"No root file system" error

[Metin Amiroff]

Even though I created 3 partitions (/, /home (both as ext3) and swap) installer faild with the error: No root filesystem. Clicking OK, closes the dialog but Installing System dialog stalls. After closing it, espresso refuses to start.

[humufr (humufr-deactivatedaccount)]

I have exaclty the same problem. I tried to install ubuntu from the live CD with espresso on a Dell and an IBM notebook. I have the same error for both of them.

[Gasper Koren (skrat-owca)]

Same problem here.

Workaround is not to choose /home on a special partition in the install process but just leave installer to install the system with only two selected partitions (/ and swap). After rebooting edit /etc/fstab manually to have /home on a special partition.

[esac (esac-ubuntu)]

I am also seeing this error. My partition is as such
/hda1 NTFS 15GB
/hda2 NTFS 1GB
/hda3 NTFS 40GB
/hda4 Extended Partition 15GB
    /hda5 reiser4 / 14GB
    /hda6 swap swap 1GB

I get Error: No root file system, and if I click OK, the installer hangs at detecting filesystems...

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

I just saw this as well, though on a second attempt I wasn't able to reproduce it.

One difference I noticed was that on the first (failing) attempt, the summary screen displayed "partition #2 of /dev/hda as" with no filesystem type. On the second attempt, it correctly read "ext2" (which for some reason is the default in advanced partitioning).

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Here's a log from the failure. I notice this:

debconf (filter): ignoring unknown (multi-line?) command
debconf (filter): <--
debconf (filter): ignoring unknown (multi-line?) command

which sounds like a bug you mentioned fixing

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

esac: Your problem is probably different; we don't support reiser4 (there's a bug open about gparted offering it). Pick a different filesystem.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

OK, so the problem here is that ubiquity.parted_server.update_partitions() is just wrong: it passes totally the wrong arguments to /lib/partman/update.d/ scripts. However, when I tried fixing this, I realised that it's wrong in a more fundamental way, because it's trying to call subprocesses from the wrong side of the debconffilter divide, which means debconf file descriptors aren't plumbed together properly and the UI would be blocked while the update.d scripts are running.

The real solution is to move this code to the other side of debconffilter somehow, either by figuring out how to drive partman such that it does the update itself, by writing a new partman-like wrapper script, or by writing a partman extension that lets us do the update. None of these should be tremendously hard work, but I need to do some investigation to figure out which is best.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

This provides the infrastructure to fix this:

partman-base (78ubuntu4) dapper; urgency=low

  * If PARTMAN_UPDATE_BEFORE_CONFIRM is set, run update.d scripts before
    finishing choose_partition. This allows Ubiquity to feed information
    into /var/lib/partman/devices/ and have it work correctly (see Malone
    #37872).

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Fri, 5 May 2006 14:41:47 +0100

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

ubiquity (0.99.75) dapper; urgency=low

  * KDE frontend:
    - Fix resize slider handling in autopartitioner (closes: Malone #43015).
    - Fix handling of disk selections (closes: Malone #43125).
  * When committing the results of manual partitioning, tell partman to run
    update.d scripts before asking the confirmation question, rather than
    trying to run them ourselves and doing it wrong (closes: Malone #37872).
  * GTK frontend:
    - Allow deselecting mount points in manual partitioner.
  * Hide mount point errors after successful manual partitioning, to make
    sure that they don't appear if you go back from the summary page.
  * Automatic update of included source packages: partman-base
    78ubuntu4.

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Fri, 5 May 2006 21:11:15 +0100

[David Rivkin (david-rivkin)]

I am having this same basic problem and Ubuntu beta will not install.
I have tried using the installer as well as command line (fdisk etc) from the Live CD. Both improperly partition my 60G Toshiba drive on a SiS motherboarded Laptop. The drive is brand new, never partitioned or formatted before.
I first allowed the installer to try to partition and format and it fails with "No / file system" after a lengthy formatting time.
I tried this over a dozen times, same result....taking 3 days to do this.
I then tried Manual Partitioning and selected just a swap of 2 Gig and the rest at root (/) with ext3 file system. Again, lengthy formatting times and repeated tries and still no root file system. I then ran the Live CD and checked for partitions. There were none. No tag either.
I used cfdisk to partition the drive and when I tried to format it, I received errors of "partition extends beyond physical device limits". From looking at the partition data, the partitions are all coming up as being one cylinder past the end of the drive.

[Evan (ev)]

David,

I believe your bug is separate from the issue that this closed report dealt with. Can you please open a new report and attach /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman after the no root filesystem message appears?

Thanks!