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A few days ago my new Dell XPS 15 9650 arrived. So far I managed to get only Windows 10 to install, but I really want to use elementary instead. After two days of fiddling around, I finally give up:

I have free disk space which I formatted and changed to an ext4 partition with GParted. Then I took some memory aside for a swap partition, which is equal to the size of my RAM. Trying to install elementary, this message pops up after a few minutes:

"Bootloader couldn't be installed at the right place." (freely translated from German)

I am now presented with 3 options:

  • "Please choose another device to install grub", followed by a list of all devices
  • "Continue without installation of grub"
  • "Abort installation"

Choosing either of that I can't press the next button, or at least it doesn't do anything. Is this a problem of the GUI, or am I doing something completly wrong?

For info: I am using a UEFI system, but I started the live stick in BIOS Legacy mode, because elementary keeps telling me that Windows is installed as such system.

I found this article: https://www.howtogeek.com/114884/how-to-repair-grub2-when-ubuntu-wont-boot/ But since this is a live stick, I can't install that...

Here is my setup so far: enter image description here

And I even think, that I've found a solution, but I don't know how to create such an EFI boot section: https://askubuntu.com/questions/696999/unable-to-install-grub-in-dev-nvme

Could somebody be so kind and help me here out!

Best Regards, Nico

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  • I found this :how to manually install bootloader
    – Jason
    Feb 20 '17 at 3:31
  • You are using the BIOS legacy mode. There's no way to install elementary in UEFI mode unless you format your disk and set it to a GPT partition table. I recommend you to delete the swap file and leave the free space. Then click on "install elementary" and follow the steps until you reach the partitioning menu. In there, go to advanced partitioning and try to create a new ext4 partition.. When you do that, it's going to ask you to automatically create some extra partitions (swap and boot). Just press yes. [1/2]
    – Maccer ♦
    Feb 20 '17 at 10:31
  • There's an option to choose where the grub/boot files are going to be stored. Just choose your main disk without selecting any partition. It will do it automatically. [2/2] That will install everything in legacy mode. If you want UEFI mode, wipe your disk and start again. Set your firmware/bios to UEFI mode. First install W10 and then eOS.
    – Maccer ♦
    Feb 20 '17 at 10:31
  • Nope this doesn't help. This is exactly what I did previously... First error message Menu I can't click next in
    – NE555
    Feb 20 '17 at 13:55
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Hi I just received my XPS15 9560 as well and installed Elementary OS dual booting with windows (And of course run into the same issues as you).

You need to install Elementary in UEFI mode and not in legacy mode

In the bios you need to disable secure boot.

Also (an absolute MUST) you need to switch your disk from RAID driver to AHCI, without it you won't be able to install on UEFI.

Switch from RAID to AHCI

I also had to repeat the procedure twice, don't know if this was my fault or not.

I don't remember the exact menu option where you set your disk driver type, let me know if you cant find it and ill look it up.

After you boot into Elementary installation, if you already freed some space, it will even prompt you to install Elementary in a dual boot with windows without requesting to create specific partitions.

Let me know if you need further help

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  • Wow! Thank you so much! I will try these steps in a few weeks, when I finished my thesis and I don't rely on this machine. I didn't change from RAID to AHCI, so that was most probably the problem. But how is the battery life with elementary OS? I only got about 4 hours.
    – NE555
    May 23 '17 at 8:05
  • Sure thing, if that helps don't forget to mark my answer ;) Battery life depends on the laptop battery and also if you are working with NVidia card or Intel HD, I switched back to intel by the way. In XPS15 its ok, but not amazing.
    – Mike Rodov
    May 23 '17 at 8:16
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I also found this. Although I know you're not using Greta, concept is the Same. Dual boot

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  • Thank you for sharing this link, it does not help me, but was useful to read!
    – NE555
    Feb 20 '17 at 13:59

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