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I am trying to install Mukulu Linux on a desktop that has XP on it .
I have followed all the instructions I have got from the net and made boot-able DVD's and USB sticks several different ways as people advise. I have done the same with Mint 17. I have created a partition (26G) and follow the install instructions 1: English 2:Has at least 7.4G available drive space. 4: Is connected to the internet. 5: Here it shows a page where I think it should display the drive options (but does not) If I push the "install now" button it comes up with an error "No root file system is defined --Please correct this from the partitioning menu" I close the installer and look at the drives in GParted and they are all there and the one I created for Linux is PARTITION - /dev/sda4 FILE SYSTEM - ext4
MOUNT POINT - /media/makulu/0C43086E0C43086E LABEL - Lin SIZE - 26.02 GB USED - 590.07 Mb UNUSED - 24.44 GB FLAG - (blank) No indication on how to fix the "No root file system" problem. I have tried so many bits of advise that I am beginning to think that I may be better of sticking to windows (perish the thought) Can anyone help? Col |
Which installation type did you use? If you have another system already on the computer, you should select the something else option. If you did that, when you see the window showing the partitions, you need to select the one you want to install on. In your case, you indicate it was sda4. After selecting sda4 by highlighting it in the main window, you need to select the Change/Edit tab below the main window which will give you a new window. You have several options there and one of them is Mount point. If you click the down arrow to the right of Mount point, you have a number of options there also and you need to select the first one which is "/", a forward slash which is the symbol for the root of the filesystem.
If you go to the link below and scroll down about halfway on the page below Installation Step by Step Guide, you will see an example of this. The link below is for Ubuntu but since Mint is derived from Ubuntu and uses the same installer pretty much everything except the background color should be the same. http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/u...all-guide.html |
col805,
It is not clear whether you are installing Linux on its own or are trying to do a dual-boot with XP. I do not recommend dual-booting with XP since XP is way past its sell-by date and its online security is not the best. Unless you simply MUST have XP for some reason, then I advise installing Linux on it own. For your information, here is a dual-boot with Ubuntu 14.04 and W8: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/d...-8-ubuntu.html Makulu is not well reviewed by Dedoimedo: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/m...nux-6-kde.html First, backup all your existing documents, photos, bookmarks, emails etc from XP to an external drive. Boot your computer from the Linux Mint, or other Linux DVD. Select the Something Else option. Wipe the existing hard drive by clicking on New Partition Table and press Continue. You are now presented with a single free space. Highlight it and click on Change. You are going to create 3 new Primary (not Logical) partitions. Make sure to select Beginning for the location of each partition. First create sda1: sda1....formatted (X in the box) as ext4 as the root partition (/)......Size: 12000MB to 20000MB (depending on the size of your hard drive). Click on OK. Highlight the free space and click on Change. sda2.....not formatted (no X in the box) as the swap partition.............Size: 2000MB. Click on OK. Highlight the free space and click on Change. sda3......formatted (X in the box) as ext4 as the Home partition (/home)......Size: Remainder of hard drive. Click on OK. You should end up with something looking like the last photo on the first post here: Linux Mint partitioning: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=122276 Click on Install now. |
if you must keep XP around
any of the tutorials for dual booting Win95/98 and XP will show you hot to edit the xp c:\\boot.ini to add the "linux.bin" that you made using dd ( ignoring the 3.5 in floppy instructions -- not needed in the past 8 to 10 years ) but seeing as there will NEVER!!! be any security packs or Major updates to XP ( nor any support at all ) there is no need to worry about XP "fixing" a working GRUB install bw replacing it with the XP bootloader so you could just let grub install to the MBR |
This is just a guess...
Quote:
I reckon it'd have to be unmounted to allow you to do the install. (I'll stand quietly in the corner till someone tells me if I'm talking crap or not. :) ) Play Bonny! :hattip: |
Hi all who have tried to help.
I have tried to follow but I must be missing something fundamental as I always seem to end up with nothing showing in the partition part of the installation process. I finally gave up after trying about 4/5 different distros and thought I could make a dual boot which had worked before on a different computer many years ago. (MSDOS/Windows and CCPM) The only one I had any success with was Puppy Linux but it seemed to think it had very little storage so I am not clear yet and I have not been able to get it to run a linux version of thunderbird. I will persist for a little more. If I didn't need XP for some engineering software I am using I would wipe the disk and try again with only linux on the disk. After trying 7 different Linux systems with out any luck I have used up so much time that I maybe better on looking for another operating system and flay away Linux as a dead loss. Thanks for your help anyway. Col |
To expand on yancek's post. Typically the automatic partitioning creates more then one partition with the simplest being two i.e one for /(root) and one for swap. If partition(s) already exist then you need to select something else (in mint) to manually assign the mount points to a partition hence the error message. The something else allows you to manually create partitions as desired.
