install linux through terminal (live disc) from different iso

[test_fire]

Hi all,

The problem is as follows: I recently had a power outage whilst my computer was running windows. When I tried to restart the computer I received UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT on the classic blue screen of disobedience. To resolve this I've booted a live ubuntu disc (10.04 LTS), of course when I created an ext4 partition and then tried to install linux I received "error while copying files" around the 65% point of the install which has ultimately told me to create another cd, which since without a working OS I can't do.

With the above filaure in mind I looking into fsck, fsck.ntfs and testdisk both fsck couldn't access the partition and fsck.ntfs suggested I run chkdsk (which I thought fsck was the linux equivalent of).

So I figure the next logical step is to try and install linux from the terminal of the cd-based instance of linux I'm running just now from a freshly downloaded iso.

Any thoughts are welcomed.

Thanks.

[Nagarjuna]

Heh, I actually just repaired a computer the other day with that same BSOD error. I did it by booting off a Ubuntu live-CD, ran fdisk -l to locate my NTFS partition and then used the ntfsfix utility to repair the partition. It worked flawlessly.

I'm a little bit confused on what your trying to do. Are you trying to install Linux just to fix your Windows partition, or are you wanting to install Linux for everyday use? If just trying to fix your NTFS partition, you don't need to install Ubuntu.

First run fdisk -l as superuser to get a list of all disks connected to your computer:

sudo fdisk -l

Just as an example, the output should looking something like the below:

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1549f232

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63      208844      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda2          208845     4417874     2104515   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3         4417875    35889209    15735667+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4        35889210   625137344   294624067+  83  NTFS

As you can see, the device '/dev/sda4' is NTFS partition in this example.

Now, we run the ntfsfix command:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda4

Let the command finish running, reboot, pop out your handy Ubuntu CD, cross your fingers and hopefully watch Windows boot!

I hope this helps. Let us know if it doesn't, or if I misunderstood your problem all together

[test_fire]

Hey Nagarjuna thanks for the response. I've just managed to install the OS using a different cd drive (got the idea from a google search link snippet)

I'm a little bit confused on what your trying to do. Are you trying to install Linux just to fix your Windows partition, or are you wanting to install Linux for everyday use? If just trying to fix your NTFS partition, you don't need to install Ubuntu.

I used to format my windows partition every couple of months or so until the last year was filled with more pressing issues than an fdisk. I decided a couple of months ago that when I did fdisk I'd move to Linux - for a spot of OS tourism. This has been the trigger for the change.

I tired a similar approach as you've stated earlier although I used the disk utility to find the partition name. Ntfsfix returned an error saying that I should run chkdsk, which is a windows command.

Thanks for the response.

[Nagarjuna]

Congratulations, I'm glad you got it installed!

By the way (without going into a Windows troubleshooting discussion), one thing you could of tried, if you hadn't already, was running chkdsk from your Windows setup disk using the recovery console. However, I personally can never find the damn elusive creatures when I need 'em!

Anyways, have fun with your fresh installation. I hope to see you around Linux Forums.