Ubuntu

Problem with partitions during install

Asked by wnukr

Im stuck on step 4 of installing Ubuntu 7.04 on my PC. Im trying to dual-boot between ubuntu and windows xp.. so from what i've read i need a "swap" partition, a partition for ubuntu, and i should leave the existing partition (with xp on it) alone. When i go in to manually adjust the partitions on my harddrive it says that i only have 8MB of free space, however i know that i have at least 20GB of free space. The partitions that already exist are a "fat16" that is 49MB (33MB used) , an "ntfs" with 36043MB (unknown used), and a "fat32" that is 3907MB (3500 of which is used), and again the 8MB of free space. I tried to make the ntfs partition smaller hoping that it would free up space, but it failed.. so i restarted and now it says "unknown used". When i try to edit the ntfs partition it has no option to resize it... which is what im guessing i need to do.. im new to Linux/Ubuntu so any simple instructions would be very helpful. in case it makes any difference im on a Dell inspiron 700m laptop.. intel centrino processor w/ 1GB of ram..

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Jim Hutchinson
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Best Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#1

I hate to say this, but you are probably going about this the hard way. If you just select the defaults, Ubuntu will shrink windows, and create two new partitions - one for the operating system and one for swap. There is no need to manually partition. Usually you would select the manual option if you had specific needs, but for most people, especially those new to Linux, the default options are best.

Having said that, I'm not sure where you are in this process and how easily you can restart. I'm guessing the fat16 and fat32 partitions are "recovery" partitions set up by Dell or similar. I would leave those alone. I'm not sure how to tell you to go about fixing this. If it was me, I would delete any partitions other than the two fat and the ntfs and then resize windows back to the whole drive. I would then boot windows and defrag the hard drive. Then I would boot the Ubuntu CD and install using the default options. The reason I suggest this approach is that if you try and install now, I'm not sure what Ubuntu will do with the "unknown" partition. It may go ahead and use it or it may ignore it. I don't for sure because I've never experienced that. You can certainly try if you want. My only concern is that it won't work and you'll have to go back and essentially start over anyway.

I wouldn't use the install program to make the changes. Instead, boot the live CD and then open a terminal (apps - accessories - terminal) and type sudo gparted. That will open up a partitioning tool you can use to "recover" the space.

Let us know if you need additional help or if the situation is different from what I've surmised.

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wnukr (rswnuk) said : 		#2

Thanks for your advice... i now have ubuntu installed, however when i went into the list to select an OS when i started my computer, windows xp is no longer there.. there is ubuntu, ubuntu (recovery mode) and one other version of ubuntu. Did i delete windows+all my other data? is there a way to get it back?

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Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#3

It's hard to know if you deleted windows or not, but if you let Ubuntu shrink windows it's probably still there. However, with all the partitioning it's possible. You did back up your important files first, right?

In order to find out what is going on, first, go ahead and boot back to Ubuntu and open a terminal (apps - accessories - terminal) and type

sudo fdisk -l (note that is a small L at the end)

Hopefully you will see something like this (the number of partitions may be different):

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 7470 60002743+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 7471 26144 149998905 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 26145 30028 31198230 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 30029 30401 2996122+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

You might have some extra fat16/32 stuff listed but look for one that says NTFS. If you see that then windows should still be there. Note what partition it's on (in this case it's /dev/sda1). If you don't see an NTFS partition then it's likely it's gone. As for why that would happen I can't say, but one of the install options is to erase windows (not the default). Hopefully you didn't select that by accident.

Next, we need to set up GRUB to include your windows partition. Open the menu.lst file

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Thre may be a section like this:

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Window Vista
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

If you don't see this, you will need to add it. The line for root is important. Most likely yours would be the same unless windows was not on the 1st partition. Since you have the fat partitions it may not be. If the location of the NTFS partition was /dev/sda1 or hda1 then the (hd0,0) is fine. If it was different make the second number one less than the number after sda. For example, if windows was on /dev/sda3 then make the root line say (hd0,2). I'm assuming you only have one drive or that windows is on the first drive.

Let us know how it goes.

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wnukr (rswnuk) said : 		#4

this is what showed up...
   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4659 37423386 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 4660 4864 1646662+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 4660 4864 1646631 82 Linux swap / Solaris

no ntfs.. no windows.. :(

w/e i didnt have anything too important on there
thanks for all of your help... however i do have one last question.. when i was running windows i hooked a monitor up to my laptop, and used it so i could have 2 monitors. Is it possible to do this with ubuntu? how?

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David Overcash (funnylookinhat) said : 		#5

You are correct in thinking that your windows xp installation is gone.

To get dual monitors, you're going to have to do a lot of looking around for specific help on setting up for xorg.conf file. Intel is currently working on a utility to make this easier, but for now there's no easy way to do it.

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Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#6

Sorry to hear that windows is gone. it's a risk with this kind of stuff so it's always good to back up. I've wiped out partitions before and it's not a good feeling. Usually i have most of the stuff is backed up somewhere but i always end up losing something. I take it as an opportunity to clean house :). I once lost 30GB of music that I had backed up but the external drive died and when I went to reload it, it was all gone.

Anyway, you can still go back to windows and do a dual boot if you want. Being tossed into Linux 100% can be rough (or it can be a blessing). I'm still dual booting (although I rarely use it). My wife, kids, everyone uses ubuntu. Before you get too far along, I'd decide what you feel comfortable doing. If want to dual boot, reinstall windows and then install Ubuntu making sure to do the default option where it partitions your windows drive and sets up the dual boot. If you are going to go 100% ubuntu, I'd reinstall again with a separate /home partition since it makes it easy to reinstall later and not lose anything. I can explain how to do that if you want. Or just keep it the way it is for now and take some time to get used to it. It's up to you. It's your computer.

As for 2 monitors, it's possible but not always real easy to set up. Twinview and Xinerama (I think) are the two Ways most people do this. I think you'd have more luck if you open a new question for that. I did this once for an external LCD projector and it worked but was still "buggy".

If you consider this problem solved, please mark the best answer as such. If not, feel free to post back.

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wnukr (rswnuk) said : 		#7

Thanks Jim Hutchinson, that solved my question.