I have a laptop that came with Windows 8 installed on one HDD with two partitions:
- C: (where Windows 8 is installed)
- D: (where my personal data is)
The OS was installed with a BIOS boot (MBR).
I wanted to install Fedora as a Dual Boot, so I downloaded Fedora Media Writer from the official website and let it download and create a bootable USB with Fedora 38 on it.
I shrank partition D: using diskmgmt.msc and unallocated 70GB.
When I started the Fedora installation software, under Installation Destination I selected the disk and ticked the automatic option under the Storage configuration.
After that I began the installation and it started installing.
Midway in the installation it showed the following error:
The follow error occurred when install boot loader. The system will not be bootable. Would you like to ignore this and continue installation? Failed to set new efi boot target. This is most likely a kernel or firmware bug
I clicked Cancel(or abort, cannot remember how it was called, but it was NOT continue)
After that the installer stopped and closed.
After I tried restarting the PC to check if everything is ok, during the booting phase it showed me the message:
Invalid partition table!
When I started the Fedora installation again using the Advanced Custom(Blivet-GUI) under Installation Destination -> Storage configuration, it showed Fedora Installation 64 with multiple partitions and Unknown with the old Windows partitions.
After deleting all the partitions (using the –(minus) option), it removed all of them except one EFI Partition that had size of 600MB.
So at the end there were left 4 partitions:
- System reserves(from Windows)
- C: (from Windows)
- D: (from Windows)
- EFI Partition (I am guessing this is the BOOT partition that was created by Fedora and it changed the table from MBR to GPT)
I undid the changes and exited. Using a Windows 8.1 installation USB I tried Troubleshoot -> Refresh your PC option, but it failed with the following message:
The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.
Using diskpart in Command Prompt from Advanced options, it listed the following partitions:
| Partition ### | Type | Size | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partition 1 | Primary | 350 MB | 1024KB |
| Partition 2 | Primary | 194 GB | 351 MB |
| Partition 3 | Primary | 200 GB | 195 GB |
| Partition 0 | Extended | 70 GB | 395 GB |
| Partition 4 * | Logical | 600 MB | 395 GB |
| Partition 5 ** | Logical | 1024 MB | 396 GB |
| Partition 6 | Logical | 68 GB | 397 GB |
*This is the BOOT partition that was created with the Fedora installation
**I am guessing this is the SWAP partition
My questions are:
- Can I make the Windows operational again ?
- Is dual boot between Windows and Fedora possible if there are 2 partitions under Windows installation ?
