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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 10.04 Install Failure: No Root Filesyste Is Defined



omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 09:20 AM
I am installing 10.04 LTS (amd64) on a new pc.

First install:
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I chose to use the whole hd for ubuntu. The install completed OK, but i'd chosen the wrong keyboard during the install setup, and decided to re-install for the right keyboard.

Second Install
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When setting up the install, the Prepare Partitions page of the install wizard shows an empty list of partitions. Clicking the forward button produces the error message:

No root file system is defined. Please correct this from the partitioning menu.

At this point, the only option presented is to quit the install.

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What partitioning menu does the message refer to?

What causes this error?

Is there a way to get the install working again?

Quackers
March 4th, 2011, 09:30 AM
You need to select a mount point for root ( / ) partition.

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 09:39 AM
How do I select a mount point: that does not seem to be offered in the install wizard when I boot from the iso ?

Quackers
March 4th, 2011, 09:43 AM
In the partitioning stage of the installer. You need to set up partitions for Ubuntu, unless you are using the "largest unallocated space" option. Do you have any unallocated space on the drive?

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 09:51 AM
On the first install I took the largest unallocated space option. I dont know what partitions the installer left on the HD.

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 09:53 AM
Ubuntu will not boot from the HD, after the second install attempt.

Quackers
March 4th, 2011, 09:58 AM
On the next install, at the partitioning stage choose manual partitioning. Your Ubuntu partitions should then be shown (the ones that the first installation created). If Ubuntu is the only operating system on the hard drive there are likely to be 2 partitions (unless you chose a separate /home partition). One will be a swap partition and the other will be a ext4 partition. Double-click on the ext4 partition and select the mount point as / for root.

On the other hand I'm sure it would be easier to change the keyboard setting in the first installation :-)

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 10:08 AM
Booted the new pc from the iso again, and on the Prepare Partitions page of the install wizared, all options (new, add, change, delete, revert) are grayed out, so I can not set up partition there.

It looks like the installer hangs up because the new pc HD has an invalid partitions setup. That surprises me. I thought the installer would be able to overcome HD formatting/partitioning problems.

If that is the case, how can I reformat the HD of the new pc? Dio I have to move it to another computer?

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 10:21 AM
Adding to last post: the installer partitoning page no longer presents me with the manual partitioning option.

Quackers
March 4th, 2011, 02:17 PM
From the live cd desktop find out if either gparted or Disk Utility can see the partitions.

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 05:13 PM
sudo gparted /dev/sda yields: Could not stat device /dev/sda/ - No such file or directory

Disk Utility shows only the Blue Ray drive carrying the live CD (ubuntu-10.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso)

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 05:17 PM
sudo gparted /dev/sda responds with: Could not stat device - No such file or directory

Disk Utility shows only the Blue-ray drive carrying the CD (ubuntu-10.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso)\

omeganow
March 4th, 2011, 05:47 PM
sudo gparted /dev/sda shows: Could not start device /dev/sda - No such file or directory

Disk Utility shows only CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive, carying the ubuntu-10.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso