Hi Linux folks

I am trying to get to ubuntu in earnest but keep hitting my head off a brick wall on the first hurdle.

I am reasonably competent around PCs, but obviously not on linux.

I have created a bootable iso, boots OK, I seem to be able to create a new partition to run alongside 7 (for now) but whenever I try to install i get "no root file system is defined". I have checked online but I am not finding things too helpful.

Can you help me out? I suspect that this may be the first of many problems if I cannot even dual boot :( But I am determined to get there with your help!

Sounds like you just need to tell the installer to use the partition you created as root ("/").

Much of the info posted here should be helpful: The "Try Linux" Repost/Rewrite (a "beginner's guide")

Thanks adamhm, I have seen other advice suggesting this but I cannot see anyway to set this manually.

I currently have one partition for windows, one partition for storage and am trying to setup another for ubuntu but keep hitting this error. I am probably sitting to close to the problem to see it. Any advice?

I am choosing the 'other' for setup rather than install next to windows, could this be it? I am confused as you can tell, I can but don't want to start from scratch- knowing myself it may be the only way- just wanted to check if I have missed something obvious?

No, there should be an option to set it there. In Mint's installer you'd select the partition you want to install it to, click "Change..." and then set its mount point to "/" - it should be more or less the same in Ubuntu

Edit: Just checked with Ubuntu 14.04.3 - it's exactly the same. Use the ext4 filesystem for the partition you want to install it to and set its mount point to /

Thanks. Will try again tomorrow as I am obviously missing something simple and my head is buzzing now trying to figure out what it is. Will post back and let you know how I get on.

Just make sure "Use as:" is set to "Ext4 journaling file system" and "Mount point:" is set to /

Lazydog, are you selecting "Something else" on the "Installation type" screen as shown in the 4th picture down in this guide so you can manually define your partitions?

If you have an extra hard drive at hand plus have the space & connections available on your computer it would be a lot easier to install Ubuntu on a separate hard drive. That way you can select from the BIOS which drive, Windows or Ubuntu, you want to boot when you turn on you computer.

You are not installing Linux.

You are trying to learn how to dual boot.

Pick a dedicated hard disk and enjoy. You can do multi-boot, but don't claim Linux is hard, because you had to. Windows does not multiboot properly with other OS anyway.



Let me just compare the knowledge needed for dedicated Linux install versus multiboot Linux install.
To compare just how deep you'll have to dive:

Dedicated:
[ ] nothing

Multboot:
[x] filesystems
[x] partitioning (4k alignment, shifting partitions etc)
[x] backing up partitions
[x] bootloader knowledge
[x] mounting, mount points, fstab, /etc/mtab
[x] windows specific problems with multi-boot

Don't worry. Lots of us hit the same wall as you when we first tried.
So let me explain a bit

to install linux, you need at least 2 partition
1st is for root
2nd is for swap

I'll explain swap first since it is easy. Swap is dedicated partition used as safety net is your ram is full. In windows we call it virtual memory. to create swap, create a partition, and at filesystem type, choose swap

now for root. Root is where your files actually is. Imagine a windows pc, where all the hdd has only partition, so everything is in c: . That's root. Linux don't use partition the way windows did. Linux start from root, and if you have another partition, you link that partition to root as a folder

to create root partition, create a partition, select filesystem you like (I recommend ext4), and at mount point, select "/"
This "/" is the sign of root.

Hope that helps

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who posted in this thread.

Your help has managed to get me past the first hurdle, I now have a successful dual boot to ubuntu and am typing this message from my first linux install!

Now to start experimenting.

One other question, I know the needed security for linux differs from windows. I don't use AVs but I do use a firewall for w7. Is a firewall something that I will need for running linux? I am quite security minded hence the question.

It usually just f**ks up the bootloader and overinstalls GRUB and thinks it's the king of the castle. Sometimes there have been errors when you install it on the second or third partition. oh boy, it is not pretty

You don't *need* one, but it does help.

If you *really* are security minded, you might want into looking into a program called nmap, and use it to scan your own system for open ports. (Just don't scan systems you don't own without permission.)

rkhunter, maybe GUFW? iptables or nftables (depends on kernel version) seems overkill for you as you're only starting out, apparmor usage.

if you want to copy files to windows partitions from linux then maybe use clamav to scan them before.

+1 for GUFW

you can easily install it from the terminal ;)