Reformat drive & reinstall Zorin

Hi Guys,

OK, getting a headache reading & watching videos trying to understand what might be causing my issues with not getting 'Recovery Mode' to work and seems like issues with Nautilus too. What I need to do is a fresh install I think.

First off I didn't get the install right at the beginning because I didn't use the available drive space right. I have a 250Gb drive partitioned into 2 x 125Gb which were C & D drives. I read that Zorin needed 7Gb so I gave it 20Gb (way too little I now see) but looking now from the Drive info, that it took that 20Gb from the D drive.



What I want to do is:

1. Reduce the C drive so that it is big enough for the Windows XP & for any Windows games etc that I may want to add & use with WINE.

2. Add Zorin to the remainder of that drive ie say 50Gb for Windows & 75Gb for Zorin

3. Restore the D drive back to its 125Gb from the current 105Gb

4. Clean install a fresh Zorin 6.3 core

I have backed up my HOME with Deja Dup

Can this be done?

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

see part 3 here (about 273 of the way down!):

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:Hi Uzi,

see part 3 here (about 273 of the way down!):

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601

Regards Wolfman

Huh...?? Part 3?

Part 3. Linux Returns.

Okay, so now we have decided that we only want Linux on our drive and we want to remove Windows completely and create partitions for Linux systems only.

Sorry did I miss something? How does that answer the questions I asked? I dont want to remove Windows. I still want to leave the Windows partition but make it smaller.

Can someone just answer the questions I asked so I can understand what I need to do?

Uzi.

Could you please upload a screenshot from gparted? (just to see how your partitions are arranged)

Sorry, I meant part 1 "hello Linux".

Regards Wolfman

madvinegar wrote:Could you please upload a screenshot from gparted? (just to see how your partitions are arranged)

OK - this is how things stood at the start of today. sdb1 is my old 'C' drive with the damaged Windows XP on it. sdb2 holds my old 'D' drive (sbd5 and Zorin)



After reading through Wolfmans guide to Gparted I got to this bit:

Close Gparted and restart your PC with the Windows disk inserted in the drive because now we must repair the “Bootloader” or “MBR” which no longer exists.

As I keep saying, my XP has a problem & wont boot correctly or accept booting from an XP disc. Not bothered to fix it anyway.

So........I looked at what I want from a different angle. Move everything off sdb5 & put it on sdb1. That done I now have 125gb that I can use for Zorin alone. So what I need to do is make sdb2 (sdb5 + Zorin) as just Zorin drive.

Can I?????

So, can someone PLEASE take the time to walk me through doing it, in a language that someone who is not yet familiar with Gparted or partitions (logical or any other) so I dont get it wrong & have a major headache?

BTW before going any further, I looked at booting using 'Something Else' option & selected sdb5, resized it but changed my mind & hit 'QUIT'. After that I cant mount sdb5 or change the size of partitions. Zorin boots & runs fine though. So again sdb 5 is empty & can be deleted or formatted to allow Zorin the whole partition. This is how it looks now:



EDIT - fixed sdb5 & all works ok again.

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

what you did was put the Linux partitions more or less ; back-to-front, you still don't have a /home partition because like you said, you quit, this is how it should look:


As you can see, there is a swap, root and home partition, you only have swap & root which automatically creates a home folder within it, you really need a seperate home so if you reinstall, all your data is not wiped and you can reuse the home partition by mounting it using the "Something Else" method, that is the point of doing it the way I suggest.

To use the empty partition that you have, boot into Zorin and start Gparted and format the (you may have to unmount it if you see a lock symbol!) partition that you have (sdb5) to FAT32 and that way, both Windows and Zorin can access the partition, you can manually mount it when you need to by simply clicking on the drive in the window of the left of your home partiton, you may have to enter your password to mount it when using Linux, it will unmount automatically when you shut down; or you can unmount it with a right click and select "Unmount volume". It will "Automount" under windows!!.


The is another way to mount it be you said you wanted it simple in a language you understand.

When creating partitions in the future, remember that it should be:

Windows
Swap
Root
Home

Regards Wolfman

Hi Wolfman,

I have figured out what is wrong, what I need is how to do it right now.

How do I make the sdb2 partition a new installation of Zorin with the 3 partitions making ROOT, SWAP and everything left as HOME.

Do I boot from the USB & select 'Something Else'?

