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In my setup I have a 120GB SSD with Windows 10 installed. I also have a 1TB HDD, with a 35GB partition for Ubuntu.

I want to install Ubuntu on this partition. Can I install Ubuntu on this partition and then have the PC boot to this?

Thanks, Alex

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  • Is Windows 10 UEFI? And then how you boot Ubuntu installer UEFI or BIOS will be how it installs. Is 1TB drive MBR(msdos) or gpt partitioned? Post this above so it can be formatted: sudo parted -l
    – oldfred
    Jun 8, 2016 at 22:50
  • Yeah windows 10 is UEFI. The drive is GPT partitioned, the patrtition is NTFS. Jun 9, 2016 at 5:25
  • You just want to be sure to install Ubuntu in UEFI boot mode. Grub will only install to the ESP - efi system partition on sda, but it has enough space to easily share with Windows. help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI While it is not the install, you still are resizing a NTFS partition. Use Windows to shrink it & reboot immediately and run chkdsk on the NTFS partition. askubuntu.com/questions/221835/…
    – oldfred
    Jun 9, 2016 at 13:45

1 Answer 1

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There are a few ways to achieve this. I installed Ubuntu Mate on a 1TB HDD, with Windows 10 on an SSD. I put the GRUB2 loader on the HDD, and therefore I have to use F11, and choose to boot from the HDD at startup, whenever I want to boot Ubuntu.

If you dislike this way, and want to continue booting from your SSD, but still be able to choose between OSes at startup, you put the GRUB2 loader on the SSD in the install procedure. That will put Ubuntu at the top of the boot menu list, but you can move Windows up.

Edit to answer comment: How to change the order of the boot menu, is explained in the answers to this question, so I'll link to it instead of repeating that info. The top entry will be the system booted into, unless you choose an entry further down the list, with the arrow keys and ENTER.

How do I change the GRUB boot order?

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  • So I can just install it on the U: (35GB) partition, and then choose to boot it by pressing F12 at startup? Or does the bootloader give you the option? Jun 8, 2016 at 21:09
  • Edited my answer, the only way to have the option to choose between Ubuntu and Windows in the bootloader, is to make the GRUB2 replace the Windows bootloader.
    – theodorn
    Jun 8, 2016 at 21:18
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    @qwertyTechKensit, keep in mind that drive letters (like C:, D:, U:) are assigned by Windows and only meaningful within Windows. Linux/UNIX-based systems identify drives and partitions using /dev/sdXY, where X is a letter identifying the drive and Y is a number identifying the partition. I'm not entirely sure what the process is, but I'm pretty sure Linux/UNIX has a standard way of identifying drives such that the drives in a particular system will be detected in a consistent order and be assigned a consistent identifier. Jun 8, 2016 at 21:58
  • Have not installed yet, just one thing I'd like to confirm. When it says where to install, do I select the 36GB dev/SDA 2? I'm taking thats my 35GB NTFS partition I made in Windows? Jun 9, 2016 at 6:16
  • Hard to tell, in my system, the HDD is on /dev/sda, but the SSD on /dev/sdb. You must make sure if your 1TB hard disk is on SDA or SDB, before you continue. You can also look at partitions in Disk Manager in Windows. If there is no other partition around 36GB in size, you can probably assume that is the 1TB hard disk. Make sure you install the GRUB2 on /dev/SDX, that is, without any number at the end.
    – theodorn
    Jun 10, 2016 at 0:25

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