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Following a suggestion made before, I'm trying to use UNetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on a Windows computer.

I'd like to reformat the entire HD and install Linux on it. I installed UNetbootin on Windows, set it for a frugal install on the HD, rebooted, started it up in UNetbootin. It seemed to be working ok.

However, the installation keeps hanging on "Scanning for Harddisk partitions and creating /etc/fstab".

What might be the problem?

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  • what kind of partitions do you have? e.g. NTFS,FAT32,HFS+,..........etc
    – Mahmoud Hossam
    Commented Sep 2, 2009 at 10:44
  • Ok I'm actually not sure, but I think I managed to solve the larger Linux installation problem by installing Ubuntu using Wubi instead. Details in the aforementioned thread.
    – 7777
    Commented Sep 4, 2009 at 3:04
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    You should mention this in an answer, and accept your answer, so the question does not appear to be unresolved.
    – user4358
    Commented Sep 7, 2009 at 7:53
  • Hi, the only reason I haven't done so is because I don't think installing a different distro is a great answer. I'm going to keep hammering at this problem until I finally get Damn Small Linux on my computer and then write it up.
    – 7777
    Commented Sep 10, 2009 at 0:23

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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At the boot prompt try dsl nofstab

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  • Many thanks for this - I have a PC with a broken harddrive, which prevents most bootable USB from booting during this stage; now, with this, DSL boots for me! :) Cheers!
    – sdaau
    Commented May 28, 2013 at 14:43
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Things to assess:

  • How large is the hard drive?

If the drive is particularly huge, DSL might not be prepared to cope with it.

  • How many partitions are on there already?

If there are too many partitions, DSL might not be prepared to cope with that.

  • Do you have anything nonstandard turned on in the BIOS, with respect to the drive?

For example, you might be in IRRT or AHCI mode instead of good old ATA mode for a SATA drive. Depending on the kernel your version of DSL is using, it may or may not be able to handle AHCI, and even if it does, it might not handle it right... and goodness knows if it'll cope at all with what IRRT throws it.

Hope this helps!
-Paul

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