0

0/2 trying to install Ubuntu alongside Windows10

So first off let me say I am a noob to Linux. I have built a few PCs before so I believed I had the ability and have researched this thing thoroughly before hand but I have struck out twice trying to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 10.

I have: 1 Tb NVMe (with windows 10), 1TB SSD (windows apps), 2TB HDD (Backups etc)

The first time I tried the “something else” method after making some free space of 200gb on my main windows drive. I used recommended partition sizes but I got a “fatal error” in grub during install and could no longer access Windows after. It was corrupted and I couldn’t get boot to recognize it. Reinstall was probably needed anyway so I formatted the drive and started over.

The second time the “install alongside windows 10” option was not available so I once again tried “something else”. This time I was prepared with a Windows image in case something went wrong again. It did. I had set up my partitions on the free space by only setting root, swap area and small EFI system partition. No other fancy stuff. The same thing happened and I had to reinstall Windows 10. Thank goodness for my restore image.

Now I don’t know if I’m a glutton for punishment or what but I want to try the install alongside windows 10 option to see if that will work but can’t get it to come up.

What am I doing wrong here!?

M A
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
    The Ubuntu installer does not affect your Windows partition unless you choose a Windows partition as a destination for the installation. A few things: Windows will install in UEFI mode so you must boot the Ubuntu installation as UEFI - your BIOS settings must not interfere with this. You should disable fast boot and fast startup in Windows. And when you start the Ubuntu installer, you must have free unpartitioned space for Ubuntu to get the "install alongside Windows" options. I would not recommend setting up partitions manually for Ubuntu – Nmath Sep 13 '20 at 03:21
  • Ok thanks for the response. I’ve been reading around and read a lot on booting into UEFI. At first my installer USB allowed me to choose UEFI but it wouldn’t allow me into the installer (I actually think this was an unrelated issue of having dual monitors - things were acting funny until I unplugged one). Now I can’t choose UEFI. I will rebuild the boot USB and try again. Is this why grub is giving a fatal error on install? I had created 200GB of “free space” in Windows on the 1TB boot drive on which I was attempting to create my root etc partitions. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 03:28
  • Windows was still on the larger drive partition after I installed the failed version of Ubuntu but I couldn’t boot to it. Ubuntu wasn’t installed to that partition but the free space area on the same drive. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 03:31
  • In that case I think it's possible that there's something wrong with your installation media. You should verify integrity checksum of the ISO download since it's so large and can get corrupted in transit (or use the BitTorrent link b/c BT protocol auto verifies). I'd suggest using balena etcher to flash the ISO once verified: it's hard to make a mistake and will also verify the flash was successful – Nmath Sep 13 '20 at 03:32
  • Since you are installing both OS, I recommend using the live session (Try Ubuntu) using the Disks app to completely format (erase) your disks - make sure you use the GPT partition scheme. What I do for dual boot on the same drive is create 2 partitions, then delete the first (no partition) before installing Windows. Then delete the second before installing Ubuntu – Nmath Sep 13 '20 at 03:35
  • Only one ESP - efi system partition per device(drive). Do not create a second. Ubuntu/grub will share the Windows one. Shows live installer with screen shots. Both BIOS purple accessibility screen & UEFI black grub menu screen https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI Also shows Windows 10 screens or similar to Windows 8 https://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-windows-10-with-uefi you can use 30GB or so for / (root) and rest for /home. – oldfred Sep 13 '20 at 03:47
  • Ok I will give it a go with new media to start. I have a couple other USB drives I will give another one a go too torule that out. I’d prefer not to erase Windows again as it’s a pain to reinstall and I need it for my job. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 03:47
  • Ok so because I added a second efi partition when installing Ubuntu that messed things up? I’ll grab some screen grabs when I’m back at home. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 03:51
  • @oldfred thanks for the links they are bringing it all together for me. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 04:02
  • Just an update...I’ve created a new bootable USB as per @Nmath suggestion. Used BitTorrent and balenaetcher. I’ve made some partition space free via Windows 10. And have booted into the UEFI version of Ubuntu. I saw one error as I was booting up Ubuntu during the disk check that “there was one error found - you may have problems” or something like that. I got into the installer but there is still no option to install alongside Windows... – M A Sep 13 '20 at 15:43
  • “There were errors found in 1 file - you may encounter problems” – M A Sep 13 '20 at 15:50
  • Your Ubuntu Live USB has a build problem. Recreate it and start over. In the BIOS, is your disk system set to RST/RAID or something else? – heynnema Sep 13 '20 at 16:06
  • I think I may have found my issue actually.. My drive is in MBR and my Windows 10 was oddly reinstalled in Legacy mode not in UEFI. I am trying the fix mentioned in https://askubuntu.com/questions/1253778/getting-a-no-efi-system-partition-error-when-trying-to-dual-boot-install-ubunt You are also probably right that my USB has a problem.. it's strange since it was validated during install and during download of the ISO. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 16:07
  • Praise Jesus it worked! haha.. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1253778/getting-a-no-efi-system-partition-error-when-trying-to-dual-boot-install-ubunt – M A Sep 13 '20 at 16:45

1 Answers1

0

OP here. For anyone having this same issue it was an problem with my version of Windows being in Legacy mode due to my drive somehow getting reformatted as MBR and not GPT during that first failed install. I then tried installing Ubuntu as UEFI which would not work. I had to change MBR to GPT (very simple!). It was a bit of a long road but this post solved my issue:

Getting a “No EFI System Partition” error when trying to dual boot install Ubuntu 20.04 on a computer with Windows 10 already installed

M A
  • 1
  • 1
  • Windows converts drive to MBR if you try to install in BIOS mode. Or it converts to gpt if you install in UEFI mode. Or it will not install if partitioning is not correct. Generally with systems since 2012 better to use UEFI/gpt. – oldfred Sep 13 '20 at 17:05
  • I'm not sure how I ended up reinstalling Windows in BIOS mode in the first place.. but thanks so much for the advice. The link you gave started my understanding and finally found that I was in the wrong mode. – M A Sep 13 '20 at 17:09