I can't install Ubuntu besides windows without format

Question

So I have a SSD of 120 GB on which I have a Windows 8.1 installation.

I decided to install Ubuntu besides my Windows 8.1 on my ssd, all went good, I started configuring the OS and installing drivers.

I have a AMD graphics card and after I installed the drivers from their site, I couldn't log in anymore, after every restart I would get some error and the screen remained blank with my system frozen (I pushed the NumLock button and it didn't light up).

So I entered my Windows OS and with disk management I deleted the 2 ext drives Ubuntu made , and fixed my bootloader with the following commands:

bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

Allright, now I have my normal boot but if I enter bios I can see there is a ubuntu EFI option, that I couldn't delete, I tried Visual BSD from Windows but still no success.

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Now, I want to reinstall Ubuntu, but at first I had the option to "install it besides Windows", now I only get the message to "format my drive and install ubuntu", I believe it is maybe because of that efi ? I deleted those drives that he made so what can the problem be ?

Formating my ssd isn't something I would like to do at this point. ( I know this fixes it.. but isn't there a workaround this ) ?

I downloaded and installed Ubuntu many times and I have bumped in this problem a lot of times like I said, solved with a full format, after that I would install a Windows OS and Ubuntu would let me to install it besides it.

PS: I see I have a EFI folder created on my Windows machine that wasn't there initially, but maybe the bootloader fix generated it..

possible duplicate of Installing Ubuntu on a Pre-Installed Windows 8 (64-bit) System (UEFI Supported) — Pilot6, Jul 16 '15 at 14:44
And please do not install drivers from AMD site. The same driver is available from Ubuntu repositories. — Pilot6, Jul 16 '15 at 14:44
And you can ONLY install "alongside" something if there is empty space to put something next to. If all is used and there is no unallocated space... you can only replace an existing install. The installer will then not show this option, — Rinzwind, Jul 16 '15 at 14:57

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 16 '15 at 15:32

So the link @Pilot6 shared worked for me.

Somewhere in that long post I read that one of the problem might be that your windows partition is damaged so I checked and repaired it.

After a reboot I could select to install Ubuntu alongside windows. I am writing this very post from my Ubuntu installation.

Thanks a lot !

So if anyone else has this problem, check your windows partition for errors.

I can't install Ubuntu besides windows without format

1 Answers1