I just got Acer E 15, and I want to use only Ubuntu 16.04 on it. I have used "rufus" on my primary laptop (win7) to burn Ubuntu installation iso on usb.
I reordered the boot priority to boot from usb and I started the installation on my Acer E 15(which is without os) with usb and I successfully installed Ubuntu on Acer.
After that I changed the boot priority order so my HDD is first and remove usb. but after restart, Acer wont boot without usb.(boot mode was UEFI, and secure boot was enabled) and only option is to use usb and use TRY option of ubuntu.
After much forum reading I started Ubuntu in TRY mode and was trying to install grub on HDD but it wont let me install. I used repair and grub was installed on HDD(I think). after that I can start Ubuntu without usb and all look good and I can see my user name that I set in installation part, but every time I restart, there is error that ask me to pick way to boot, there are 2 options, Unknown -(my hdd name) and Windows boot -(my hdd name), As I said, I did not have any OS on Acer before this installation.
Then I burnt Ubuntu iso on DVD with "unetbootin" and all was the same like with usb, and I burn it on second DVD with "rufus" and all was the same again.
In installation type I did it as "Erase disk and install Ubuntu", and after that didn't help a lot of times, I pick "Something else" :
There I try a lot of different stuff, but nothing help me. I made New Partition Table =
-
dev/sda1 ext4 / (root)
-
dev/sda2 swap
-
dev/sda3 /home
but it always ask me to make EFI partition, so I add that too. I was trying to add and /boot partition too.
And in "Device for boot loader installation:" normally i set to /dev/sda (hdd name), but I was trying to set it to EFI partition or in root partition or /boot partition, but nothing change. (I reinstall a lot of times and every time different type of partitions)
I'm sorry for long post and if my English is bad, but I really need some help, this is first time that I'm trying Ubuntu. I'm just hoping someone will be able to help me, so I don't need to boot from usb/dvd and that I don't get error all the time when i restart OS. (I want Ubuntu to be my only OS).
Thank you in advance for your help
Best Answer
You got an Acer UEFI laptop. You should start by creating a new partition table - GPT style for your Acer hardisk. You can do that by booting any live Ubuntu, open GParted and use the command for creating partition table - GPT.
Secondly, in order for GRUB (Ubuntu's bootloader) to install correctly, you have to make sure that your USB drive has a GPT partition table style, too. You can easily do that with Rufus, by choosing GPT partititoning for UEFI PC option. Create a new FAT32 partition and write the Ubuntu iso file again to USB.
Third, i'd use a very simple partitioning scheme: sda1 -EFI partition, sda2 - Ubuntu (boot) partition, sda3 - swap, sda4 - home (or backup partition). Why so? EFI partition ALWAYS needs to be first, because that's were the partition table data will be written. Ubuntu partition would be your main partition - where you install and boot Ubuntu from.
Swap can theoretically be placed anywhere on disk, just make sure it's not in the first cylinder (cylinder 1024) of the disk. Swap acts as virtual RAM and it will be overwritten intensively. Wearing down the first cylinder will render you harddisk unusable. Swap size should be = 1,5...2 x RAM size. Using oversized swap is not advisable!! Swap is just a little helper, not a main workhorse.
Home or backup partition is entirely your choice. It will be your personal stuff partition.
Important thing: You should never install GRUB to any (particular) partition. You should install it in the root of your harddisk (e.g. /sda). If you have multiple internal disks, then GRUB should be installed in the root of your first harddisk (as listed in GParted).