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I shrunk my harddrive and freed about 120 gb for ubuntu thats the easy part.

Backed up Windows 10 just in case of catastrophic failure.

So I have an odd problem to me idk if its just Windows 10 being stupid but I'm about to just format my HDD and just go back to sweet linux. I only want both because some things i still do need Windows for.

When i change boot settings to be able to boot from a usb flash drive, i can boot from my flash drive but it like my computer can't recognize that Windows 10 is even installed on my HDD (i know im looking into getting a SSD). And when i go through the install process on linux it just recognizes the Windows partitions are used so if i were to install linux in the free space I think i would need to change my boot settings everytime i want to change OS's

Basically

I need to change boot modes to boot USB and install linux (but then Windows 10 is not detected until i switch the setting back)

zDynasty
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1 Answers1

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You're likely seeing one or more of several issues, some of which have been mentioned in the comments to your question:

  • Boot mode -- Ensure that you're booting in the same mode (BIOS/CSM/legacy vs. EFI/UEFI) that Windows uses. If the computer came with Windows pre-installed, that's almost certainly EFI mode. See this page of mine for more on the CSM, the problems it causes, and how to control your boot mode.
  • Fast Startup and Hibernate -- These two Windows features can wreak havoc in a multi-boot configuration. It's important that they both be disabled, as described here and here. Once you disable these features, you may need to reboot to get the disk into a consistent state, before you reboot again into the Ubuntu installer.
  • "Recognizing" Windows -- It's not clear exactly what you mean by the "computer can't recognize that Windows 10 is even installed on my HDD." Chances are it's one of four things:
    • Lack of "install alongside" options -- Most people who use this language mean that the Ubuntu installer does not provide any "install alongside" options, and instead only gives options to wipe the disk clean or to do "something else," IIRC. This is common with EFI-mode installations with an existing Windows. I don't know if this is a quirk of the EFI-mode installation per se or if it's a consequence of not having disabled Fast Startup and Hibernate. Thus, the problem might go away when you disable these features. If it doesn't, you must use the "something else" option, as outlined here.
    • Partition table damage -- If you mean that the disk shows up as empty under the "something else" option, you may be looking at damage to the partition table. This used to be a common problem -- common enough that I wrote an entire Web page about it. Such problems are rare now, though.
    • Missing drivers -- If you mean that the disk doesn't show up at all in the Ubuntu installer, then that likely means that the disk controller (likely on your computer's motherboard) is new enough that it's not supported by the version of Ubuntu you're trying to install. Installing a newer version may work around this problem -- but in some cases, a really new device may not be supported for months, so you may be out of luck unless you're skilled enough to write your own driver and build your own kernel. If it's a desktop computer, adding a supported plug-in disk controller could be another way around the problem. Adjusting firmware options for how the disk controller is handled (from "IDE" mode to "AHCI" mode, for instance) can sometimes work around this problem -- but be aware that your Windows installation might react badly and require either re-installation or adjustment. (Ask about this on a Windows forum.) Note, however, that this possibility is very rare; most disk controllers -- even new ones -- are supported by Linux. You're most likely to run into this problem if you're using a relatively old Ubuntu (like 14.04) on a very new computer.
    • GRUB doesn't show a Windows option -- If you install Ubuntu, but GRUB doesn't show a Windows option, there are several possible causes. These range from your having accidentally wiped out Windows to a minor GRUB glitch. If this is your problem, please elaborate, and edit your question to post the output of sudo parted -l. There are enough variants of this issue that we need more information to properly diagnose it.
Rod Smith
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