Installing an OS, need assistance

[Timeghost]

As completely stupid as this sounds, I tried dual booting Windows with Linux with an Acer Aspire One netbook that was given to me a long time ago, and I've decided to use it for college.

I, somehow, messed up somewhere, and about four month my laptop has sat like this, and I'm now going to try and fix it so I can use it.

I do recall using an a program that assisted the dual-booting process, but, I don't remember the name.
I am fairly sure it created a folder, boot/BCD or something, but I could be wrong. I've a picture of what it looks like somewhere in my old gMail account.

I'd like to just install Linux on it, and I'm probably going to shoot for Ubuntu.


I went to the library to download and install Ubuntu on my flash drive to boot it with, and when I tested it on that computer, it worked. When I went home to try to boot it, it got stuck. Not at the logo, but the text before it. I'm an idiot, and I don't know why.

Can someone please point me in the right direction?
+1 if you can provide a source or two providing even more information that will help me avoid making stupid mistakes in the future. Thank you.

[QtDevl]

if ubuntu is what you are looking for,then https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation has everythinng you may need..Dual booting can be achieved using Lilo boot loader or similars..write if you need other help

[Timeghost]

My apologies for not writing everything. I really thought I had.

I went to the library to install Ubuntu and make it bootable on my flash drive. It worked on the library's computer, but not my own. It has never behaved this way before, and I'm quite confused by this, too.

For now, I would just like Ubuntu, and if possible, any or all data that can be recovered from my hard drive while Windows 7 was working. However, recovering data isn't important, as there are backups, but not with me here in Illinois.

[pretentious]

I'd suggest you burn the distro onto a CD if the live USB doesn't work.

[Timeghost]

I'd suggest you burn the distro onto a CD if the live USB doesn't work.

I'd love to, but the Acer Aspire One doesn't come with a CD/DVD drive.

I also don't have the CD/DVD thing that is hooked up via USB, either. I wouldn't know what it's called.

[mShred]

Is there something wrong with your Windows 7 partition? Are you just unable to boot it? If so, you may need to make changes to your bootloader config file. I can help you out with that later if that really is the case.
If not, what I suggest is downloading a file called Unetbootin. With that, it'll download the newest version of Ubuntu and write it directly to your flash drive. Then everything else should be self-explanatory.

[Timeghost]

Is there something wrong with your Windows 7 partition? Are you just unable to boot it? If so, you may need to make changes to your bootloader config file. I can help you out with that later if that really is the case.
If not, what I suggest is downloading a file called Unetbootin. With that, it'll download the newest version of Ubuntu and write it directly to your flash drive. Then everything else should be self-explanatory.

I saw some fellow admins from the library I was at, and we agree it's ka-put. I sincerely don't want to believe this, and am still determined to do everything possible to rectify the problem.

First off, it's booting from /boot/BCD. We don't know why. It was a third party program, that was never used before. I will be taking a picture of it for reference. We used the installation instructions provided, and Ubuntu IS on my flash drive. Latest version. It is stuck at the loading screen though, where it reads "blah blah Peter Anvin blah blah". I was told that it could be a hardware problem..? I still doubt this though.

-- Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:50 pm --

Is there something wrong with your Windows 7 partition? Are you just unable to boot it? If so, you may need to make changes to your bootloader config file. I can help you out with that later if that really is the case.
If not, what I suggest is downloading a file called Unetbootin. With that, it'll download the newest version of Ubuntu and write it directly to your flash drive. Then everything else should be self-explanatory.

I FOUND this on a website, this is EXACTLY what I'm going through. It suggests how to fix it, and the tool in question that messed this up was Easy BCD or something.

Can I use a flash drive in place of a CD for use in the methods described in the web page? If so, can someone kindly guide me through the process?

-- Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:52 pm --

My bad, website is here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistadeployment/thread/8647c865-59a2-44dc-8be2-1a65731bbe38

[mShred]

You don't have an external CD drive laying around anywhere?
Anywho, you can still mount the image onto a USB. http://www.sevenforums.com/installation ... e-usb.html
I didn't take the time to read through your link or even everything you said. But I figure that even if I'm giving you bad advice, you're at least learning to do shit on your own.

[pretentious]

This question might have nothing to do with it but does the screen you're stuck at accept keyboard input? I've come across some situations while booting from USB where I'm asked to locate the kernel image or something.

[Timeghost]

This question might have nothing to do with it but does the screen you're stuck at accept keyboard input? I've come across some situations while booting from USB where I'm asked to locate the kernel image or something.

Please excuse my late reply. Only the three finger salute. Ctrl + Alt + Del