install ubuntu on windows 8 machine
 

Hi All,
hope you can give advise. I've done some reading on this but cannot get answers to a couple of issues.
I've just got a new Sony Viao laptop. I need to install Ubuntu that I use all the time, but need to leave on windows 8. The PC has UEFI boot, I've tried to change this to legacy in the bios but windows won't boot if I do. So I downloaded ubuntu 64 bit (13.04), and set up the bios to boot from a cd, setting bios settings as recommend on Ubuntu homepages.
It's starts up and shows
*Try Ubuntu
*Install Ubuntu
*OEM install from manufacturer
* check disc for defects

So I thought best to use try, Ubuntu boots, however the screen is slid over to the right, the mouse will only move to the centre of the screen not over to the left, the mouse will move off the right and wrap round to the left. So the screen is effectively off centre and wrapped around. Also no program bar shows up, so all I can do is move the mouse. So my questions are

1. If I do install will I have the same issues or will and install make the screen work correctly? The PC uses a Radeon 7 series graphics card.

2. When I boot shouldn't windows 8 show up on the boot menu? Is this an indication something will go wrong, if I install and won't be able to boot in windows 8?

Thanks for the help, it's difficult to describe exactly.

I might suggest that you consider using a virtual machine. It would be the most easy way if your system has enough resources.

Screen may be off center for a number or reasons. I might look at refresh rate to start. Maybe some bios option on laptops that might help. Correct or closed source driver may help. An off center display may make the area used to control window manager difficult to use.

I'd say that if you installed it, the exact same issues would be present on the initial install. May be difficult to fix unless you find correct way to fix it beforehand.

Best case would be that the linux installer would properly configure the boot choice to allow one or the other and present as a choice.

One should know how to make a full disc set for return to OEM install of windows 8. You have to plan on full disaster now before it's too late or just live with a VM.

Hi All,
I tried to use a virtual machine, unfortunately it won't run with Ubuntu 64 bit, it gives an error about running correct kernel, some searching reveals that
vm's can't run this type of CPU somthing to do with " CPU's don't support EPT".

My other option is to remove the harddrive and try from there, is there any other advice people can offer?

Thanks.

Who would have thought a new machine would have been such a pain!

What virtual machine software are you using? VirtualBox definitely supports 64 bit. Try using that instead.

Failing that, try a USB mouse instead of using the trackpad, see if that helps.

Hi All,
I've got "try ubuntu" to run, in bios I turn the UEFI option to legacy. It will run ubuntu off the CD, everything works even wifi. But my issue here is I need UEFI option set to boot into Windows 8. So I'm a bit stuck. Can anyone advise on the how to get ubuntu to run with UEFI?
Thanks

Yeah, this is a bit tricky. Microsoft decided to F the whole computer industry up with this UEFI crap, that makes it NEARLY impossible to run anything that wasn't pre-installed on the machine. I won't go into detail, as its a horrendous task that I had to undertake with my new Samsung all-in-one at home. If you are squeamish about .. oh i don't know, accidentally deleting everything on the computer, or destroying any chance of booting windows again, I recommend you stay away from trying to dual boot against a pre-installed windows 8 "OS" for the moment.

It might get better and easier.

Again: At this point if you are unsure -- or don't have a re-installation DVD of windows, or warranty, or any timidness about repartitioning and possibly DESTROYING windows, then don't try this at home.


Serisouly, its not easy.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/22183...uefi-supported

The latest two versions I think should run and boot to uefi. It may be that you are selecting the wrong choice in the boot process. There may even be a uefi cd choice or a boot menu of uefi grub or such.

I think there tends to be a bios option to enable VM support or you built the wrong VM. Be sure to have it named at start as Ubuntu64 and the machine should become a 64 bit VM.

Thanks for the answers all,
I saw the difficulty way of doing but thought from reading that from ver 13.04 you cold just install from cd.

However whatever I try I can't install with echi option on in bios, if I swap this to legacy it will boot ubuntu from the cd.
This is taking me back to trying to install Linux 10 years ago

Has anyone read about being not being able to install in echi mode on Ubuntu and only in legacy.
I've google and believe I've done every step people say but with no luck.
I might have to install on an external drive and swap bios options every boot 😁

I am confused between achi and uefi.

The 13 version ought to be bootable on many systems. When you boot from cold power off and select boot options (assume uefi and secure boot enabled in bios) can you see options for two disc drives?

Any windows 8 system ought to have two ways to select a boot media. Either in bios or with a hot key at boot time such as F9 or F12. I use that boot menu most of the time. I only use bios when installing.