Problem installing ubuntu 12.04 (dual boot) on Mac
This does not work on the newer iMacs if installing Precise. Please make a backup first.(2011)
First, you will need to install rEFIt. Please download the rEFIt DMG package and install it by mounting and running the installer .mkpg file/directory. Once rEFIt is installed, reboot, and you should see an alternate boot menu.
Boot to Mac OSX.
Open a terminal and run sudo diskutil resizeVolume disk0s2 200G
, replacing 200G with the size of the Mac OSX partition you want. Insert the Ubuntu Live CD. If the rEFIt menu doesn't appear, hold the option key while rebooting. Hold C while booting to boot the CD. Press f6 when you see a purple screen with a man and keyboard at the bottom. Use the arrow keys to check nomodeset, press esc and select to Try Ubuntu. Start Gparted and create a 1 GB "swap" partition in the free space, and then an EXT4 partition. Remember the label(which may be something like /dev/sda3
Start the installer.
Choose the "somehing else" option when asked how to partition. Select the partition you made(the EXT4 one) ,and click edity below. Set the mount point to /
. On the dropdown, select to install the bootloader to /dev/sda3
(The EXT4 partition you made), NOT /dev/sda
. Install, and reboot.
If you are unableto boot Ubuntu, select the partition tool on rEFIt, and allow it to "sync" the partitoin table(Press Y). Shutdown, and boot again. (Do not reboot, but shutdown)
Adapted from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MactelSupportTeam/AppleIntelInstallation#Quick_Steps for interface of newer installers
There are also some chat logs from trying to resolve the problem. A raw dump is below. This is not edited, so it contains a few off-topic things also.
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Admin
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
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Admin over 1 year
I'm actually running ubuntu 12.04 on my Macbook by DVD. But when I try to install only 2 settings appear:
- Replace Mac OS X with Ubuntu
- Something else
while I was expecting for
- Install Ubuntu alongside Mac OS X
how can I fix that? Thanks.
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nanofarad over 11 yearsDo you have a rEFIt disk or rEFIt installed on Mac OSX? Also, are you using Leopard?
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Admin over 11 years@ObsessiveFOSS, I honestly don't know...
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nanofarad over 11 yearsIt's not on by default. OK, I'll add an answer shortly.
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Admin over 11 yearsI have a Macbook Pro. Doesn't it work anyway?
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nanofarad over 11 yearsWhen was it produced, and what OSX version are you running? Leopard?
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Admin over 11 yearsIt is a Macbook Pro 13'' of half 2010 running Mac OS X Lion (the latest version).
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Admin over 11 yearsI didn't create a partition when I was on the Mac OS X side. That might be the problem. Could it be that when I create a partition on the OS X side then re doing the procedure and booting from DVD will give me that option?
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nanofarad over 11 years@Jeffrey You do not create a partition on the Mac OS side. You make your old partition smaller in Mac OSX, and then create a new partition using Gparted in the live environment. Why don't we come down to chat?
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Admin over 11 yearsNew update: At the end of the successfull installation it asked me to restart the computer. I did. It trhew out the installation DVD and got to the rEFIt boot menu. I selected Linux and it booted to a black screen with a pulsing dot at the top left corner. It stayed like that for 5 minutes, then I just stopped the computer. I rebooted few more times, always the same. (The boot to Mac works by the way). Looking for it on Google game me some results about the problem being related to "nomodeset", that if you remember we didn't set.