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I'm trying to install Ubuntu 14.04.3 desktop 64 bit developer edition with dual boot option with my Windows 8.1 PC having two disks (1- 1tb, 2- 3tb), but during installation if I choose Install Ubuntu alongside Windows then I get this error message: starting sector number, 4294967296 exceeds the msdos-partition-table-imposed maximum of 4294967295

Disk Management:

Disk Management screenshot

Partition style of Disk 0 is GPT, but for Disk 1 it's MBR.

System information:

msinfo32 screenshot

Windows 8.1 came pre-installed when we bought the PC.

If you noticed I have allocated 200GB free space on Disk 0 for Ubuntu and I want to use this space for Ubuntu.

How can I install Ubuntu as a dual boot without losing my Windows?

karel
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tynar
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1 Answers1

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Based on that error message, it sounds like you're trying to install Linux onto the 3TB disk. Since you used the MS-DOS partition table for that disk (which I would recommend against doing that), you are not allowed to store any data beyond that 2GB point. It would probably make sense for you to convert that into a GPT disk so you can utilize all of your space!

In order to actually solve your issue, be careful to choose that 200GB partition on disk 0 as your Linux target (in Linux it will be presented as something like /dev/sda5). One trick to preventing you from accidentally installing to the wrong device is to just unplug the additional drives before installing Linux. Simply plug them back in once you have your dual boot set up.

I strongly recommend using manual mode to configure your partitions when installing Linux. It really isn't much more difficult than the wizard, but in my experience the wizard never seems to do exactly what I need. The wizard makes it very easy to blow away your Windows partition on accident!

linucksrox
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  • I've converted my Disk 1 to GPT, will give a try today. By the way, could you please help regarding creating partitions for ubuntu installation? I think there should be 3 partitions created, for root (/) and for (/home) and for swap. Taking into account that I've 4GB of RAM could you please advice on size of these partitions? – tynar Dec 21 '15 at 04:29
  • Converting disk 1 to GPT was only a suggestion, but not intended to resolve your main issue (since you said that you wanted to install Ubuntu onto disk 0). You generally want at least 2 partitions - one for swap and one for /, and sometimes you want to keep /home separate (that's what I usually do). The rule of thumb for swap is to match the size of your RAM, but the more RAM you have, the less likely you are to run into swap space. I never go more than 4GB for swap. In general you want the max space available for /home. A more advanced setup might be pointing /home to disk 2 for example. – linucksrox Dec 21 '15 at 14:39
  • Converting to GPT disk 2 was my idea, at least now in winfows also I can extend disk. Regarding linux partitions, for 200 gb, I am planning to allocate in following plan: 1) 10 gb for /, 2) 4gb for swap, 3) 186 gb for /home. How does it look? Where do programs get installed in ubuntu? – tynar Dec 21 '15 at 15:34
  • I was able to install ubuntu without loosing windows but I have some troubles with dual boot option. It seems that lenovo computers are protected from dual booting with ubuntu 14.04. Will give a try with 15.10, thanks anyway. – tynar Dec 21 '15 at 19:34
  • Indeed, dual boot with UEFI and secure boot enabled can be tricky. Make sure you're using a 64bit edition of Ubuntu, and supposedly 15.04 and above make this process much easier. See here http://askubuntu.com/questions/586698/dual-boot-win8-1-and-ubuntu-on-lenovo-pcs-in-uefi-mode I forgo the dual boot setup most of the time by using Windows inside a VM on top of Linux. Virtualbox and even Vmware Player are free (and easy!) for personal use. – linucksrox Dec 22 '15 at 13:05
  • I figured out it. Downloaded ubuntu 15.10 then changing boot OS to ubuntu in BIOS made the trick. Thanks. – tynar Dec 23 '15 at 05:55