Ubuntu – Partitions for dual boot install with Windows

10.04dual-bootwindows 7

Following is the layout of the current partitions of my single hard drive viewed from Windows 7:

  • C: has Windows 7 system files and my
    personal data;
  • Q: for Lenovo recovery;
  • SYSTEM_DRV: for Windows boot files;

My goals are:

  • to create another partition D: for my
    personal data, and dedicate C: for
    Windows system files and applications only.
  • to install Ubuntu alongside Windows. D: will be shared between the two OSes.

My questions are:

  1. Is it correct that the free space
    generated from shrinking C: will
    only be able to create an extended
    partition, since there are already 3
    primary partitions? So must D: be
    one logical partition on the
    extended partition, just as the
    partitions for Ubuntu will be? Will this be bad sometime? If yes,
    other better solutions?
  2. What are the good utilities to
    accomplish the partition tasks? Can
    Ubuntu installer solely handle them?
    Or better to have some of the jobs
    done in Windows with some
    recommended softwares?

Thanks and regards!

Best Answer

Since you have windows 7, you can even use windows native utilities to shrink C drive. It would be good if you go step by step. I would do like this.

  1. Use Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management -> Shrink Volume from windows 7 and free up needed space.
  2. From windows itself create a extended partition
  3. Select extended partition and create a required D drive and leave rest of the space as unused for installing Ubuntu.
  4. Do a reboot and confirm all looks good with windows drives including my new D drive and free space.
  5. While installing Ubuntu, use manual partitioning scheme to choose any number of partitions from the free space and install Ubuntu.

This way, you can separate freeing up space for Ubuntu and Ubuntu install. Advantage that you will get an intermediate validation point to confirm all looks good.

Here is a detailed reference on resizing partitions from windows: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowtoResizeWindowsPartitions

Now, if you like to use D drive itself for Ubuntu along with windows, I believe wubi is the only option. Then, Ubuntu will co-exist inside windows as a program. On any other install, I believe Ubuntu expects to have root partition on an ext2/ext3/ext4 partition type.

Let me know if this helps.

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