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I'm trying to install Ubuntu (version does not matter to me) alongside my Windows Vista Operating System. My laptop does NOT have a disk drive, so I have to use the bootable flash drive option. Anyway, I tried installing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, because when I tried with 14.14 (or whatever the newest version is) I couldn't log in due to an error. (it failed with the "test out Ubuntu", I couldn't log in because it asked for a username and password that did not exist.)

I thought that installing 14.04 LTS would go smoothly, but it didn't. I basically can't log in due to a system error, that I can go into detail about should it become relevent. However, right now, I just want to get a working version of Ubuntu on here; my biggest worry is that since I already have one installed (that doesn't work), how will I re-use the same partition for a different version of Ubuntu? (Bearing in mind I can't update from within Ubuntu because I can't log in.)(Also I can't use an installation C.D.)

Is there any trick to this? Could someone walk me through it? (I'm using a different computer to keep in touch on these here forums.)

I would think that the most obvious issue might be that my computer is 64 bit (Windows Vista, if you want an idea of how old it is) and I installed the 32 bit version of the OS. I would prefer to do that in the end, if possible, as the computer has ONLY 2 GB ram, and I want to make it stretch. But I'm open to any feedback or knoledge!

Edit: Since it is now relevant, due to the fact that it prevents me from using Ubuntu tools, I am going to explain my issue with 14.04 in detail.

You know that little Bar at the top that has all the file, edit, and power down buttons? It doesn't show up, either at the top of the screen or on the individual window. The Launcher bar is also missing. There are no icons on the desktop. The only way I could run things (before the login error locked me out completely) was to right-click on the desktop and select "Change desktop background", using the interface to navigate backwards to the main settings page.

Edit: Using the console, I'm currently trying to install Gparted, so I can (maybe?) do whatever I need to do to install/unistall Ubuntu as needed.

Edit: After following mchid's answer, the terminal spit back the following info (and it didn't open anything when I hit Ctrl+alt+f7):

Inavlid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gtk-2.0/gtk/int.py:57: GtkWarning: could not open display

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/usr/bin/ccsm", line 94, in 

Import ccm

File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ccm/init.py", line 1, in 

from ccm.Conflicts import *

File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ccm/Conflicts.py", line 26, in 

from ccm.Constants import *

File "usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ccm/Constants.py", line 30, in 

CurrentScreenNum = gtk.gdk.display_get_default().get_default_screen().get_number()

AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'get_default_screen'

Edit: I noticed it said my problem was similar to "Unity is not appearing on my desktop" Or something like that. the fix didn't work for me. I ran 

dconf reset -f /org/compiz/

unity --reset-icons &disown

Result: it seems to have set my backend to gsettings, I noticed it was like this on a working machine running 14.04 LTS. It also said: info: Unity is fully supported by your hardware. Info: Unity is not supported by your hardware. Enabling software rendering instead (slow). Info: Starting plugin: opengl

(machine is hung up here, it's not giving me the line showing that I can start a new command)

I used CTRL ALT F1 (previous termnal was in CTRL ALT F2) to force a sudo-reboot, the result was.... no change in status.

If it's any help, I have acess to the bar at the top (shutdown, speaker volume, etc.) prior to loggin in. Just thought I'd mention that.

Edit: SOLVED: My hardware was not compatible with Ubuntu. I installed Lubuntu, and all my problems seems to be fixed. All of the ones in this thread, anyway....

Trey White
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  • What system error exactly? Could you add it to your question? – RiddleMeThis Jun 21 '15 at 13:57
  • I'm afraid I can't. The only way I know there's an error is that I enter my password. Then the box pops up saying "System Error detected. Do you want to report this error?"

    The system kicks me back to my login screen within 2 seconds of that showing up, so there's really no way for me to actually "read the error" or something.

     – Trey White Jun 21 '15 at 16:24
  • try login via console, press Ctrl + Alt + F2, which will throw you to console ... you can go back with Ctrl +Alt + F7 after you log in – RiddleMeThis Jun 21 '15 at 16:28
  • Pardon my half-post, I"m new to this and keep hitting enter) Result of using console: (Where eery -/- is a new line on the terminal) -/- Welcome to Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.16.0-41-generic i686 -/- Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com -/- 0 packages can be updated -/- 0 updates are security updates -/- The programs included with the Ubuntu system are free software... (skipping due to charachter limit) -/- Ubuntu comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRENTY, to the extene permitted by applicable law. -/- trey@trey-HP-Pavilion-dv4-Notebook-PC:`$ . Ctrl+Alt_f7 takes me back to the login screen. – Trey White Jun 21 '15 at 16:32
  • My bad, I tough that would work, sorry. – RiddleMeThis Jun 21 '15 at 16:48
  • look here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/148717/how-do-i-boot-into-the-console-and-then-launch-the-ubuntu-desktop-from-it – RiddleMeThis Jun 21 '15 at 16:50
  • This thread might be also related: http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntu-gets-stuck-in-a-login-loop – RiddleMeThis Jun 21 '15 at 16:56
  • @mchid the computer seems stuck on the step immideatly following "Do you want to continue" on "sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager". I've noticed this with Ubuntu in general recently, connections for updates take awhile if they work at all. (On a different computer, of course.) Any suggestions? The line reads: 0% [Connecting to us.archive.ubuntu.com (2001:67c:1562::15)]. The computer has an active intenet connection (ethernet cable). Edit after half an hour, it moved past the step. Continuing... – Trey White Jun 21 '15 at 19:59

1 Answers1

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First, log into Ubuntu (yes, you will have no panel and no launcher but we will fix that).

Then, go to Ctrl + Alt + F2 and execute the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
export DISPLAY=:0
ccsm

press Ctrl + Alt + F7

When ccsm opens, scroll down to the unity plugin and enable it.

EDIT:

After enabling the plugin, you may need to go back to tty2 (press Ctrl + Alt + F2) and run the following commands:

export DISPLAY=:0
compiz --replace

If that still doesn't work, you may need to reset compiz:

export DISPLAY=:0
gnome-terminal

That should bring up a terminal on tty7 (press Ctrl + Alt + F7)

Then, start firefox from the terminal so that you can copy and paste the following commands from this page into the terminal:

firefox &

and then copy, paste, and execute the following three commands one by one:

wget https://launchpad.net/~amith/+archive/ubuntutools/+build/3910667/+files/unity-reset_0.1-8_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i unity-reset_0.1-8_all.deb
unity-reset

END OF EDIT

Or, if you need to, re-install the ubuntu desktop:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop

Also, if you already ubuntu installed, don't worry about it. Just select "something else" when you get to the part of the installation that asks if you want to install ubuntu "along side" windows.

Then, right-click on the ubuntu partition, set it as "type" ext-4 and set the "mount point" to "/" and continue with the installation.

If you want to use gparted. You should use the USB you used to install ubuntu in a live session because you will not be able to edit your ubuntu partition while it is currently mounted, you must do that from a live session, from windows, or from another partition which does not exist right now.

Gparted is installed and available from the live session. Choose "try ubuntu without installing" and then access gparted from the apps menu.

Because of the error 

Unity is not supported by your hardware

you can install a different version of Ubuntu that will run better on older hardware.

http://ubuntustudio.org/

http://xubuntu.org/

http://lubuntu.net/

All three of these run quite well on older machines.

mchid
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