I've downloaded the .iso file (ubuntu-12.10-desktop-i386.iso), and then used Unetbootin to make my 16Gb Kingston pendrive a live-USB. Then I restart my notebook (samsung r580) and access the BIOS. I select the option to boot from USB, and restart again. The options screen appears. So far, everything is fine.
I choose Install Ubuntu, then I select the language and then I try to select install alongside an existing W7. Here is where I have trouble. Clicking "continue" restarts the system, and the option screen appears again and again and again…. What am I doing wrong?
Oh, I also did the checksum, it's just fine.
EDIT
Ok, I've tried several options in the BIOS (enable/disable Legacy OS Boot and Large Disk Access Mode) and… still not working
I went to test the Live version and tried installing from there. It asked me to unmount partitions, I selected no, and that wouldn't allow me to install inside Windows 7, so I went back and selected yes, showing me again that option. Then I selected the 'Something else' option and there I saw the following info:
sda ATA SAMSUNG HM321HI
sda1 ntfs 16106MB 12447MB Windows Recovery Environment (loader)
sda2 ntfs 104MB 35MB Windows 7 (loader)
sda3 ntfs 151928MB 75593MB
sda4 ntfs 151930MB 3221MB
I know these are the partitions of the HDD, sda3 and sda4 being C: and D: respectively. These 4 partitions are ntfs formated, maybe this is what is wrong? Do I have to format sda4 with FAT32 or something? Add a new partition so sda4 becomes a loader sector?
For the guy that says I should use Universal USB installer, I have the same problem with it, it restarts for ever. Thanks anyway.
UPDATE
Following @Sand Dust's comment, I did have 4 partitions, so using the installer I could set the sda4 partition (D:) as free space (un-allocated?)
After reading a lot (lol), I've created 3 partitions manually: / (30GB ext4), /swap (6GB) and /home (96GB ext4). And then… finally! install begun.
However, after restarting, it goes straight to Windows…. right now I'm in the live version and I see the / and /home directories, so I guess the install process went just fine.
What's wrong this time? Could it be something about GRUB? I'm gonna keep reading…
Best Answer
So, finally got it solved. The aim of the question was that I couldn't install from the Live-USB, because it restarted over and over again. The problem was the partition of the HD (in Ubuntu terms, the sda device). It had 4 partitions, as @Sand-Dust mentioned, and all 4 of them were primary, with only one of these partitions empty, so there was nowhere to install Ubuntu (since from what I learned, it needs at least 2 partitions to install). The solution then was to ¿un-allocate? the partition sda4 (D:) and create 3 partitions in this now empty free space, all of this partitions being logical. You can do this with the installer, under the 'Something Else' option.
So after this, I've got Ubuntu intalled, but when restarting, it didn't show me the OS options, and started Windows... instead of messing with the GRUB, or Boot Repair, I chose to re-install Ubuntu, and now I'm writing from it.
Thanks for the comments and help.