I followed directions and can’t get into my computer at all now.
Ubuntu is on D drive because UUI said that it had to abort putting it on C because of system 32 folders. I can’t even boot windows now. I have a Vista. With that said I made sure my external drive was correct format, but didn’t want it on same drive as backup. So I impulsively put it on D drive without checking format. I’m a newbie. And I’m an online student
. I’m writing papers on my android phone now! Please help!
Hi @WarrWillow,
how did you set up your partitions?:
What type of media did you use for the install?:
See also:
This was the email I sent back before I realized I’m supposed to reply here…
The steps that I followed were relatively simple so instead of trying to figure out the definitions I’ll just explain to you exactly what I did I downloaded the torrent from the website onto my external hard drive but when I open the uui program it had an astrix next to the word desktop followed by another astrix and I didn’t know if that just meant the desktop environment look of Linux or if it literally meant my desktop from which Im referring to so I moved the torrent directly onto my desktop (but I don’t remember it trading forever to move… Hmm) and then used the uui but the third option I made sure that it went on to my C drive now the problem with that was that uui told me I couldn’t do that because the system32 folders are on the C drive at that point I had already been reading on it for 4 hours and I was getting tired so I just said forget it I’ll just put it on the D drive I made sure that there was nothing else on my D drive I let the uui program do it’s thing… it closed and absolutely nothing happened I didn’t even get a notification that it was finished so I open the file and realize that there was no icon for me to click on which gave me the impression that I just needed to reboot my computer so I went to reboot my computer and when I got to the ubuntu menu (is that what GRUB is??) it automatically went into its installation process and then I got the error message immediately. none of the other tabs on the Ubuntu menu work they go straight to the Casper… Code and nothing happens I can’t even get into safe mode if I go into BIOS I cannot tell my computer to boot from the D drive specifically both the C&D drives seem to be considered the same thing when it comes to bios so I have no idea what to do I looked into many different instructions on how to do this before hand, and the things I found regarding MBR for the disc said that it would rely on Vista’s orientation… But I forgot about that when I put it on D drive… I was under the impression that it would do it automatically… I did backup my system onto my external hard drive… But I can’t access that either. Said there no operation system… so I’m not sure what of this information is a given or redundant but I thought it might just be easier if I tell you everything I think I know before I get too confused . since I posted my question I went ahead and I purchased the new Ubuntu 16… LTS. originally I got the 15.1 64 bit thinking that my computer might be a little bit too old to run the newest version but I got conflicting information on that too and for whatever reason and I went ahead and bought the most new version to get on a DVD… I wasn’t willing to see how long it would take to get a response. I figure might as well buy it considering it would still take days before I got it… Maybe if no one responded the cd boot attempt would at least work
Also I’m meticulous about keeping my computer organized so it defragmented every single day I cleaned my disk space before hand too, and I went to resize the stuff on the drive but I realize there was so much space that it was fine my computer used to be full but I bought a terabyte external hard drive and I put all my music and photos on there so the C&D drives on my computer are relatively empty so I didn’t see the point in resizing it if that’s what you mean by partitioning I didn’t do that. This is a pretty important detail though when I downloaded the uui program it did tell me to make sure that I put the file or whatever on a disk or drive that is formatted correctly I forgot the letters (e.g FAT NTFS? I don’t remember the examples) … Anyway … The first drive, drive C had the correct format but when I impulsively decided to put it on Drive d I never checked to make sure that it was the right format so that might be part of it and the examples I found said nothing about needing an external disc 2 get my disk ready and I never ever read anything about it needing to be unmounted. all the stuff I found on YouTube and reading online all looks relatively simple but every single example of instructions were different so I guess I just tried to be prepared for whatever my computer was going to do. ’
Nice post…too long!.
Have you since done any partitioning, have you followed any of the tips shown in the guide I posted above?, did you check that the DVD you bought is okay and by that I mean did you try running the Live disk to see if everything works?.
Follow the guides and you should be okay!. 
I haven’t gotten the disc and I said previously that I’m unable to get into my computer at all. I figure if I just tell you everything you can easily see what went wrong. I know now that it’s not the case. No I can’t do anything…
What do I do when I actually very the disc? When I get the disc I was under the impression that it will let me in so I can fix things. But without anything being partitioned what should I expect to happen? Thanks.
Hi @WarrWillow,
assuming you have a disk in your hands now, if you follow the Beginners guide, it explains everything step for step, please take time to read through it and things will become a lot clearer.
You can also take time to read though the Partition guide which explains various scenarios, take your time and don’t rush into everything, if you currently don’t have a disk that boots correctly, chances are that it was “burnt” too quickly and this contributes to errors at boot time!. The partition tool “Gparted” is already included in the live CD (gets removed once you have a done a full install!).
See also: Burn ISO’s at the slowest possible speed
When you post, keep it in small sections like the following please:
I booted and blah happened…
What types of partitions do I need to create and how…
My PC exploded after inserting Ubuntu Mate live CD…
I hope you get the general idea
Thanks for your help! I’m all set and extremely happy with my dual boot. 
i restored my PC to factory out-of-the-box state; brought it back to speed from its 2009 settings; I kept everything personal on external hd. I deleted d partition, then let automatic cd-rom install Mate in the unallocated space left behind… Did as much research as i could stand since May, and 90% of what I weeded through seems (now) unnecessarily complicated. Ill keep dual boot until im confident i won’t need it again. Thanks for your patience, I don’t think ill be using Windows ever again, though! 
