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vegetarianshrimp
June 26th, 2009, 06:56 PM
I created a LiveUSB of Linux Mint on a 1 GB USB drive. I then used the LiveUSB to install Linux Mint (non Live) on a second 8 GB USB drive. I created 3 partitions. A 3 GB ext4 / labeled as boot from gparted , a 4 GB ext4 /home, and a swap. When I try to boot from this 8 GB drive, it just says loading Grub, and nothing happens. How can I get the installation to work, and still have a seperate /home partition?

Herman
June 26th, 2009, 08:10 PM
I don't think the fact that you have a separate /home has anything to do with your booting problem. In my personal opinion though, it's much better to install all in one single partition. That will make better use of your disc space. Even the swap area can be in a swap file instead of a partition.

One of your problems might be that Linux Mint, (although based on Ubuntu), chooses not to use UUID numbers in GRUB.
The use of UUID numbers for booting is one of the biggest improvements we've had for years, and is especially handy if you happen to install in any kind of removable media like a USB drive of any kind, or even hard discs if you like to remove or add hard disks from time to time.
The simple solution would be to forget about Linux Mint and re-install with Ubuntu.
The slightly more challenging solution would be to edit your /boot/grub/menu/lst in Mint with UUID numbers.

An example of a menu.lst with UUID numbers is here, Customizing Your GRUB Menu (http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eherman546/p15.html#menu.lst).
This link explains things in more detail, uuid (http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eherman546/p15.html#root).

Regards, Herman :)

vegetarianshrimp
June 26th, 2009, 08:12 PM
Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, wouldn't it have this?

Herman
June 26th, 2009, 08:50 PM
No, they have different ideas of their own, I suppose that's why Mint isn't Ubuntu.

I have a couple of installations of Mint myself, just to try it out and see the differences. It's quite a nice distro. They use a graphical GRUB, which a lot of people like. They have a different way of organizing their menus, more Windows-like a bit perhaps.

It seems that somebody with some authority in their forums didn't like the idea of using UUID numbers in GRUB at all, and there's an anti UUID blog in their web forum in a closed thread so nobody can reply to it.
Later, on a more obscure page there's a bit added mentioning that you can use UUID numbers in Mint's GRUB if you really have to.

Herman
June 26th, 2009, 08:57 PM
Just boot with your Live CD and plug in your USB stick and use the blkid command to find out your file system UUID numbers.
Then edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst in Mint with the uuid command and the right UUID numbers.
It has the same version of GRUB, it can handle the uuid command, it's just that Mint people prefer to keep the old style boot entry commands. Anyone can update it.

vegetarianshrimp
June 26th, 2009, 10:12 PM
Just boot with your Live CD and plug in your USB stick and use the blkid command to find out your file system UUID numbers.
Then edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst in Mint with the uuid command and the right UUID numbers.
It has the same version of GRUB, it can handle the uuid command, it's just that Mint people prefer to keep the old style boot entry commands. Anyone can update it.
I installed uuid, and cd to the 8 GB's boot folder. What is the command I should use? uuid -o menu.lst? Or am I totally off? (I have no idea what I'm talking about :))

Herman
June 26th, 2009, 11:46 PM
boot your Linux Live CD
Open a terminal
run the command: 'sudo blkid' for a list of the file system UUID numbers
copy the UUID number of your Linux Mint boot partition
open your USB drive, (if it isn't already mounted, mount it first)
open your /boot/grub/menu.lst file, (with a sudo command in your terminal - like 'gksudo gedit /media/disk/boot/grub/menu.lst', or similar)
find the command 'root' in your boot entry and replace it with 'uuid' command
after the root command, paste the UUID number you copied in step 4, for your Mint installations boot file system (the one that contains your linux kernels)
in the line that starts with the 'kernel' command, find the word 'root=", and after it type: UUID=
paste the UUID number for your root partition (the one that contains /sbin/init), right after the 'UUID='. I think it will be the same number, in most cases it is, unless you have a separate /boot partition.
click 'save' and close the file
reboot

If you're still not sure what you're doing, re-read the links I gave you, and any sub-links those contain. They should explain everything, or at least I think they do.

Regards, Herman :)

vegetarianshrimp
June 27th, 2009, 12:37 AM
OK, thanks a lot! I did all that, and am about to reboot.

vegetarianshrimp
June 27th, 2009, 12:49 AM
Hmm, it didn't work. What did I do wrong?


title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 08eaa50c-ffef-439c-a90a-fe5830966bec
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=08eaa50c-ffef-439c-a90a-fe5830966bec ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 08eaa50c-ffef-439c-a90a-fe5830966bec
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=08eaa50c-ffef-439c-a90a-fe5830966bec ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

Herman
June 27th, 2009, 01:43 AM
I don't know, it looks okay to me.
What error message are you getting?

vegetarianshrimp
June 27th, 2009, 01:48 AM
I don't know, it looks okay to me.
What error message are you getting?
Oh sorry, never mind, It works. I thought it wasn't loading, guess I'm just impatient. Well, thank you so much for all your help!

Herman
June 27th, 2009, 01:57 AM
:D Alright! - I'm glad you got it working! Happy USB-ing!

Regards, Herman :D