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The following is the disk management screenshot of windows:

enter image description here

I want to install the ubuntu on the partition: New Volume (F:)

I made the pen-drive bootable by Rufus with Ubuntu 16.04; While rebooting the PC and trying to install the ubuntu, following information is shown: 

sda1: 1MB windows 7
sda2: 104MB unknown (ntfs)
sda3: 105GB (used: 60GB) (ntfs)
sda4: 207GB (used: 48GB) (ntfs)

How do I proceed with the installation? My aim was to install on the partition: New Volume (F:).

Adding the gpart live screenshot:

enter image description here

Also note that install alongside windows option is not visible, with both unallocated space on the disk and allocated space on the disk.

Karthikeyan Palanisamy
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  • Ubuntu can't be installed on NTFS, you'll need to format that partition to EXT4 – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 06 '17 at 11:22
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    While what @SumeetDeshmukh said is true, the recommended way to do this is to simply leave unallocated space at the end of the disk, and the Ubuntu installer will take care of the rest. – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Apr 06 '17 at 11:24
  • @AndroidDev - I tried leaving unallocated space, it was not visible during the ubuntu installation process. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 11:26
  • @SumeetDeshmukh - I will try it. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 11:27
  • @KarthikeyanPalanisamy You have to select the "Install alongside Windows 7" option in the installer – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Apr 06 '17 at 11:27
  • @AndroidDev - That option was not available. Only two were available - 1) Erase disk, 2) Something else – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 11:31
  • @KarthikeyanPalanisamy choose something else and do what i told in answer, it's fairly easy, if you run into any trouble or you have some follow up questions feel free to ask, i can make a pretty sure guess that partition you were about to install ubuntu in was sda4 – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 06 '17 at 11:32
  • @KarthikeyanPalanisamy - Can you please provide a screenshot from Gparted from the live USB drive? – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Apr 06 '17 at 11:59
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    You have to convert dynamic disk to basic disk from within Windows. – mook765 Apr 06 '17 at 12:35
  • @mook765 - I am not able to find any free softwares to do that. Do you any alternative? – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 12:46
  • @AndroidDev - I have updated the question with the screenshot from Gparted from the live USB drive. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 12:53
  • All the red icons show issues. And your issue is dynamic partitions which are Microsoft proprietary and do not work with Linux. Now Linux can at least see them, before it could not even do that. http://askubuntu.com/questions/482768/changing-windows-dynamic-disk-partition-to-basic-partition-and-not-the-full-driv and: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365449%28v=vs.85%29.aspx and http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html Be sure you have good backups. – oldfred Apr 06 '17 at 13:09
  • @oldfred True. That warning is as follows: Unable to read the contents of this file system! Because of this some operations may be unavailable. The cause might be a missing software package. The following list of software packages is required for ntfs file system support: ntfs-3g / ntfsprogs. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 13:16
  • @oldfred - Looks like I have to take backup, delete all volumes, create basic instead of dynamic. Thats a long process which I cannot afford as of now. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 13:17
  • The links should show third party tools that may convert in line. Of course always risks with that, so just make sure you backups are current. Never used these: Partition Wizard MiniTool or EASEUS to convert a convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk without having to delete or format them. – oldfred Apr 06 '17 at 14:25

2 Answers2

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Your Windows installation uses so-called "dynamic" disks (aka the Logical Disk Manager, or LDM). This is extremely important, because Ubuntu doesn't support installation to or booting from an LDM disk, and any attempt to manipulate your current partition table is LIKELY TO CAUSE DIFFICULT-TO-REPAIR DATA LOSS!

Chances are you got into this mess by trying to create the Linux partition using the Windows tools. On an MBR disk, when you try to expand the number of partitions beyond 4, the Windows partitioning tools will convert the disk from a straight-up MBR system to MBR with LDM atop that. This is convenient for Windows-only installations, but it's very very bad for dual-booting Windows with just about anything else.

