Installation doesn't detect Windows 8.1

[inikhil]

I'm trying to install Linux Mint 17 via a USB along with Windows 8.1 but installation isn't detecting Windows 8.1. My Laptop came with DOS so i installed Windows 8.1 and followed some guide to shrink a DRIVE for Linux Mint installation . When i boot through USB, installation says "your computer has DOS" i chose Something else option but upon clicking on free disk space nothing really happens and when i click on install on the free space i get error "No root found something" i tried some commands update and detect the existing Windows 8.1 OS but i got error error: failed to get canonical path of /cow. Any help?

[Pierre]

- from within the win_8 - can you paste a screen_shot of the available partitions, that win_8 has?.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ ... dows-7.htm

[inikhil]

[inikhil]

any help guys?

[Pierre]

you have Four simple partition(s),
which is the maximum that you can have. ..
- you need to delete at least one of them.

since this is a Laptop, all four partitions can be used:
- Windows boot partition,
- Windows system partition,
- Windows recovery partition
- the C: drive itself.

so - what is on the D: & E: drives?.

one will be the system partition
& one will be the recovery partition.

From My Computer - can you determine which is which?.

[inikhil]

I have some stuffs on those Drives.
How can i delete a Drive and allocate the space to other Drives.
So i need C Drive 160 GB, D Drive 320 GB and 20 GB for linux mint

[Pierre]

okay - can you zap the E: drive?.

should be able to right click on it & click on delete. ..
- that will add more space to that vacant area that is on the right.

maybe copy your stuff to the D: drive, temporarily, at least.

once that is done, boot from the Linux Mint stick & run the system partitioner - Gparted.
- it should now 'see' some vacant space - on the right side of the displayed area.
maybe around 171Gb of space.

if so, convert that space into a extended partition area.
- then you can make some "logical" partition into that extended area.
say - 2 - 3 of them.

- /10 Gb = / root
- 150Gb = /home
- 1 - 2 Gb = /swap.

if you don't won't use that much, then leave some vacant space of the left of the extended partition
& combine that back into the D: drive.
- you will need to use Gparted to do all this, as the win_7 can't

Finally - use the something else option within the Mint installer,
point to each partition in turn, apply each one, then click on next, to continue with the install.

[inikhil]

Thanks a lot for your help
Successfully installed Linux Mint

[inikhil]

why doesn't it remember my saved preferences?
everytime i log in i have to again tweak settings.

[deepdrummer]

if you install kde-config-grub2 and grub2 from the software manager and then run kde-config-grub2, you will see a check box where it will detect all other operating systems and put an entry in the boot menu. You can also choose for it to remember the last boot and then you can automatically make it the default simply by picking it with the menu and then reboot. It will boot to the same one and will hve changed the boot menu default (although not neccessarily move it to the top of the list). Then uncheck themake next boot default and you will have a defailt boot to whichever you want or select it or others from the boot menu list.
If you leave the detect OS checked it will remember every OS you boot and add it to the menu as well. Simple check boxes do your remembering for you. It's all I use and have used it many times. It's a work of art. Mine generally end up with a boot to windows, boot to Linux, boot to cd and boot to usb. As a bonus it puts in a safe mode boot and a memory testing boot as well. I Love it. No more messing with the Bios to boot to different drives or usb. You just have to get there once and it gets written. It's pure genius. It's the first thing I install after getting the latest updates for Linux Mint.

[inikhil]

I was talking about settings which i change while i'm using the OS and when i restart the machine all changes are vanished which force me to tweak the settings again and again.