Too many primary partitions to install Fedora...

[GrayFox]

Howdy,

I just bought a HP DV7 3085 it naturally comes with win7 and a buncho
recovery partiitions...

In fact there are four primary partitions....This means that
the anaconda can't create any more partitions and thus I cannot
install Fedora...

I don't really feel like destroying the win 7 install...

There is one small partition called HP Tools...I don't know yet
its function ( it is a fat32 only a couple of hundred MB).

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Jerry

[kyryder]

Howdy,

There is one small partition called HP Tools...I don't know yet
its function ( it is a fat32 only a couple of hundred MB)

Thanks

Jerry

I would guess that the fat32 partition is part of HP's diagnostic/testing software.

Kinda weird though, my Win7 has only 2 partitions.

EDIT: If the fat32 part. is only a few hundred megs. I would try to copy it to external storage for future use and delete the partition.

[bob]

I'd suggest using an external drive for an install. You wouldn't risk deleting a 'necessary' partition and/or voiding your warranty.

[GrayFox]

I think everyone is getting too cheap to include recovery disks in the
distribution...

It appears that there is the 'Main' partition, and two others associated
with recovery and then the HP Tool partition.

I guess I have to learn about extended partitions...

I hope I can copy the small HP partition somewhere and then
create an extended partition that could hopefully contain
Fedora and the HP partition.

Jerry

---------- Post added at 08:30 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 PM CST ----------

I'd suggest using an external drive for an install. You wouldn't risk deleting a 'necessary' partition and/or voiding your warranty.

Yeah, well after I shrank the main Win7 partition to about 200GB I have
abut 240GB of free space...Seems strange to have to lug around an
external drive with a laptop

Jerry

[bob]

Good solution. Didn't notice it was a laptop.

[kyryder]

I think everyone is getting too cheap to include recovery disks in the
distribution...
I hope I can copy the small HP partition somewhere and then
create an extended partition that could hopefully contain Fedora
and the HP partition.
Jerry

You could try it. I would just do the copying from a live cd. If it where me I would use "dd" to copy the partition to a .img file but not everyone is comfortable using "dd".

Ky

[GrayFox]

You could try it. I would just do the copying from a live cd. If it where me I would use "dd" to copy the partition to a .img file but not everyone is comfortable using "dd".

Ky

dd might be a bit tricky...the new partition would have to be exactly the
same size as the old partition....

Hmm, since it is a fat32 partition maybe the live CD could just copy the
contents to a usb stick....

Still a couple of questions under the assumption that I can copy the
HP Tools.

1) How do I create an extended Partition with the free 260 GB?
2) How do I embed the logical partitions that fedora will use ( and the
hp tools partition)?

I sorta, kinda know what I want to do but the specifics elude me...

Any pointers?

Jerry

[kyryder]

[QUOTE=GrayFox;1313746]

dd might be a bit tricky...the new partition would have to be exactly the same size as the old partition....

Yea, its not for everyone. Just a FYI with dd you could save the partition as a file.img then you don't have to create a new partition somewhere else.

Hmm, since it is a fat32 partition maybe the live CD could just copy the
contents to a usb stick....

Thats what I would do but with dd.

Still a couple of questions under the assumption that I can copy the
HP Tools.

1) How do I create an extended Partition with the free 260 GB?
2) How do I embed the logical partitions that fedora will use ( and the
hp tools partition)?

I sorta, kinda know what I want to do but the specifics elude me...

Any pointers?

Jerry

It is probably best to use "anaconda" the install software of Fedora and manually set up the disk but you could set the partitions up before install if you wanted to but I don't see any real advantage. Most people do a install with 3 partitions:
/boot
/
swap partitions.


Fedora 12 Installation Guide is pretty well documented and I have found it useful at times.

Hope this helps

Ky

[GrayFox]

Ok,

1) I copied the contents of the HP_TOOLS partition to a usb stick.

2) I deleted the HP_TOOLS Partition. So now I only had three primary partitions.

3) I created an Extended Partition in the space that I freed up
when I shrank the Win 7 partition

4) I created a small fat32 partition for HT_TOOLS ( and used that
name as the Label).

5) I created a near 6GB swap partition in the Extended partition.

6) I started the Anaconda Installer and only specified a single
root partition.

7) I installed Fedora 12

8) I rebooted into Fedora 12 Hooray...

9) I rebooted into Win 7 Hooray

10) I rebooted into the pre operating system diagnostics and they ran, Hooray.

11) I realized that I installed via the i686 installer, not the 64 bit x64 installer, Boo!
The installer installed the *PAE kernels...

******************************

I have down loaded the x86_64 installer...what will I gain by wiping the
i686 and redoing the install with the 64 bit thingee...

Are all of the fedora packages available for x86_64? In particular I need
wxPython, Python, Tcl/Tk and Postgresql...

Thanks

Jerry

[kyryder]

Great, I am glad it all works. IMOA there is not much to be gained by running the 64bit unless you are running allot of heavy processes, other wise you wouldn't notices a difference. I believe most all packages are now available in 64bit and if not I just use the 32bit one.

[Mariusz W]

1) I copied the contents of the HP_TOOLS partition to a usb stick.

