I am in the process of dual-booting ubuntu and there are a few things that aren’t working for me in particular. First off, the OS isn’t detected. I’m worried this means that even if I create new partitions and set them to ubuntu and install then grub itself won’t detect windows and I’ll be stuck with ubuntu on a 64 GB partition.
Please note that this laptop is old, so the legacy BIOS is still being used instead of UEFI.
Even if I could create new partitions and assign them to ubuntu. You see, I already have 4 whole primary partitions, the max windows allows. This means that I can’t make new partitions for ubuntu without getting rid of the old ones.
This is what I need to ask you about initially: Will it be possible to backup the HP_TOOLS partition onto my C drive and delete it? If so, what negative consequences would there be? I read online that this partition is used by HP support if you need to send your computer in to them or something.
Another thing: Does ubuntu 14.10.03 LTS (not certain about version, latest LTS as of writing this) even support windows 10? Should I go with the latest 15.something, and if I did would that help detect win10?
If not, would it be safe to create the proper partitions and let GRUB itself detect 10 and finish the dual boot process?
I may need more help beyond these questions and will pose them as they come up. Thanks in advance for your help.
You need to make sure grub doesn’t overwrite the master boot record otherwise windows 10 will not boot. I usually instruct Ubuntu to install grub on the same partition as Ubuntu during installation.
You can create logical partitions to get around the partition limit.
deleting the hp tools partition means you won’t be able to recover your drive to manufacture default. I personally delete it as soon as i get a new HP because I never use it and the manufacture setup copy of Windows is usually cluttered with unnecessary crap. One caveat is you’ll have to obtain and install drivers manually and if you don’t have a copy of Windows on disk, and something happens your screwed.
Ubuntu uses grub as it’s bootloader, which should have no problems booting to Windows 10
So if I backup my win 10 copy onto a DVD there is basically no reason to keep HP_TOOLS?
How do logical partitions work?
Would it be safe to put both root and home partitions as logical, or should I clean up 2 unnecessary partitions like HP_TOOLS and have only the swap partition as logical?
Should I try recreating the bootable USB in order to see if it can detect windows 10, or will I have to go without ubuntu noticing the existance of another OS?
How would you go about instructing grub which partition to boot ubuntu from?
No, I don’t speak german and I understand only a bit. @sibomots Also, I do not have the funds and am not interested in purchasing a new PC anytime soon.
This post is still alive? Look if you really need to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows, Ubuntu has a built in Installer Option for windows that allows you to begin the installation from within your Windows OS. I’ve never used it but I’ve heard it’s great for noobs. All you need to get started is Ubuntu on DVD/USB or a virtual drive such as Daemon tools, for mounting the iso file. Another alternative is to get VirtualBox, its free, and install Ubuntu as a virtual machine in Windows. Other than that, either read the topics I provided or follow @sibomots advice. And again, if your really serious about it, take this topic to a linux forum where people are dedicated to the discussion.
Back to your previous questions, from the sounds of it you probably already messed up your Windows MBR by now so it’ll need to be repaired. you can do this with Windows recovery on the installation dvd, and reading through this knowledge base https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392
Once you’ve done that and confirmed you can boot to Windows again, boot into your Ubuntu installation in live mode, open up gparted(Partition Editor), mark the ubuntu partition as active. This is done by right clicking the partition in question, clicking flags and checking the boot flag. This will prevent you from damaging your Windows bootloader. While there make note the partition location ex. /dev/sda2. Begin installation, and when it asks where to install the grub boot loader, select the partition as noted previously.
Now doing this is all well and good, but if you ever decide to remove Ubuntu you will need to reset the active partition back to your Windows partition. Most likely it’ll be the partition that roughly 100MB as post Vista, Microsoft decided installing the boot loader in it’s own partition was a safer solution. This can be done the same way, by using gparted, or by using Diskpart in the Windows recovery tools http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/set-active-partition-vista-xp/ scroll down to the Set Active Partition via Command Line section.
Lastly If all of this is too much, refer to paragraph one.
I’ll just stick with windows for now… I am pretty sure my MBR is intact though as I can boot into windows with no problem. My live USB also functions properly. I haven’t done anything besides look at the partitions in the ubuntu installer, and no changes have been applied since the live USB was first used.
