No dual boot option during install. Help please.

[mynameisdog4]

Hey all, I decided not to long ago that I would try out linux. After some reading I decided on Mint. Right now I'm on a live CD of Mint 14 (32-bit). I want to dual boot but when I go to the 'Install linux mint' I get two options: 'Replace windows XP with Linux Mint' and 'Create and resize partitions yourself'. I don't want to get rid of XP just yet, so I would like some help. Thanks

[xenopeek]

This means you Windows XP installation is already using 4 primary partitions. Unfortunately that is the maximum number of primary partitions you can have, meaning there is no way to automatically make room for Linux Mint as there is no empty primary partition slot available. The way to proceed on this is to figure out which of the current primary partitions you can do without, and delete that so that the Linux Mint installer can offer to install alongside Windows XP in that slot.

From the menu, open the Terminal application. Type the following command and press enter to execute it. Then from the Terminal's Edit menu do Select All and then Copy. Paste the copied text here and this will give us some idea of your partitions.

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

(That is the letter l at the end, not number 1.)

[mynameisdog4]

Okay, here it is. Error at the end, tell me if that's something important.

mint@mint ~ $ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA ST3200822AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 200GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 200GB 200GB primary ntfs boot


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr1 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr1
has been opened read-only.
Error: Invalid partition table - recursive partition on /dev/sr1.
Ignore/Cancel?

[xenopeek]

This is weird; it only shows one partition so the installer should easily pick up on this. Are you perhaps using RAID, or has your hard disk ever been in a RAID setup?

You could before you launch the installer use the program GParted from the Linux Mint installation ISO to resize your existing current Windows partition (or do so from Windows with a Windows program). Perhaps with free disk space available the installer will do as expected.

[mynameisdog4]

No, I don't have a RAID setup and never have. Do you think it could be the live CD? I tried on an old laptop and it also gave only two options for install.

[xenopeek]

No, it should offer three options.
- Install alongside current OS;
- Use entire disk;
- Something else.

But you can do the latter, and set up partitions yourself.