Ubuntu

dual boot issue, ubuntu MIA

Asked by M McCormick

I recently installed Ubuntu 12.10 from the DVD, to exist side by side with Windows 7. Ubuntu has its own physical drive, and the install claims to have gone smoothly....but when I reboot, all I see is the Windows bootloader, no sign of Ubuntu at all.

Further info: There was an installation of Windows 8 on the drive that now (allegedly) has Ubuntu on it, but when I installed, I told it to completely erase all previous data from both Win8 and my previous attempt at installing Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installer does not mention my Win7 installation at any point in the install process. Is there a way to get a grub happening so that I can have my choice of OS on startup?

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Anton Kanishchev
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M McCormick (highly-adulterated) said : 		#1

Addendum: attempted grub install using alternate disc, still no luck. (Booted alternate disc, selected 'other', designated the ext4 partition on the Ubuntu drive as root, pointed the grub install to my win7 drive)

Browsing related issues, I see this problem has been around for awhile now....any chance of a fix in the forseeable future?

I'm a Linux newbie, Ubuntu was recommended to me by a friend as the easiest transition from a lifelong Windows addiction. I guess what I'm trying to say is 'Please use small words in any instructions or explanations'.

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Anton Kanishchev (ak12-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#2

Not a final solution, but if there is only 1 physical hdd present on the system, does the installer recognise that windows 7 is present?

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M McCormick (highly-adulterated) said : 		#3

There are 5 hard drives total in the system; Windows has one, and I installed Ubuntu to another; the other 3 are NTFS and used for programs and storage. The installer doesn't seem to recognize win7 is there, it was only when I went to the 'do something else' option that it brought up the drive and noticed there was a Windows installation on it. The installer seems preoccupied with the old installation of win8 that I had installed to try it out, then over-wrote with Ubuntu when I decided to do a full install rather than go with what the wubi gave me. There is no longer a win8 installation present, only win7 on its own drive, and Ubuntu on a separate drive.

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Best Anton Kanishchev (ak12-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#4

Can you try to format the hdd that has (according to the installer) windows 8 on it and try again. It may be that during your first attempt to install ubuntu did not fully wipe the harddrive?

This may help also

http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/07/23/dual-boot-ubuntu-12-04-and-windows-7-on-a-computer-with-2-hard-drives/

This would explain why you only see the windows bootloader i think

http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/10/27/dual-boot-ubuntu-11-10-windows-7-on-a-pc-with-2-hard-drives/

Also what happens (if you have ubuntu installed on the other harddrive) if you select to boot from that harddrive from the bios?

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Anton Kanishchev (ak12-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#5

Try to select the hdd from the bios that you installed ubuntu to first, and see whether that works (boot options in bios, select your ubuntu hdd as first choice for example,you can always change it back).

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M McCormick (highly-adulterated) said : 		#6

Changing the hard drive order in the BIOS has solved the problem (he said shamefacedly). Thank you Anton for all your help!

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M McCormick (highly-adulterated) said : 		#7

Thanks Anton Kanishchev, that solved my question.

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Anton Kanishchev (ak12-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#8

No worries great it is all sorted now.

 I think since you were installing ubuntu on a separate hdd it also installed grub (bootloader used in ubuntu) on the same harddrive so thats why you weren't getting any prompts to boot ubuntu intially, and kept getting windows loading screen.