[Installation] Need help with Windows 10 co-install

[jimmyh]

Hello Kubuntu people

Would be grateful for some troubleshooting with a failed install.
Recently upgraded from Win 7 to Win 10, not completely happy so decided to try Linux again after a long break, checked out Kubuntu 18.04 and liked what I saw.
Created a USB boot disk and attempted to install today...
Shrunk my existing windows HD partition to make space for Linux.
I then proceeded with the USB install and already it did not behave the way the online guides indicated, the installer did not recognise my windows was present and wanted to take over the entire HD.
I thought I could get around this using a manual install, where I directed it to use the 20GB partition I created specially, I was not quite clear on the settings to use and as a result it won't work, doesn't even load GRUB

PC is:
Intel core i5-4690
8GB RAM
Single HD

I tried the boot-repair utility but that didn't help. It created the following report for me:

http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/ryCQtDWr7c/

Could someone take a look at the report for me and make some suggestions to get it booting from the HD partition?

Thanks in advance
James

[kyonides]

Not like I'm an expert at all but last time I've checked they said you'd require more than 25GB of hard disk space to install Kubuntu.
Doing a manual install is a good idea usually, I find it weird it didn't boot up later on except for insufficient space. Still, you should be watching how grub shows up right after your PC's or laptop's brand screen disappears.

[oshunluvr]

Computers, much like air conditioners, do not work well with windows open. Install it in a VM.

As far as Kubuntu, 20GB is plenty but you'll want more for /home unless you're not actually going to store any files on the Linux side. My plain vanilla but full Kubuntu 20.04 install uses only 6.8GB on an EXT4 partition which includes a 1GB swapfile and the normal block reserve for EXT4, so plenty of room in 20GB. However, if you're thinking about switching to Linux anytime soon, I would try and get closer to 60-80GB so you have room for lots of software and data files. Good news is you can still access your files on the NTFS (windows) drive without problem.

As far as the Windows install that already exists, the installer always default to wanting the whole disk because, who would want windows anyway?

You have to choose "Manual" partitioning and set your partitions as desired.

Grub is another issue. The last time I did this (installed Kubuntu to a laptop with Windows already on it), it went flawlessly, but I had a GPT disk and yours is MBR.

You can try a couple things:
1. You can try duplicating what I outlined in this post: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...light=gpt+grub and instead of using "EF02" as a partition type use "EF00". Then grub might install to it.
2. You can select your partition to install grub to (sda5 instead of sda) instead of the drive, thus leaving the Windows boot manager intact. Then add Kubuntu to your Windows boot manager. Using UEFI it should find it no problem.

[jlittle]

Maybe you've got a BIOS/UEFI problem. If you boot the USB stick in UEFI mode, it can't do a BIOS/MBR install properly. How to make a USB stick boot in the mode you want depends on the motherboard; my main computer offers a choice of boot devices for the USB.

[Alvat]

Partition manually, yes.
Set your 20GB `ext4` partition as root mountpoint (so it should be just `/`). You can have a seperate '/home/' partition if you want.
Make sure your EFI partition is set to `/boot/efi` mountpoint. It should do it automatically, but check just in case. This partition should already exist (maybe the first partition, around 250MB).
Finally, after installing, check your BIOS/EFI settings (how you enter the BIOS/EFI settings depends on motherboard) and set GRUB as the first boot option.
You might need to disable secure boot, but you do not need to enable legacy support (in fact, don't do it because it might mess stuff up).

EDIT: First thing I would do if I were you is to check my BIOS/EFI settings to check if GRUB is installed but is not being booted to because Windows boots first.
EDIT2: Also, your EFI partition should be `fat32` around 250MB, which I believe should have been created by Windows. Don't worry if it is not the first partition, but identify it by being `fat32` and around 250MB or maybe 100MB.

[Qqmike]

From his posted output, I didn't see an EFI partition. Remember, the ESP should have a boot flag set on it. sdb1, though, has some EFI files!?

[Alvat]

@Qqmike

Oh, that's true.

Read a little bit and it might be because the motherboard OP is using supports a mode where both UEFI and Legacy are enabled at the same time, thus Windows install defaults to a legacy install for some reason, meaning there is no EFI partition. The EFI files on `sdb1` are just the live USB I assume.

So, since Windows is installed in legacy mode, I guess OP needs to boot the USB in legacy mode as well (which, as I understand, depends on the motherboard) and install Kubuntu that way, or reinstall Windows in UEFI mode by setting motherboard to EFI only, then reinstalling Windows, then install Kubuntu (or just deleting Windows and let the installer partition the whole disk ).

[Qqmike]

@Alvat, I see, yes, you make good points and I agree with what you say here.

[oshunluvr]

SIdebar that's sort of related: At work a "Windows guy" was attempting to set up a dual boot dual-Win10 development station on an Intel NUC. It had two NVME slots we provided two SSDs and he went at it. Three hours later he comes to me and reports it can't be done. Every time he had SSD1 bootable and installed Windows 10 again to SSD2, it would kill the ability to boot the SSD1. Same when reversed. He tried every combo of installing and attempting to fix UEFI and BIOS settings, to no avail. He could not have two bootable Windows 10 installs without physically removing the SSD.

So I made a Linux Mint Cinnamon boot USB stick and told him to clear 20GB on SSD1 to install it to. At the time of this action, SSD1 was bootable and Windows 10 was also installed on SSD2 but not bootable. Literally 10 or so minutes later he had a working GRUB menu with both Windows 10 installs showing on it as well as Mint. He said "Well, I doubt it'll boot Windows" referring to the SSD2 install that was previously unbootable. I told him confidently it would, and I was right. We now have a triple boot development station with two Win10 installs and Linux at the helm.

I assume the Windows boot manager detected the other install and deleted it's boot sector or something similar. Doesn't matter now.

[Snowhog]

Also a 'sidebar': Windows doesn't play nicely with others. It's (almost) always been a bully.

[jimmyh]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and those who took the time to read my report.

The good news is that I am now running Kubuntu 19.10 on a dual-boot system with Windows 10!

The outcome is that I was never able to get 18.04LTS to work from the USB at all.. I tried many times with different possibilities but it would never work as it should have. Probably something do do with my Windows 10 being an upgrade from Windows 7, no UEFI partition and/or the dual Legacy/UEFI BIOS mode. I was about to give up altogether when I thought I'd give v19 a try and it worked first time without me changing how I was doing anything. I probably should have documented everything I went through so other people can learn from my mistakes. Of course if I were prepared to drop Windows for good it would not have been a simple install...
I can remember back in the mid 90s compiling slackware distro and dealing with MSDOS was bad enough, but it seems Windows' legacy has only got more cantankerous and difficult to deal with since then.

Thanks again

[Don B. Cilly]

I can remember back in the mid '90s compiling Slackware stuff and dealing with MSDOS was... what we had to do, but it was fun nonetheless