[SOLVED] Zorin 5.2 Ultimate -- Some Installation Questions

Hi,

I'm trying to install Zorin Ultimate (yes, I went and got the DVD) and I've tried to install it on THREE different machines, all failed so I'd like to try to find out why. Here's the details - maybe someone can help or direct me in the right direction.

The first machine I tried was a laptop. It had an old installation of Ubuntu Maverick which I was happy to scrub (this laptop was one I used for experimenting with new configurations). It is an old laptop. The installation started, then hung before getting anywhere. Mouse pointer didn't move, HDD did not move, and DVD did not move. I tried also with Zorin Core (off the website), and it Kernel Panic'ed me. I'm guessing it's because the laptop was too old.

The second machine I tried was another laptop, this time more up to date. It is my main laptop and I dual boot this one with Linux Mint and Windows XP. The installer recognises multiple operating systems, but does not provide me an option to upgrade my Linux installation to Zorin. This laptop couldn't read the DVD, so I converted the DVD to a bootable USB using unetbootin.

The third machine I tried was a desktop, again, more up to date. Installation started, but the installer actually crashed halfway through, and it told me to report a bug with ubiquity.

So, same disc, three machines, three failures...

Does anyone have any suggestions? I guess I could gparted my harddrive to make some space, install Zorin along side my current OSes, copy the files across, and reinstall any additional apps, remove the old partition and gparted the Zorin install to fill the space, but an upgrade is supposed to do that, right?

Hi there.
First of all, you cannot update from one version of Zorin OS to the other. Only clean installations can take place.

Secondly, which method are you using to install Zorin? Do you login to the live desktop (via the live CD) and then click on the "install Zorin" icon?

Try the other approach, i.e. boot the live CD, and in the first menu that will come up, chose the 3rd choise which says "start the installer directly".

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

I don't have Zorin installed on ANY of my boxes at the moment. I'm running Ubuntu (upgrade from Ubuntu offered by the installer) and Linux Mint (upgrade not offered by installer because it is dual boot)

I opt to use "start installer directly" from the Live CD, and not start the live environment.

Hi,

did you burn the CD at the slowest possible speed?, did you also try booting the CD in "Safe Graphics Mode"?, do not try the installer directly because you must be certain that the OS will boot and run on your machine(s).

You could try re-downloading the ISO and select the slowest speed possible when burning, it would be very unusual for a CD not to work on 3 different PC's!!.

Regards Wolfman

Is there an ISO download for Ultimate? I thought only Lite and Core were available for download.

swarfendor437 wrote:There is a 'contribute' download that is in 7-Zip format which is encrypted - I don't know which mirror hosts the file but if it is ibiblio I would avoid that route as you cannot restart downloads and you use up your quota quickly from your ISP - might be worth PMing AZorin or Zorink on the matter. As for older laptop I would try Zorin 3.2 LTS or earlier version of 3.

Here are the Mirror Links for Core versions that allow you to 'resume' if you have a break in connection or you pause it either in Firefox or Opera:

http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/zorin/

http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/zorin/

ftp://ftp.aarnet.edu.au/pub/zorin/

I am on uncapped so I don't need to worry about resuming.

The disc was not burned by me. Being Zorin Ultimate, I paid for the physical disc (from the main site), so I'd expect it to be correct. I'll take the core version and unetbootin it so I don't need to worry about burning the disc.

I tried starting the Ultimate installer from the live environment (rather than directly from the menu) and it got further, but crashed at the end (Creating User).

swarfendor437 wrote:Have you looked at other possible causes? (And I am NOT suggesting that these are the actual reasons - just trying to cover all bases!

1. Cleanded the optical drive with CD/DVD cleanser disc.
2. Checked the medium has not got any smudges or scratches.

It would also be useful to understand how your partitions are used at present - can you boot into the live environment, open Terminal (Accessories | Terminal) and enter 'gparted' to launch the partition editor. Then go to Accessories | Take Desktop Screenshot and post back here.

True, it's been a while since I cleaned the drive, but that would not explain why the install failed when started off a USB. As for partitions, it is attached to this post.

Hi,

1, you don't have enough space on your extended partition for an installation
2, you need 3 partitions for Linux. root (denoted by forward slash as mount point "/") swap which I can see you have already created should be a minimum of 512MB and home (/home).

