Re: no root file system question
David Ashworth wrote:
> Hello, hope I am in the right area to ask this question. If I am
> not, please tell me a better place.
This list is about creating CD images. The debian-boot list would be
more appropriate. It is about the debian-installer and your question
is really more about how to drive the installer. Here are some
resources that will be useful to you.
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller
http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/
But let me give you a few hints here anyway.
> I am trying to install debian via the cd. I get to one area and I
> am stumped. I get the message" no root file system is defined.
> please correct this from the partitioning menu." Now, I go to the
> partitioning menu and go around and around in a loop and get the
> same no root file system message. I don't know what it wants. Maybe
> something simple, but what?
I don't remember the exact wording but perhaps I can give enough hints
to provide help anyway.
The root filesystem is the part where you would have indicated it
being "ext3" or one of the others and assigned it the the "/"
location. Do you remember doing that?
> I am using the second drive in my PC. It is all Linux. Here is what it
> looks like: (hdb) 61.5 GB, #1 primary 59.3 GB B K lvm, #5 logical 2.2 GB
> F swap swap.
It is a little hard to read what you wrote since those lines are
smashed together but neither of those are the root partition. The
first is a partition that is indicated to be used for LVM. When this
is seen by the installer it will add a new option to the top list
which is to configure the lvm manager. After assigning a partition
for use with LVM then you must then configure lvm to create logical
volumes and then use one of those logical volumes for the root
partition. But as you show things now you do not yet have a partition
assigned to the root filesystem. The second partition that you show
is a swap partition.
> So, I am in this loop. Where is this root file? Is it on the CD? I am new
> to this, so I am a little confused. Everything up to this step has gone OK.
> Been reading the help files, but being as I am new to this, more confusion
> than help.
If you want to continue with lvm then configure the lvm manager and
create a volume group and then create a logical volume on that volume
group. Then assign it to the root partition.
If you have never used lvm before it can be somewhat confusing. I use
lvm routinely because it allows me to resize partitions and in general
think it is a good thing to use. But if you are not familiar with lvm
them it might be better to try the installation without it. That
would make things a little bit simpler. In which case you could
delete the lvm partition and use that space for a regular ext3
filesystem and then assign that filesystem to "/".
This is where the "guided" partitioning is very helpful. You could
simply allow the installer to automatically partition the disk for
you. Putting everything into one filesystem may be the easiest way to
get going.
Bob
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