These could be OEM partitions. The best way to start with a completely blank HDD is to use GParted which will also give you the option to start clean with a new MBR or GPT. If you’re deciding to use Windows 7, MBR is required (it cannot boot from GPT, I believe)
GParted is on the live session under System → Administration. The option is under Device → Create Partition Table
I was using Gparted via the Live Ubuntu usb. It wouldn’t let me delete these small partitions, if I recall correctly I had one of about 30gb and the other one was a few MB’s.
So if I go Device>Create I should be able to wipe the HDD? If not, how can I wipe it completely.
I thought that I needed to create a bootable GPT usb in order to be able to install Windows 7 on my laptop. The problem im having now is that I can’t boot using USB to install Windows 7 and im thinking is due to the eufi needing a gpt. I’m a bit confused but getting better.
You’re saying I should use Gparted to clean the HDD and set the two partitions(there), the first being the NTFS for windows and then the ext3?
Creating a new partition table starts the drive over (but doesn’t “blank” the drive entirely). The partition table is what stores information about partitions on the drive.
If that fails for bizarre reason, then the command dd can blank (“zero”) the entire drive start to finish (this can take ages…)
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
– Just to clarify, only the 64-bit version of Windows 7 supports UEFI booting and installing to a GPT disk. I’ve gotten confused when I’ve tried it with 32-bit, which cannot do that.Once your drive is “empty”, I’d suggest installing Windows 7 first using whichever mode that works with the disk formatted with the appropriate partition table.
Windows wants two partitions (crazy OS…!), one 100 MB for “Boot” and the rest for the OS, that’s up to you if you’d like to partition beforehand or during Windows Setup and leaving enough for Ubuntu MATE.
Once Windows is dealt with, you should be good to go installing Ubuntu MATE afterwards. 
So just deleting the partition and creating a new one NTFS that is(for the new windows install, or should i leave unallocated and let the windows install format), should wipe clean the other things lingering? That’s odd, i know i wiped the partitions but these smaller ones remained. Ill double check today to extra sure about what is saw.
Perfect, this makes perfect sense and I am installing a 64bit wind 7 so that should go as planned. Thanks for this, I think I should have enough to get me through.
I’d create a new partition table with GParted, since the whole thing is getting a new start. It’s like taking the entire drive back to factory fresh hard disk. 
You could let Windows Setup take care of the unallocated space and do its thing. If you do, afterwards you’ll need to shrink the Windows drive for Ubuntu, which can be done within Windows using Disk Management.
When setting the new partition table in gparted i have to select GPT or MSDOS, as i don’t recognized the other ones.
Oh and the partitions that wouldn’t let me do anything, had the key, its because i had to swap off(it was mounted). Once i did that i was able to create new partition table under "Device–>Create partition table.
Update: So far so good, i was able to format the two usb’s i had one install my eufi compatible windows 7 boot usb (GPT scheme, using rufus), I did the HDD using GParted and started with a fresh unallocated drive for the windows install. I let windows do the rest as suggested, success. Installing drivers and getting win 7 up and running like i wanted. I already have my amd64 eufi compatible live usb with ubuntu-mate ready to try the dual boot once more. Ill go over the guide before attempting this once more. Thanks a bunch. I’ll report back if i could get it running and solve this long mind boggling thread.
Running into a little bit of a snag. I installed Win 7 but my laptop which originally came with 8.1 I'm running into this little issue(picture attached) and i think it could have something to do with the amd64 ubuntu-mate being eufi compatible. Should i run the regular non- eufi(intel386) version. Please see attached, i'm afraid to proceed and screw everything up again. The first time around i think it was right to run the sufi compatible version of ubuntu mate since i was using Win 8.1 as opposed to Win7 now which doesn't seem to be eufi compatible.
Not sure i should use the intel386 version. I think i should stick to the amd64 version but make the usb bootable partition scheme mbr for bios and or eufi as the gpt version only gives me the error pictured. I think my issue is installing a windows 7 on the windows 8 machine, this just complicated things a bit more lol.
Update: After much or nothing.. i continued in eufi mode and created the partitions, using the guide here, manually. I'm really hoping i could get the Grub menu and be able to run these two guys. I'l update. Thanks
Update 2: Ran fine with the choice above, was able to install and continue with my "something else" installing. I didn't get the grub menu but pressing the SHIFT key right after boot forced the grub menu to appear and i could now dual boot!
About this(instructions to reinstall grub at the bottom) i installed windows and ubuntu but now i boot to ubuntu and not Grub menu is available. I see the instructions below but I'm confused as to whats meant by "mount the linux partition", is this the /partition or the /home?
Side note- As read in another guide, i pressed the shift key while starting up and got the grub. Just wanted to see if you could help with this sudo disk -l result
It’s the root Linux partition where Ubuntu is installed. In your case, it would be /dev/sda6 - the 18.6 GB partition.
Looking at the UEFI Error in the previous post, Windows 7 may be unbootable being installed in BIOS mode for some reason?
Got it, so the / partition lol. Sorry my terms aren’t fully up to date as i’m learning about most of these things froths thread. Thanks for pointing out the correct one. The UEFI error came out on both instances i tried to install via the bootable usb i made(ubuntu-mate), one had a partition scheme of gpt and the other had an MBR with uefi and bios compatibility, since i thought this was the issue.
What can you tell me about the red error in the gdisk -l output?
I’d like to mark this thread solved as i can now dual boot between my windows 7, installed in a windows 8.1 machine and Ubuntu-Mate 15.10. There isn’t “one answer” that solved it but all the input from you sir and mr. wolfman. I’ll be going through the guides and begin with my linux OS learning experience.
Glad to hear it’s all set up and working! 
I’ve seen that warning, my data drive says the same thing. These answers explain it well.
You could modify the partitions so they are perfectly aligned on the drive while it’s a fresh install with little data to shuffle around. It might improve I/O (Input/Output]) performance, depending on the hardware. Windows might will break its boot configuration and require you to repeat all of the steps again, so maybe it’s not worth it.
Appreciate that, although not worth it at the moment like you said. I don’t really have anything important but after all i went through. I’ll play around with the OS a bit and get more familiar with it. 
In short to recap for future assistance to to others.
PS- I initially started trying to dual boot Win 8.1 and Ubuntu mate but I chose the wrong distro, I picked intelX86 instead of Amd64. Even though my settings were ok in bios(safe boot, fast boot…) I still had not disabled “fast boot” under the power saving options in Windows OS(control panel) so this may have been the reason why after I successfully installed Ubuntu, I still didn’t get the GRUB.
It was all downhill from there 
, I started messing with the partitions and eventually messed up my Windows partition to the point of having to install another version of Windows, 7, that is, which is not exactly the same as 8.1 from e uefi point of view. Well the rest should be more than enough help for anyone else.