Your root part should be about 20GB, you can get away with less but not less than about 10GB. home can be any size but agin a min must be available for you to store your stuff on it!!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:Hi,

1, you don't have enough space on your extended partition for an installation
2, you need 3 partitions for Linux. root (denoted by forward slash as mount point "/") swap which I can see you have already created should be a minimum of 512MB and home (/home).

Your root part should be about 20GB, you can get away with less but not less than about 10GB. home can be any size but agin a min must be available for you to store your stuff on it!!.

Regards Wolfman

Then I'm a bit puzzled:

1. The installer when starting checks space requirements,of which my machine passed.
2. I wanted to UPGRADE my current install, but based on madvinegar's post, I can't do that, so is the only option is to scrub or resize the partitions and install alongside?

swarfendor437 wrote:Hi IzayoiAki, Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Having looked at your screenshot I can see a problem instantly. You have your Windows partition (NTFS) AFTER your GNU/Linux Partition (ext4) and your 'swap' file is after the Windows partition. Also you have gaps either side of NTFS. My advice to you is (if you can boot into Windows) is it 7 or XP? If 7 make a boot repair disc.
First off I would want to backup any data from the NTFS Drive using Zorin or other distro - My personal preference in GNU/Linux for backing up anything is K3b - Brasero is fine but K3b has a better interface so you can see what you are burning from your Windows partition and can drag and drop just like Windoze Burning Proprietary programs. Then I would delete all your Linux Partitions and move the Windows partition to the 'start' of the drive (extreme left) and check that you can boot into windows - delete all other partitions. It is fine to have unallocated parts at the start and end of drive - preferably just the latter unless you want to make a /boot partition. Once you have got to a working Windows environment, run 'chkdsk' and defrag before making any changes to your hard drive. For backing up purposes I would use a nice lightweight distro like PCLinuxOS KDE from here:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=180

Thanks, I'll do that. Out of curiosity, just why does this configuration cause problems?

I'm busy doing an rsnapshot of my machine right now to backup my files before I do anything else. I already have a Clonezilla backup I can roll back to should the worst come to the worst.

So, out of curiosity, why should I put Windoze at the start if my primary OS is going to be Zorin? Why not Zorin first then Windoze?

No, no, I meant partition-wise.

Either way, I repositioned my NTFS to the start of my drive and installed a new bootloader (since I deleted the ext partition holiding the boot mount). Using gparted, Windows wouldn't load. Using a Windows-based partition manager, I was able to get Windows to load, but the installer still crashed.

It looks like the only way I'm going to get any further is to let Zorin wipe my disk and take all the space, then reinstall Windoze later. Bugger (!)

I don't have anything on my Windoze partition I can't live without, so I can do a full drive install. But I'll keep your link handy for future use in case I do need it.

swarfendor437 wrote:No worries - keep us informed of how you are getting on!

Well, just did a full drive install using a USB installation from the Ultimate ISO (which I downloaded from the site after donating), and the installer crashed again. I'm going to try again tomorrow using the physical disk.

Okay, I'm back, and now with a successful Zorin install.

Thanks for your help on this. I did find some things though:

• The installer didn't like it when I had my WiFi on, and actually flagged a TKIP error in the console, so I switched to a physical connection.
• The installer crashed and I re-ran it again (in the same session), and it succeeded the second time round. Both times I opted for exactly the same settings, and both times, I opted for a full-disk install.
• The installer crashed when I opted to encrypt my home directory. Again, this was during a full-disk install
• There was a repeating pop-up error about a menu crashing, and I paid it no mind

swarfendor437 wrote:Hi IzayoiAki, So glad to hear! . Firstly, I would never encrypt a /home folder on any GNU/Linux system in the same way I would never encrypt NTFS - should anything go wrong with any OS that requires a re-installation means goodbye forever to all your encrypted data - I know from experience in a work setting! As for the menu craching (believe the error message is py.menu or similar) does happen in 'live' mode but not after install. Again, glad to hear that your perseverance has paid off! Am I OK to mark this thread as [SOLVED]?

By all means, yes. And thank you once again. I definitely owe the Zorin team a drink after this

Yessir!