Depending on the distribution there are other options i.e. use the whole drive (overwrite everything) or use free or unallocated space. Unallocated space is not part of an existing partition which for some is the easiest method but mint does not appear to have this option and I am unfamiliar with the Mukulu installer. The installer will then create partitions of appropriate sizes and automatically format them. In a nutshell a mount point is a directory on which a file system is attached. There are no "drives" like in windows. Instead linux uses a hierarchy of directories or directory tree structure with the root (aka /) at the top. Typically USB drives and optical media are automatically mounted to /media/... Hope this helps... |
Hi michaelk,
I think you may have a better Idea on what to advise if you look at the PICs at the following address as I have shown the disk partitions while in XP (easeus) and in gpart in Makulu Running XP 110 shows Partition table Running usb Linux Makulu version 111 Shows partion table 105 shows button to start installation 106 shows next window with ticks 107 shows linux partition table showing nothing 108 shows the error caused by pushing the install button in 107 It is I suspect the fact that nothing shows in the partition table that I get no further. All systems I have tried fall down at this point and even using different loader. This one was "unetbootin" recommended by a number of Distros the others progressed to the same point and gave the same error. If this makes sense perhaps I may still get a system running. Thanks, Col https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b9b6pp35t...M069VMS7a?dl=0 |
I played with the installer a bit and picture 107 is the place where you define the filesystems. However, since it does not display any partitions you can not select one to change any settings. It could be due to the fact that the partition was automatically mounted and you did not select the yes (or was it no) in the pop up message to unmount it before that step. Nope still see the partitions... I can't reproduce your problems
By the way I would format sda3 as ext3 or ext4 and not ext2. |
You have the Linux partition (sda3) shown on the GParted output which I expect you are running from the Makulu installation medium. Do you have an option to do a Manual, Expert install, often referred to in the Ubuntus as "Something Else"? If so, use that and see if it makes a difference in the installer. What you see in GParted is just where the different partitions are mounted while using the installation medium and if you can't see the partitions in the installer it will be impossible to install correctly.
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Hi Michaelk & Yancek,
Thanks for trying. I have deleted all but the XP partition if you refer to the same dropbox address 113 is the XP (easeus) and 112 is the Linux (Gparted). I have tried to install again and made sure nothing was mounted but it did not help. What should I do with the second partition e.g. format or something? Any further ideas? |
So what happens when you select something else and get to the same step as picture 107. Are the partitions displayed?
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The last image you have posted with output from GParted shows a 26GB windows partition with 17GB used and a 48GB Linux partition with just under 1GB used which I expect is your Makulu install. Where did you install the bootloader, you should have selected /dev/sda and that should have given you boot entries for Makulu and xp.
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Hi.
Michaelk : It is the same with no partitions shown. Yancek : From the "Gparted" the /dev/sda1 size 26.09GB is the XP partition and the second one /dev/sda2 size 48.44 is the empty partition I have used a Linux on a USB stick (16GB) to boot the system using the "unetbootin" installer. As you can see I get as far as pic#107 and there are no partitions shown so I can get no further. If, as it seems likely I am not going to get any further can I copy the ISO onto the spare partition and just do the booting from the USB. Not the preferred option but as it getting no closer pehaps it will do. Thanks. |
col805,
Please try the following. Download Gparted i586.iso from here: http://gparted.org/download.php Then burn the .iso image to CD. It may be a good idea to also download and burn Boot-Repair: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair Boot from the Gparted CD. You should then reach the situation as at photo #112. Delete /dev/sda2 to get rid of the Makulu OS which I assume is sitting inside this 48.44GB partition. This leaves a 48.44GB free space. Click on Apply. Swap the Gparted disc for a Linux Mint 17.1 MATE DVD (not Makulu) and reboot. Hopefully you will reach the partitioning stage, where you select “Something Else”, leaving the XP /dev/sda1 partition alone. Highlight the free space and click on Change. You are going to create 3 new Primary partitions. Make sure to select Beginning for the location of each partition. First create sda2: sda2....formatted (X in the box) as ext4 as the root partition (/)......Size: 10000MB Click on OK. Highlight the free space and click on Change. sda3.....not formatted (no X in the box) as the swap partition.............Size: 2000MB. Click on OK. Highlight the free space and click on Change. sda4......formatted (X in the box) as ext4 as the Home partition (/home)......Size: Remainder of hard drive (approx. 36000MB). Click on OK. Click on Install Now. It is likely that you will need to use Boot-Repair to correct GRUB. |
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