Doesn't detect windows 8 for install alongside

[t888]

Ok so I have my 64bit linux mint cinnamon disk and it boots up but when I go to install(I want to install along side windows 8 ) Its doesn't detect my OS so there is no along side install option.

How do I either:

A: Get it to detect windows for the onside install

Or

B: Use the custom option to install but not lose my data from windows and windows itself

Thanks!

[computerbob]

I would shrink the Win8 volume down to make room for a linux installation. Do a backup. Make a dual boot.

Use the Mint16 64bit live cd
Install using the something else option
On the install screen
right under - + change
Device for bootloader installation
Hit the arrow on the right
pick your target sda not sda1 (Edit I'm told I am in error on this)
You want the grub to be in the boot sector of the drive.

You may have to disable secure boot in bios. This is a subject with which I am not familiar.
re http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/

[Mark Phelps]

If this is a new PC that came preinstalled with Win8 64-bit, it's likely to have UEFI (new form of BIOS) -- and I have no experience with that other than to know that if you do not know exactly what you are doing, you risk completely trashing the Win8 install.

Best to leave alone until a UEFI expert comes along with detailed advice.

[Derek_S]

Hit the arrow on the right
pick your target sda not sda1
You want the grub to be in the boot sector of the drive.

You may have to disable secure boot in bios. This is a subject with which I am not familiar.
re http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/

@computerbob - I know you mean well. I do not mean to offend you. I do not mean to embarrass you. I only want to correct you. Please stop doing this. Not everyone is using MBR partitioning, as you obviously are. Some people are trying to dual boot Windows 8 and Linux Mint, as is the case here. In this case, grub must be installed to the same partition as the Windows 8 EFI bootloader. Please take the time to ask the O.P. questions if you are not sure of what it is they are doing. This is not the first time you have done this, and I'm speaking up now because none of the forum moderators or administrators have noticed this so far.

[t888]

If this is a new PC that came preinstalled with Win8 64-bit, it's likely to have UEFI (new form of BIOS) -- and I have no experience with that other than to know that if you do not know exactly what you are doing, you risk completely trashing the Win8 install.

Best to leave alone until a UEFI expert comes along with detailed advice.

Yea its pretty new thats probably the case

[Derek_S]

@t888 - Go to Control Panel>All>Admin. Tools>Disk Management in Windows 8 and have a look. Usually WinRE is the first partition, which translates to sda1 in Linux. Usually System EFI is the second partition, which is sda2. DO NOT take may word for this, that is why I said usually, you want to verify this for yourself. I always list my existing partitions on a piece of paper to use as a reference during the install. Also, if you are going to shrink C:/ partition, it is safer to do it using Windows Disk Management rather than Gparted.

Edit: I almost forgot, if you have an EFI partition, Microsoft has a partition named Microsoft Reserved Partition, located between System EFI and C:/ partition. Windows Disk Management does not display this partition, Gparted does. Again, usually this will be sda3.

[t888]

@t888 - Go to Control Panel>All>Admin. Tools>Disk Management in Windows 8 and have a look. Usually WinRE is the first partition, which translates to sda1 in Linux. Usually System EFI is the second partition, which is sda2. DO NOT take may word for this, that is why I said usually, you want to verify this for yourself. I always list my existing partitions on a piece of paper to use as a reference during the install. Also, if you are going to shrink C:/ partition, it is safer to do it using Windows Disk Management rather than Gparted.

Edit: I almost forgot, if you have an EFI partition, Microsoft has a partition named Microsoft Reserved Partition, located between System EFI and C:/ partition. Windows Disk Management does not display this partition, Gparted does. Again, usually this will be sda3.

Ok I'm in disk management but I'm confused on what to do from here

theres two small disks with no name then c: with most of my hard drive then two "recovery d:"'s with a few gigs

[Derek_S]

@t888 - Are you looking in the top panel? Under Status? It should say Healthy(Recovery Partition) and Healthy(EFI System Partition), do you see something else?

[gold_finger]

@t888,

It's likely that the live Mint DVD/USB you're using is not being booted in the correct mode. Sounds like it's booted in Legacy/CSM/BIOS mode and needs to be booted in UEFI mode. (Yes, that's a mouthful! )

Along the line that Derek_S has been leading to, you need to find out a few things for certain before attempting an install of Mint. Use the following link to determine the info you need: What's Your Boot Mode?.

Go to section titled "Identifying Your Windows Boot Mode" to find out if Windows is booting in UEFI mode, using GPT partitions, and whether or not it is 64-bit install.

You can also use the section "Identifying Your Linux Boot Mode" while booted into your live Mint disk to see which mode the DVD/USB was booted in. It must be the same mode as that which the Windows installation is in.

Next, read the link that computerbob referenced (Linux on UEFI: A Quick Installation Guide). Article provides valuable info on things to be aware of when installing to UEFI system.

