Linux How to DUAL BOOT Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04 (64-bit)

comp@ddict

comp@ddict

Skilled
I'm trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS alongside my Windows 8 Pro 64-bit installation. Problem is that I cannot lose my Windows 8 partition at all costs, have many drivers installed and need that partition till I know that I can completely do everything I do on Windows 8, with Ubuntu as well (might take a month or two).

But I need Linux to start compiling from source (CM) to get more into development of custom ROMs and kernels. Help out please. Can't find any decent or working guide on the internet.
 
The process is fairly simple. There are plenty on guides online, strange that you did not find one. You have 4 options:
1. Install Ubuntu in a VM.
2. Use Wubi to install Ubuntu.
3. Insert the Ubuntu CD, boot into Ubuntu, Start installing. When it asks where to install, select the option which says install alongside windows 8.
4. Insert the Ubuntu CD, boot into Ubuntu, Start installing. When it asks where to install, select the option which says something like "custom installation" or something (don't remember exactly) and then select a drive other than the windows drive as root ("/").

Personally, I would suggest the fourth option. But any would do. Easiest one is using Wubi.
 
I've downloaded the IMAGE. Used WUBI to install to pendrive (unofficial WUBI).

Then nothing. Boots to the menu, cannot install Ubuntu. Downloaded the IMAGE two times from different sources.

I don't understand what to do.
 
Wubi to install to pen drive? I'm not really sure what you mean.
Wubi is used to install Ubuntu as a program/application inside of windows.
 
Install into a VM. Just point VMware's cd drive to the iso of ubuntu. Everything works out of the box and if you have enough ram, dedicate 2 cores and at least 4-8GB to the linux VM. Things will be almost as fast as native.

I love to try out alternate operating systems. However it is such a pain to install them that I exclusively use vmware. Only thing natively installed on my machine is windows 7. Everything else is in a VM.
 
If I am not wrong, win8 comes with inbuilt hypervisor. which means you should be able to create a virtual machine right from control panel. I assume that you need Ubuntu for coding etc... for which vm is the best choice rather than screwing up your partitioning.
 
You should go for Installing Ubuntu in VMware or virtual box....
The best part of installing in it is that it will work the same as ubuntu installed on some system and also it will not affect any of the working of your Windows 8...
So you can do whatever in it and if there's some problem just reinstall ubuntu on virtual machine or remove it and your window 8 will same as that earlier no effect on windows 8....
And as you mentioned you want to compile from source (CM) to get more into development of custom ROMs and kernels , so why wasting your memory , whole partitions , and confusion too and messing things around ...
Go for Installing it virtually ....
Works same , nO separate partition, just allocate some part of memory (Ram) to this ubuntu machine depending on your work....
And it will do whatever you want.....
You can work as working in a normal UBUNTU.... :bigok:
 
comp@ddict said:
I'm trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS alongside my Windows 8 Pro 64-bit installation. Problem is that I cannot lose my Windows 8 partition at all costs, have many drivers installed and need that partition till I know that I can completely do everything I do on Windows 8, with Ubuntu as well (might take a month or two).

But I need Linux to start compiling from source (CM) to get more into development of custom ROMs and kernels. Help out please. Can't find any decent or working guide on the internet.
Click to expand...


Great to see you joining the development scene too. Remember me from xda (rugglez) ;) ?

First off, here's what I suggest: Avoid installing it on a virtual machine at all costs!
This coming from a ROM/kernel developer with months of experience, knowing how resource hungry building a ROM/kernel can be. It takes more than an hour to build on a sandy bridge quad core desktop on a full Ubuntu installation, so just imagine the pain on a virtual machine with more limited resources (cannot use the full cpu power, RAM of your PC).
If it keeps failing, keep trying other ways, but never use a virtual machine. Just trust me on this.

Secondly, I know you already have listed "64-bit ubuntu", but just saying, stick to 64 bit only for building. 32-bit wont work.

Thirdly, for installation, I used the simple procedure of downloading the image from the site here, and installing using this tool.
Keep a empty partition or unallocated space ready for this, which will make it safe (avoiding confusing which partition to format, where to install etc.)
If that doesnt work, use wubi (which can install ubuntu from within windows for versions 11.10 and older) to install 11.10 and then boot into ubuntu and upgrade to 12.10 inside it. Note that the installation may break if you happen to remove windows 8 some time later.
Finally, make the Ubuntu partition at least 100GB large. Thats a minimum, since a full blown CM build takes 25-30GB for the source code along with built files and output files. Building other roms may require separate directories to store sources, requiring more space. I had kept the partition 100GB large at first and after building some 2-3 out of 6 ROMs, found acute shortage of space, and extended it to ~200GB. It is not possible to extend when installing from inside windows (the 11.10 or older wubi method), so take care.

