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I just tried to download and install Ubuntu on my HP Pavilion desktop, I installed it on a separate 72gb partition on my hard drive with the hopes of running it alongside windows xp professional. I used the Ubuntu Windows Installer and now whenever I reboot the machine and choose Ubuntu I get a message saying Kernel Panic, I'm sorry I didn't write down the specifics but I will try to restart, write everything down, and reply with all the pertinent info. Any help will greatly be appreciated.

  • M Hello Barry, thank you for your quick response. Let me try to clarify. My computer has a 250GB Hard Drive with 2 partitions, one of the partitions, the D: drive has 72GB of free space on it.I used the following installer, not the live-dvd, to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-with-windows The installer had a drop down menu that allowed me to select the 72 GB partition. Once the installer went through its motions, it indicated that the system would need to be rebooted in order for the installation to be complete. I rebooted it, chose Ubuntu instead of Windows XP and got the following Kernel Panic message... [ 6.005387] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount... then there are about a dozen more lines of text after that, I would try to post a picture of the screen but I don't know how to...

Sorry for the late reply John, I just saw your comments. To answer your question, yes I tried installing Ubuntu on a hard drive that I also have Windows on, the main partition, the C: drive is the one that Windows is actually installed on, and the secondary partition, the D: drive (the 72gb partition) is the one I tried installing Ubuntu on. The D; drive actually had a few random files like music and pictures on it when I tried installing Ubuntu to it. I am now reformatting that drive so that it is completely empty, once it's been formatted I will try to reinstall Ubuntu. I am not sure what Wubi is... is that something I need to run as well? I apologize for being such a noob to all of this. I'm so excited to finally try Ubuntu:)

UPDATE @ John: I tried to upload a screenshot of the KERNEL PANIC message but this message system isn't allowing me to post an image because I haven't earned at least 10 reputation points yet. I'm sorry, I just figured out that yes I did indeed use WUBI in another partition that Windows is not in. Is that my problem? Do I need to reinstall UBUNTU via WUBI in the main partion of my hard drive where Windows actually lives?

@JOHN, do you by chance know if I can just create a bootable usb flash drive to install a fresh copy of ubuntu on to my empty 72GB partition? I want to be able to dual boot.

Man
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@Man

If you don't mind reformatting the 72 GB partition which is currently D: in your Windows XP configuration, then you can install 12.04 Ubuntu using either a Live CD or a Live USB.

Of course, using a Live USB is only possible if your HP Pavilion desktop allows you to boot from a USB flash drive.

Can you provide any further information about your machine? A model number? What type of CPU (processor) it uses? How much memory is installed?

No, Ubuntu will not install into an NTFS partition. It will have to be reformatted to one of the Linux file systems. Usually the journaling ext4 filesystem is used.

Two possible approaches come to mind.

  1. During the Ubuntu installation you will be presented with a window asking you to choose what type of an install you wish to perform. At that point you can choose the action "Do Something Else" and manually format and select the partitions you want to use for your Ubuntu install.

    This may be more involved than you want to get since you are new to all this.
  2. If you use the Windows Disk Management tool and Delete Volume (i.e. the partition) and leave the space unused, then during install Ubuntu will suggest installing there and take care of the formating and everything else.

    The install should offer to install Ubuntu "alongside" Windows. This is what I suggest you do. The image below is an example of what the "Installation Type" window looks like. (Though in your case I expect it will be Win XP, not Win 7).

    example of 12.04 install choice

Will a Normal Ubuntu Disk Install Be Faster Than Wubi?

Performance questions can be tricky. There are two answers.

  1. Yes, of course. There is less "overhead" when Ubuntu is directly installed so one would expect it to be faster.
  2. But you may not notice. It may not be fast enough for you to be able to tell the difference in perfromance.
    Disclaimer: I do not know any details about how Wubi works. I've got a partly-baked picture in my mind, but my assumptions could be completely wrong.

I am also a little bit biased in that I've never really embraced the concept of Wubi. I can see how it could make sense as an attempt to simplify installing Ubuntu for folks who are using Windows.

But if you had a more modern computer I'd be recommending using either a VMware Player or VirtualBox virtual machine instead. If your hardware supports virtualization I think that is a much friendlier route to exploring Linux when starting from a Windows (or Mac) background.

But if the only choice you have is to do a dual boot between Windows & Linux/Ubuntu, then installing directly to the drive seems to make the most sense to me.

If you have the time for it, you should install Ubuntu directly and just see what you think of the performance. You don't want to experiment later when you might have to worry about losing data.

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