Dual-boot Ubuntu

O

OldGrantonian

Member
I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit on Dell Inspiron 6400

I want to have a go at installing a dual-boot Ubuntu 9.04 :)

Why? "Because it's there!"

I've experimented with Wubi, which is dual-boot Ubuntu 9.04, but does not need it's own partition. (This allows a painless evaluation of Ubuntu. Clever idea!)

I would be most grateful if anyone could recommend some do's and don'ts. (BTW: I have complete Genie backups of my system files and data files.)

I intend to follow the instructions at the following two links:

The definitive dual-booting guide: Windows 7, Linux, Vista and XP step-by-step

Ubuntu:Intrepid -

My overall impression is that the commonest problem is that users can no longer boot to Vista after installing Ubuntu. IMHO, users get problems if they do the following:

1) Shrink the current Vista partition.
2) Create a new partition in the free space, to be used eventually for Ubuntu.

It's step 2 that seems to cause the problem. Alternative advice, such as in the two links that I quoted above, say that you should do *nothing* with the free space. You should allow Ubuntu to do everything itself.

I would be grateful for any comments?
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My Computer

System One

I already tried out SUN's Virtual Box here and no go for simply trying to get older versions of Windows running with that as one item seen in the article there. For seeing the Vista primary reduced in size not more then 15gb to 20gb since ubuntu is small to begin with for a Linux distro the free Gnome Partition Editor generall known as GParted live for cd is the choice tool for both shrinking the Vista primary down and creating the new VFat ext2 or ext 3 primary(root) for ubuntu.

The option for a second extended swap partition is just that an option while not being a necessity due to Linux having it's own form of swap file. The one thing however to watch out for is not seeing the installation of Grub into the Vista mbr to avoid Grub 14 and 22 errors but making the root the "/" mount point.

From there you can add the ubuntu entry into the Vista BCD with the NeoGrub option seen in the free EasyBCD tool available at Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

The instructions plus other references for that are seen at Dashboard - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

When first running the ubuntu installer make sure to select the manual method and select the root partition. Later hightlight that and click the edit button to assign that as the "/"" mount point so you don't see the installer decide to reformat and partition the entire drive for Linux only! You want to see the root set as mount in order to have the NeoGrub pointed to that in order to see ubuntu load as an option when Vista first starts.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built desktops =2 Toshiba replace HP laptop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb core 3.6ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper X 1.5v DDR3 PC12800 1600mhz 16gb
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI Radeon HD 5750 1tb
    Sound Card
    Creative X-Fi XtremeAudio PCIe
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus 19" HP 20" second lcd main HP 20" remote pc.
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1600x900 main - 1600x900 2nd desktop
    Hard Drives
    WD Black Edition 1tb Sata II -2 WD SAS "Heavy Duty" RE class 2tb - 2 External usb/eSata WD Black 1tb main -1 External usb only WD Green Power 1tb -1
    PSU
    Corsair 750w 750TX main - Corsair 600w remote
    Case
    Antec 900-2 - SSD compatible eSata ports 2 - NZXT Vulcan 2nd
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900A cpu, twin front 120s, top 200cm, rear 120
    Mouse
    MSI Interceptor D200
    Keyboard
    AZIO Ilumminated keys gaming keyboard/volume control usb
    Internet Speed
    30mbps upgrade
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