Absolute beginner - don't yet understand most of the jargon in related threads. Have tried to install Mandrake 10.1, failed half way through with partitioning. Changed to Edubuntu, ok from live cd so tried to install. Again went very well until error 'failed to detect a file system'. Clicked 'ok' and then it froze at 'detecting file systems' - 15% through install. Am trying to install on external usb hard drive (250GB) and opted for 'erase' prior to partitioning. Now the hard drive does not register on windows. Can anyone suggest an idiot's guide to a way forward?

Does your system support booting from USB devices?
Are you installing the entire distro to the USB Drive?

Even if bios support for USB devices works then it more than likely will not boot. Reason is most distros do not include a kernel that supports USB within the kernel. USB is usually applied as modules. Best option is to apply to an internal hard drive.

Brian

Thanks. That worked on internal hard drive. I wanted to install on the removable drive so that it could be used on the laptop and desktop - and eventually persuade my wife that we could ditch windows. Could I do this in future?

it's conceivably possible, but due to the fact your laptop certainly has a vastly different hardware configuration than your desktop, it's unlikely, I'd say quite unlikely. As for convincing the wife, anything's possible!

Installed Mandrake 10.1 but it didn't show on the boot options. Edubuntu started again. How to remove this?