dual booting Ubuntu 13.04 and Windows 7

[Basil Chupin]

On 27/05/13 07:25, Gerhard Magnus wrote:
> This may be helpful to anyone trying to dual boot Ubuntu 13.04 and 
> Windows 7, or even just to install Ubuntu 13.04 by itself on some 
> post-2010 machines. At least the details will end up on the Web for 
> someone having similar problems.
>
> I bought a new box with the Intel DB75EN motherboard that uses the 
> UEFI standard and DPT partitioning for the hard drives. I also bought 
> Windows 7 Home Premium and had it installed at the shop. My plan was 
> to dual boot Windows and Linux as I have successfully for the past 
> decade or so. (I still need Windows because some people I collaborate 
> with use Microsoft Word, and LibreOffice has never quite caught up 
> with it.)
>
> Back home, I was able to easily install Ubuntu 13.04. Upon restarting, 
> I was booted into Ubuntu without seeing a grub menu page.  After 
> shutting down, I did, however, find entries on the BIOS boot menu for 
> both Microsoft and Ubuntu, and by changing the boot order I was able 
> to boot successfully back into Windows.
>
> That was the last I saw of the Ubuntu installation for several days. 
> There was still no grub menu but now no reference to Ubuntu in the 
> BIOS boot list. And I could only boot into Windows 7.
>
> Although interesting and/or incredibly time wasting, none of the 
> threads I traced on the Web offering solutions to this problem were 
> useful in getting the Ubuntu OS back, let alone in allowing me to dual 
> boot Ubuntu 13.04 with Windows 7. The dual boot may even be impossible 
> with this post-2010 motherboard, fulfilling Microsoft's long-term 
> agenda to block Intel machines from running anything except Microsoft 
> products. Those people are so evil!
>
> After a lot of hacking through the underbrush that got me nowhere, 
> here's what ultimately worked:
> (1) Select "Try Ubuntu" with the 64-bit Desktop Installation CD and 
> connect to the Internet.
> (2) sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
> (3) sudo apt-get update
> (4) sudo apt-get install boot-repair
> (5) Run boot-repair. Go to the "advanced" menu, and repair the MBR. 
> This is the crucial step.
> (6) Install Ubuntu 13.04, being sure to use the option that erases the 
> entire disk.
>
> I think Windows 7 keeps writing over information in the MBR to prevent 
> the installation of any other OS. What I did completely nuked my 
> Windows OS, but at least I was able to install Ubuntu 13.04.
>
> One wonderful thing about computers and computer software is that what 
> little one knows is automatically leveraged into being able to do so 
> much more. I don't fully understand why this procedure worked (it's 
> not on the Web) and would appreciate any insights. I suspect the 
> problem is that the new DPT partitioning scheme uses the old-school 
> Master Book Record in very different ways. Can modern motherboards 
> work with, let alone boot from MBR-partitioned hard drives? Has anyone 
> actually been able to dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 13.04 on a new 
> machine? (The threads on the Web start out so bravely and then seem to 
> peter out....)
>
> The long-time dealer (Computek in Portland, OR) who sold me the box 
> has delivered superior, long-lasting products, and when components 
> have invariably failed I've gotten great service, even on obsolete 
> machines. Unfortunately, he adamantly does not "do Linux" and the best 
> I can hope from him would be to get me back to where I started.  But 
> I'd rather eat the cost and use my Windows 7 disc as a coaster than go 
> through this again!

I don't quite understand why you had such a hassle with dual-booting 
with Windows 7 and your preferred version of LInux, Ubuntu, installed.

For Christmas I bought my wife a new computer (with an Intel mobo/cpu) 
which came pre-installed with Windows 7.

The day it arrived I installed my preferred Linux distro (openSUSE), 
after making some room for it by shrinking the Windows' partition, and I 
can boot between the two systems with ease. (Windows, BTW, is only used 
to update the files on the Garmin sat nav unit I have.)

BC

-- 
Using openSUSE 12.3, KDE 4.10.3 & kernel 3.9.4-1 on a system with-
AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor
16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM
Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20130527/6e4c229d/attachment.html>