Hi Uzi,

this is what you should have.

sdb6 as root = Format "Yes". Mountpoint = /
sdb5 as home = Format "Yes". Mounpoint = /home
(When doing a reinstall, DON'T FORMAT HOME!!!!)

You don't need to format "swap", once it is created, you don't need to touch it again unles you move your partitions around again!.

Regards Wolfman

I am starting to think, either I am stupid (no - I am sure I am not) or we are talking different languages Wolfman. It seems I ask a simple question but never quite get the answer to it. Let's try one last time before I give up on Zorin (and I dont want to do that):

Since day one I have had installation issues:

1. Recovery Mode doesn't work

2. Seems there is an issue now with Nautilus according to you, as commands dont work

3. Installed 32 bit & then told I should use 64 bit, so another install.

4. Buggy issues like this:



Click the window behind and



I want a clean slate to start again with my D drives 125gb dedicated to Zorin with SWAP, ROOT & HOME set correctly.

Running the installer and selecting to do a fresh dual boot presents me with questions I dont know the answer to. It says that sdb5 has 3 hidden folders which are of course the existing Zorin. To work with them open a Gparted style window which requires all sorts of info ie do I want primary or logical etc etc etc. I get this wrong & I could be screwed up big style.

So how do I get a blank clean free drive to install Zorin on?

Frustrated & confused

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

First, back-up all your data from both Windows and Linux.

Open Gparted.

Look at the partition layout and select for following partitons for removal/deletion: sdb5 - 6 - 7.

DO NOT DELETE THE FOLLOWING PARTITIONS: sdb1 and sdb2

Click on sdb2 (the extended partition with the blue border)

Right click in the empty space within sdb2 > "New" > then create a "Swap" partiton of about 4000MB's:

Create as: Logical Partition
File system: Linux-swap
Label: swap



Right click in the empty space within sdb2 > "New" > then create a "root" partiton of about 22000MB's:

Create as: Logical Partition
File system: Ext4
Label: Zorin root



Right click in the empty space within sdb2 > "New" > then create a "home" partiton using the remaining space on the drive:

Create as: Logical Partition
File system: Ext4
Label: Zorin home



Once that is done, click on "Apply" and let it do its thing, you will end up with a layout something like this.



Make a note (write it down) of the new partition numbers/names, they will still most likely be: swap = sdb5. root = sdb6. home = sdb7 (This may be different so as I said, write the details down!!.

Close Gparted.

Start your Zorin disk and click on the desktop icon to install.

Select language and when asked where you want to install, select the "Something else" option.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SELECT SWAP AS IT WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY RECOGNISED!. You will not see the partitiion labels either!!.

The following pics will give you an idea how things should be setup for your root and home partitions.







The above pics were taken from this website:

http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http ... w&dur=1154

Regarding the boot loader. it is normally set to "sda1" not sdb1

Once again, I can now only refer you to this guide should you have further questions as I have answered you the best way I can:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601

To stop the windows blanking with your Nvidia card:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2490

I hope everything is clear now.

Regards Wolfman

Hi Wolfman,

This seems to make sense in what needs to be done. I will have to do it tomorrow now (8.30 pm here) & have my laptop on as I cant have Zorin running or I cant delete the partitions.

Wish me luck & I hope I can give good news by the time you come back online tomorrow.

Cheers

Uzi.

You are a hard man to please Uzi, you want to install Linux and you want it to work too!!.

Good luck, you will be a "7th Dan" Linux expert in no time!!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:You are a hard man to please Uzi, you want to install Linux and you want it to work too!!.

Good luck, you will be a "7th Dan" Linux expert in no time!!.

Regards Wolfman

Well I didn't get my wish.

First off I ran into a wall right at the start as none of the 3 (swap, root, home) would let me delete until I figured out that the Swap partition needed to select 'Swap Out' to release it. That done & everything else worked perfectly. I have my drive set to Swap then Root then the rest as Home.

So with a 100% clean install I followed your instructions to boot 1st into Recovery mode. I can now confirm without any doubt IT DOES NOT WORK Just a black screen that doesn't change.

So boot again. Restored my home from Deja Dup and downloaded the Nvidia driver. All seemed fine until I rebooted again and I got a new screen with Zorin OS 6 at the bottom and in the middle my username with password window underneath then Guest. Would not accept my password. Check the forum & someone else had the same issue with Zorin 7.......your solution.....boot into RECOVERY MODE.....aaaaaargggghhhh

My solution - install AGAIN.

