Ubuntu on HP laptop

[ramprasad]

Hi

I have a HP laptop with Vista Home Basic (OEM).
I want to install with Ubuntu and Vista and make it as a dual boot machine

Is it possible? If yes, can anybody outline the steps.?
How to configure the boot loader in this case?

[khmadhu]

its simple..

first install windows ,then install ubuntu.
ubuntu automatically configures the bootloader.
just while installing ubuntu select u r favorite OS as default OS..

one more suggestion, don't install vista.. it has more bugs, try win 7..

[celldweller1591]

well. i tried that 2 days back on my friends laptop with Vista on it .Ubuntu installed and worked fine but Vista loader was gone . When i updated grub , Vista entry came there but to no avail. I started recovery tools ! Its very messy to dual boot Vista with ubuntu. You must have a bootable Vista Dvd so that you may apply following fix to recover the bootloader : -

Load up the Windows Vista disc in your drive and press any key to boot from the disc.Choose the language, time etc and click Next. Now click on Repair Your Computer.Choose the operating system to repair and click Next. When the System Recovery Options dialog comes up, choose the Command Prompt.
Now type "bootrec.exe" and press Enter.
After that just type in the following :
"bootrec.exe /fixmbr"
"bootrec.exe /fixboot"
"bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd"
& restart your computer .

[abhinav_sinha]

Hey you just want ubuntu and if don't mind a bit of performance then install it inside windows although this is not recommended but seeing bugs with vista and some problems you can use this! watch out for other members reply.

[celldweller1591]

well if you want to install ubuntu via Wubi, its buggy. It will start downloading the whole image again even if you open wubi via a bootable live cd . so its not a good idea imo .you have to wait until the problem is fixed or try installing it with vista making a separate /boot partition in advanced partitioner setup !

[ramprasad]

Thanks everyone...
will wait for some more opinion before taking a decision..

@kmadhu: I wanted to use Vista, because I have a licenced OEM disk.
@celldweller1591 : Can OEM recovery disk be used to fix the corrupted Vista MBR..?

[khmadhu]

best option is, if u have enough RAM like 4 GB. install ubuntu in vmware or any other virtual server..

u can run two OS at a time .

[celldweller1591]

@ kdmadhu : ^^ on Virtual machine you can run as many os as you want but the system should support that ! i have 11 OS in Vmware workstation and all are linux however i can run only 1 virtual machine at a time && Ubuntu imo is an OS which is worth a dedicated install .

@ramprasad : probably not. when i tried it on my friends pc, i didnt got any option to do it manually but the recovery tools themselves try to do it automatically but that fails everytime !