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

colorpurple21859 · 02-11-2015, 05:30 AM

Quote:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 552 2015-01-13 15:00 ubnfilel.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20803709 2012-07-10 19:01 ubninit
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4864480 2012-07-10 19:00 ubnkern
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38 2015-01-13 14:59 ubnpathl.txt
-rw------- 1 root root 1215 2011-10-07 21:40 vmcoreinfo-3.0.0-12-generic

I think if you move these files out of sda5/boot temporarily then boot the dvd will let things work.
and possibly this one

Quote:

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2012-10-18 13:17 extlinux

too.

Steve W · 02-11-2015, 05:52 AM

Quote:

I think if you move these files out of sda5/boot temporarily then boot the dvd will let things work.

Okay, thanks, I'll try that. PS: I have edited my last post and added new information.

TxLonghorn · 02-11-2015, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

If I have to copy all their /home files to a USB stick (I don't have an external HDD), then restore afterwards, I will; but if I installed their new Linux then removed the systems files of their old Linux except the home directory, then pointed to it in fstab... would that work?

It should be easier than that. I will look at the other thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

Considering these other people are going from Mint 14 to Mint 17, could I just use the Mint Backup utility as described here (paragraph D1 onwards) http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2 to do it easily?

I respect Clem, and love Mint, but I can't recommend the Mint Backup utility. It has failed to do what it is supposed to do, for me and others. It is fine for backing up the list of installed programs, but not so reliable for backing up personal files. Fortunately, there are tried and true alternatives. Currently, I use fsarchiver (monthly) for backing up my operating system (my / partition). fsarchiver is very easy to understand and use. http://www.fsarchiver.org/QuickStart
I use grsync to back up my personal files (my /data partition) to an external USB hard drive. grsync is a bit complicated to configure, but once it is set up it requires only a couple of clicks to execute (weekly). fsarchiver would work fine for the /data partition, also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

I just wondered what "backup software selection" does... I'm taking it that it only makes a note of the software titles you have installed, then re-downloads & installs them into your new Mint version. It doesn't actually copy the software itself. Is that right?

Correct. But you can "cheat". You can backup all of the .deb files found in the /var/cache/apt/archives/ folder, and paste them into the new var/cache/apt/archives/ folder. That way any of those files needed to re-install your programs will already be there. It is just a way to save on download time, and only works for programs which have not been upgraded to new versions.

EDIT: I have never tried the Xarchiver program (on the Knoppix DVD) but it looks pretty good.

colorpurple21859 · 02-11-2015, 09:41 AM

Something to try: at the grub menu prompt hit c for command line then

Code:

set root=(hd0,7)
linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7
initrd /initrd.img

or

Code:

set root=(hd0,7)
chainloader +1

see if either one of these will allow you to boot into sda7, I don't see where this has been tried yet.

Steve W · 02-11-2015, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Did you check /isoloader to see what it was? Did you run the mount command to see what is mounted and what isn't?

"isodevice" is the word I was trying to remember. As you can see, it mounts like this: /dev/sda5 on /isodevice

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 /isodevice type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/loop0 on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop1 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)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/xubuntu/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=xubuntu)

It was suggested I delete a few unwanted files in the /boot directory. Have done, but no change, either booting Xbuntu or from the DVD with Mint 13. It still wants to mount the /cdrom to /sda5 on the DVD, or to /isodevice with the iso file on sda5.

With regard to the suggestion above about booting into sda7; if you mean the Linux install that used to be there, it isn't anymore. I re-formatted that partition in case it was the one causing the trouble; so now it's blank.

TxLonghorn · 02-11-2015, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

It still wants to mount the /cdrom to /sda5 on the DVD, or to /isodevice with the iso file on sda5.

All that is the way it should be with the iso on sda5. sda5 should be mounted to /isodevice
You should be able to install to sda1 at that point.

Steve W · 02-11-2015, 10:46 AM

Quote:

You should be able to install to sda1 at that point.

No, I get the message saying that it needs to write changes to partition tables and can't do it while /isodevice is mounted. There is only Continue or Go Back to choose from. Continue unmounts it.

colorpurple21859 · 02-11-2015, 11:07 AM

did you try it with the extlinux directory moved off of the drive, move it to a usb key just in case it is still needed.

