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How to install second operating system

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Have Ubuntu on Flash Drive, wondering how to install it to my hard drive so that it becomes an item on my Operating System Menu. 

My PC has one internal hard drive, 320GB. Windows XP is running in primary partition Sys (C:) and data is store in logical partition (D:); have 209GB of unallocated space.

Should I make partitions for Ubuntu 9.04 and install Ubuntu to specified partitions, or proceed with auto install ?

KC

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KC:

I would not use the auto install feature to install Ubuntu or you will end up with the Linux boot manager, GRUB, installed to the Master Boot Record (MBR), which you may not want to do if you intend to use Acronis OS Selector as the boot manager.

While you can create all of the partitions from the Ubuntu partitioner, you might as well use Disk Director (DD) to create them. Decide on the number and size of partitions that you want. A good starting point is to create three partitions; one for the operating system (root), one for a swap partition (swap), and one for user files (home). All can be logical partitions. The root partition needs to be about 10 GB, swap needs to be the size of your RAM, and home is up to you. Using Disk Director, format root and home as ext3, and swap as Linux swap. Give each partition a name so that you can easily tell them apart.

When you run the Ubuntu installer, choose manual partitioning. You will not need to format the partitions; just select each one and choose "Mount". Watch carefully when you step through the steps in the installer and be sure to install GRUB to the Linux root partition; not to the MBR. You may find that the Ubuntu Alternate Install CD gives you more control over this process than the normal Ubuntu Live Desktop CD.

After installation then you can get OS Selector to detect the Linux installation and add it to your OS Selector menu.

The best laid plans can go astray, and this time regrettably did.  When I accessed the Flash Drive Ubuntu auto installed.  I have a Linux boot manager installed in MBR.  I would like to use Acronis OS Selector as the boot manager.  What should I do?

I have a CD with Acronis OS Sector Activator installed on it, but it fails to activate OSS.  I do not believe I completed the installation OSS, although the filesnare on the hard drive. 

I have another Cd and can boot to DD Suite.  Can I use DD to create the following partitions for Ubuntu: Ubuntu (root) 10GB, Linux Swap, 2GB, Ubuntu User (home) 30GB. Then run Ubuntu installer, and manually Mount each partition, and install GRUB to Linux root.

KC

KC:

Yes, you can. The installation method you described is the one that I would recommend using. For best control over the Ubuntu installer, download and use the "Alternate Install" version of the CD.

Hi Kolo,
I want to use Acronis OS selector to select between 2 different hard drives one for XP and one for Ubuntu. I have Ubuntu 9.04 installed on an separate IDE drive and it boots properly when its the only drive in the system. When I make it a slave on the IDE 1 buss [XP is master], and run the Acronis OS detection wizard, it sees it i.e. "Disk 2" EXT 3 Pri, Act 278GB, Linux swap 1.47 GB. When I subsequently click on Ext 3 [278GB] and select "Bootable", then proceed "next" it says "No operating system found in specified partiion". Am I hosed? I have a feeling that there is no "loader" partition being recognized. Is there a way to fix this within the DD suite of tools?

Thanks

Derek:

Where is GRUB installed? From your description it sounds like it's installed to the MBR of Disk 2. I'm not an expert on OS Selector, but I think that for it to recognize your Linux partition as a bootable partition you would need to install GRUB to the boot sector of the ext3 (Ubuntu) partition.

Try this. Start Ubuntu and go to a terminal. Start GRUB by typing "sudo grub" to get a GRUB command prompt. Enter the command "find /boot/grub/stage1" to see a list of all locations on your disk(s) that contain the file "stage1" (grub's loader file). You will probably see something like (hd1,0). Remember this location.

Then install grub to the Ubuntu partition by entering the command "root (hd1,0)" and then enter the command "setup (hd1,0)" {but substitute the location that was determined in the previous step for both commands if it is not (hd1,0)}.

The prior step will remove GRUB from the MBR and install it to the Ubuntu partition. Before exiting you should also make this partition active, just in case you decide to boot it without OS Selector. So enter the command "makeactive", then "quit" to exit GRUB's command line.

If you boot Disk 2 alone it should start GRUB like before but in its new location. Once this is working, try detecting with OS Selector again and it should be recognized as an OS partition.