Windows partitions not showing up when installing Ubuntu 14.04?

Question

I have a 1TB of harddrive on which windows 10 is installed. I previously had Ubuntu installed on the system but deleted it as I wanted to install the 14.04. I deleted the partition from Windows 10.

When I am trying to install using the live CD, I can only see the disk as a single drive and not seeing all the partitions. I am not sure what is wrong. Is it something related to my partitioning?

I need to use the J drive to install ubuntu 14.04 and I drive for 16.04.

Update 2: When running the command from live cd

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x233b0d33

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63       80324       40131   de  Dell Utility
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda2   *    27967488  1706840062   839436287+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3      1706840064  1707761663      460800   27  Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda4           81857  1953520064   976719104    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5           81920    27953099    13935590   83  Linux
/dev/sda6      1707773952  1953520064   122873056+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Gparted is showing the disk with unallocated sign. [
I merged one of the drives with the C drive. The left unused empty drive is NTFS with about 115 GB on which I wish to install Ubuntu 14.04.

I can see you're using Aomei, can you trying creating the partition with the native windows tool I instead? I believe it's called disk manager. It will create an unallocated space which you'll be able to use later in Ubuntu. — answerSeeker, Dec 06 '16 at 06:13
You have one hard disk and yet you expect to see multiple disks in the installer? — AlexP, Dec 06 '16 at 06:55
From multiple disks I mean to say the partitions (I,J, Recovery etc.). — Alex, Dec 06 '16 at 07:20
Please see the updated question. I have included the result from gparted and fdisk. Thanks — Alex, Dec 06 '16 at 10:35

AlexP · Answer 1 · 2016-12-06T12:40:25.227

0

Your partition table is sufficiently incorrect to make GParted and the Ubuntu installer ignore it.

The primary partition /dev/sda2 is defined to use sectors 27967488 to 1706840062 and the primary partition /dev/sda3 is defined to use sectors 1706840064 to 1707761663; both of them overlap parts of the extended partition /dev/sda4, which is defined to use sectors 81857 to 1953520064. Windows seems to be happy enough with your partition table, but GParted isn't, and apparently the Ubuntu installer is equally unhappy.

You need to somehow remake the partition table without primary partitions overlapping the extended partition. I cannot provide a safe way of doing it, that is, a way of doing it which is certain to have no effects on the Windows operating system.

Partition table manipulations may result in loss of data; make adequate backups before you apply any modifications to the partition table. You should also make a backup of the partition table itself (sudo dd if=/dev/sda bs=1M count=1 of=somewhere-safe).

Once you are satisfied that you have adequate backups you may try to use fdisk to correct the partition table, either automatically (press x for expert functionality, then f for fix, p to see what fdisk did, v for verify and finally w if you want the changes written to disk), or manually by deleting and recreating partitions in a correct order with the same start and end sectors (except the extended partition, of course). I don't know whether this may have consequences for the drive letter assignment in Windows. Consider all implications before proceeding.

See also:

GParted doesn't see partitions recognized OK by other aps on Ubuntu Forums.
GParted Live can'r see my partitions, Windows can on GParted forum.

edited Dec 06 '16 at 12:40

answered Dec 06 '16 at 12:34

AlexP

10,197

You also have a newer 4K drive but start on the very old sector 63 which is not optimal for 4K drives. Looks like you copied from an XP install as that was the last to use sector 63? Also with Windows 10 make sure fast start up is off. http://askubuntu.com/questions/145902/unable-to-mount-windows-ntfs-filesystem-due-to-hibernation and: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-4kb-sector-disks/ Only use Windows or Windows tools to resize NTFS and reboot immediately so Windows can run chkdsk. – oldfred Dec 06 '16 at 14:54
Can defragmentating the drive clear the problem of overlapping sectors? – Alex Dec 07 '16 at 03:02
@Alex: No. It has nothing to do with it. – AlexP Dec 07 '16 at 03:33
@AlexP I have a lot of important data on the windows side and don't want to lose it. I have made backups including the recovery disk and full backup . My question is are you suggesting me to wipe clean the drive and then restore later or the backup is just in case something goes wrong. I am unable to follow your advice. Can you clarify the steps I should follow to solve this process. Also, when recovering the windows in case something fails will it not bring the system back to the present state ? Many Thanks .. – Alex Dec 07 '16 at 08:42
I am sorry that I am not confident that I can provide a safe procedure. You may want to get local hands-on help. Maybe ask a friend, or the friend of a friend for support. – AlexP Dec 07 '16 at 09:10
@AlexP Ok. Many thanks for the support. I will try to search for answers elsewhere or here. – Alex Dec 07 '16 at 09:30

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 13 '16 at 05:32

Ok, I was able to solve the problem. These are the steps I followed. If someone else is facing these problems they can follow the steps.

1.) Used the AOMEI partition manager on windows side (free version) to merge all the secondary partitions to the main c drive.
2.) As mentioned by @AlexP, some sectors of the drive were overlapping and not in order. I used the AOMEI partition manager again to reorder the
drives such that the sectors were properly ordered. This process took time as GB's of data in my primary drive had to be moved. (2.5 hrs).
3.) After this I was able to reboot into the windows side. The AOMEI also corrected any boot errors along the way so I just had to sit and wait.
4.) When installing a fresh copy of ubuntu the drives showed up correctly and I was able to install ubuntu using the something else
option.

Windows partitions not showing up when installing Ubuntu 14.04?

2 Answers2