
2. Type this command and press ENTER: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal (Alternative command to try: bcdedit /set safeboot minimal)
3. Restart the computer and enter BIOS Setup
4. Change the SATA Operation mode to AHCI from either IDE or RAID
5. Save changes and exit Setup and Windows will automatically boot to Safe Mode.
6. Right-click the Windows Start Menu once more. Choose Command Prompt (Admin).
7. Type this command and press ENTER: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot (ALT: bcdedit /deletevalue safeboot)
8. Reboot once more and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers enabled.
9. Now go to install Linux after creating a suitable partition set up
10. reboot and check if GRUB loads Linux and also shows the Windows option
11. reboot and check to boot into Windows
12. Cry if it doesn't work and leaves me with a totally broken system with no Windows or Linux

[claydoh]

Correct, exactly as given. It will complain if you typed it incorrectly anyway.

If the first command does not boot you to safe mode, then use the second command given at #2 and also at #7

As for #10, you will , as mentioned, boot directly to windows unless you change your boot priority in the bios, or when you hit the appropriate F-key for your system
And don't forget step #9.1 - boot to the install disk , and choose the "try" option and play around with the live OS session to get a look-see at the OS before you install.


If you want to be even more paranoid safe, you can always temporarily disconnect the Windows drive, and then install Kubuntu. That way you don't need to do any partitioning setup ahead of time, and simply use the 'whole disk' option.up

[CanyonRoss]

Correct, exactly as given. It will complain if you typed it incorrectly anyway.

If the first command does not boot you to safe mode, then use the second command given at #2 and also at #7

As for #10, you will , as mentioned, boot directly to windows unless you change your boot priority in the bios, or when you hit the appropriate F-key for your system
And don't forget step #9.1 - boot to the install disk , and choose the "try" option and play around with the live OS session to get a look-see at the OS before you install.

If you want to be even more paranoid safe, you can always temporarily disconnect the Windows drive, and then install Kubuntu. That way you don't need to do any partitioning setup ahead of time, and simply use the 'whole disk' option.up

Thank you claydoh, I really appreciate your brilliant help! I think I'll try this over the weekend when I have a little more time to play around with it!

[CanyonRoss]

Well, I have disabled RAID and got to AHCI but the installation media is still not recognising the 240gb hard drive. Would secure boot change this do you think, or not?

[vinnywright]

are you shutting down windows with "fast startup" enabled ?

if so , windows is kinda hibernating and has it's system drive locked down , hence the installer wont see it.
and yes your ESP is their on that drive and that's where your boot files need to go.

unless you want to go the route of creating a ESP partition on the other drive , installing Kubuntu to that drive and telling the box to boot that drive when you want to access it .

I do not have any boxes with UEFI so do not get to experiment with it for myself so,,,,,,

But I am convinced that the reason your system drive cant be seen by the installer is windows has it locked for some reason , like fast startup or hibernating.

VINNY

[CanyonRoss]

are you shutting down windows with "fast startup" enabled ?

if so , windows is kinda hibernating and has it's system drive locked down , hence the installer wont see it.
and yes your ESP is their on that drive and that's where your boot files need to go.

unless you want to go the route of creating a ESP partition on the other drive , installing Kubuntu to that drive and telling the box to boot that drive when you want to access it .

I do not have any boxes with UEFI so do not get to experiment with it for myself so,,,,,,

But I am convinced that the reason your system drive cant be seen by the installer is windows has it locked for some reason , like fast startup or hibernating.

VINNY

Hi,

Fast boot has definitely been disabled. The only thing I haven't disabled is secure boot, but I shouldn't have thought that would stop Linux even seeing the drive? What about Legacy?

I had a bit of a nightmare last night...I set it to boot into safe mode, turned off RAID to go to AHCI, rebooted into safe mode and then instead of Windows asking for my login PIN, it only allowed me to enter a password. I have never used a password on this laptop, just a PIN. I tried my password from my other laptop which uses the same email address account...no such luck. I was rather stuck!

