Solved Dual boot Sony Vaio Z

[brianrunsphilly]

Trying to put Ubuntu on my Sony Vaio Z131190X with an existing Windows 7 install. I get as far as grub-installl, and it fails. I'm pretty sure it is due to the RAID 0 configuration, but is there a workaround for this? I need both OS's on the laptop.

I can't use the restore media created by the Sony tools, it is 90% bloatware and will only recreate a factory install, including the RAID 0 setup. In theory I suppose I could download the iso and use the MS product key that came with the computer. Restoring all that existing data and settings is a nightmare, hopefully there is a simpler solution.

Thanks!

 

[whs]

If nothing else, you can run Ubuntu with VMware Player as a virtual system. The big advantage is that you can run it side by side with your Windows system and switch between both systems with 1 click.

I run several Linux distros (and Windows 8) that way. Here is a little tutorial I once made when I installed Zorin (an Ubuntu derivative). You can follow this tutorial for installing Ubuntu - only the terminal commands for installing VMware tools are different but they are easy to find on the web.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/278957-vmware-player-install-setup-zorin.html

And here is a little demo that shows how to operate an OS in VMware Player. This happens to be Windows 8, but it would be very similar with Ubuntu.

http://www.sevenforums.com/virtualization/277690-vmware-player-windows-8-demo.html

 

[brianrunsphilly]

That worked extremely well. A few oddities related to the particular machine, but all solved and the ability to bounce back and forth between OS's is great.

 

[whs]

Good, I am glad you like the virtual way.