So here I am with what seems to be a really nice system that is so full of bugs it borders on unusable. Is this why this forum is so quiet? Everyone just ends up trying another Distro & doesn't come back? Not something I want to do (looked at Linux Mint & dont like it as much as Zorin) but I dont see I am being left with any other options.

BTW the white windows fix worked well but shouldn't need to work around issues like this. Zorin 7 yes but I am surprised Zorin 6 LTS has this many bugs

A very disappointed

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

when you set up yout system for the first time, make sure you have "Auto Login" enabled!.

The problem with the password is easily fixed:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4702

Here is a guide "wot I rote" about the "Something Else Method":

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4848&p=22956#p22956

Let us know if you need further help.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman

Did you actually read what I wrote above ?

I dont have Zorin 7. Yes I read that & quoted it. Yes I had Auto login enabled. How could you use Terminal before boot up had finished?

No comment about the Recovery Mode?

Seems no one here has answers, just pick out the ones you can link to & ignore the rest.

Oh well, live & learn. Time to look for something else it seems.

Hi Uzi,

the link about "Something Else" can be used on any Ubuntu based system!!, It doesn't matter that you are not using Zorin 7, those pics are just example, I could have done the same with "Xubuntu"!!.

I am not looking over your shoulder and don't know about all your little problems that you are having and am doing my best to help you, if you feel happier using another distro; please do but please don't make silly comments like: "Seems no one here has answers, just pick out the ones you can link to & ignore the rest." as it offends.

I have done everything I can to help you, I am sorry that I don't have all the answers for you either like why the recovery menu isn't working on your PC, I just don't know!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:Hi Uzi,

the link about "Something Else" can be used on any Ubuntu based system!!, It doesn't matter that you are not using Zorin 7, those pics are just example, I could have done the same with "Xubuntu"!!.

I am not looking over your shoulder and don't know about all your little problems that you are having and am doing my best to help you, if you feel happier using another distro; please do but please don't make silly comments like: "Seems no one here has answers, just pick out the ones you can link to & ignore the rest." as it offends.

I have done everything I can to help you, I am sorry that I don't have all the answers for you either like why the recovery menu isn't working on your PC, I just don't know!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman,

First of all I said

Seems no one here has answers

Not YOU dont. I know you have helped a lot & it isn't taken for granted. What help you have given has been very good but I have never seen a forum where only one person answers. Most questions get sorted by a number of members experiences. Take a look at Linux Mint forum to see what I mean.

As for not answering questions, what about

How could you use Terminal before boot up had finished?

I will probably stick with Zorin at least for now. I will sort out what I can with my friend Mr Google......at least until I find something I like better.

Cheers

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

"How could you use Terminal before boot up had finished?".

In answer to this question, you cannot unless you can get into "Recovery Mode" which you say still doesn't work!!. Once in Recovery Mode, you can drop to the "root shell" which is basically the same as a terminal but without the GUI.

Is it possible that you try the disk/USB stick out on a different PC and see if the other PC also has problems, I am beginning to think slowly that the problems you are having may well be down to bad sectors on your drive!!.

You might consider also a system rescue tool to check the drive:

http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage

Regards Wolfman

Guys,

First of all can I apologise for being so short tempered these last few days. I have a sinus infection giving me a headache & trying to get my drives sorted just made it worse. I don't like being beaten, so my frustration got worse. i know you are genuinely trying to help but can I just say one thing, newbies to any Linux distro straight from Windows are not going to know what the Terminal is or what Nautilus is or AWN etc. The Linux Mint forum has a section just for Newbies with the tag - " All Gurus once were Newbies." to remind those giving replies. Remember 'KISS' - Keep It Simple Stupid

So, onward & hopefully upward

Wolfman,

I suspect the issue with Recovery Mode could be to do with Nvidia driver. It isn't the recovery not working but that I cant see it. Normal boot goes to black screen after the Zorin cogwheels appear. I tried a boot of Mint, I think it was, a couple of weeks ago & it wouldn't load - again perhaps because of a graphic issue.

Just a thought.

Swarfender,

I dont have Wine or Game issues. My favorite game 'Sins of a Solar Empire' runs fine through Wine. The only Windows issues are Vyke VOIP which doesn't run & has no Linux version - sorted now with Skype and my Epson Scanner isn't working & the drivers wouldn't work through Wolfmans instructions. Need to try again now I have reinstalled.

