Partition issues

Hi I am attempting to install Zorin 15 in a particular partition with a disk that has 4 partitions. What I have done thus far is create 4 partitions on this disk through Windows 10 Disk manager.

I attempt to install Zorin 15 and select the bottom choice to manage partitions. There I can see my partitions and can select the one I want to install to.

However when I attempt to install it errors saying cant find root to install boot something on(Sorry dont have the full wording) There are a bunch of stuff displayed on top in addition to a drop down menu at the bottom with fewer but similar options

My install is on a flash drive and I can install it If I wipe out the drive and do a fresh install which I dont want so I know the files are ok.

I am not to bright when it comes to Linux system and terminology (life long Windows person) so am trying to learn. My end results is to install a few Linux systems on this drive (thus the different partitions) to compare and find which one I would like to use. So far this one seems top notch, but there seems to be a bazillion to choice from

Thanks in advance

Hi, and welcome! Just to be clear, are you trying to partition a thumb drive to try four different Linux distributions? How big is the flash drive?

Rickk wrote:Hi I am attempting to install Zorin 15 in a particular partition with a disk that has 4 partitions. What I have done thus far is create 4 partitions on this disk through Windows 10 Disk manager.

I attempt to install Zorin 15 and select the bottom choice to manage partitions. There I can see my partitions and can select the one I want to install to.

However when I attempt to install it errors saying cant find root to install boot something on

Thanks in advance

After you select the partition you want to install to, there is one more step to take. You must set the mount point.
On the popover window, you should see
Create a New Partition
Type for the new partition ____
New partition Size ____
Location for the new partition ____
Use as ____
AND THEN:
Mount Point; and on this option, select Root by selecting "/" on that drop down menu.

Thank you kindly for responding. To clarify I have a regular 80 gig hard drive in a usb enclosure. I am wanting to install 3 distros for comparisons. I would assume I would need 3 partitions for that, is that correct?
If I understand you correctly, I must take each primary partition I want to install a distro on my finale step is to select mount point and then / to make it work ?
Please have patience as this is all new. This is like learning a new language and I get a little dense at times. All help and suggestion Greatly appreciated

Here is what I think I learned thus far, unknown if I understand it correctly.
I start with a clean drive. I make and size 3 partitions as ext 4. I then make a swap file as linux swap = to my memory. I then format the remaining space as ext 4? Do I need to make that a extended, primary of anything else?

Thanks for your quick reply and help. "/" enabled Zorin to load but still didn't open, so I enabled" boot in legacy mode" but this disables "secure boot"; I hope that's ok.
Then I was unable to mount the "c" drive in Zorin, so in Win10 Power Mode/ Change Advance Power Mode Settings I unticked Fast Start Up. That seems to have done the trick. I've posted this in some detail in case someone else has the same problem.

I had the same problem and above is what I did after receiving help from someone else on this site.
Once you have a partition and choose "/" in the drop down menu everything else should be fine. It's right at the top by the way in case you've missed it. I did.
You say your fairly new to Linux so if I were you I'd just load one distro for now and see how it works.
Hope this helps.

80 GB is my Zorin drive on my desktop. You need ~ 15 GB for root, and twice your RAM for swap (for me that is 12 more GB). That leaves ~ 50 GB, and of course, it will be something less than that. I keep my Zorin drive uncluttered since I have two separate dedicated storage drives and I'm OCD about moving new stuff to storage asap and not copying too much old stuff from storage.
That said, I perpetually feel squeezed for space on that drive. You may be able to do 3 distros but my 2 cents is to try one, as alkens22 recommends.

As you are only experimenting I would install the other two first. Install one using auto-install - the first opiton, then install next distro alongside - the installer will make all necessary changes. Lastly install Zorin alongside the other two. Don't store any critical data on the installs and just have a play to see how each one runs without necessarily storing anything on there. If it's an external drive it should see your windows drive where you should save any critical data to before you make up your mind - once you have made up your mind which distro to go with do the manual partition guide I have stated in the manual but increase root from 30 Gb to 40 Gb - had issues with flatpak.cache filling up '/' on another distribution - not sure at what level Zorin is at when it comes to flatpak.