[SOLVED] Dual boot with windows 8 - not reading drive

TheAtheistOtaku

Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:31:55 am

Im trying to install zorion os7 along side my windows 8 install. but when go through the installation, it says it detects no other operating systems, and says the drive im trying to install it too is empty which is obviously impossible.
When i go into demo mode and try to mount the drive, i get this error

Any help is appriciated. And the reason why i just dont wipe the drive and install zorion, is because i have paid games on steam that arent linux compatible yet. I want to get rid of windows, but cant for that soul reason

Anonymous

Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:39:19 am

I wouldn't try using the same physical drive for dual-boot. Two different drives is a different story. Take a peek at this thread I composed a while back and you'll understand were I'm coming from.

Link : viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4306

TheAtheistOtaku

Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:50:14 am

datek1 wrote:I wouldn't try using the same physical drive for dual-boot. Two different drives is a different story. Take a peek at this thread I composed a while back and you'll understand were I'm coming from.

Link : viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4306

thanks for the reply, but im not running a commercial computer, its custom built. here are the specs if it matters.
amd fx 8150 8 core processor.
10 gb ram
nvidia geforce gtx 460 v2
asus (dont really remember the model number) uefi bios mother board. (secure boot is turned off)
i have a second 3tb drive installed. but if at all possible i would like to refrain from installing to that drive, but if all else fails, then i guess i have no choice.
but the installation is also not reading my second drive correctly, it says there is only 500 mb free when theres at least 1.5 tb free, so i dont think partitioning and installing to that drive is a smart move as of now

Anonymous

Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:07:06 am

Your specs are pretty close to my monster. I ran Zorin OS 6.2 as a dual-boot, and did nothing but go crazy. But when I ran Zorin OS on a seperate drive than that of Windows 8 life was a whole lot simpler.
Here's how I had it set up

HDo = 2Tb

500 Gb =Windows 8 Pro
1.5 Tb =extended NFTS

HD1 = 500 Gb

8 Gb =Swap
32 Gb = /
320 Gb - /home
148 Gb = extended > NFTS

And Windows 8 pro worked like a charm after that setup took hold.

When installing Zorin OS on a Windows 8 machine one has to kill power by holding down power button til machine is completetly off or one can pull the power cord to make sure.
The reason why is Windows 8 never really shuts completely down....it goes into a sort of hyper-sleep. That's why one gets a quicker boot - up with windows 8 than that of Windows 7.
If you do't to this you will probably more than likely fail everytime when trying to boot Zorin OS live or during installation.

TheAtheistOtaku

Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:33:21 am

i booted into windows shut off by holding the power button, and took out the power cord for 5 min for good measure still getting the same result. here are some pics of what im seeing. i also tried manually setting up partitions, didnt detect those either

TheAtheistOtaku

Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:34:16 am

for the record, this is also happening with ubuntu and kubuntu installs.

Wolfman

Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:07:32 am

Hi,

does your PC have UEFI??:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

see also:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/208405/h ... all-ubuntu

Here is also a partitioning guide which may help too:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601&p=11550#p11550

See also:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4128

Hope it helps.

Regards Wolfman

TheAtheistOtaku

Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:38:54 pm

when trying to boot the zorin installer into uefi mode, it boots into my windows instalation. If its any help, i figured out that i have the asus m5a97 motherboard and upon further research, have no clue if i actually turned off secure boot or not. If someone has experience with this motherboard and knows how to check, please share.

Yes i do have a uefi bios

TheAtheistOtaku

Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:22:58 am

thanks for the help guys, i was able to get it installed on my main, and im dual booting with no problems in either operating system.
though what i did to fix it is a bit weird, though ill explain what i went though (no idea which step actually fixed the problem, but eh)

partitioned my second drive with one 100 gig partition formated to ext4, another 100 gig partition left unformatted (to see if the installation could detect anything) using windows
booted into zorin install, finally detected at least my second drives changes (no change on my main drive....yet)
installed
messed with boot loader with easy bcd in windows
screwed up boot loader, computer not booting
booted into zorin install to use terminal to fix boot loader
accidentally hit install
saw that it was finally reading my main drive correctly
installed to first drive
reverted the 2 partitions i made on my second drive
set up boot loader to my liking correctly
success

like i said, i dont know what fixed it, but at least its running. loving the os so far

lilggamegenuis

Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:06:34 am

in case anyone else is having trouble booting or installing zorin or any other OS follow this.
1st does your BIOS boot in UEFI mode, if it does change it to CSM (in order to boot your other OS you have to change that back)
2nd if your running windows 8/8.1 and can't access your C: drive try restarting and booting instead of shutting down or Turing off fast boot
3rd when setting the install partition click free space and click the +, then as the file system use ext4 and as mount point click "\"
i may edit this with new findings, you find anything > PM me.
hope i helped because i typed this from memory

Swarfendor437

Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:56:29 pm

TheAtheistOtaku wrote:thanks for the help guys, i was able to get it installed on my main, and im dual booting with no problems in either operating system.
though what i did to fix it is a bit weird, though ill explain what i went though (no idea which step actually fixed the problem, but eh)

partitioned my second drive with one 100 gig partition formated to ext4, another 100 gig partition left unformatted (to see if the installation could detect anything) using windows
booted into zorin install, finally detected at least my second drives changes (no change on my main drive....yet)
installed
messed with boot loader with easy bcd in windows
screwed up boot loader, computer not booting
booted into zorin install to use terminal to fix boot loader
accidentally hit install
saw that it was finally reading my main drive correctly
installed to first drive
reverted the 2 partitions i made on my second drive
set up boot loader to my liking correctly
success

like i said, i dont know what fixed it, but at least its running. loving the os so far

120 blue jewels to you sir - 60 for solving and 60 for sharing!

This is a static archive of the old Zorin Forum.

[SOLVED] Dual boot with windows 8 - not reading drive