Steve W · 02-11-2015, 11:18 AM

Yes, I moved that over too. The result is the same. Boot directory contents are now:

Code:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root     734707 2011-10-07 21:37 abi-3.0.0-12-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root     141616 2011-10-07 21:37 config-3.0.0-12-generic
drwxr-xr-x 3 root  root      12288 2015-02-10 16:53 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root   13622766 2012-10-09 09:04 initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root     176764 2011-05-02 23:53 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root     178944 2011-05-02 23:53 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw------- 1 root  root    2130938 2011-10-07 21:37 System.map-3.0.0-12-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root    4632128 2012-03-02 13:49 vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic
-rw-rw-r-- 1 steve steve 737148928 2015-02-09 18:29 xubuntu-12.04.4-desktop-i386.iso

Hmm... does it matter that the iso file is "owned" by me, but everything else is root?

colorpurple21859 · 02-11-2015, 12:03 PM

the only other two files I see that the installer maybe grabbing is the abi-3.0.0-12-generic and the iso file. also what is the output of

Code:

fdisk -l

Steve W · 02-11-2015, 12:11 PM

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders, total 78140160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x94e494e4

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    22408431    11204184+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2        22409214    78139391    27865089    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        39063552    76599295    18767872   83  Linux
/dev/sda6        76601344    78139391      769024   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7        22409216    39063551     8327168   83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

TxLonghorn · 02-11-2015, 02:28 PM

Steve, I think I've got it!
Edit your /boot/grub/grub.cfg again (gksudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg)
Where you added the menuentry before, erase that and change it to this:
menuentry "linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso on sda5" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext4
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 a2cd308e-2307-4bb4-8382-b54b792b8a79
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a2cd308e-2307-4bb4-8382-b54b792b8a79
fi
iso_path="/boot/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso"
export iso_path
kernelopts=" "
export kernelopts
loopback loop "/boot/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso"
set root=(loop)
configfile /boot/grub/loopback.cfg
}
You have to change the number a2cd308e-2307-4bb4-8382-b54b792b8a79, in the 2 locations, to the correct UUID number for your sda5 partition. Get the correct number with this command:

Code:

sudo blkid -o list

Then boot the iso and run the installer. When you get the popup asking if you want to unmount the mounted partitions, click YES this time.

yancek · 02-11-2015, 03:27 PM

Quote:

No, I get the message saying that it needs to write changes to partition tables and can't do it while /isodevice is mounted. There is only Continue or Go Back to choose from. Continue unmounts it.

I haven't read through your entire thread but I'm wondoering if at the above point in the installation you have clicked Go Back and repeated the process of selecting a partition, format and mount point. I know I've had to do that in the past with Mint and after going through the process a second or maybe even a third time it continued the install.

If you are using the DVD, I had the same message during an install in regard to the /isodevice. Open the /etc/mtab file on the DVD and look for the entry with '/isodevice' and comment it out by putting a hash mark (#) at the beginning of that line then restart the installer. Not sure this will work but it worked for me on at least one occasion.

colorpurple21859 · 02-11-2015, 10:01 PM

Maybe booting iso from usb will work. Put iso on usb using dd or unetbootin. Boot the usb using plopbt from here http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/plpbt.bin.html
number 7 tells how using grub2,
fixed the link.

Steve W · 02-12-2015, 03:15 AM

Right, let's see. Responding to points helpfully made above:

Quote:

Maybe booting iso from usb will work

Nope, my laptop can't boot anything from USB stick.

Quote:

If you are using the DVD, I had the same message during an install in regard to the /isodevice

No, I only get the /isodevice when trying to boot from the .iso file located on sda5. With an iso unpacked and burned to a DVD to make a live distro, it gets confused between sda5 and /cdrom. But the result is the same.

Quote:

Open the /etc/mtab file on the DVD and look for the entry with '/isodevice' and comment it out by putting a hash mark (#) at the beginning of that line then restart the installer.

Editing a file on the DVD-R (or the iso file) itself? I didn't think you could do that...

Quote:

Steve, I think I've got it!

Okay, I'll try that tomorrow.