Dual Booting with Windows 7 with a USB-Nothing is working!

[Lizzy]

I know you probably see posts like this all the time, but I've been looking all over and I can't find anything. So I was trying to dual boot with Ubuntu 13.04 32-Bit, and I used Unetbootin. The flash drive was 4GB, but I didn't format it to FAT32. I dualbooted it, it worked fine, and I did the try before install thing. It worked sucessfully. I shut down and rebooted it again the next day, and tried to install it. I chose all of the options that would work for my computer, and it was installing, but it took a very long time. It just showed the Ubuntu screen with five dots beneath it. It was at night so I thought I would check on it in the morning, (this was after like an hour of it installing) but it still showed the same screen. I decided to try BackTrack 5, and I used Unetbootin again. I downloaded BackTrack 5 R1 (because R1 was the only version listed in Unetbootin) Gnome 32 bit, and repeated the procedure, exactly as directed. I tried booting it up, and it said Missing Operating System. After many failed attempts fixing it, I tried using Oracle Virtual Box. I set up a machine for Ubuntu and for BackTrack. Again, I did the exact same settings as the tutorial videos and articles used, but it still didn't work. I don't know if I am giving enough information, but I would greatly appreciate any help I can get.

~Lizzy

 

[arochester]

1) What are the basic specs of your computer. How much RAM have you got?

2) My experience of Unetbootin is that it leaves bits of "rubbish" on the USB stick. I find that it is always better to format it between installs to make sure that it is "clean".

3) There are some distros which just don't seem to install from a USB stick. Burning a CD seems to be the only way.

 

[Lizzy]

1) What are the basic specs of your computer. How much RAM have you got?

2) My experience of Unetbootin is that it leaves bits of "rubbish" on the USB stick. I find that it is always better to format it between installs to make sure that it is "clean".

3) There are some distros which just don't seem to install from a USB stick. Burning a CD seems to be the only way.

1) My computer has 8GB of RAM and 7.48 GB is usable, it has a 64-bit Operating System (but I used 32-bit because it said on the ubuntu website that 64 bit was recommended for Windows 8 and older versions should use 32 bit), 1.5 GHz Processor speed, and my computer is an HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC.

2)Could you explain how to do that?

3) I double checked for Ubuntu and BackTrack and they are both bootable from a USB stick. The discs that I have are 700MB so it can't hold either one of the distros.

 

[ryanvade]

Definitely use a 64 bit version of Linux for that laptop. Otherwise you will only be able to use 4 Gb out of that 8 Gb. And you will also get severe speed problems.. I am using a dv6t laptop also.

In windows go to Computer. When there right click the USB drive and click Format...
Then format. THIS WILL ERASE THE USB DRIVE COMPLETELY.

Backtrack is an old distribution that has been replaced with Kali Linux. Instead of using Unetbootin try LinuxLive USB creator.
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

 

[Alok Shukla]

1) My computer has 8GB of RAM and 7.48 GB is usable, it has a 64-bit Operating System (but I used 32-bit because it said on the ubuntu website that 64 bit was recommended for Windows 8 and older versions should use 32 bit), 1.5 GHz Processor speed, and my computer is an HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC.

2)Could you explain how to do that?

3) I double checked for Ubuntu and BackTrack and they are both bootable from a USB stick. The discs that I have are 700MB so it can't hold either one of the distros.

Download YUMI and then create your bootable flash-drive using this tools.Unitbootin causes some problems sometimes when creating bootables.Check you disk space also>Your instalation drive must have size more than 12 GB at-least,8 GB is recommended, one more thing disconnect your internet connection during installation... Sometimes it causes deadlocks when updating from internet

 

[Lizzy]

Definitely use a 64 bit version of Linux for that laptop. Otherwise you will only be able to use 4 Gb out of that 8 Gb. And you will also get severe speed problems.. I am using a dv6t laptop also.

In windows go to Computer. When there right click the USB drive and click Format...
Then format. THIS WILL ERASE THE USB DRIVE COMPLETELY.

Backtrack is an old distribution that has been replaced with Kali Linux. Instead of using Unetbootin try LinuxLive USB creator.
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

I used linux live and I booted it up but I got to the command line and entered startx but it took a while and it didn't do it so I did the sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop and I had like three errors and I think one said I didn't have enough space. Should I reformat the USB, wiping its contents and redoing the LiLi USB Creator and adding more memory? If so, what number do you recommend?