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So I've downloaded the 64-bit Ubuntu image, burnt it to disk and disabled secure boot via the UEFI setup menu...

But when I run the installation on my Sony VAIO Tap 21, Ubuntu setup tells me that no operating system (in my case, Microsoft Windows 8.1, upgraded from the factory-installed Microsoft Windows 8) is installed!

How can I get Ubuntu 13.10 to detect Windows 8.1, so that I can dual-boot with both Ubuntu and Windows 8.1?

By the way - I am fairly competent with computers... But partitioning is definitely not my strong point, so please keep this in mind when suggesting a solution.

Gregory Opera
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  • Where is it that it says "no operating system is installed"? I'm guessing you are either paraphrasing or using deductive reasoning based on the absence of Windows 8.1 from the partitions listing or the installation options (upgrade, whole disk, alongside windows and manual setup as last option). And if you're referring to the partitioning screen, what partitions ARE listed and what filesystems / sizes are they? – Deryck Feb 08 '14 at 03:35
  • I am told (exact wording) "This computer currently has no detected operating systems. What would you like to do?" Then I am given two options: "Erase disk and install Ubuntu", or "Something else." There is also tick-boxes for encryption my installation, and using LVM with the installation. Going into "Something else" shows a colored bar with the NTFS at the top, and a whole heap of partitions, including two NTFS partitions. Then I get all the usual options to create/manage/delete partitions (just like if one would manually partition the drive in the past). – Gregory Opera Feb 08 '14 at 03:49
  • Okay, I can't edit the above post (made from the Stack Exchange Android application)... Anyway, when I go into the "Something else" screen, here is the partitions listed before I even touch anything (device-->type (where indicated)-->size/space used in brackets): /dev/sda (no size, nothing used) | free space (1MB, nothing used) | /dev/sda1 fat32 (272MB, 33MB used) | /dev/sda2 ntfs (1545MB, 965MB used) | /dev/sda3 efi (272MB, 272MB used) | /dev/sda4 (134MB, unknown used) | /dev/sda5 ntfs (474029MB, unknown used) | /dev/sda6 ntfs (23851MB, 19150MB used) | free space (0MB). – Gregory Opera Feb 08 '14 at 05:44
  • As I said above, there's a graphical bar at the top showing the partitions (almost exclusively NTFS, except for slimmer of sda3 (fat32); there's the "+" and "-" buttons below the partitions above; there's a "New Partition Table..." button (greyed-out), next to a "Revert" button; there's a "Device for boot loader installation" option with a drop-down list offering: /dev/sda ATA Hitachi HTS54755 (500.1 GB) | /dev/sda1 | /dev/sda2 | /dev/sda3 | /dev/sda4 | /dev/sda5 | /dev/sda6. – Gregory Opera Feb 08 '14 at 05:45
  • You have to enable UEFI if Windows 8.1 is already installed using it. That's why you're having trouble here. Refer to this page for more detail: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI#Case_when_Ubuntu_must_be_installed_in_EFI_mode – Deryck Feb 08 '14 at 05:52
  • Okay, so as best I can tell, the computer is UEFI-enabled and it doesn't like "legacy mode" (it says "no operating system found", without even trying to boot the Ubuntu DVD!)... I have "secure boot" disabled (a separate setting to the "UEFI/legacy boot" option), but I'm not sure where to go from there. One of the links I found above talks about creating a partition for Ubuntu from within Windows - C: has 345GB of 441GB free, but when I tried to shrink the primary partition (see below) by 100GB (the 100GB being for Ubuntu, of course), it says there is not enough space! – Gregory Opera Feb 08 '14 at 07:22
  • "compmgmt.msc" (the "computer management" thing in Windows) lists five partitions: 206MB Healthy (OEM partition) | 1.44GB Healthy (recovery partition) | 260MB Healthy (EFI system partition) | (C:) 441.47GB NTFS Healthy (boot, page file, crash dump, primary partition) | 22.21GB Healthy (recovery partition). – Gregory Opera Feb 08 '14 at 07:23
  • This may sound dumb but you are using the 64-bit Ubuntu release, correct? – Deryck Feb 08 '14 at 07:26
  • I have identified that the computer is UEFI enabled and I have managed to create a 100GB partition of free space (for Ubuntu)... But if I try to load the live DVD, it says "no operating system"... But will load Windows normally. If I switch to "legacy" mode (from UEFI mode in the "BIOS"), it will load neither, with the "no operating system found" error! – Gregory Opera Feb 08 '14 at 08:07
  • let us continue this discussion in chat – Deryck Feb 08 '14 at 08:35

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You need to use the "Something Else" option to manually partition your disk. This is described in this question and answers, although it refers to Windows 7 and has some BIOS (vs. EFI) reference/biases. You may also want to consult my page on EFI-mode Linux installations and the Ubuntu community UEFI documentation. Both of those pages will provide you with background that will help you install your system.

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Rod Smith
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