Run out of disk space

In a Terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), type in the command "df -h" (without the quotes) and run it by pressing enter. Then please paste the output here.

Can you also run:

sudo apt-get clean; uname -a; lsb_release -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-image-2

Thanks

Hi Eliah,
Here is the terminal response
william@william-desktop:~$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6              37G   27G  7.8G  78% /
devtmpfs              122M  248K  122M   1% /dev
none                  122M  184K  122M   1% /dev/shm
none                  122M  364K  122M   1% /var/run
none                  122M     0  122M   0% /var/lock
none                  122M     0  122M   0% /lib/init/rw
none                   37G   27G  7.8G  78% /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs
/dev/sda1             110G   74G   30G  72% /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1
william@william-desktop:~$
Regards,
William

--- On Mon, 17/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 17 January, 2011, 9:54

Your question #141756 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
In a Terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), type in
the command "df -h" (without the quotes) and run it by pressing enter.
Then please paste the output here.

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/141756

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subscriber of the question.

Hey,
I'm new to this and have just replied to Elijah. I had better wait for a reply from him before I try your series of commands Is this OK with you?
Regards,
William

--- On Mon, 17/1/11, actionparsnip <email address hidden> wrote:

From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 17 January, 2011, 10:10

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

actionparsnip requested for more information:
Can you also run:

sudo apt-get clean; uname -a; lsb_release -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-
image-2

Thanks

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

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You don't really have 160 GB available to your Ubuntu system, since most of your hard drive's total space is allocated to a 110 GB partition. If you're also running Windows on that computer, then that's almost certainly your Windows partition.

Assuming you can successfully access that partition (you should be able to find it in the Places menu at the top of the screen), you should be able to store some of your big files there. However, you should make sure to keep some free space on that partition, as otherwise your Windows system would experience problems.

Together /dev/sda1 (presumably your Windows partition) and /dev/sda6 (your Ubuntu partition) take up 147 GB. Considering that your Ubuntu swap partition (not shown there, since it's doesn't store files, nor does it have used and free space in quite the same sense that ntfs and ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions do) probably is a few gigabytes large, that seems to add up to the entire size of your hard drive. Most hard drive manufacturers inflate and worth of their drives by indicating their storage capacity in "decimal gigabytes" (10^9 bytes) instead of the "binary gigabytes" or gibibytes (2^30 bytes) that are much more widely used. Numbers from "df -h" with G as their unit are the latter kind (as are gigabytes as indicated in virtually every utility and application on virtually every computer system anywhere). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte for a more detailed treatment of this topic.

You might be interested in what's going on with the /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs "partition" which appears to be exactly as big as your / partition. The simple answer is that it's not really there, and doesn't count toward total, used, or free space. The detailed answer is: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1350785

The commands actionparsnip gave you to execute will potentially free some space (at no risk of harming anything), and provide useful diagnostic information about your system. There is no reason not to run them, though this post (explaining the output of "df -h") has likely answered your question. If you want to free up space in your Ubuntu partition, then you should definitely go ahead and run them (and paste the output here).

For the future: since actionparsnip said to "also" run those commands, he knew about the command that I asked you to run, and knew that the commands he wanted you to run would work out OK even when run after the command I asked you to run. (It turns out that "df -h" is purely diagnostic and doesn't actually change anything on your system. I had not mentioned that. But actionparsnip knew that when he asked you to "also" run his commands. Given your question, it was by no means certain that running "df -h" was going to reveal the answer.)

Can you give the output of the command I gave

Thanks

Hi Eliah,
Thanks for the useful information.Please note I am only running Ubuntu 10.04 on this machine and do not have windows installed. The 119GB file system contains lots of folders like bin boot ...  is it OK to transfer my large files into this area?
I will reply to actionparsnip separately.
Please advise,
William

--- On Mon, 17/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 17 January, 2011, 13:00

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Answered

Eliah Kagan proposed the following answer:
You don't really have 160 GB available to your Ubuntu system, since most
of your hard drive's total space is allocated to a 110 GB partition. If
you're also running Windows on that computer, then that's almost
certainly your Windows partition.

