[SOLVED] Installer doesn't see SSD hard drive, and stops, citing insufficient space

[Andre Nogues]

New Guy here:

I've been using Kubuntu on my desktop for two years now.

I bought a new laptop:
Lenovo ideapad s340
8G RAM
Intel Core i3-1005G1 CPU @ 120GHz
250 GB SSD
64 bit

I am trying to install the kubuntu 18.04.4-desktop-amd64 LTS onto my laptop. I get the same error when I try installing a different distribution (just to see if it's a Kubuntu install thing (Elementary))

Three steps into the process, after confirming that my keyboard layout is English, the installer tells me that my 4GB of space does not meet the minimum of 8 needed. Interestingly enough, my USB .iso stick is 4GB.

MY 250GB SSD has Window 10 preloaded with the new computer, and I even shrunk the volume to create a new NTFS partition of 160GB, but the installer still does not see it.

What up?

I presume at this point, there must be something to toggle on or off on the BIOS end?

Anyone know what to do?

Many thanks,
Andre

[Snowhog]

Change the newly created partitions FS (filesystem) to EXT4 or if you desire, BTRFS. I don't think (but I could be wrong, except for your statement to the contrary) the installer can see an NTFS partition.

[claydoh]

Three steps into the process, after confirming that my keyboard layout is English, the installer tells me that my 4GB of space does not meet the minimum of 8 needed. Interestingly enough, my USB .iso stick is 4GB.

This has nothing to do with the USB stick, but I am not sure what it means, unless you are somehow pointing the installer to that stick.

[Andre Nogues]

Thanks for help thus far.

WIndows Disk Management Tool only allows me to make the newly-created drive NTFS or exFAT.

I can now load gparted from startup, but Gparted does not see my SSD drive either.

What tool can I use at startup (.iso) to completely wipe my SSD and then format it to EXT4 or BTRFS?

[Andre Nogues]

I'm not smart enough (yet) to know how to point the installer to the USB stick that the installer is on. I am trying to figure out why the Kubuntu 18.04.4 installer does not see my 250GB SSD drive.

[claydoh]

Ok, as it does not see the SSD, that might explain things, as the only drive it sees is the USB stick

This is a Lenovo laptop, which means the SSD is likely set in the bios to use Intel's RST raid, which unfortunately does not support Linux, so you have to go into your laptop's firmware settings and switch it to AHCI. This is not specific to Lenovo, actually, as many do set this option for whatever reason.

However, this will mess windows up, so you will need to follow these steps before installing Kubuntu, and make sure that this is booting correctly first:

https://support.thinkcritical.com/kb...id-ide-to-ahci


Also, some useful links for installing that may be helpful as visual references:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ture=emb_title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ture=emb_title

[Don B. Cilly]

... the Kubuntu 18.04.4 installer does not see my 250GB SSD drive.

What drives does the partition manager see? Is it... blank? I've encountered countless installation problems, this is... totally new

[EDIT] Oh well. I wish vBulletin would warn of new posts like SMF does :·/

[EDIT 2] I guess the OP is not really worried about messing Windows up, though :·)

What tool can I use at startup (.iso) to completely wipe my SSD and then format it to EXT4 or BTRFS?

[claydoh]

[EDIT] Oh well. I wish vBulletin would warn of new posts like SMF does :·/

I imagine that there would be a plugin for vB that add this functionality. It might be useful, though I don't know why the idea has not come up in all these years, lol.

[Don B. Cilly]

... though I don't know why the idea has not come up in all these years, lol.

Well, it must be just me who always finds a better answer to what I write after I wrote it, then... or is it cognitive bias?

[claydoh]

Well, it must be just me who always finds a better answer to what I write after I wrote it, then... or is it cognitive bias?

It happens to me Alda thyme.

[Andre Nogues]

"This is a Lenovo laptop, which means the SSD is likely set in the bios to use Intel's RST raid, which unfortunately does not support Linux, so you have to go into your laptop's firmware settings and switch it to AHCI

https://support.thinkcritical.com/kb...id-ide-to-ahci"

YES, claydoh, thanks. This was the problem, Lenovo had BIOS using Intel RST Raid, and when I switched to AHCI,now the Kubuntu Installer sees everything!

Many Thanks,
Andre

[Andre Nogues]

Now, how do we mark this as SOLVED! Good job team, thanks again for your help.

[Snowhog]

Top of the page. Click on Thread Tools.

Got to explore when you are in a new place.

[jlittle]

Oh well. I wish vBulletin would warn of new posts like SMF does :·/

Tapatalk does that for me on KFN.