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I wanted to install Windows 10 alongside existing Ubuntu 14.04. But, somehow, I messed it up. Later I installed windows alone and made some space available for Ubuntu installation.

Free space in windows:

free space in windows

It is saying that no operating system was detected. I selected something else option. But that unallocated space is not being shown and the entire disk is being shown as free space.

The entire disk is free:

The entire disk is free

I suspect, if I proceed further, I may lose windows. Please, help.

pa4080
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rsvar67
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    sounds like one is booting legacy mode and the other is booting efi mode. legacy mode can not read gpt partitions, and efi mode can not read MBR at boot. – ravery Jun 20 '17 at 12:49
  • Thanks for the response mate. Is there a way forward? I have no idea what legacy and efi modes are. What should I do if that is the case? – rsvar67 Jun 20 '17 at 12:54
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    windlows looks to be installed efi (which is expected). this is a 64-bit machine yes? turn off legacy(CMS) mode in the system settings to make it boot efi only. be sure you have an efi version of the ubuntu install disk. – ravery Jun 20 '17 at 12:59
  • I just have checked by running 'msinfo32' in Windows 10, it is saying BIOS Mode Legacy. By 'an efi version of the Ubuntu install disk', do you mean bootable disk? – rsvar67 Jun 20 '17 at 13:12
  • yes, how are you installing ubuntu? you will need to boot the installer in efi mode ( IE an efi disk) the images are available from ubuntu – ravery Jun 20 '17 at 13:19
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    I found a solution here. After that, I could see the free space and installed Ubuntu. Finally, boot-repair set everything right. – rsvar67 Jun 20 '17 at 14:09
  • @VishnuRudrasamudram: please put the solution into an Answer. –  Jun 20 '17 at 15:08

1 Answers1

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After installing windows and freeing up space for Ubuntu, I proceeded to installing ubuntu alongside Windows. But, as I mentioned in the question, it was not showing the free space. When I checked the drive using GParted, I was prompted with the following message.

/dev/sda contains GPT signatures indicating that it has a GPT table. However, it has a fake msdos partition table as it should. Perhaps it was corrupted? Is this a GPT partition table?

Once I sorted out that issue, I could be able to find the unallocated space and installed Ubuntu.

I am putting the solution as it is in this link.

I am answering because the answers here are inadequate. I don't want future viewers of this question to destroy their windows partitions just to install Ubuntu.

To fix your problem, follow these steps:

  1. Boot the emergency disk (Ubuntu or other linux Live CD) and open a text-mode shell.
  2. Type sudo gdisk /dev/sda (change /dev/sda to whatever is appropriate to access your hard disk, if necessary). The program is likely to complain that it's found both MBR and GPT data, and will ask which to use. It doesn't matter which you tell it to use.
  3. At the Command prompt, type x to enter the experts' menu. At the Expert command prompt, type z to zap (destroy) the GPT data.
  4. Type y in response to the confirmation about destroying the GPT.
  5. Type n in response to the query about blanking the MBR. Caution: If you answer y here, you'll destroy your Windows partition(s)!

check this image.

rsvar67
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