Assuming you can successfully access that partition (you should be able
to find it in the Places menu at the top of the screen), you should be
able to store some of your big files there. However, you should make
sure to keep some free space on that partition, as otherwise your
Windows system would experience problems.

Together /dev/sda1 (presumably your Windows partition) and /dev/sda6
(your Ubuntu partition) take up 147 GB. Considering that your Ubuntu
swap partition (not shown there, since it's doesn't store files, nor
does it have used and free space in quite the same sense that ntfs and
ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions do) probably is a few gigabytes large, that
seems to add up to the entire size of your hard drive. Most hard drive
manufacturers inflate and worth of their drives by indicating their
storage capacity in "decimal gigabytes" (10^9 bytes) instead of the
"binary gigabytes" or gibibytes (2^30 bytes) that are much more widely
used. Numbers from "df -h" with G as their unit are the latter kind (as
are gigabytes as indicated in virtually every utility and application on
virtually every computer system anywhere). See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte for a more detailed treatment of
this topic.

You might be interested in what's going on with the
/var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs "partition" which appears to be exactly as
big as your / partition. The simple answer is that it's not really
there, and doesn't count toward total, used, or free space. The detailed
answer is: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1350785

The commands actionparsnip gave you to execute will potentially free
some space (at no risk of harming anything), and provide useful
diagnostic information about your system. There is no reason not to run
them, though this post (explaining the output of "df -h") has likely
answered your question. If you want to free up space in your Ubuntu
partition, then you should definitely go ahead and run them (and paste
the output here).

For the future: since actionparsnip said to "also" run those commands,
he knew about the command that I asked you to run, and knew that the
commands he wanted you to run would work out OK even when run after the
command I asked you to run. (It turns out that "df -h" is purely
diagnostic and doesn't actually change anything on your system. I had
not mentioned that. But actionparsnip knew that when he asked you to
"also" run his commands. Given your question, it was by no means certain
that running "df -h" was going to reveal the answer.)

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756/+confirm?answer_id=4

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Hi Actionparsnip,
Here is the output Please comment. Regards William
william@william-desktop:~$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6              37G   27G  7.8G  78% /
devtmpfs              122M  248K  122M   1% /dev
none                  122M  184K  122M   1% /dev/shm
none                  122M  364K  122M   1% /var/run
none                  122M     0  122M   0% /var/lock
none                  122M     0  122M   0% /lib/init/rw
none                   37G   27G  7.8G  78% /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs
/dev/sda1             110G   74G   30G  72% /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get clean
[sudo] password for william:
william@william-desktop:~$ uname -a
Linux william-desktop 2.6.32-27-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Wed Dec 1 23:52:12 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
william@william-desktop:~$ lsb_release -a
LSB Version:    core-2.0-ia32:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-ia32:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-ia32:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-ia32:core-4.0-noarch:cxx-3.0-ia32:cxx-3.0-noarch:cxx-3.1-ia32:cxx-3.1-noarch:cxx-3.2-ia32:cxx-3.2-noarch:cxx-4.0-ia32:cxx-4.0-noarch:desktop-3.1-ia32:desktop-3.1-noarch:desktop-3.2-ia32:desktop-3.2-noarch:desktop-4.0-ia32:desktop-4.0-noarch:graphics-2.0-ia32:graphics-2.0-noarch:graphics-3.0-ia32:graphics-3.0-noarch:graphics-3.1-ia32:graphics-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.2-ia32:graphics-3.2-noarch:graphics-4.0-ia32:graphics-4.0-noarch:printing-3.2-ia32:printing-3.2-noarch:printing-4.0-ia32:printing-4.0-noarch:qt4-3.1-ia32:qt4-3.1-noarch
Distributor ID:    Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS
Release:    10.04
Codename:    lucid
william@william-desktop:~$ dpkg -l | grep linux-
ii  linux-firmware                       1.34.1                                          Firmware for Linux kernel drivers
ii  linux-generic                        2.6.32.27.29                                    Complete Generic Linux kernel
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-21              2.6.32-21.32                                    Header files related to Linux kernel version
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-21-generic      2.6.32-21.32                                    Linux kernel headers for version 2.6.32 on x
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-26              2.6.32-26.48                                    Header files related to Linux kernel version
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-26-generic      2.6.32-26.48                                    Linux kernel headers for version 2.6.32 on x
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-27              2.6.32-27.49                                    Header files related to Linux kernel version
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-27-generic      2.6.32-27.49                                    Linux kernel headers for version 2.6.32 on x
ii  linux-headers-generic                2.6.32.27.29                                    Generic Linux kernel headers
ii  linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic        2.6.32-21.32                                    Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86
ii  linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic        2.6.32-26.48                                    Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86
ii  linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic        2.6.32-27.49                                    Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86
ii  linux-image-generic                  2.6.32.27.29                                    Generic Linux kernel image
ii  linux-libc-dev                       2.6.32-27.49                                    Linux Kernel Headers for development
ii  linux-sound-base                     1.0.22.1+dfsg-0ubuntu3                          base package for ALSA and OSS sound systems
william@william-desktop:~$ image-2

