Partition Help with Kubuntu 15.04 Install

[omicroniangeek]

Hi,

I have a 500GB SSD which has had Windows 10 (upgraded from 8) installed onto it.

I then used Disk Management in Windows to resize the drive and create a 104GB partition in NTFS for Kubuntu (I assumed the install would format into Ext3 or whatever). Went into the Kubuntu install and couldn't figure it out.

Most of the options were to use full disk, I clearly don't want. Manual was overly confusing for me.

How do I get Kubuntu to install on that 104GB partition without touching anything else.

[Qqmike]

Good question, there is some confusion about this,
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379517
and thus, why many of us do what you did--re-size--then do our partitioning, then use that "Manual" method that didn't look good to you,
Installing Kubuntu -- Using the "Manual" Installation Type, with your own partitioning
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...688#post377688
(you can skip the GParted part, or not).

[oshunluvr]

Well, manual is the only choice in your situation. Actually, if you're going to use ext4 (not 3) then you really want three partitions anyway: root, home and swap. Likely the installer sees the NTFS partition you created as in use so doesn't think it can use it freely.

You need to boot into the liveUSB and use the partitioner to delete the NTFS partition and create 3 in it's place: swap should be the size of your RAM generally, 12-20GB for root is plenty, and the remaining for your home. Then when you install, you'll need to choose "Manual" partitioning and "change" the root and home partitions so the installer knows to use them for / (root) and /home (home). If you format the swap partition using the partitioner prior to attempting the install, the installer will detect and use it automatically.

The issue you need to address before installing is the boot process - how you're going to dual boot. Either grub, an efi manager, or windows boot loader and be prepared to configure it so you're not left unbootable. I assume your PC is efi enabled since you're using Windows 10. I don't know anything about the EFI stuff, but there's numerous posts here and elsewhere on that topic.

[omicroniangeek]

If I were to put another drive in this system would I need to do anything.

I assume if you have a full drive to select it will do all the needed work automatically?

Either Way, does the boot manager not work itself out without me needing to do anything? I have no idea how to change or play with the boot managers.

[oshunluvr]

If you have a dual drive system - the simplest thing is to install Linux to the blank drive and let it be the boot drive. That's really the easiest and best option.

The boot manager usually "work itself out" but Windows is always problematic to co-exist with. I just think you should be prepared before attempting the side-by install on a single drive system. I don't do windows so I can't help with that.

[Teunis]

If the 'other' drive is the sole drive Linux will install without much intervention.
If the 'other' drive is a second rive and you want to keep Windows operational on #1 you better understand what you are doing.

However you want to install, take oshunluvr's advise for three Linux partitions.

Running the build in partition manager is dead easy, the user interface is pretty much self explanatory.
And you can always test your skilz on an external disk or USB stick.