Then, before attempting anything, read through this whole thread which has a lot of useful information scattered throughout it on installing to UEFI system. The user briholt (who succeeded with the UEFI install) found and posted some valuable documentation describing his UEFI settings. Yours may be similar to them, so have a look and familiarize yourself with the info to give yourself a head start.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=153310

Primary key to success is making sure to use same boot mode and partitioning scheme as Windows is using -- likely to be UEFI boot mode and GPT partitioning on a newer system with Windows 8 pre-installed. So you may have to go into your UEFI firmware before booting into live Mint DVD/USB and make sure all the settings are done in a way that gets you booted into the correct mode for installing. From there, everything should go relatively smoothly.

You may still have questions after all that reading (understandable). When/If you post back, boot-up into your live Mint DVD/USB, open a terminal (Menu -> Accessories -> Terminal), copy/paste the following into it and hit enter:

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

That will list the partitions on your hard drive(s) and also show us whether they are GPT or MBR partitions. Paste the output of that command back here with your post.

[t888]

Ok so what I learned:

my system is EFI
Legacy options were off and I turned secure boot mode of as stated
Booted linux still didnt detect Window OS
I HAVE A HEADACHE

Please help me in idiots terms!

This stuff makes me want to smash my computer :'(

[computerbob]

If you have windows 8 then you have Microsoft support.
Just ask them how to install a Linux system on your machine.

[t888]

The problem seems to be my computer EFI and the linux is MRB how do I get the linux to boot in EFI?

[Derek_S]

If you have windows 8 then you have Microsoft support.
Just ask them how to install a Linux system on your machine.

@computerbob - Not very helpful Bob. Not a good attitude either.

@t888 - I think you should do as gold_finger already asked you to. Boot the live system, make your network connection, then come back to this thread. Open a window to start a new post. Then open the command terminal, the little black box on the left side of the toolbar. Enter "sudo parted -l", then copy and paste the output to your new post. After doing this, you can edit below it if you have any comments or questions. This will be a big help to everyone trying to help you.

[gold_finger]

Ok so what I learned:

my system is EFI
Legacy options were off and I turned secure boot mode of as stated
Booted linux still didnt detect Window OS

On some UEFI/EFI computers there are two different settings -- one controls that general boot mode (probably controlling the boot mode off of HD's); the other is for the boot mode used to boot from external media (DVD's, USB's). My guess is that the second one is set to "Legacy".

If you go into UEFI settings and don't see that second setting for booting DVD's/USB's, then it might only show-up as a choice when you invoke the UEFI's "boot menu" on startup (vs. going into its "settings" menu). There are usually two different keys you can hit on startup -- one will get you into UEFI settings; the other will invoke a boot menu. (On a laptop of mine the F2 key gets me into settings and the F12 key gives me a boot menu.) Invoke the boot menu and see if there are two options for booting your DVD/USB and choose the UEFI/EFI setting.

If you don't know your two keys, usually the different key options will show for a brief period of time along the bottom of the screen when you first power on computer. If it goes by too fast for you to read do a search for the user manual of your computer and look in that.

A recent poster had similar issue to yours and that is exactly how he solved the problem: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 86#p806886

[usbtux]

Presuming gtp disk and uefi window 8/8.1 preinstalled

Go into bios and turn off secure boot and change 1st boot to usb or dvd (allowing boot to mint) so that 2nd = HDD - do not turn uefi off.
Boot into windows
Make recovery disk onto large 16g usbstick and removed recovery partition.(automatic option - about 10GB)
Restart
Shrink C: partition
Restart
Install Macrum Free - backup all existing partitions to portable hdd.
Turn off fast boot
Restart with your Mint distro.
Start installer
Set up your partitions in the usual way but this time just set them as primary partitions but don't worry it'll automatically replace logical to primary. (for me, root home and swap). (see the install mint part of http://youtu.be/1KM0TPFZg2Y 3:29 to 5:19 )

Make sure you point the boot loader to you EFI partition.
Continue with install.

Once installed you'll have the grub screen with
a. boot to your distro
b. Boot to win 8
c. system - Bios

You can then turn fast boot back on, change boot order if req. However if you turn secure boot back on grub is bypassed and windows automatically boots.

See these links
http://www.howtogeek.com/131907/how-to- ... windows-8/
http://www.tweakhound.com/2013/01/02/ho ... partition/
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/63 ... s-8-a.html
http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-shutdo ... -one-click

[Derek_S]

@usbtux - An excellent suggestion, Macrium Reflect has saved me on more than one occasion. If everyone took the time to do that, a lot less people would be posting "I wiped out all of my Windows partitions, what should I do?" At that point, it's too late. Restoring a partition image is much, much faster compared to re-installing Windows. And you don't need an external hdd, a 32GB USB stick works for me.