--- On Mon, 17/1/11, actionparsnip <email address hidden> wrote:

From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 17 January, 2011, 10:10

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

actionparsnip requested for more information:
Can you also run:

sudo apt-get clean; uname -a; lsb_release -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-
image-2

Thanks

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Hi Eliah  PS,

I am unable to paste my files  into the 119GB folder.Any thoughts,

William

--- On Thu, 20/1/11, William Pritchard <email address hidden> wrote:

From: William Pritchard <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Thursday, 20 January, 2011, 19:15

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Answered => Open

You are still having a problem:
Hi Eliah,
Thanks for the useful information.Please note I am only running Ubuntu 10.04 on this machine and do not have windows installed. The 119GB file system contains lots of folders like bin boot ...  is it OK to transfer my large files into this area?
I will reply to actionparsnip separately.
Please advise,
William

--- On Mon, 17/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 17 January, 2011, 13:00

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Answered

Eliah Kagan proposed the following answer:
You don't really have 160 GB available to your Ubuntu system, since most
of your hard drive's total space is allocated to a 110 GB partition. If
you're also running Windows on that computer, then that's almost
certainly your Windows partition.

Assuming you can successfully access that partition (you should be able
to find it in the Places menu at the top of the screen), you should be
able to store some of your big files there. However, you should make
sure to keep some free space on that partition, as otherwise your
Windows system would experience problems.

Together /dev/sda1 (presumably your Windows partition) and /dev/sda6
(your Ubuntu partition) take up 147 GB. Considering that your Ubuntu
swap partition (not shown there, since it's doesn't store files, nor
does it have used and free space in quite the same sense that ntfs and
ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions do) probably is a few gigabytes large, that
seems to add up to the entire size of your hard drive. Most hard drive
manufacturers inflate and worth of their drives by indicating their
storage capacity in "decimal gigabytes" (10^9 bytes) instead of the
"binary gigabytes" or gibibytes (2^30 bytes) that are much more widely
used. Numbers from "df -h" with G as their unit are the latter kind (as
are gigabytes as indicated in virtually every utility and application on
virtually every computer system anywhere). See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte for a more detailed treatment of
this topic.

You might be interested in what's going on with the
/var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs "partition" which appears to be exactly as
big as your / partition. The simple answer is that it's not really
there, and doesn't count toward total, used, or free space. The detailed
answer is: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1350785

The commands actionparsnip gave you to execute will potentially free
some space (at no risk of harming anything), and provide useful
diagnostic information about your system. There is no reason not to run
them, though this post (explaining the output of "df -h") has likely
answered your question. If you want to free up space in your Ubuntu
partition, then you should definitely go ahead and run them (and paste
the output here).

For the future: since actionparsnip said to "also" run those commands,
he knew about the command that I asked you to run, and knew that the
commands he wanted you to run would work out OK even when run after the
command I asked you to run. (It turns out that "df -h" is purely
diagnostic and doesn't actually change anything on your system. I had
not mentioned that. But actionparsnip knew that when he asked you to
"also" run his commands. Given your question, it was by no means certain
that running "df -h" was going to reveal the answer.)

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756/+confirm?answer_id=4

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
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You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

ok you have a lot of extra kernels. This will leave you with your current kernel

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic; sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

This will save you nearly 400Mb space

HTH

Following actionparsnip's advice will help you immediately, by creating some free space on your Ubuntu partition. I recommend doing that first.