Managed to find Hiro's boot CD which allowed me to reset the password, boot back in, turn off safe mode and restart. Windows now works fine, although I think it boots a little slower (could this be AHCI instead of RAID??), it's not exactly slow by any means, just maybe 5 seconds slower. I can always re-enable Fast Boot if I still can't get Linux on here.

Maybe Linux is just destined not to work with this laptop!? What about trying to use the partitioning software to turn the 480GB drive into a GPT disk and seeing if GRUB would then install? I would be weary that, it not seeing the Windows drive, I wouldn't be able to log into Windows though.

It's most bizarre! Thanks for all of your help so far, it's been great.

[CanyonRoss]

From what I remember, of my 2 drives, the 240GB version was GPT and the 480GB was MBR, is the fact the 480GB one MBR and not GPT the reason GRUB won't work? If I were to convert it to GPT, would I lose all of my data? If I were to convert it, do we think GRUB and Linux would install on it? I am not fussed of Linux is on another SDD.

If Linux were to be able to install to it, what would happen at the boot process? Would one OS be the default and automatically boot unless I press F2 and choose which SDD I wish to boot from? Sorry for so many questions!

Edit - I have just read MBR doesn't support more than 4 partitions...this may be why it wouldn't install? I had about 280GB for WIndows/data (not the OS), 40GB for the root/installation partition, 8GB for SWAP, 150GB or so for /home and (I think) another for EFI...?

[Stagger Lee]

I had similar problem when I used some default tool for making bootable USB (think it was from openSuse, but I am not sure. Or maybe Ubuntu startup disk creator from another PC.). Later I used Rufus (Windows USB boot setup) and Notebook recognized my boot USB.
When I am writing this better to put URL to tutorial how I managed to install Kubuntu. My new ASUS notebook wont allow it without this small tweak.
https://dk4g.blogspot.com/2018/12/in...-fx504-ge.html

[CanyonRoss]

Well... Bit of an update...

I left AHCI as it was instead of RAID and wanted to give it one last crack. So I went into windows and opened my partitioning software. I made the 480gb into 2 partitions, a 280gb one for Windows and a 200gb for Linux. I made the SDD GPT rather than MBR. I went into the installer and still it wouldn't recognise my 240gb SSD.

So... I went ahead to try and install Linux on the 200gb partition using the setup it automatically recommended. I have spare portable hard drives and I don't need much storage so I'm not that fussed. It said... Installation SUCCESSFUL!

So, I reboot and check... I can boot into windows... Success. Reboot... I can boot into Linux as well! I rebooted but was greeted by a grub error.

However, if I reboot and hit F12 (boot options) I can choose to boot Linux or Windows. If I choose Linux, I then get the grub screen (allowing me to choose Windows or Linux) and if I select Linux it boots into Linux absolutely fine. If I choose Windows directly from the F12 option it successfully boots into Windows.

So finally I have dual boot on my Alienware laptop. I must say... Bugger me Linux is lightning fast on this machine!

Only minor gripe is needing to hit F12 each time. Any reasons why this might be, and how to go straight to the grub screen?

So happy, thank you so much for all of your amazing help!

[jglen490]

It would appear that both drives are bootable, at least as far as UEFI is concerned, and each has it's own boot mechanism. The Grub error might come from that possibility plus that the ESP may have incomplete/incorrect boot files. In Kubuntu open a konsole and enter

lsblk -f

and paste the response here in a CODE box.

[CanyonRoss]

2 more bizarre things... Both are good.

Upon another reboot (and several reboots later) grub appears to work fine... Every time, no need to press F12 it just offers me the choice of Windows or Linux.

The next bizarre thing... Linux is recognising the Windows OS 240gb SDD, yet it wasn't on the installation process!

Either way, I'm a happy bunny! I thought Windows was fast loading on this laptop but Linux is really fast!