Duel boot Ubuntu 14.04 and Windows 8.1 (preinstalled)

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Oggie7797

Oggie7797

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May 12, 2014
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The title is pretty self explanatory, but I recently got a Dell Ispiron 1500 3000series with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4030U CPU @1.90GHz and a 1TB HDD and it came preloaded with Windows 8.1. Coming from Vista, I was hesitant to use Windows8.1 and well, after a couple of months...I hate it. I now run Ubuntu 14.04 in my VM because Windows 8 is so terrible.

I was going to just partition off space and duel boot Ubuntu since it will run much faster instead of using a VM and I have a lot of storage, but as I started reading online it seems like there's alot more to duel booting with a Win8.1 preinstall than my last laptop was (dell inspiron 1720 32bit vista)

There are a good few guides online but knowing me and my luck I figured I'd make damn well and sure that I had all of the right info that would help me and my particular device. Two of the Guides:
(This one is super in depth and loses me honestly..)http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-windows-8-64-bit-system-uefi-supported
(This is easier to follow with pictures but the comments under it steer me away..)http://itsfoss.com/install-ubuntu-1404-dual-boot-mode-windows-8-81-uefi/

Sorry for being like every other needy noob out there, but I like to make sure I do everything that I can to protect myself from nuking a brand new laptop lol thanks for any help that any of you can provide..
 
Solution
stillblue
I've installed on 3 of those Dells.
First make a recovery flash drive of windows if you think you'll be needing it. 16 GB
Delete the recovery partition from your hard drive.
Follow the instructions on your link but...
Shrink your main partition to make room for Ubuntu.
Make an Ubuntu partition, ext4 and a smallish SWAP of 4-8 GB.
There is a 500mb partition near the front, shrink that by 100mb.
In the new empty space make a fat32 partition, this will be partition sda8 and where you'll be installing GRUB.
Type of installation - Something else.
click on the new ubuntu partition and put "/ " for the mount point.
Where it says device for boot loader select the new 100mb partition, probably sda8.
Carry on.
I find it easier to make...
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MIJ-VI

MIJ-VI

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Mar 28, 2010
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I have no idea about how to deal with UEFI. I actually bought a couple of used, FX-8350-capable, Ubuntu / Linux Mint-friendly, pre-UEFI era motherboards to avoid it. That being said:

1) Have you backed up your Windows 8.x to a set of DVDs (assuming that this is still the procedure)?
2) Have you backed up your personal files to an external hard drive, another computer or to some DVDs?
3) IME dual-booting Ubuntu with Windows 7 on the same hard drive on any PC-BIOS-based rig was a PITA because Windows' updates would often overwrite the GRUB. I suspect that Windows 8.x on a UEFI machine wouldn't be much better.

If you have a USB-based hard drive handy you can install Ubuntu onto that (be sure to place the GRUB onto the USB drive during the install) and then boot into either hard drive via the UEFI's boot menu.

Years ago I bought a new 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium-equipped Acer 5517, backed up the OS onto DVDs, shrunk the Windows partition to install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and then updated Windows--which promptly nuked the GRUB and prevented me from booting into either OS. I wiped Windows off the Acer's HD and never looked back.

BTW. I tried the preview of Windows 10 via VirtualBox. Win 10 > Win 8.
 
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stillblue

stillblue

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Nov 30, 2012
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I've installed on 3 of those Dells.
First make a recovery flash drive of windows if you think you'll be needing it. 16 GB
Delete the recovery partition from your hard drive.
Follow the instructions on your link but...
Shrink your main partition to make room for Ubuntu.
Make an Ubuntu partition, ext4 and a smallish SWAP of 4-8 GB.
There is a 500mb partition near the front, shrink that by 100mb.
In the new empty space make a fat32 partition, this will be partition sda8 and where you'll be installing GRUB.
Type of installation - Something else.
click on the new ubuntu partition and put "/ " for the mount point.
Where it says device for boot loader select the new 100mb partition, probably sda8.
Carry on.
I find it easier to make and delete partitions with gparted in the ubuntu live USB. Resizing the windows one is best done in windows. Make sure you delete the right one. If you do that you can easily recover windows with your USB recovery if you deleted the wrong one and then go back to your Ubuntu install.

Common mistakes. Be sure you stay in UEFI. Both systems have to be installed under UEFI or legacy, since windows is already under UEFI leave that alone. Be sure you completely shut down windows, disabling fast start not optional to be safe. The funky 100mb partition at the beginning had me fooled for a while too, why Dell added the extra hoop I don't know.
Any more Linux questions probably should be put on the Linux board for quicker help.
 
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