If your 110 GB volume is not a Windows partition, then it would be useful to figure out what it is, before using it to store data. Perhaps it is a partition for a past installation of Ubuntu?

Please paste the output of these two commands:

mount
ls -lh /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1

When you try to paste into it, what happens? Do you get an error message, or does it just silently not work?

Thanks but it still does not address the problem that I am unable to move files into the 119GB file system (as suggested by Eliah)
Regards,
William
--- On Thu, 20/1/11, actionparsnip <email address hidden> wrote:

From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Thursday, 20 January, 2011, 20:22

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Answered

actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
ok you have a lot of extra kernels. This will leave you with your
current kernel

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-
image-2.6.32-26-generic linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic; sudo apt-get
--purge autoremove

This will save you nearly 400Mb space

HTH

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756/+confirm?answer_id=9

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

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Are you able to run those two commands ("mount" and "ls -lh /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1"), and paste their output?

In addition to those two, please also run this command and paste its output:

sudo fdisk -l

In that command "-l" is a lower case "-L".

Hi Eliah/Actionparsnip
I do not have windows loaded and I have reinstalled Ubuntu once on this machine. The pasting into 119GB file system just does not work the options on menu are not active.
I have carried out the commands you asked for see below
-21-generic linux-ge remove linux-image-2.6.32

image-2sudo: command not found
william@william-desktop:~$ image-2.6.32-26-generic linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic; sudo apt-get
image-2.6.32-26-generic: command not found
[sudo] password for william:
apt 0.7.25.3ubuntu9.3 for i386 compiled on Sep  9 2010 22:22:02
Usage: apt-get [options] command
       apt-get [options] install|remove pkg1 [pkg2 ...]
       apt-get [options] source pkg1 [pkg2 ...]

apt-get is a simple command line interface for downloading and
installing packages. The most frequently used commands are update
and install.

Commands:
   update - Retrieve new lists of packages
   upgrade - Perform an upgrade
   install - Install new packages (pkg is libc6 not libc6.deb)
   remove - Remove packages
   autoremove - Remove automatically all unused packages
   purge - Remove packages and config files
   source - Download source archives
   build-dep - Configure build-dependencies for source packages
   dist-upgrade - Distribution upgrade, see apt-get(8)
   dselect-upgrade - Follow dselect selections
   clean - Erase downloaded archive files
   autoclean - Erase old downloaded archive files
   check - Verify that there are no broken dependencies

Options:
  -h  This help text.
  -q  Loggable output - no progress indicator
  -qq No output except for errors
  -d  Download only - do NOT install or unpack archives
  -s  No-act. Perform ordering simulation
  -y  Assume Yes to all queries and do not prompt
  -f  Attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in place
  -m  Attempt to continue if archives are unlocatable
  -u  Show a list of upgraded packages as well
  -b  Build the source package after fetching it
  -V  Show verbose version numbers
  -c=? Read this configuration file
  -o=? Set an arbitrary configuration option, eg -o dir::cache=/tmp
See the apt-get(8), sources.list(5) and apt.conf(5) manual
pages for more information and options.
                       This APT has Super Cow Powers.
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package linux is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libpackagekit-glib2-12 linux-headers-2.6.32-21
  libboost-program-options1.40.0 libqt4-test phonon kdesudo
  libpackagekit-qt-12 libakonadiprivate1 install-package libqt4-help
  python-qt4 linux-headers-2.6.32-21-generic python-sip python-packagekit
  packagekit gdebi-kde software-properties-kde kdepimlibs5 update-manager-kde
  packagekit-backend-apt libqt4-scripttools kdepimlibs-data python-kde4
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
  linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 23 not upgraded.
After this operation, 96.9MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Abort.
william@william-desktop:~$ ls -lh /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1
total 108K
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-12-03 11:17 bin
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4.0K 2010-12-03 11:31 boot
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-09-15 18:40 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root 4.0K 2010-09-15 19:52 dev
drwxr-xr-x 136 root root  12K 2010-12-09 17:08 etc
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4.0K 2010-09-15 19:46 home
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   33 2010-12-03 11:28 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   33 2010-10-11 14:43 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic
drwxr-xr-x  20 root root  12K 2010-12-09 16:48 lib
drwx------   2 root root  16K 2010-09-15 16:07 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-12-09 14:52 media
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-04-23 11:11 mnt
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-04-29 13:17 opt
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-04-23 11:11 proc
drwx------  10 root root 4.0K 2010-09-20 10:58 root
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-12-03 11:17 sbin
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2009-12-05 21:55 selinux
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-04-29 13:17 srv
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K 2010-03-30 08:17 sys
drwxrwxrwt  14 root root 4.0K 2010-12-09 17:08 tmp
drwxr-xr-x  10 root root 4.0K 2010-04-29 13:17 usr
drwxr-xr-x  15 root root 4.0K 2010-04-29 13:26 var
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   30 2010-12-03 11:28 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   30 2010-10-11 14:43 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002dc05

