8.10: installation problems (partitioning)

hi hit start type computer

hi hit start type computer then go to computer management then disc management right click drive c shrink volume then install ubuntu thats how to duel boot may help !

not sure i understand what you mean? in the terminal? it says start:need to be root. i cant type in the prepare partitions box

sorry im new to unbuntu where do i find the disc managment

Maybe you can use GParted. You can find it in Synaptic (Gparted) or you can install it by typing "sudo apt-get install Gparted".

Hope it helps.
Peter

thats what im trying to do now im trying to find out how to partition my drive with Gparted and then install unbuntu on a partition with my broken vista on the other partition with hopes that i can somehow fix my vista files... im going to play around with Gparted a bit more and see what i can come up with and ill let you know the result... if anyone knows exactly what i have to do to show partitions for the install please save me the time and tell me how

Hi,
I read your previous post and I'm not sure if installing Ubuntu is a good solution for you if you have a broken MBR from Vista.
I'm sure that if you install Ubuntu you can almost read the data in your Vista partition if you have enough free space on your hard drive.
First, you can read this page about how to download and install Ubuntu:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/iso
If you want to know about partitioning or re-partitioning your existing hard drive, you can go to:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/partitioning
and finally, if you want to create a dual boot machine, you can go to this page:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installing

Yes you can boot from the Ubuntu desktop live cd to try it, without installing it...
If you press install icon you can install Ubuntu on your hard disk...
Gnu Ubuntu linux don't destroy any Windows files if you try from live cd and even if you will install it you must choose into install step to DON'T use the entire disk...

Here a video http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=IlQGk0PcqbI

If you choose to install please don't do as you will see in the video link, he use the entire disk...
If you want to repair your broken vista, you can try this tool:
http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/
Download the iso image and burn it, then boot from them and run TestDisk, Data Recovery.
you can find more info about TestDisk (installation and how to use it) at: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
Hope this helps, let me know.

thank you so much im on my way to work so i will try to repair the vista and run a dual boot when i get home ill keep you informed of the outcome thanks again

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

still having an issue... i cant seem to partition the hard drive... i followed the directions you all have provided me with, i have 4 partitions... one for windows, one for ubuntu, one for fat32 and another that was mounted already ( i assume something for vista) i applied the changes and tried the install once again. Still when i get to the manage partitions part of the install it dosent show me any partitions or files to manage. Its getting frustrating because i cant do the install without this step and i cant attempt to fix vista or get online without doing the full install. When i load Gparted it shows me the 4 partitions. Im wondering if maybe there is an issue with the ubuntu install program that it dosent show the partitions. I ran the check disk for errors part of the boot disk and it keeps saying there is 1 error in 1 file but it never fixes it and i dont seem to have any problems with the OS. The only option i havnt tried that you provided me with is the loop-linux ISO that has the system scan on it. Thats my next step and im going to try that tomorrow. If anyone has any ideas as to why my partitions wont show up please let me know.

"Manual" partitioning rather than "Guided" or automatic is the only way the installer ses's the partitions you've already created. There's a moment after you click "Ok" where it's a bit worrying but then you see all your partitions neatly laid out. For some bizarre and crazy reason the installer partitioner uses a different colour-coding system than gparted.

Sorry i didn't realise that i needed to tell you this. Not many other people are wise enough to set up partitions before running the installer and i didn't realise the guidelines page i gave out didn't include something about "Manual" partitioning.

Apols, good luck and regards from
Tom :

ok so after partitioning the drive i still didnt have any partitions show up and could not complete the install so i erased the whole disk and attempted to install ubuntu from scratch as the only OS on my machine. i successfully erased all data and all partitions on the drive. i rebooted and returned to the install option on the boot disk. it now shows my partitions with ubuntu install taking 100% of drive space. i used the guided install and it fails to install a swap space with the error The creation of swap space in partition #5 of SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) failed. Any ideas?

Avoid "Guided". You are a 'power-user' and these things are designed to make it easy for clueless people to 'just work'. As such it's settings are unlikely to be right for you.

To fix it depends on how large your Ram is. If it's over 1Gb then just delete the linux-swap and it's extended partition and then increase the size of your ext3 partition. If your Ram is 1Gb or less or if you're planning on really pushing this machine with heavy games usage then use gparted to delete the linux-swap and it's extended partition, resize your ext3 to allow a new linux swap in a primary partition of 2Gb.

If Ubuntu really needs your swap and wont let you unlock it let alone delete it then use a tiny distro as a Live Cd and use the gparted on that. I recommend Wolvix because it can avoid using ram much too
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

thank you so much i got ubuntu to install with the swap space through the manual partition. it took two tries i had to do the manual partition then reboot then go to the manual option again and format then install. couldnt have done it without your help i was really spinning in circles on this one. im sure ill be back to ask some more questions as i said im brand new to ubuntu and linux in general and im still having issues with my internet not working but ill be looking to burn and install some files to help with that now that my disk drive is not full with the boot disk. thanks again.

Great!

YES, great result. Nicely done, congrats and welcome in to Ubuntu :)
i just stumbled across this which might help a little, i have no idea how to configure network-manager so it'd probably be better to go straight to asking about that in here and some-one's bound to help. In the meantime find JuanCarlospacos answer in this thread
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/60411

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)