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I have a Dell XPS 15 9560, I had to send to the manufacturer to fix some dead pixels.

Before I sent it I had Ubuntu 16.04.01 in a dual-boot format. I followed this tutorial to install it: http://www.nicchan.me/blog/dual-booting-ubuntu-with-windows-10-on-a-dell-xps-15/

Note that I am a linux novice and not a programmer by any means.

Anyway when I got the repaired laptop back, I followed the steps above but encountered a 'Force UEFI Installation?' error, like this guy: Force UEFI Installation

The laptop had been return and the Windows Boot Mode was changed to BIOS compatibility mode, as opposed to UEFI. So I changed it to UEFI.

Even so, I then got the same problem as this guy: partition created to install Ubuntu appears as "unusable"

So it looks like my disk has MBR partitioning (not GPT), as I already have four partitions (including two recovery partitions) my hypothesis is that Ubuntu can't see the space reserved for its installation - due to the maximum of four partitions.

My next step, i'm guessing, is to convert the disk to GPT from MBR.

I tried the demo version of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional https://www.disk-partition.com/partition-software.html

But the demo version won't let me perform it.

So my question is, would it be worth buying the full AOMEI software to perform this? For all I know it isn't going to help.

I saw another potential option might be to delete one of the recovery partitions, what are the dangers of doing that? How do I do that? the Windows disk management tool doesn't let me.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

user2520524
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  • I would just reinstall Windows 10 in UEFI mode as it should be (and shouldn't have been changed or at all touch by the tech service when repairing/replacing a monitor but I've seen worse...) and then proceed to install Ubuntu as described in https://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-alongside-a-pre-installed-windows-with-uefi –  Nov 21 '17 at 21:18
  • Who installed Windows in BIOS mode. Microsoft requires vendors to install all new systems in UEFI boot mode. And Windows only boots in BIOS mode from MBR and only UEFI from gpt. But Windows partitions are so different between UEFI & BIOS best to follow MichaelBay's suggestion of full reinstall in UEFI mode. – oldfred Nov 21 '17 at 21:37

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Followed MichaelBay's advice and just reinstalled Windows 10 in UEFI mode, then proceeded to install Ubuntu as described.

user2520524
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