Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

PC boot not seeing Ubuntu drive ...

Tags:
  • Windows
  • Boot
  • Ubuntu
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
Share
March 26, 2014 1:13:43 PM

I've (I think) successfully installed Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS to a USB (confirmed success) and from that to my E: drive, which is dedicated to Ubuntu. I also have C: F; G: H: I: J: and P: drives - all Windows.

When I boot the machine, Ubuntu on the E: drive is not detected. It sees only the Windows C: drive.

E: is visible in Windows Explorer although its contents are hidden, which I expect.

Any ideas?

Thanks ....

More about : boot ubuntu drive

March 27, 2014 3:06:38 AM

If you installed correctly then windows should see what used to be your "E" drive as unknown. How did you install?
ie You booted your computer from the USB and followed instructions, selected other for where to install and chose the "E" drive? I put the e in quotes because linux does not use that method of identifying drives.

Out of curiousity 8 drives for windows? Do you have more than one copy of windows or do you just like a lot of organizing?
m
0
l
Related resources
March 27, 2014 3:14:33 AM

Thanks for the response. 8 drives? - I keep everything and organize the hell out of it ... data, photos, music, video & P: is my backup drive.

m
0
l
March 27, 2014 4:02:01 AM

brianlcain said:
Thanks for the response. 8 drives? - I keep everything and organize the hell out of it ... data, photos, music, video & P: is my backup drive.



Just makes it a little tougher is all to identify which is the "e" drive, you have to know the size.
My advice is to go to your windows drive manager and just delete the partition you want to use.
Start your ubuntu install by booting the computer from the USB.
It's very straight forward until you get to the where to install page where you can select side by side with windows.

Since you are installing a nearly 2 year old version if you connect to the internet during the install it may take a while because it will update probably everything so if you have a slow internet don't connect and update at your convienience.

m
0
l
March 27, 2014 4:12:13 AM

stillblue said:
brianlcain said:
Thanks for the response. 8 drives? - I keep everything and organize the hell out of it ... data, photos, music, video & P: is my backup drive.



Just makes it a little tougher is all to identify which is the "e" drive, you have to know the size.
My advice is to go to your windows drive manager and just delete the partition you want to use.
Start your ubuntu install by booting the computer from the USB.
It's very straight forward until you get to the where to install page where you can select side by side with windows.

Since you are installing a nearly 2 year old version if you connect to the internet during the install it may take a while because it will update probably everything so if you have a slow internet don't connect and update at your convienience.



m
0
l
March 27, 2014 4:19:05 AM

I've installed from USB to the dedicated E: drive (hd2,1). Windows sees the E: drive but not the partitions - there are three (root, swap, ntfs). When I boot to Ubuntu, I get the GRUB prompt. I try to manually boot Ubuntu with:

set root=(hd2,1)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-15-generic ro root=/dev/sda2
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3-11-0-15-generic
boot

This takes me to the (initramfs) prompt.

What I really want is for the initial Ubuntu selection to automatically boot into Ubuntu.
m
0
l
March 27, 2014 4:24:54 AM

How do you know it is the sda2 partition? Have you booted to ubuntu? Did you copy the usb or follow the install instructions? If you are sure that ubuntu is installed then install boot-repair to your usb, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
Better still, boot to the usb and look at your drives from there first. Would that be how you found sda2?
m
0
l
March 27, 2014 4:35:02 AM

stillblue said:
How do you know it is the sda2 partition? Have you booted to ubuntu? Did you copy the usb or follow the install instructions? If you are sure that ubuntu is installed then install boot-repair to your usb, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
Better still, boot to the usb and look at your drives from there first. Would that be how you found sda2?


I get the same result using /dev/sda1. I followed the instructions when installing from the USB. I found sda1 and sda2 using 'ls' in the dev directory on hd2.
m
0
l
March 27, 2014 6:56:08 AM

Quote:
I get the same result using /dev/sda1. I followed the instructions when installing from the USB. I found sda1 and sda2 using 'ls' in the dev directory on hd2.


Instead of CDEF drives Linux uses sdx to identify them. sda is typically your hard drive and sda1, sda2... are the partitions. sdb1 would be your flash drive sdc1 your second flash drive etc...

Since you have 8 partitions your ubuntu could be on sda8!
To find out for sure boot to the live usb and go to a terminal. Do that by typing term in the search window. from there type sudo fdisk -l (as in lower case L, linux is case sensitive). You will see all your partitions listed, the linux one is Ubuntu.

If Ubuntu is there run boot-repair, it should fix you up. If Ubuntu is not there re-install it.
m
0
l
March 27, 2014 5:55:17 PM

sdc1 appears to be the correct partition but I'm still getting directed into (initramfs). I'm reinstalling.
m
0
l
March 27, 2014 6:31:14 PM

Boot into live USB and check "sudo parted -l" will list all partitions
m
0
l
March 27, 2014 7:07:53 PM

skittle said:
Boot into live USB and check "sudo parted -l" will list all partitions


That confirmed sdc1 as the correct partition .. reinstalling with fingers crossed ...

... all good. Reinstalled without "download updates" and we're up and running. Many thanks to you both for your assistance.
m
0
l
!