Fortunately, there are tools that can help you, such as EaseUS Partition Manager and the AOMEI Dynamic Disk Converter. Note that I've never used these tools myself, so I can't comment on them except to say that I know they exist. If possible, I recommend using these tools to convert all five of the partitions you have now to "basic" (non-LDM) form, then delete the one you created for use by Ubuntu.

The reason for this is that, even when you remove the partition you created for Ubuntu, you'll have four partitions. The reason the Windows tools use dynamic disks when you go above that number is that MBR supports a maximum of four primary partitions. Most OSes use logical partitions to go beyond the 4-primary-partition limit, but these require the presence of a special type of primary partition known as an extended partition. If you delete the to-be-Ubuntu partition and then convert to basic form, the tool is likely to turn all four of your partitions into primary partitions, leaving no room for the extended partition Ubuntu will need. If you can convert all five partitions, though, the conversion tool should create an extended partition and convert two partitions (probably your E: and the to-be-Ubuntu partition) into logical partitions. If the conversion tool refuses to convert more than four partitions, you can delete the to-be-Ubuntu partition, convert the remaining four partitions, and use my FixParts program to convert the final primary partition to logical form; however, you may need to use something else to slightly resize the partition that comes before the to-be-logical partition to make room for the extra data structures that logical partitions require.

Once you convert the disk from dynamic to "basic," you can install Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installer provides options to let you use free space on the disk or to install alongside Windows; or you can use the (poorly-named, IMHO) "something else" option to partition the disk manually within the installer.

Rod Smith
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here is how to solve you're current issue, it's fairly easy

  1. when you're in ubuntu installer all you have to do is delete the partition that you were supposed to install ubuntu on (i think it was sda4).
  2. create a new partition with ext4 file system.
  3. select that partition as / root partition.
  4. and do the next steps.

if you find that hard and want to do this from windows then follow further steps.

  1. convert your partition scheme as explained in This Answer

  2. open windows disk management tool.

  3. delete the new volume that you've created, it'd be named as unallocated space
  4. Create a Bootable USB stick with Ubuntu. Rufus is a good tool to do that
  5. shutdown the computer completely and boot from USB drive.
  6. now the installer should show the option the install alongside windows
  7. choose that option. (what it'll do is, it'll automatically create an ext4 partition for you)
Community
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Sumeet Deshmukh
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  • Btw, how to format the new partition as ext4 in windows? I am not able to do it. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 11:48
  • @KarthikeyanPalanisamy windows doesn't yet support EXT4 formatting, if you're in windows, you can try a different approach, let me update the answer for you – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 06 '17 at 11:52
  • Definitely delete the partition you want to install on from Windows. It's always safer to perform changes to Windows disks from Windows and changes to Linux disks from Linux. In this case, your new partition, although empty, is a windows disk, and I'd remove it from within Windows. – Will Apr 06 '17 at 12:08
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    The other problem you have is that your partitions look to all be simple volumes of a dynamic disk, and not actual separate partitions. You need to create an entirely separate area of free space, but it's been so long since I've done it that I've forgotten and wouldn't like to advise how to do it. Maybe search for "create free space from a dynamic disk" and you might find more info – Will Apr 06 '17 at 12:11
  • @SumeetDeshmukh - Even with "unallocated space", install alongside windows option was not visible. Following is what shown: 'Computer currently has Windows 7 on it. What would you like to do? 1) Erase disk 2) Something else' – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 12:51
  • @KarthikeyanPalanisamy unallocated space is just 1 mb ubuntu can't be installed in that, you can however format a partition to ext4 using gparted – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 06 '17 at 12:58
  • @SumeetDeshmukh - I deleted the New Volume to create a free space of 47 GB. But it was not shown in Gpart live. – Karthikeyan Palanisamy Apr 06 '17 at 13:10
  • @KarthikeyanPalanisamy did it show in something else option of ubuntu installer? – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 06 '17 at 13:59
  • Because, as Will has observed, the installation uses Windows "dynamic disks," any attempt to modify partitions using Linux tools is *LIKELY TO CAUSE DATA LOSS!* – Rod Smith Apr 06 '17 at 19:13