[Bio-linux-dev] Ubuntu installer bug

[Tony Travis]

Hi, Tim.

I've accidentally overwritten the Windows 8 installation on my
colleague's UEFI Acer laptop because of a bug in the Bio-Linux/Ubuntu
"Ubiquity" installer:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1265192

I booted from the Bio-Linux 8.0.5 .iso, but Windows 8 was not detected
and I was not offered the option of installing Linux alongside Windows
8. So, I resized the main Windows 8 partition using "gparted" and then
installed Bio-Linux from the "Something else" option in the installer
GUI. Bio-Linux booted from the hard disk OK, but Windows 8 did not boot
from the Windows loader option in the GRUB menu. Eventually, after
changing the UEFI boot options, I was able to boot Windows again, but
not Bio-Linux. After several reboots, I could no longer boot Bio-Linux.
Apparently, Windows 8 detects the changes Ubiquity makes as 'corruption'
and 'repairs' them from a copy of its own files.

I decided to re-install Bio-Lunux to see if I could find out how to make
the Ubiquity boot persistent, but this time the installer detected
Ubuntu already installed and one option it offered was to "re-install"
Ubuntu. I selected this option expecting to be told what it was going to
do and then asked if I wanted to continue. However, the Ubiquity
installer IMMEDIATELY overwrote the entire hard disk, destroying the
Windows 8 installation completely. I've salvaged what I can from the
laptop's hard disk using "testdisk/photorec", but this is my colleague's
laptop and we didn't make a Windows 8 recovery USB-stick before
installing Linux so I'll have to contact Acer support to see if they can
help!

This is the first time I've ever had problems installing Bio-Linux, but
UEFI has seriously complicated matters :-(

Bye,

  Tony.

--
Dr. A.J.Travis, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and
Environmental Sciences, Cruickshank Building, St. Machar Drive, Aberdeen
AB24 3UU, Scotland, UK. tel +44(0)1224 272700, fax +44 (0)1224 272 396
http://www.abdn.ac.uk, mailto:tony.travis at abdn.ac.uk, skype:ajtravis



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