I'm hoping someone will be able to help with an install problem I have with Slackware10.1 . I've finally decided to take the plunge and try Linux out. I was drawn to Slackware, because of it's stability, & have been using a version of the distribution which was supplied on a Linux Format DVD.

I have a suspicion that, although I'm creating partitions, Slackware is unable to write to these partitions for some reason. I've been through the various help documents (including those online) & I'm not missing any steps (I don't think).

I'm using a Compaq V2036 laptop, together with VMware 4. I've setup a 4Gb partition as a "Linux Other" type of partition (VMware asks what type of partition is being setup, when the "drive" is being defined). If more information is required on this stage of the install, I can provide it; however, for reasons explained below, I have not included more information.

There is no problem booting the virtual partition(pc); I am presented with a prompt where I specify "bareacpi.i" as the boot disk image.

The pc boots to a prompt, where I partition using either Fdisk or Cfdisk. I have created a swap partition, with the rest as one partition (decided to keep things simple for now). My non-swap partition is also set as a bootable partition. If I exit whatever tool I'm using & use the alternate to view what I've just created, I see the partitions as they should be.

ADDSWAP also finds my swap partition, appears to format it (solid drive activity) & says it will update fstab. The remaining partition is also found & formatted. The partition information is also added to fstab as well.

The rest of the install then proceeds without issue, although there is far less drive activity then I would have expected from a full install (everything). Lilo is installed using the 1st of the 3 options presented by the install process (I'm sorry, I can't remember the exact wording of the option). When I'm told that the install process has finished, I exit the install process & am unable to boot again. Using the install DVD, when I boot (again using "bareacpi.i) & try to cd to hda2 (hda1 being my swap partition) I'm unable to.

I then tried installing Fedora Core3 using the same partitions, and it has installed without issue; I can now boot into FC3 & do as I please. It still bugs me though, that Slackware wouldn't write to the partition(s), & I want to understand where the problem is (& use Slackware).

1:
Have I missed something out when I created the partitions?

2:
Should I be manually formatting the partitions I've just created?

3:
Should I be chossing a different option (other than the 1st) when installing Lilo?

4:
As there is only Linux on this pc, can I get away with not installing Lilo?

5:
I noticed that Disk Druid (on FC3) asks you to specify the mount point for all partitions; Slackware is supposed to be doing this for me as part of the install. This is where I think the problem is. How do I test this theory out?

6:
How do I manually specify the mount points & also format the partitions? I've been through Fdisk & Cfdisk countless times, but can't see an option to name or format.

Lastly, apologies for the length of this post; I have tried to include as ,uch information as possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

There should be no problem. Try installing LILO into the MBR (I think you've to choose expert mode in the lilo menu).
What is weird that you said that Install wasn't writing to hard disk, but then you said it does.
Oh, and take a look if you created a SCSI disk in Vmware because you've to choose scsi.i (or scsi.s) kernel if you did.

Yap, that's his problem, been there done that

It has to be installed in the MBR when running under VMWare.

gbonvehi & nukey,

Many thanks for your help. I have a running distribution, but can't start a GUI session. I will try and resolve myself before asking again here.

Once again, many thanks!

Michael

how would you install lilo on to the mbr with vmware

In VMware's virtual MBR offcourse.

You have to choose the last option (which says, probably unsafe) when you reach the lilo section of slackware setup.