Your Video shows to install straight from boot. Does installing from the LiveCD screen make any difference?

My priority is to get Zorin 6 running without issues first now. Solved the white windows issue, so that's a good start.

Let's see how things progress. I am not ready to give up on Zorin, it is too good & someone has to keep you guys on your toes

Uzi (Guru in training )

Hi Uzi,

okay, do the following:

System Settings > Hardware > Additional Drivers and take a look at whether the "recommended" Nvidia drivers are installed, if there are no drivers; install the "Recommended" ones and restart your PC and see if you can get into the "Recovery Mode" menu as a test.

If the Nvidia drivers are already installed, mark them and select "Remove" and restart your PC and try the recovery menu again. (You can re-install them again after a reboot!)


You are still using Zorin 6 aren't you??.

Let me know what happens.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman,

Yeah, using 6.3 Core and yes been using the recommended Nvidia driver all along.

Uzi.

swarfendor437 wrote:Hi Uzi, for those new to Zorin/GNU/Linux - check out Zorin's FAQ pages:

http://zorin-os.com/faq.html

And a 'newbie' guide I lifted from LXF:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1823&p=20948&hilit=Guide+for+newbies#p20948

I think at some stage (when I can wrench my widescreen monitor on the PC my better half is using (I am using an old Packard Bell CRT 17" which will cause flicker on video!) I need to do various installs - from installer to the desktop and upload over the summer!

[I am concerned about the structure of the forum (I have lots of ideas) but if my eldest and the band they are a member of does not want the opportunity of a website, I may just use it as a 'Zorin blogette' site with just such information!]

Swarf,

Yeah it isn't user freindly sorry to say. Search so often returns nothing due to too many terms. For example put in 'Sound issues' and you get the usual:

The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: sound issues.
You must specify at least one word to search for. Each word must consist of at least 3 characters and must not contain more than 14 characters excluding wildcards.

If you had a section for Sound & another for Graphics, another for drivers, Linux terminology, apps, themes....well you get it. If I had a problem with screen flicker, I would look in Graphics.

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

you mean a website like this:

http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Startseite

I know it is in german but you get the idea!!.

Anyway; back to your problem.

Assuming that you tried what I said about removing drivers etc and it didn't work for what ever reason, are your software sources set to receive "Pre-released updates" ??.
Open Synaptic > Settings > Repositories > Updates and check, there should be a tick in that box!!, if there isn't, put one in and then click on "Reload > Mark All Updates > Apply" and restart your PC.


Regards Wolfman

Hi Wolfman,

I must have a weird system here - it wont let my tick the boxes The tick goes in but wont stick.

As for the Ubuntu site, yeah that looks spot on

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

look at the list in the window "Other Software" and see if there is a tick in there for "Pre-released" software!!.


(I am using Zorin 7 at the mo so it is slightly different!!)

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman,

I thought I would do the Mark All bit anyway & got this (remember I had this before & you said it was because I used the 32 bit Zorin 6 instead of the 64 bit - well using 64 bit now)

W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/restricted amd64 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-security_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-security_main_binary-amd64_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/universe amd64 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-security_universe_binary-amd64_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/restricted i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-security_restricted_binary-i386_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-security_main_binary-i386_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/universe i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-security_universe_binary-i386_Packages)

Pre Released Software isn't on my list

Uzi

Found it under 'UPDATES' tab - it isn't ticked & like the other wont let me anyway

Uzi

Hi Uzi,

please post a pic of the window, if you cannot put a tick in "Updates", it must be somewhere in the list "Other Software"!, look very carefully!!.

See the section "Error messages about "Duplicate Sources":" here to solve the duplcate sources problem, it is no biggy!:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Regards Wolfman

Uzi wrote:Found it under 'UPDATES' tab - it isn't ticked & like the other wont let me anyway

Uzi

You are clicking directly in the box aren't you?.

I meant in "Other Software"!!.

Wolfman,

I already said, its not on the Other Software list & yes I am ticking in the boxes.

This is where it wont accept me checking the boxes.



Uzi

Uzi,

look in the window to the left of your pic, the section that says "Other Software" and look carefully at the list, it should be there!!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:Uzi,

look in the window to the left of your pic, the section that says "Other Software" and look carefully at the list, it should be there!!.

Regards Wolfman

Looked again .....umm.....found it - it is ticked

Uzi

wolfman,

Ran your duplicate solution & got this at the end

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

Is that because of having Synaptic open or something else?

