1

I have a W7 64-bit laptop w/ external monitors. Wanted a clean W7 reinstall, and wanted to add ubuntu 14.04 to make it dual boot machine to try it out.

I thought it might be dicey but doable myself. But I botched the W7 install from bootable CD and lost the windows partition. I used a bootable CD of 64-bit ubuntu 14.04 and got the machine working (single boot).

I couldn't restore W7 w/o the old partition, so I had a local shop (1) do that and (2) set up ubuntu 14 for the dual boot.

I can pick the OS I want, and W7 works ok. W7 device manager says that the non-Windows (ubuntu) partition is the primary boot partition. But ubuntu won't remember dual monitor settings. Another app I'm trying to load won't display correctly after multiple methods of installing both it and java, based on web articles and (old) documentation for the app.

When I enter command file /sbin/init, it responds with ...ELF 32-bit LSB..... This means the shop put 32-bit ubuntu on my machine -- RIGHT?

The creators of the other app sent new instructions (similar but different). Questions before banging my head against the wall some more:

  1. Can it cause problems to have 32-bit ubuntu on 64-bit hardware?

  2. If I run my 64-bit ubuntu CD, WILL this:

    • simply replace the current ubuntu -- or do I need to uninstall the 32-bit version? If so, how do I do that?
    • put the 64-bit version in the current ubuntu partition?
    • keep the boot priority?
    • and leave W7 alone and working?
Lew
  • 469
  • 1
  • 3
  • 17
  • 1
    run the command uname -i, if it does not say x86_64 you have 32 but – mchid Jan 14 '15 at 21:11
  • You can also try the method here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/41332/how-do-i-check-if-i-have-a-32-bit-or-a-64-bit-osv to fully check whether u are using 32bit or 64bit. – Wilf Jan 15 '15 at 00:03

2 Answers2

2

You can simply replace the current ubuntu installation. You do not need to erase or uninstall it.

Back up your personal files first as this will replace your Ubuntu installation.

  1. Download the 64 bit (amd64 version). Burn the iso to a disk (do not copy/paste right click on the file and select burn to disk).

  2. Go to your bios settings and make sure the dvd drive is set to boot first on the list of bootloaders.

  3. With the disk in the drive, reboot or boot the computer. If you need to set up an internet connection, select "try ubuntu without installing" and set up the internet connection. Then, select install ubuntu.

  4. When you get to the part of the installation that asks you if you want to install ubuntu "along side" or whatever, go down to the bottom of the screen and select "something else".

  5. Right click on the Ubuntu partition, select to format as ext4 and set the mount point to "/". Exit the menu, place a tic in the box to reformat the partition and scroll to the bottom and select continue or apply changes or whatever. Then continue with the installation.

mchid
  • 43,546
  • 8
  • 97
  • 150
  • I assume you have used this method before. I have read many posts where after this it still trashed windows, but I guess that could be user error. – geoffmcc Jan 14 '15 at 21:37
  • 1
    @geoffmcc I have done this many times and this is the way I have done it with windows 7. By explicitly selecting the Ubuntu partition, all other partitions are left untouched. – mchid Jan 14 '15 at 21:39
  • I'm gonna go ahead and upvote since a bit easier, or at least less steps than my answer. – geoffmcc Jan 14 '15 at 21:43
  • Back up data and stuff beforehand so u don't lose anything! :) – Wilf Jan 15 '15 at 00:00
  • mchid (or anyone) -- – Lew Jan 16 '15 at 19:23
  • @mchid (or anyone) The instructions above worked fine (thanks!) with some differences in what I had to respond to. Chose the partition, and there was no menu to "scroll to the bottom" of. Anyway, a 'Continue' button seemed to finish things normally. HOWEVER, to follow your final "Then continue with the installation" instruction, I saw the "Install Ubuntu" icon on the desktop. I clicked that, it did its thing, and then I saw "Welcome to Ubuntu 14.10". What implications of having installed 14.10 vs 14.04LTS? I'm new to linux and won't be doing much more than using apps. – Lew Jan 16 '15 at 19:40
  • @Lew Ubuntu 14.10 is only supported for a short period of time. You will have to do a reinstall later to continue support. 14.04LTS is supported for years to come and the next version is not until 2 years from now although I believe support is for 4 years. To download 14.04LTS 64bit follow this link http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04.1/ubuntu-14.04-desktop-amd64.iso and do the same thing – mchid Jan 16 '15 at 22:15
  • @Lew ubuntu 14.10 is a development release and some of the aspects are more experimental and may not be as stable as the 14.04 version. 14.10 is more cutting edge, may have more support for recent hardware releases and also uses a newer type of graphical display server developed exclusively by Ubuntu (mir). You will have to upgrade from 14.10 to 15.04 in April of 2015 and from 15.04 to 15.10 in October. You can keep all the info in your home folder (pictures/documents etc) by NOT selecting the format option during installation. Again, do NOT select format to keep home folder during install. – mchid Jan 16 '15 at 22:21
  • With all the questions I come up with getting into this new world, I felt a little anal checking for clarity. But this is significant to me. Going to 14.04. Thanks, @mchid. – Lew Jan 17 '15 at 16:32
  • Followup: followed @mchid's amended procedure above. Had 14.04 64bit iso on my W7 partition. Right-clicked, burned it, booted from it. A couple steps took longer than 14.10 and eventually it just froze. Green power light but no disc access and no response to keyboard. Went to the store for 2 hrs; no change. Unplugged it, popped the battery, booted to W7. Corrupt iso? Downloaded new iso from the link above, right-clicked, burned, booted. Installed without formatting. Ubuntu didn't recognize keyboard or external monitor as before. Installed and formatted the parition. All seems good now. – Lew Jan 18 '15 at 00:46
  • @Lew yeah, not formatting is just a way to keep your home folder and some of the settings from 14.10 are not recognized by 14.04 (mir) so that's probably why there was a problem with the keyboard and whatnot. – mchid Jan 26 '15 at 00:05
0

There should be no issue running 32bit on a 64 bit system, except if you have a bunch of ram. 32 bit only going to see/use 2gigs, so if you have more you might want to put Ubuntu 64 on.

In Windows, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management and then Disk Management.

Delete the ubuntu created partitions. Usually if it was created by Windows it won't even give option to delete. Your going to want to delete the ext file system and I think it grub (real small partition).

To delete just right click and delete. Be careful not to delete the 100mb System Reserve, Windows partition or any recovery you may have.

Now that these partition are deleted you are left with a chunk of unallocated space (where ubuntu used to be)

Now just restart with installation media and go through prompts. When get to partitions make sure to choise boot alongside windows 7.

Option 2

Again in disk management (in Windows) after delete non Windows/non recovery partitions merge the unallocated space back to C: right click and extend then just keep going next. Now you have one, unseparated C drive

Again boot install media, again choose install alongside Windows 7,only this time its going to show you a slider with Windows on one side and Ubuntu on other. From here you can use the slider to adjust what size partition for Windows and Ubuntu will be

P.S - you can also use uname - a to determine what bit version you have.

geoffmcc
  • 1,334
  • From the install disk you can use gparted to edit the partitions by choosing Try Ubuntu, you don't have to use windows. – Wilf Jan 15 '15 at 00:08
  • thanks @geoffmcc for the detail about ram (details are good). Using 64 bit 14.10 has resolved some of the display issues. My displays normally now. It sort-of remembers my display settings -- I need to go into settings/display. Just clicking the 'displays' icon corrects it. I'll see what switching to 14.04 does. – Lew Jan 17 '15 at 16:27