Dual Boot Unbuntu with Vista

Dual Booting Unbuntu 10.04LTS with Vista Installed

Problems installing on Laptops with Nvidia graphic cards?

I have a SUZUKI 1411 HKS 2.1 GHZ core duo with 4GB Ram and 320GB HD. It has a 256 dedicated Geforce 9300M GS graphic card and 1200++MB as shared SLI ram totaling 1.5 GB.

Found a work around for Lucid Lynx booting on a live CD- Choose mode NOAPIC=OFF and delete the Quiet Splash from the command line before booting.

But for those who experienced blank screens after installing Unbuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) upon rebooting after finishing installation. You have no choice but to revert back to older versions (then upgrade from there).

I've discovered that you can use GRUB2 boot kernel from Unbuntu version 9.10 (2.6.31-14-generic) then upgrade to Unbuntu 10.04 via Internet connection (Note: Before finishing installation it will ask you to delete your Old Grub kernel? -choose NO). That way you'll have an option to revert back to your old boot kernel.

You can remove Grub 2.6.32.XXX (linux headers) via synaptic later.

I would like to thank those people who made this possible. Special thanks to the  people who posted tutorials HowtoGeek.com and youtube.

Preparation:

1. Download 32bit Unbuntu 9.10 ISO Karmic Koala then perform MD5 Checking.
2. Burn the ISO image onto a CD (at the Slowest Speed Possible).
3. Defragment your hard drive (Unbuntu will create another partition so make sure to do this first before you install Unbuntu).
4. Backup your files.Preferably on a separate partition on your hard drive or external disk. Better safe than sorry right? : )
5. Backup your whole partition using paid or open source software. Remember to delete excess files to save on disk space.(I'd recommend acronis true home or paragon).
6. It's better to have a working wifi connection rather than a mobile broadband modem connection to the internet (upgrading from version 9.10 to 10.04 LTS requires this).

 Note: Avoid any further updates on lucid.

Procedure     :

Installing Unbuntu 9.10

Choose Language

Booting from the cd, choose install on hard disk.
Then choose your installation language.

 

Select your time zone

Then Region

 

Detect Layout Choose No

 Select Keyboard layout USA later

Do not Configure DHCP (Dynamic Host C... Protocol)

Choose Guided top portion

Do not encrypt

Partitioning by percent

Be careful setting up your partition.You can type in the desired size by DEDUCTING your intended size from the C: partition and type in that value. Example 180GB C: drive type in 160 GB to get the 20GB size that you want partitioned for unbuntu. Using percent method- indicating 60% gives 180 x 0.6 = 108GB and 72GB will be allocated for Unbuntu and Vista shrunk to 108GB (It OVER SHRUNK my vista partition last time-did the reverse of what it said).

Choose YES

Choose Your USERNAME

 

Choose a password

Re-enter password

Indicate your REAL name

If you want.... : )

Computer Host Name

It will start installing

Install GRUB2 -YES

Remove your CD and reboot

When you upgrade to Unbuntu 10.04, you must be connected through wifi or maybe a LAN connection. This WILL take considerable time. And choose DO NOT REMOVE YOUR OLD GRUB after it finishes installing.