Ubuntu – Can’t Select Continue to install Ubuntu alongside Windows

dual-bootsystem-installationwindows 7

I'm trying to install Ubuntu 14.04 alongside Windows 7 on my PC. I got to the installation type page and it detected my Windows 7, then asked me what I would like to do.

I selected the option to install Ubuntu alongside it; however, the continue button was then grayed out. If instead I chose the option to do something else, the continue button was still grayed out. I was given absolutely no explanation for why it was grayed out.

The only option that would let me continue was to erase the disk, which I do not want to do.

I have two hard disks, and one of them has two partitions on it. The second partition is completely unused, and has a terabyte of space. That's where I wanted to install it.

Can somebody please tell me why I can't install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7 here?

Best Answer

In case anybody else has the same issue, the problem was that my hard disk had two real partitions in it. I thought that since the second one was completely unused, Linux would know that it could use that. Instead, the second half of the drive needed to be labelled as unused, completely free space.

  1. I booted a live disc, then chose Try Ubuntu.
  2. I launched GParted (by typing "gparted" in the search box in top left).
  3. In GParted, the top right of the window has a drop down box that lets you select your hard disk. Be sure you pick the right one so you don't accidentally delete data you want. In my case, I switched to /dev/sdb, my second hard drive, and saw that it had "essentially" two partitions (there might have been more for some other OS functions, I can't remember).
  4. I selected the second partition(s), which were completely unused, and then told GParted to delete them.
  5. I then told GParted to apply my changes by clicking the green check mark.

After that, I was able to install Ubuntu. When I got to the screen to choose how to install it, I chose Install Ubuntu alongside Windows and Continue was no longer grayed out.

I went on to have other issues that I am still trying to figure out, but I won't discuss them here.

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