2) I deleted the HP_TOOLS Partition. So now I only had three primary partitions.

3) I created an Extended Partition in the space that I freed up
when I shrank the Win 7 partition

4) I created a small fat32 partition for HT_TOOLS ( and used that
name as the Label).

5) I created a near 6GB swap partition in the Extended partition.

6) I started the Anaconda Installer and only specified a single
root partition.

7) I installed Fedora 12

8) I rebooted into Fedora 12 Hooray...

9) I rebooted into Win 7 Hooray

10) I rebooted into the pre operating system diagnostics and they ran, Hooray.

I myself ran into this problem of having four primary partitions pre-installed when I bought two days ago an HP dm4-1160US laptop.

Believing that it's better to be rather too cautious than too rash, I began from collecting and critically evaluating all the available 'information' about the two HP partitions (RECOVERY and HP_TOOLS), how do they supposedly function, what are the perils associated with removing or just modifying any one of them.

As recommended by the manufacturer, I prepared a set of Recovery DVDs (6 in total) using the pre-installed HP Recovery Manager program. I also located and read HP TOOLS Partition Guidelines (an internal HP memo). I spent hours reading numerous posts devoted to this subject in various Windows fora, the Ubuntu forum, and the HP forum -- the majority reflected concerns of those who faced this "too many primary partitions" problem rather than offered viable solutions, and those posts that offered 'answers' or 'solutions', I have to say, were generally of dubious value.

After all of of this work I came across the post quoted above, and with the knowledge I already possessed it struck me as providing the likely to be the best and almost certainly the safest way out of this "four-primary-partitions" conundrum.

So, let me say what I have done. If you face the "too many primary partitions" situation, follow my steps:

1) leave the RECOVERY partition intact

2) copy the contents of the HP_TOOLS partition to a USB disk with a FAT32 partition; I did that inside Windows as follows:

a) (temporarily) assign a drive letter using Windows Disk Management utility (start it by, e.g., executing diskmgmt.msc command)

b) let us suppose that Windows assigned it drive letter F; also suppose that on a USB disk, that shows up with drive letter G in Windows Explorer, you created a directory named HP_TOOLS, then the command to be executed in the CMD.EXE terminal window should be

robocopy F:\ G:\HP_TOOLS\  /E /DCOPY:T /XA:S

(flag /XA:S prevents system directories like $Recycle.Bin from being copied)

3) next, in Windows Disk Management:

a) delete the HP_TOOLS partition

b) shrink the huge Windows 7 partition (C: drive) from nearly 450 GB to 260GB (Windows would not let me shrink it more than that: some hidden files marked by Windows as unmovable are located in the middle of the disk, that was however fine with me, Linux has good support of NTFS now so I could be using much of that big Windows partition as a data container)

c) create a new partition in the newly cleared space: Windows Disk Management provides an option to leave it without a drive letter assigned and unformatted; don't be perplexed by the fact that the New Partition Creation wizzard refers to it as "a new simple volume"; when you click the "Finish" button, the newly created partition will show up as RAW Extended, and this is what you want

d) create again a new partition (it will be automatically created a logical one) of the size exactly the same as the deleted HP_TOOLS partition, allowing Windows to assign it a drive letter (suppose that that letter is F), formatting it as FAT32, and assigning it the label: HP_TOOLS (this is essential)

e) copy the saved contents of the original HP_TOOLS partition to the newly created partition using robocopy:

robocopy G:\HP_TOOLS\  F:\ /E /DCOPY:T

f) at this point I suggest you reboot the computer, and right after the reboot open the Windows Disk Management utility again, select the HP_TOOLS partition, and remove the drive letter (ignore the warning pop-up window).

g) (optional) create as many as you want additional partitions -- I created a 15GB, a 2GB, a 15 GB partitions (the future /, swap, and /home partitions for Linux I will be installing shortly); I created them RAW (i.e., unformatted) and without drive letters assigned; the remaining space I split into three data partitions of varying sizes, two of them NTFS, one FAT32; I allowed Windows to assign drive letters to them.


I performed several tests: before, in the middle, and after completing the above operations, by repeatedly shutting down the computer and upon restart pressing ESC and then pressing F2 to initialize Diagnostic tools that rely on executables stored on the HP_TOOLS partition. My tests confirm that these preboot diagnostic tools function after performing the above operations as they were functioning before, when HP_TOOLS was a primary partition located at the end of the disk.

[GeekGirl1]

I'm converting to Fedora from Ubuntu (Unity, incomplete GNOME 3, upgrade broke my install, etc., etc.). Ubuntu's wubi installer was the only way I could get Linux running on my HP Pavilion dm4t laptop.

After uninstalling wubi, I made a clean boot sector / bootloader with my Windows 7 recovery disk. (Go to the command prompt - > bootrec /fixMbr, > bootrec /fixboot.)

I inserted the install DVD, select "Shrink OS", and get "No partitions are available to resize. Only physical partitions with specific filesystems can be resized."

