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ubiquity package

I installed Fedora 17, as dual boot with Ubuntu 12.10, much badness followed.

Asked by Richard Ryan Cadwalader

I have (had) Ubuntu 12.10 on an ASUS 56E laptop. It was originally dual booting with Windows 8. I took Win8 off its partition and formatted it in preparation for installing Fedora 17. I used OS Uninstaller on a Ubuntu Live USB to take off the Window 8, then GParted to repartition the drive into three partitions: One with Ubuntu 12.10 and two unallocated. I then installed Fedora. It was not exactly as easy install. Fedora didn't want to install on its partition, it wanted to share the partion with Ubuntu. Anyway, I probably didn't install it the best way I could have. It seems like there's way too many sectors.

I know that after installing Fedora you have to reinstall Grub 2. I used the Ubuntu Live USB bootable to go back in to try to clean up things and put Grub 2 back in and MAN OH MAN, it's so screwed up. I can't get any WiFi with the Live USB, I can't get WiFi with Fedora, I can't get the Grub 2 back on, the OS Uninstaller tells me RAID in detected, it tells me my computer will be unbootable if I uninstall or try to use the boot repair. I can't install any packages because I can't get the Wifi to work. The WiFi pops up every 30 seconds trying to connect.

I don't really care if I have to format everything and install both Fedora and Ubuntu again. I have most of my files backed up and the Ubuntu has only be on the computer about 4 months. It's no big deal if I can't recover it. I don't want to go through all this trouble again though. Can someone tell me the easiest, correct, and stress free way to get Fedora 17 on one partition and Ubuntu 12.10 on the other, with both bootable and connected.

I have the Fedora .iso on CD and the Ubuntu 12.10 Live on USB. I have a Windows 8 Sony laptop if I need to download anything or someone wants to hold my hand while I struggle with this.

Thanks for anything you think might help me get up and running.

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N1ck 7h0m4d4k15
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/09/live-usb-sticking-grub-2-video

May help. Chroot to the Ubuntu OS and reinstate Grub to the MBR of the Ubuntu drive then in BIOS set the Ubuntu drive as boot.

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Best N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#2

MAN OH MAN .. LoL

OK , here is the deal ..

you shouldn't install fedora's grub at all. If you choose "advanced install" you can point the fedora's root partition (assumed /dev/sda3) to install grub and NOT the MBR (/dev/sda).

Next step would be a reboot and log in to Ubuntu and update-grub.

Now the difficult part is that you have not Internet at all (If I understood correctly). Don't you have Ethernet cable ?
If you managed to establish an Internet connection you could use boot-repair and try to repair the boot loader.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair#A2nd_option_:_install_Boot-Repair_in_Ubuntu

Just boot from Ubuntu live USB and install and run boot repair.. but Internet connection is required.

OR else

remove everything and install Ubuntu and Fedora from scratch.

Thanks

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Richard Ryan Cadwalader (rcadwalader) said : 		#3

Thanks NikTh, that solved my question.

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Richard Ryan Cadwalader (rcadwalader) said : 		#4

Sort of, the boot-repair got Ubuntu back, but now Fedora isn't listed at boot time. It's always something. I'm trying to fix it.

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N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#5

We will fix that as well.

Boot into Ubuntu and open a terminal , then mount the partition with Fedora. I assume is /dev/sda3 and of course I assume that you installed Ubuntu's Grub on MBR (not Fedora's) , then execute

sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Then update grub

sudo update-grub

I'm almost certain that now Fedora detected by grub :-)

Thanks

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Richard Ryan Cadwalader (rcadwalader) said : 		#6

Here's my solution: Back to square one! I'm going to re-install Ubuntu 12.10 on the entire drive and then run Fedora 17 in a Virtual Machine. One partition, no wasted space, no conflicts. I started this fiasco because I'm about to take Linux Administration for my Networking Degree. I guess I need it.

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N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#7

Good Luck with your degree :-)

Of course you need it and if you want to dive in deep waters , then try Arch Linux. (Virtual Box of course). Some good tutorials about installation procedure exist in Web (even in youtube).

"Your solution(VB)" sound to me as the most harmless (go for it).

One last thing.. as you will install from scratch , consider to install the LTS version of Ubuntu (12.04) . Long Term Support means (support until 2017) and stability and if you want to work seriously with your system , then stability required :-)

12.04.1 LTS can be found here: http://releases.ubuntu.com/precise/

Thanks