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I recently tried to dual boot my Laptop with Windows 8 and Ubuntu. I disabled the Fast Startup option in Windows 8 and Secure Boot was also Turned Off as my Model doesn't support UEFI. Now I inserted the USB Stick with Ubuntu Installer and Selected 'Try Ubuntu Without Installing'.

My Problem is that the Ubuntu running from USB Stick does not recognize any one my existing partitions which I created using Windows 8. Further while installing Ubuntu 12.04, the Installer shows the entire space as Unknown type.

Any help Regarding this problem would be much Appreciated.

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2 Answers 2

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As per you screen shot, your drive is set as dynamic (see below disk0 in image).

Unfortunately this dynamic disk and partition are only recognizable in windows OS.

Not only ubuntu, no other OS will recognize the partition. Linux boot loaders can not be installed in dynamic disks.

The only way is to convert it basic driver. But for that you need to delete your existing partition. Thus deleting your data which may not be recoverable.

Alternate solution is use ubuntu in virtual environment (using virtualbox, vmware)

A ref link : How to convert dynamic disk to basic

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  • Can i create a partition as basic instead of entire harddisk ? Also would Windows be able to detect the data on that partition ? Mar 30, 2014 at 19:33
  • As far as I know, NO you can't mix. Actually there is nothing called dynamic partition or basic partition. It is dynamic disk or basic disk.
    – Web-E
    Mar 30, 2014 at 19:40
  • In that case i have to reinstall the entire Operating System? How can i do so for Windows 8 on a basic disk and UEFI Environment? Thanks For the Reply. Mar 30, 2014 at 19:43
  • Sorry I can't really guide you step by step. The installation procedure is same. Backup data, delete all but windows partition, convert disk to basic (right click on disk0), reboot with installation dvd,now delete all existing partition while installing , create a new one for windows and install over there. Once installed, partition rest of the spaces as you want. Note: I never worked with EFI partition, so really doesn't have a great Idea about how an ideal layout should be for a dual system. Better I would just turn off UEFI before installing windows (personal preference).
    – Web-E
    Mar 30, 2014 at 20:00
  • Actually, some third-party Windows tools can convert from dynamic to basic without data loss. (Or so they claim, and I've heard from users that this conversion does work. I've never tried it myself, though.) Look into EaseUS Partition Master and Partition Wizard. I think those are the ones that can do it, but check their feature lists to be sure.
    – Rod Smith
    Mar 30, 2014 at 20:13
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I can only speculate, but my 2 initial thoughts would be:

  1. You might have an unsupported storage controller. Try connecting a usb stick and see if it's partition table / filesystem is readable. Since the usb stick will be using the usb controller not the sata/ide/etc controller it might show up properly. It would be helpful to note if you are using any kind of pci storage controller like a raid card even it it's not running in raid mode. To find out use Windows and open "control panel/system and security/administrative tools/computer management/system tools/device manager". If the storage controller is just using the basic Windows driver then your device will probably also be supported by the Linux Kernel (Ubuntu), but if it's using something it might not be, or may require a driver to be installed. Keep in mind that if your computer is very new support may have been added in a more recent kernel release so your storage controller may be supported in Ubuntu 13.10 or 14.04.

Screenshot Of Device Manager:

https://copy.com/ojnY81nXBiVM

  1. You might be using a disk that has been formatted dynamically, but what you need is a basic disk. To find out use Windows and open "control panel/system and security/administrative tools/computer management/storage/disk management" and see if it lists the disk as "Basic" or "Dynamic". While an option to convert dynamic to basic is listed do not attempt it or Windows won't work anymore.

Screenshot of Computer Management:

https://copy.com/sEQZBHlaWw0P

EDIT: your disk type is listed as dynamic.

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