Custom settings reports 4 partitions (view with custom settings):

/dev/sda
sda1 199 MB      ntfs
sda2 457694 MB   ntfs
sda3 18992 MB    ntfs
sda4 103 MB      vfat

It would be helpful to reword the error message to say: "Hard drives are limited to a maximum of 4 partitions. Fedora needs 3 partitions or less for the installation to continue." Since laptop manufacturers are including extra partitions for various reasons, I suspect this type of error will become more common.

Mariusz W - Thank you !! This is exactly what I was looking for. I'll follow your instructions and report back.

[GeekGirl1]

I now have Fedora 15 dual-boot with Windows 7 on my HP Pavilion dm4t laptop. Here's what worked for me; which is Mariusz W's instructions with minor clarifications and a picture.

The idea is to remove a primary partition, HP_TOOLS, and place the contents into an extended partition with the same name. The laptop's BIOS, which uses these tools, won't know the difference - but Fedora can now be installed.

The partitions were configured as: C: (Windows), D: (Recovery), E: (HP_TOOLS). I forgot to grab a screenshot before I made changes.

1. Start the Disk Manager utility by typing "manage" in the task bar and selecting "Computer Management." Go to Storage --> Disk Management. Note the size of the HP_TOOLS partition, 103 MB.

2. Insert a USB stick and format it as FAT32 from within Disk Management. Right click on the partition, New Simple Volume... Hit Next 3 times, format as FAT32. (existing data erased).

3. Use the built-in Windows 7 copy utility, robocopy, to copy the data to the USB drive. This saves everything for later.

robocopy E:\ G:\HP_TOOLS\  /E /DCOPY:T /XA:S

4. Delete the HP_TOOLS partition. Right-click, Delete Volume... The space will show as unallocated.

5. Create room for Linux by shrinking the Windows 7 (C: ) partition. Right-click Shrink Volume..., accept the smallest amount it will let you. You now have an extended partition as free space, where Fedora will be installed. On a 500 GB drive, it's much more than you'll need.

6. Inside the free space, create the extended partition for HP_TOOLS. Right-click New Simple Volume... Use the same size as the original partition, 103 MB, assign a drive letter "E" (needed for next step), format the volume as FAT32, volume label "HP_TOOLS" (note the underscore between HP and tools).

7. Copy the USB stick HP_TOOLS files into this new volume.

robocopy G:\HP_TOOLS\  E:\ /E /DCOPY:T

8. Reboot and check that Windows 7 is OK. For this first time only, Windows 7 will complain that it was not shutdown correctly. Proceed without repair. Start Computer Management and check your work. HP's diagnostics are functioning.

A screenshot of the partitioned result, the Fedora install DVD and USB stick are loaded:

9. Boot the install DVD. Select the basic video driver or you may get a black screen. Install with the Use Free Space option. Hint: When presented with the boot options, change "Other" to "Windows 7" and select if you want Fedora or Windows 7 to be the default OS boot.

I did additional research to be sure that Microsoft's "Simple Volume" is indeed an extended partition. It's shown clearly after-the-fact in the screenshot. HP_TOOLS and Free Space have a dark-green "extended partition" box around them.

[Mariusz W]

9. Boot the install DVD. Select the basic video driver or you may get a black screen. Install with the Use Free Space option. Hint: When presented with the boot options, change "Other" to "Windows 7" and select if you want Fedora or Windows 7 to be the default OS boot.

I installed Linux (Fedora 15) differently.

6. (in Windows 7 Disk Management utility) Create a New Simple Volume; choose not to format it, do not assign a label or a letter drive -- Disk Management utility will show the newly created partition as a raw partition. This is an extended partition: ll the subsequent partitions created by the Disk Management utility will be logical.

7. Create a New Simple Volume with the size 103MB; make sure it is located at the beginning of the extended partition created in the previous step; allow Windows to format it as FAT32 with default settings; assign label HP_TOOLS; do not assign a drive letter.

8. Create a New Simple Volume: this will hold / partition (Linux root partition); choose not to format it, do not assign a label or a letter drive; choose the size big enough for installation and updates (I chose 15GB).

9. Create a New Simple Volume: this will hold the Linux swap partition; choose not to format it, do not assign a label or a letter drive; choose the size appropriate for swap partitions (I chose 2GB).

10. Create a New Simple Volume: this will hold /home partition (Linux home partition); choose not to format it, do not assign a label or a letter drive; choose the size big enough for users files (I chose 15GB).

11. At this point you probably still have plenty of unassigned space on the extended partition. You can create additional partitions destined to hold data that should be easily accessible and writeable from both Windows and Linux; choose the sizes however suits you; format each of these additional partitions FAT32 or NTFS; assign drive letters; I also recommend that you assign labels -- this will help you to recognize which partition you mounted when you mount them in Linux.

12. Before shutting Windows insert your Fedora installation DVD; restart the computer; when you reach the installer screen devoted to partitioning the disk, choose the 'Custom' partitioning scheme; you should not have difficulty recognizing on the next screen which partitions are the ones you created for Linux: use the installer disk utility to designate the first as / partion, the second -- as Linux swap, the third -- as /home. I chose the defaults partition types (Ext4) for / and /home.


The above procedure gives me much more control and is more convenient than allowing the Linux installer to create all the Linux partitions automatically.