Solved Dualbooting Windows 8 Pro. RTM & Ubuntu

TheGreenBstard

New Member
Messages
8
So, as the title suggests, I want to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 8, but not sure how to do it if Ubuntu is installed first. I'm new to Ubuntu, but correct me if I'm wrong: I find a partitioning program, partition my drive, and "burn" the leaked RTM ISO to my USB drive and install. Yes? No?
Also, will Windows be able to detect a partion that was created by Ubuntu? Again, I'm very new to Linux, and don't know much other than basic OS X and Windows, and a tiny bit from my days when I used Jolly Cloud OS on my old netbook.

Any help would be awesome. I'm kind of excited to try out final Windows 8 since my installation of RP crapped out on me (thus, installed Ubuntu)

Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Ubuntu
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron N5010
    CPU
    Intel i3 2.27 GHz
    Motherboard
    Some Dell piece of rubbish
    Memory
    6GB DDR3
Best advice is to start over, and install Windows first. Trust me on this one.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Server 2012 Standard w/Hyper-V
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ProBook 4430s
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2310M
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Hard Drives
    80GB Intel 320 SSD
    500GB Samsung Momentus
Yes you partition your drive and then install like normal using a custom install in the windows setup to choose your new partition.

Windows will not be able to detect linux partitions. ext4/ext3/ext2 partitions are not native to windows, but you can find a few ext explorers. (or even a driver which embeds ext into windows)

To change the size of your ubuntu partition (to make space for windows no?) you should get a partition program. You cant partition a device when it's mounted so you will have to boot off a usb drive to partition it.


WARNING: May cause data loss. (Always good to backup important data)
Get Gparted here (It's a linux partition manager)
Use unetbootin or burn gparted to a CD
Boot into your usb or CD and choose gparted (default)
If it asks you anything just press enter (everything is default)
At the end you should be taken to a desktop. Wait a few moments and a window should pop up.
Shrink your linux partition about 50 gigs from the right (My windows 8 install takes about 30 gigs, you can choose whatever amount)
The process should take about a minute (If you shrunk from the left it will take about an hour)
Proceed to install windows 8 RTM

Windows 8 writes over the MBR so you will have to reinstall grub.
load Gparted again and get to the desktop
Double click terminal (leave the gparted window open)
now type the following
sudo mkdir /mnt/ubuntu
sudo mount /dev/sd
xx /mnt/ubuntu (Replace xx with your ubuntu partition number [you can find it in gparted] Ex: /dev/sda1)
sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/ubuntu/dev
sudo mount -t proc /proc /mnt/ubuntu/proc
sudo mount -t sysfs /sys /mnt/ubuntu/sys
sudo chroot /mnt/ubuntu

What this does is it changes your root from gparted to your ubuntu installation.
From there we want to run the grub installer

grub-install /dev/sd
x --no-floppy (replace x with your partition letter, ONLY THE LETTER)

Reboot, you should only have ubuntu in the grub menu. Not to worry, it hasn't been deleted.
Boot into ubuntu and then run sudo update-grub from the terminal to have it add your new windows 8 partition
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro x64
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    ASRock z77 Extreme 4
    Memory
    Team Elite 8GB (4 x 2GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 3000 & Nvidia GT 530
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC892
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB SATA III 7200 RPM
    PSU
    Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W
    Case
    NZXT GAMMA Classic Series
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
    Keyboard
    i-rocks RF-6570
    Mouse
    i-rocks RF-7550A
    Internet Speed
    17Mbps
Yes you partition your drive and then install like normal using a custom install in the windows setup to choose your new partition.

Windows will not be able to detect linux partitions. ext4/ext3/ext2 partitions are not native to windows, but you can find a few ext explorers. (or even a driver which embeds ext into windows)

To change the size of your ubuntu partition (to make space for windows no?) you should get a partition program. You cant partition a device when it's mounted so you will have to boot off a usb drive to partition it.


WARNING: May cause data loss. (Always good to backup important data)
Get Gparted here (It's a linux partition manager)
Use unetbootin or burn gparted to a CD
Boot into your usb or CD and choose gparted (default)
If it asks you anything just press enter (everything is default)
At the end you should be taken to a desktop. Wait a few moments and a window should pop up.
Shrink your linux partition about 50 gigs from the right (My windows 8 install takes about 30 gigs, you can choose whatever amount)
The process should take about a minute (If you shrunk from the left it will take about an hour)
Proceed to install windows 8 RTM

Windows 8 writes over the MBR so you will have to reinstall grub.
load Gparted again and get to the desktop
Double click terminal (leave the gparted window open)
now type the following
sudo mkdir /mnt/ubuntu
sudo mount /dev/sd
xx /mnt/ubuntu (Replace xx with your ubuntu partition number [you can find it in gparted] Ex: /dev/sda1)
sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/ubuntu/dev
sudo mount -t proc /proc /mnt/ubuntu/proc
sudo mount -t sysfs /sys /mnt/ubuntu/sys
sudo chroot /mnt/ubuntu

What this does is it changes your root from gparted to your ubuntu installation.
From there we want to run the grub installer

grub-install /dev/sd
x --no-floppy (replace x with your partition letter, ONLY THE LETTER)

Reboot, you should only have ubuntu in the grub menu. Not to worry, it hasn't been deleted.
Boot into ubuntu and then run sudo update-grub from the terminal to have it add your new windows 8 partition

Hey, thanks so much for the detailed explanation! I'm going to try this later on. I downloaded the RTM Windows 8 Pro, but I dont want to use it until I can get rid of the watermark. (Anyway to get rid of it? I heard about a "demo" key to activate Windows)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Ubuntu
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron N5010
    CPU
    Intel i3 2.27 GHz
    Motherboard
    Some Dell piece of rubbish
    Memory
    6GB DDR3
You can try this (Removes test mode watermark)
Or you can try this (Removes a lot of watermarks all together)

I'd try the second one first. If it doesn't work, well the methods were made for windows 7, but windows 7 and windows 8 are quite similar.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro x64
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    ASRock z77 Extreme 4
    Memory
    Team Elite 8GB (4 x 2GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 3000 & Nvidia GT 530
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC892
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB SATA III 7200 RPM
    PSU
    Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W
    Case
    NZXT GAMMA Classic Series
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
    Keyboard
    i-rocks RF-6570
    Mouse
    i-rocks RF-7550A
    Internet Speed
    17Mbps
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