Ubuntu

gutsy on usb hard drive, vista ultimate HP notebook

Asked by dreblen

Hi, I have an HP dv9500t notebook with windows vista ultimate.
it has a dual hard-drive that are each about 111 GB.
I have a 250 GB SeaGate FreeAgent Desktop usb external hard-drive.

What I want is to install gutsy (I have both the desktop and alternate install CD's) onto the usb hard drive,
and have it to where if I start the computer without the usb drive plugged in, it will boot Vista, but if I boot with the usb drive plugged in,
then it will boot to Ubuntu (or GRUB).
I don't want it to where I need my usb drive plugged in to boot my computer.

So, it would be nice if I could get step by step instructions on how to:
1) Repartition my usb drive so that I have 100 GB for gutsy
2) Install gutsy in the above mentioned manner

thank you...

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
dreblen
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Amin Contreras (koutarou) said : 		#1

I think i found something could help you with this, yake a look at it, you'll only have to change the partition space to fit your needs, i'll recomend you to backup all the data on the USB HDD before repartitioning.

Here's the link:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/28/usb-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-install/

Next time ask google before creating a new question :P

http://www.google.com/search?q=ubuntu+usb+gutsy

;)

Revision history for this message
dreblen (dreblen) said : 		#2

this helps and works, but I want to actually install ubuntu, this method still runs it in live mode, and it still shows the 'Install' desktop item.
Is there any way I can do this and still have it work in a plug-and-play mode? thanks...

Revision history for this message
dreblen (dreblen) said : 		#3

Just to clear my last post up, the 'this' in "Is there any way I can do this" is installing ubuntu

Revision history for this message
dreblen (dreblen) said : 		#4

Okay, now when I try to boot to my usb drive, it goes through the ubuntu progress bar loading screen then brings up a borderless windows that says:

"The GNOME session manager was unable to lock the
file '/home/ubuntu/.ICEauthority'. Please report this as
a GNOME bug. Sometimes this error may occur if the
file's directory is unwritable, you could try logging in via
the failsafe session and ensuring that it is."

this window has one button: OK.
I press OK, it brings up the ubuntu login screen, if I log in in the failsafe session like it says, I get a borderless window that says this:

"This is the Failsafe GNOME session. You will be logged into
the 'Default' session of GNOME without the startup scripts
being run. This should be used to fix problems in your
installation."

this window also has one button: OK.
I press OK, it gives the same message as before and goes back to the login screen.
I logged in using the failsafe terminal session and chmod'd the /home/ubuntu/ dir with 'cd /home' then 'chmod +rw ubuntu'.
I can now boot into GNOME again.

This doesn't have too much to do with my original post here, but it does relate in that it may be a pendrivelinux thing, so I thought I'd say how I fixed it just in case it happened to someone else.

Revision history for this message
dreblen (dreblen) said : 		#5

Hi, problem solved, I just ran the default options on the alternate CD installer.
So now I have my system, it boots to vista if there is no USB drive inserted,
but if there is a USB drive, then it loads GRUB and lets me boot Gutsy.
Thank you for responding with the pendrivelinux thing, but that wasn't quit what I wanted.

Revision history for this message
Amin Contreras (koutarou) said : 		#6

but at least it gived you some guidance on how to get what you wanted i supposed :)

Revision history for this message
WizzOfOz (bartvels) said : 		#7

Will the instructions on the linked page above also work for USB harddisks and will it NOT destroy my Vista installation?

Do I have to use the "Alternate cd" or can I also use the "Desktop cd" ???

Revision history for this message
dreblen (dreblen) said : 		#8

Are you talking about an internal or external drive? If you're talking external, then read on, if you're talking interal, I'm afraid I can't help you. If you're talking about the pendrivelinux thing, then you use the Desktop Live CD and follow there instructions (look at there requirements :), please note that this will still be running in live mode (like the CD), but it will keep changes from one session to another. If you want to install ubuntu to the USB drive, then you use the Alternate Install CD and choose your USB drive when it asks where you want to install it. If you choose to use the entire disk, it will ask which drive and it should be listed as something like "sdc - 250.1GB - FreeAgent Desktop", that's what it said for my drive, but it would probably be something different for you. If you don't want to use the entire disk, two good options would be to either use Vista's disk management program (right click on "Computer" and click "Manage", then click "Disk Management" under "Storage" on the side tree view), then resize your hard USB hard drive partition (after backing up of course :), you should then have "unallocated" space, or you could also run the Desktop Live CD the at a terminal type 'sudo gparted', then resize from there, then, once you have unallocated space, choose 'largest continuous free space' (or something like that) from the 'where to install' menu on the alternate install cd. I hope this helps you