SuSE 9.2 installation, partitioning problem.

mkk

I thought I'd give SuSE a try after having heard much good about its user friendliness. My previous experiences with Linux are limited to having tried some distribution briefly once every year or two, oftenly getting annoyed already during the installation procedure. Like this time when the SuSE installation just won't accept to be installed on an existing partition on the beginning of a drive.

When selecting only this first partition the installation routine complains that I have to select the second partition also. For some reason it seems like it's not possible to install on the first partition of a drive without also allowing SuSE to maul the contents of any other partitions on the same drive. Like I said it's certainly not the first time I've seen nuttiness in a Linux installation routine, but to see this kind of thing in 2005 is aggravating. There has to be a way around it, right?

UberLord

It may be required that you need at least two partitions - 1 for root partition and 1 for swap
Personally I use 4 (/boot /home / & swap)

mkk

It might very well need or at least recommend making more partitions than one at a later stage, but this is earlier than that. The installation routine complains that in order to select a partition for SuSE one also have to select all partitions with a higher number. Since I want to install using the space of the first existing partition it won't allow me to proceed unless I mark all of the drive for SuSE. I guess I'll just wait until I get me a fourth harddrive.

redsolar

Is the space you are referring to "unpartitioned"? This is what it has to be in order for you to be able to install it. You can not install SuSE 9.2 onto a partitioned/formatted/empty(on Windows partition) space. The space has to show as "Unallocated" in Windows Disk Manager.

mkk

Ah, I'll try deleting the first partition to see if it helps installing later, although the installation doesn't specifically complain about that. Thanks for the idea.