Uzi.

hi Uzi,

do you mean that you just ticked it or was there a tick in it already?. (Just trying to clarify the situation!)

Regards Wolfman

Assuming you still cannot see the recovery menu, go here and follow steps 2 & 3 then try and get into recovery menu and report back:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4635

I gotta go now, will check back later!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:hi Uzi,

do you mean that you just ticked it or was there a tick in it already?. (Just trying to clarify the situation!)

Regards Wolfman

It was already ticked.

Did the 'Mark All' bit & Recovery still a no go.

Because of the time diff between here (Cebu) & there (Germany?) it is 4.30pm here & getting late. I will look at the Boot fix tomorrow & hopefully be able to feed back any result by the time you go online. Enjoy your day

Uzi

swarfendor437 wrote:I have the same issues but I still get all the security updates!

And yes, I was hoping with the move of the forum we could get something like this:

http://www.ultimateeditionoz.com/forum

It even uses the same construction if you look at the bottom.

Aaaargh.........I'm blind What an awful site.


Uzi.

Wolfman wrote:Assuming you still cannot see the recovery menu, go here and follow steps 2 & 3 then try and get into recovery menu and report back:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4635

I gotta go now, will check back later!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman,

I am putting this on hold for a while. I have some other projects that I want to tackle - new sound card, new 2nd HDD so I can take full advantage of XBMC & get my movies playing in glorious surround sound.

I also want to let Zorin run for a while & see if any bugs crop up. Like the Firefox issue I posted earlier. Fixed it but what if there are others lurking.

I will come back to the Recovery issue in a few days. In the meantime I know I can just reinstall / now I have the drive sorted & /Home separate.

Cheers

Uzi.

datek1 wrote:UZI > Run a check for bad sectors on that other drive you were having trouble with to make sure before next go around.

UZI >No more links to webpages of that sort !!!

You might also be interested in this : viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4870

datek1 wrote:

datek1 wrote:UZI > Run a check for bad sectors on that other drive you were having trouble with to make sure before next go around.

UZI >No more links to webpages of that sort !!!

You might also be interested in this : viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4870

Please refer me to the rule I am supposed to have broken. All I can find is:

Due to some spammers* on the forum, anyone posting a thread or reply with an advertising link in their post/thread/signature will be banned automatically from the forum, without further warning.

It will be allowed if you are trying to help someone find a suitable piece of hardware or software (or whatever the subject matter happens to be about) and it is relevant to the post/thread.

It was in context to the subject at that time which was about the Forum layout. My site is non commercial & free but more to the point of absolutely no interest to members here. It wont get mentioned again as it was purely for Wolfman & Swarfs attention as their links to Forums were to me.

Uzi.

Uzi wrote:

datek1 wrote:

datek1 wrote:UZI > Run a check for bad sectors on that other drive you were having trouble with to make sure before next go around.

UZI >No more links to webpages of that sort !!!

You might also be interested in this : viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4870

Please refer me to the rule I am supposed to have broken. All I can find is:

Due to some spammers* on the forum, anyone posting a thread or reply with an advertising link in their post/thread/signature will be banned automatically from the forum, without further warning.

It will be allowed if you are trying to help someone find a suitable piece of hardware or software (or whatever the subject matter happens to be about) and it is relevant to the post/thread.

It was in context to the subject at that time which was about the Forum layout. My site is non commercial & free but more to the point of absolutely no interest to members here. It wont get mentioned again as it was purely for Wolfman & Swarfs attention as their links to Forums were to me.

Uzi.

Not a problem, if we let one remain..we have to let them all remain. Next time remove whatever shortly thereafter and everything will be kosher !!!!

Uzi wrote:wolfman,

Ran your duplicate solution & got this at the end

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

Is that because of having Synaptic open or something else?

Uzi.

Hi Uzi,

you got the message as you summized correctly, you had Synaptic still running, only one update manager can run at any given time!!.

Regards Wolfman

Uzi wrote:

swarfendor437 wrote:I have the same issues but I still get all the security updates!

And yes, I was hoping with the move of the forum we could get something like this:

http://www.ultimateeditionoz.com/forum

It even uses the same construction if you look at the bottom.

Aaaargh.........I'm blind What an awful site.


Uzi.

I find it quite colourful to be honest!!.

Regards Wolfman