[SOLVED] Confusing screen when installing Mint 13 xfce (dual boot)

Steve W · 02-03-2015, 05:42 AM

Quote:

The warning says something like, "Warning, you are changing the partition size, do you want to continue?"

No, it doesn't. I tried to do a screenshot of it, but although it did one, I had no way to save it to any permanent device (it didn't let me access any HDDs while it was using the partition tool). If it does it again, I'll write down the exact wording of the message.

I'll give it another go later on this afternoon, and if I still have problems, I will post back the exact details of what the machine does. Or doesn't.

TxLonghorn · 02-03-2015, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

No, it doesn't. I tried to do a screenshot of it, but although it did one, I had no way to save it to any permanent device (it didn't let me access any HDDs while it was using the partition tool). If it does it again, I'll write down the exact wording of the message.

After you take a screenshot, you can save it to a USB drive, or you can save it to the /var/tmp directory on sda5
You are right that mounting sda5 (or any partition) while you are using the installation program is potentially problematic.
The reason I suggest /var/tmp is because that directory is configured to allow access to any user (even mint), so you avoid permissions/ownership problems.

Steve W · 02-04-2015, 12:10 PM

As you can see from the attached screenshot, this time the installer did start the installation, but gave this message, which I could only say Continue (which would unmount /cdrom and therefore the installer could not read any further data for the install), or "Go Back", which takes me back to the previous screen. Either way, install could not continue.

colorpurple21859 · 02-04-2015, 12:28 PM

Will it allow you to unmount /dev/sda5 from another terminal before running the partitioner?

TxLonghorn · 02-04-2015, 03:19 PM

I cannot imagine why your installation is refusing to continue without unmounting the /cdrom.
I have never seen that behavior from a DVD installation before.

There is something different we can try. First, please tell me how much ram you have installed on that computer.

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 04:30 AM

There is 753MB of RAM on the laptop.

Some things have occurred to me:

(i) Is there any option I can add to the boot options that I can alter when the DVD first starts to boot? You know, a few seconds after booting from the DVD, a menu presents itself and I can alter the DVD boot options if I wish. I tried a Google search around "Linux Mint DVD boot options", but nothing obvious suggests itself.

(ii) I can't help thinking my previous attempts to install Mint from an ISO located on the hard drive (sda5, coincidentally) has changed the Grub boot options to make this happen. Although, surely, when booting from the DVD it uses its own files and any Grub booting files written anywhere on the hard drive are ignored...?

(iii) Why is the DVD "latching on" to sda5 and mounting /cdrom to it anyway? Isn't /cdrom an entirely different device? Once the live DVD has booted, the directory tree shows sda5/cdrom/home/steve... and then my own /home directory for the previous Mint installation (the one I want to keep). I wonder if the boot options (in (i) above) can be altered so it mounts to a different device.

This is, I reckon, why the install is having so many problems. Surely under normal circumstances, /cdrom would stay mounted and all hard drive partitions would be unmounted, so the partitions could be changed. This "dual identity", with the /cdrom somehow thinking its part of sda, seems to be causing the hassle...

TxLonghorn · 02-05-2015, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

There is 753MB of RAM on the laptop.

Thank you. I was thinking about loading the entire live Mint into ram instead of running it from the DVD, but that requires 1.5GB of ram minimum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

(i) Is there any option I can add to the boot options that I can alter when the DVD first starts to boot?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

(ii) I can't help thinking my previous attempts to install Mint from an ISO located on the hard drive (sda5, coincidentally) has changed the Grub boot options to make this happen. Although, surely, when booting from the DVD it uses its own files and any Grub booting files written anywhere on the hard drive are ignored...?

Correct, the DVD is completely self-contained, and the files that are or aren't on the hard drive do not affect the DVD boot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

(iii) Why is the DVD "latching on" to sda5 and mounting /cdrom to it anyway? Isn't /cdrom an entirely different device? Once the live DVD has booted, the directory tree shows sda5/cdrom/home/steve... and then my own /home directory for the previous Mint installation (the one I want to keep). I wonder if the boot options (in (i) above) can be altered so it mounts to a different device.

I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe if you boot the DVD, open a terminal, and enter the command:
mount
we could get a clue.
I admire your persistance, and your climb up the learning curve, by the way...

WE could try taking the DVD out of the process.
Running the live DVD, mount sda5 with this command in a terminal:
udisks --mount /dev/sda5
That command will then tell you the mount point - something like /media/sda5
Move the .iso file from your Downloads folder on sda5 (or where-ever it is located) to the /boot directory on sda5, with this command:
sudo mv /media/sda5/home/yourusername/Downloads/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso /media/sda5/boot/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso
EDIT: you will have to edit that command for the correct mount point and yourusername.
Now make a backup copy of your /boot/grub/grub.cfg on sda5 file with this command:
sudo cp /media/sda5/boot/grub/grub.cfg /media/sda5/boot/grub/grub.cfgBAK
Open sda5's grub.cfg file in your text editor with this command:
gksudo gedit /media/sda5/boot/grub/grub.cfg
Go down towards the end of the document where you see:
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

Change that to read:
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
menuentry "Mint 13 xfce 32bit iso" {
set isofile="/boot/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,msdos5)$isofile
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

Save the file and exit the text editor.
Remove the DVD from the drive.
Boot your Mint on the hard drive. When you boot you will see the "Mint 13 xfce 32bit iso" choice on the grub menu. Choose that and the live Mint iso will boot from sda5 instead of booting from the DVD.
When the installation program starts, you will get a popup warning that you have mounted partitions, asking if you want to unmount them. Answer NO and proceed with the "Something Else" installation, as you did before. You can install to any unmounted partition (sda1).
It is absolutely impossible to accidentally install to mounted partitions - or to delete or resize or overwrite them. The installer will refuse to do it, as you have discovered. So there is no danger of damaging your Mint on sda5, because that can remain mounted.
Install the bootloader to sda (that is the default location), not to sda1.

