Not sure if this is the right place to ask or if anyone can help me, but today, I installed the ubuntu ISO & converted it to a bootable format on an 128GB SD card (All my USBs are too small) I ran the installer as normal & here’s where I think I messed up. I allocated a 27GB partition for linux but that option didnt apper on the installer upon being asked where to install to. Thinking nothing of it, I ran the installer clicking on the install to drive option & halfway through it failed saying something like Error16 Drive is busy & the installation was only half done. now on attempt to restart windows is completely gone & all I can do is boot up a very fragmented Ubuntu without internet & firefox works very slowly. If anyone can help, then it’s appreciated. I’ve always wanted to try Linux & just got an SD card large enough to do it, but now this happens.
You’re getting good advice here.
“Bricking” though normally means turning a software problem into a hardware problem. You just have a software problem, which is infinitely easier to fix.
Don’t fret.
I agree, if the data loss is no issue and there is no need to recover anything, just start from scratch.
Do you have backup copies of your important files? If so, nuke that shizzle and try again starting from scratch.
Editing to clarify: Nuke that shizzle = nuke the installation device, not the backup. 😉
Boot from the live USB and then restart the install. Make sure you overwrite the existing Ubuntu partition.
Install Windows again, then install Linux.
Windows is annoying with it’s bootloader, but when you have separate drive, it would be way smoother experience.
Or better yet:
Run the live Linux environment, rungparted
, wipe every partition of the disk- Reinstall Windows, wiping everything
- Launch Windows, launch
dskmng
, shrink Windows by the needed amount (having another OS shrink it might break it) - Reinstall Linux, it should offer to install alongside the other system if there’s enough space
If it’s on the same drive, after updates, Windows will try to ‘fix’ that you have another OS itself, and remove GRUB.