And if you need any other help, dont hesitate to ask ;)

Regards
 
Okay, so I don't want to lose my Windows 8 partition.

I have a 320 GB HDD partitioned like this

1. Local Disk C (48.8 GB - Windows 8 - HAVE TO KEEP) - 17.9 GB FREE

2. Local Disk E (88.6 GB of 97.6 GB FREE - I have a BACKUP)

3. Local Disk F (64.7 GB of 151 GB FREE - I have a BACKUP)

Now, I want to install Ubuntu but also re-partition by HDD.

a) Can I reduce my Local Disk C size so that I have only like 8 GB FREE (extra 10 GB can be allocated to other drive)

b) Repartition Local Disk 'E' and 'F' to make 2 new drives

i. Local Disk E (NEW) - 10 GB - Install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit in this
ii. Local Disk F (NEW) - 250 GB (all the remaining free space) - This will be used as my primary partition to store all data/media/movies/CM9 repo/ROM files/Games/etc. etc basically every personal and work data.

Is this doable? This is how I want to end up using the laptop. I always want to be able to boot into Windows 8 (but I have already installed everythng I ever need, no big software, hence I'm okay with 8 GB free space, heck even 5 GB free space). But I want Ubuntu installed for the Linux experience (last Ubuntu I used was 10.04) as well as to get deeper into custom rom developing, building from source etc. etc.
 
Its better to keep the linux OS and repo in the same partition. Makes executing terminal commands a lot easier. Plus, OS partition gets auto mounted, while others dont, so you would have to mount them each time you boot the OS (unless you have some workaround).
So its better to have the partitions like this.

E: Ubuntu + all building stuff

F: other stuff like media

Distribute the space among them accordingly.
 
If you are installing it in your laptop then it's ok but if you have dekstop kubuntu looks better and mind you ubuntu has some serious issues with nvidia gpu drivers as well.

In the end both distros will get the job done.
 
comp@ddict said:
I'm trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS alongside my Windows 8 Pro 64-bit installation. Problem is that I cannot lose my Windows 8 partition at all costs, have many drivers installed and need that partition till I know that I can completely do everything I do on Windows 8, with Ubuntu as well (might take a month or two).

But I need Linux to start compiling from source (CM) to get more into development of custom ROMs and kernels. Help out please. Can't find any decent or working guide on the internet.
Click to expand...


hi,
you can try easyBCD.read documentation .
EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

- - - Updated - - -

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu

- - - Updated - - -

it is free for non commercial use :)
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8. Will make a 270 GB partition and store Ubuntu there (and media files as well)

Other partition will be Windows 8.

Cool?
 
So I set up KUBUNTU. I'm not even able to install GOOGLE CHROME (stock browser is pathetic). UBUNTU for some reason refuses to install on my PC. I've set up a 200 GB partition just for development.

@rhlravi - help me out here. All guides are confusing as hell. Here's what I want to do:

- Compile CM9.1 from source (FXP build for my Xperia SOLA only, codename PEPPER)
 
It is never advisable to install Ubuntu or any "Linux" distro in Virtual Machine if you want to "learn and work", well you can if you are doing things for the heck of it.

Wubi though is a decent solution is not advisable at all.

rhlravi said:
Its better to keep the linux OS and repo in the same partition. Makes executing terminal commands a lot easier. Plus, OS partition gets auto mounted, while others dont, so you would have to mount them each time you boot the OS (unless you have some workaround).
So its better to have the partitions like this.

E: Ubuntu + all building stuff

F: other stuff like media

Distribute the space among them accordingly.
Click to expand...

You sure are ok with what you said? Cause it all seems haywire to me.

Inshort what you are saying is completely absurd. You cannot have a separate /etc partition (if you know what that means) , linux partition gets automounted (rofl) - ofcourse it will! How exactly it will boot if it doesn't ?

Also to mount other partition all you need is to edit fstab file in the /etc directory. Additionally I don't understand the fact that you recommended 100Gb for Ubuntu given you can use any partition for compiling, linking and whatnot.

@comp@ddicit- I am not sure what partition layout you have chosen since it hard to understand with what you have iterated above. Can you please post the output of

Code: 
sudo fdisk -l

Also why you have chosen Kubuntu over Ubuntu? Any specific reason? Kubuntu has been barred from any financial support from Canonical heck its not even the best KDE distro out there.

On to your issue - Google Chrome does add the repo during installation but I am not sure what problems you are facing and how you have initiated the install procedure. Chrome usually have many glibc / GTK dependencies maybe thats why it is not getting installed due to dependencies issue.
 
You can use the wubi that comes within the image itself. I am using that in my system,
Quad booting with linuxmint, xp, 7,8 using Easy BCD
 
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