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Move the .iso file from your Downloads folder on sda5 (or where-ever it is located)

There is no .iso file - either on the DVD or on sda5. Though it seems what you are suggesting is the same thing I tried before - to boot the distro by copying it to the hard drive and having Grub extract and use the code from the iso file. That didn't work for me before; I don't know if that is because I have Grub 1.99 and it requires Grub 2.0, or that I was amending the wrong grub.cfg. Either way, the only version of Mint 13 xfce that I have is on the DVD - no iso file.

Running 'mount' once the DVD is booted gives me:

Code:

/cow on / type overlayfs (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
/dev/sda5 on /cdrom type ext4 (ro,noatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/mint/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=mint)

... of which I assume the important bit is:

Code:

/dev/sda5 on /cdrom type ext4

When I look inside /cdrom once booted, I find not only my entire /home directory but also, mixed in with it, the files from the DVD. While the DVD is booting, my HDD light is suspiciously active. Could something in the DVD's boot sequence be jiggering about with my directory tree (as the DVD sees it) while it's booting up?

Quote:

I admire your persistence...

I'm grateful you are continuing to offer assistance. I'm persisting because I've installed quite a few distros since I started using Linux in 2007 and I've never encountered one this stubborn before! I can't imagine it's the distro disc itself, since I burned it on someone else's PC (I don't have a DVD writer drive, just a DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo). So I can't get away from the idea that it's something on my laptop that is causing the distro to latch onto (and merge with!) sda5 during boot up.

Are there any boot-associated files that would be on sda5 that we could check to make sure nothing is "forcing" the DVD to latch onto sda5? (Although, as you said, the files on the HDD should have been ignored by the DVD boot process.) Are there any files on the DVD, once booted, that could be checked to see what it is doing during boot up? Why would /cdrom be mounted to sda5 (or sda5 be mounted as /cdrom - I forget which way round it is...)

And I can't stop remembering that my HDD light is suspiciously busy during the bootup of a DVD. Particularly since no partitions on the drive are meant to be mounted...

colorpurple21859 · 02-05-2015, 10:04 AM

what if you move the iso file off of the harddrive then boot the dvd? The dvd maybe accessing something off the iso file. Also did you do a mdsum check before buring iso to dvd.

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 10:09 AM

Quote:

what if you move the iso file off of the harddrive then boot the dvd?

There is no iso file on the hard drive. There used to be, when I was trying that method, but it has now been deleted. Did do an MD5sum check, yes.

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 10:13 AM

Interestingly enough, if I live-boot a Knoppix DVD I have (not the same thing, I know) and do "mount", it gives the following, which is presumably how things are meant to be arranged, at least with Knoppix:

Code:

rootfs on / type rootfs (rw,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/sr0 on /mnt-system type iso9660 (ro,relatime)
tmpfs on /ramdisk type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=2097152k)
/dev/cloop on /KNOPPIX type iso9660 (ro,relatime)
unionfs on /UNIONFS type aufs (rw,relatime,si=9bfbbeec,noplink)
unionfs on /usr type aufs (rw,relatime,si=9bfbbeec,noplink)
unionfs on /home type aufs (rw,relatime,si=9bfbbeec,noplink)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /UNIONFS/var/run type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=10240k)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=20480k)
tmpfs on /UNIONFS/var/lock type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=10240k)
tmpfs on /UNIONFS/var/log type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=102400k)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=2097152k)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=20480k)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=2097152k)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=1777)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/knoppix/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000)
/dev/sda5 on /media/sda5 type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered)
/dev/sda1 on /media/sda1 type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=0,default_permissions,allow_other,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda7 on /media/sda7 type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered)

TxLonghorn · 02-05-2015, 10:55 AM

You have correctly identified the problem

Here is what I have from my Mint 13 xfce DVD

Code:

/cow on / type overlayfs (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
/dev/sr0 on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/mint/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=mint)

All the lines are exactly the same as yours with the exception of the one line
/dev/sr0 on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noatime)

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 11:02 AM

Okay.... so how do I go about fixing it? How do I stop the installer from clinging mercilessly to sda5? Is there a way to re-mount /cdrom to /dev/sr0 rather than sda5?

TxLonghorn · 02-05-2015, 11:16 AM

It makes no sense at all why the DVD would mount any partition like that - in particular, sda5.

It might be useful to boot the Mint DVD on a different computer and take a look at the mount info. That might help pinpoint if it is a problem with the DVD structure or the hardware.

TxLonghorn · 02-05-2015, 11:20 AM

Let's take a look at the dvd drive just for fun

Code:

udisks --show-info /dev/cdrom