Dual booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04.2

Well nobody in the Ubuntu forums could help me so I thought maybe you fine folks here could. I have a 120 g ssd that I have tried several times to install Ubuntu on and cannot do it, no way , any way, whatsoever! I know the disks I have burned are good. I have a GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Gigabyte motherboard. I have changed settings in the BIOS and any thing I could think of to no avail. I have dual booted Ubuntu on every computer I have ever built but not this one! Huh uh! Anyone have thoughts on this? It's totally unnecessary, I just like to play around with Ubuntu. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks

Please! Thanks for your response, but it offers no solution to my question. I want to run Ubuntu and have always been able to in the past! Does Windows 7 have some kind of code that won't let one install Ubuntu on the computer? Thanks again.

Hi, thanks everyone. As far as I know Windows is installed in the EFI mode, at least that's the setting in the BIOS, the options are Non-EFI, EFI, and Auto. When I boot from the Ubuntu cd I get to the screen where it says: try Ubuntu without installing, install Ubuntu, etc. I press: install and it goes to the screen where it asks for the language, enter language and then it goes to a black screen with blinking cursor? thing and just sits there! I have waited it out to see if it would do something and after a while I hear the drum sound and the blinking cursor stops, no activity on hard drive, according to light and that's it. Hard shutdown and reboot brings Windows 7, happily, back. It may have to do with Grub but I ain't gonna get into that because I have had to clean install Windows before when I mucked around with Grub.

It's not a matter of great importance. Just wonder what is stopping this. And yes I did make partition for Ubuntu. Thanks for your time, Frank

Frank Cogburn said:

Well nobody in the Ubuntu forums could help me so I thought maybe you fine folks here could. I have a 120 g ssd that I have tried several times to install Ubuntu on and cannot do it, no way , any way, whatsoever! I know the disks I have burned are good. I have a GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Gigabyte motherboard. I have changed settings in the BIOS and any thing I could think of to no avail. I have dual booted Ubuntu on every computer I have ever built but not this one! Huh uh! Anyone have thoughts on this? It's totally unnecessary, I just like to play around with Ubuntu. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks

It is actually very easy to Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I signed up just so I could post in this thread!
I just installed Ubuntu 12.04.2 yesterday, and have it up and running very nicely. Although I have dual booted Linux Mint, openSUSE, & Ubuntu multiple times before with Windows 7.

Here is what you need to do.

1. Defragment the HDD that you are going to install Ubuntu on. I like Auslogics Disk Defrag

2. Go to Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management.

3. Right click on the drive you want to put Ubuntu on and click "Shrink Volume" Shrink the volume and give Ubuntu as much space as you want. DO NOT FORMAT IT!

4. Make an Ubuntu Flash Drive. Universal USB Installer is a great tool. You will have to use the "Try an unlisted Linux ISO" option, as the "Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop" option doesn't work because Ubuntu 12.04.2 has an updated Kernel.

5. Boot up into your Ubuntu flash drive, and choose "Install Ubuntu" Click on the option to "Install alongside Vista". Ubuntu will automatically find the free space that you created and install on it. It will also automatically make GRUB your bootloader giving you the option to either boot up into Windows and Ubuntu evertime you boot up your PC.

Well, that's it. You can use the windows bootloader, but that is slightly more complicated. So I will only right out how to do that if you absolutely want to.

Happy Dual-Booting!!!!

Frank Cogburn said:

It may have to do with Grub but I ain't gonna get into that because I have had to clean install Windows before when I mucked around with Grub.

You re-install Windows just to fix Grub? Yikes! Use this tool. I have used it many times. Works great!
Easy Recovery Essentials | Windows Repair CD Downloads

essenbe said:

No, it does not. You should be able to dual boot Windows and any Linux distro, or install them seperately on another drive. Is Windows installed in UEFI mode? If so, that could be an issue.

Ubuntu 12.04.2 has added support for UEFI mode.