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I am a ubuntu newbie trying to install 17.10 desktop on a 500 gb SSD that already has Win7pro installed. Machine is AMD64 with classic MBR Bios. I tried to install from live boot off burned DVD (verified). The disk had been created with an Acronis restore, to have 200 MB of unallocated space after Windows, which runs well. I chose the default "install alongside windows". The install proceeded without asking about partition placement, which I thought meant it had found the obvious unallocated space. However, it stalled at "creating ext filesystem for / in partition 5" (disk had only 2 visible windows partitions to start with). Live ubuntu was still running with cursor spinning, but no progress and no disk activity. After an hour I bailed out. The machine tried to boot Windows but stalled at the "glowing window" stage, indicating that the Windows partition had been damaged. I restored from Acronis image and now Windows runs fine. I was planning to try again with manual partitioning ("something else") but thought I could use some advice first. Thanks!

As requested I am adding screen shots which may explain what happened.

The system SSD as seen in gparted. The unallocated space after Windows is where I want to install Ubuntu

Below is the view of Windows backupu disk in gparted. This disk contains a Windows backup NTFS partition. It originally also contained an antique installation of Ubuntu. I previously deleted the old Ubuntu partitions using the Windows partition tool in case they might interfere with the new installation. However, it appears that when I chose "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows" the installer re-created an ext4 partition on the backup disk instead of in the unallocated space at the end of the system SSD as intended.

Backup disk with erroneous partition

How do I install Ubuntu with Windows in the intended location at the end of the SSD? Should I try to delete the non-ntfs partitions on the backup disk again with gparted before installing?

Michael Stern
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    Please make a screenshot of the partition layout as reported by gparted when booted from the DVD. –  Oct 21 '17 at 20:02

2 Answers2

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Try doing the partition table yourself (not install along windows), chose Something Else at that part and make the partition table.

As I recall, that's the only way to do it manually. You can learn how to do it HERE.

Teivel
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  • The automatic partitioner wrongly rebuilt the ext4 partitions I had deleted from the backup drive that had once contained a legacy ubuntu installation. I am worried that the beginning of that drive still has an mbr or other signals that may disrupt the dual boot once I install ubuntu in the correct location on the ssd as Teivel suggests. How can I remove all trace of the old ubuntu? I can't clear the whole drive because the ntfs partition has 3 years of NonstopBackup data. – Michael Stern Oct 22 '17 at 02:45
  • Sorry, I have no idea how to recover from that, I can tell you that my answer wouldn't corrupt more data, but that's it. – Teivel Oct 23 '17 at 17:10
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As suggested by Teivel, I successfully installed Ubuntu dual boot with Windows by using manual partitioning. The problem was that I have 3 disks on the SATA bus and the last one /sdc is where Windows (and now Ubuntu) is installed. The installer successfully detected the Windows installation, but when I used "install ubuntu alongside Windows" it tried to create a partition on /sdb which had leading free space, hanging the system and putting /sdb offline until I had powered off the machine.

This seems to be a bug in the way the installer deals with multiple disks. Not sure how to report it.

Michael Stern
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