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       14485   116345185+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2           14485       19458    39943169    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           19367       19458      728064   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6           14485       19276    38484992   83  Linux
/dev/sda7           19276       19367      724992   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order
william@william-desktop:~$

--- On Fri, 21/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Friday, 21 January, 2011, 9:33

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
In addition to those two, please also run this command and paste its
output:

sudo fdisk -l

In that command "-l" is a lower case "-L".

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

actionparsnip meant for you to enter that command on a single line. This command is equivalent, and you can paste it in as it appears here (and then press enter to run it):

sudo apt-get --purge remove \
linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic \
linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic \
linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic; \
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

Please also run the following seven commands, and paste their output, too:

mount
swapon -s
touch /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
sudo touch /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
sudo rm /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
ls -l /home /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home
ls -n /home /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home

The last two of those commands will reveal the names (but not the contents) of some documents and folders in your home folder, possibly including the names of some documents and folders that you think you no longer have (see below). Therefore, you should look through the output; feel free to censor out the names of some or all of the entries. It's actually the other information, besides the names, that I'm interested in. If you censor out the names, please tell me that you did so. You may also feel free not to run those last two commands. However, if you are willing to run them, they may provide useful diagnostic information.

It appears that your 110 GB partition belongs to another Ubuntu (or other Linux-based) OS installation. Did you ever attempt to upgrade your version of Ubuntu (say, from 10.04 to 10.10) by booting from the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD? Doing that is not supported (instead, upgrade to new Ubuntu versions in the Update Manager or, if you must, by using the Ubuntu Alternate Install CD). But sometimes people do it anyway and tell the installer to install the new Ubuntu system alongside the existing operating system. That leaves the old Ubuntu version, and installs the new Ubuntu version as well. As you can no doubt imagine (and perhaps are experiencing), that's an undesirable situation.

I said that those last two commands would reveal the names of some documents in your home folder. Actually, that was based on an earlier draft of my reply, in which I was considering giving you different commands that would have yielded different information. I decided to hold off on that, though. So that whole paragraph about how those commands will produce names of documents is incorrect.

Instead, those commands will reveal names of user accounts (including, possibly, some users who you don't know you still have).

I apologize for the confusion.

Hi Eliah,
I never tried to upgrade only reinstalled Ubuntu 10.04 from disk.
Result of latest commands you sent see below

sudo apt-get --purge remove \
> linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic \
> linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic \
> linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic; \
> sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
[sudo] password for william:
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for william:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libpackagekit-glib2-12 linux-headers-2.6.32-21
  libboost-program-options1.40.0 libqt4-test phonon grub-pc kdesudo
  libpackagekit-qt-12 libakonadiprivate1 install-package libqt4-help
  python-qt4 linux-headers-2.6.32-21-generic python-sip python-packagekit
  os-prober packagekit gdebi-kde software-properties-kde wireless-crda
  kdepimlibs5 update-manager-kde packagekit-backend-apt grub-common
  libqt4-scripttools kdepimlibs-data python-kde4
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
  linux-generic* linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic* linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic*
  linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic* linux-image-generic*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 5 to remove and 23 not upgraded.
After this operation, 296MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 190561 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-generic ...
Removing linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic ...
Running postrm hook script /usr/sbin/update-grub.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done
Purging configuration files for linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic ...
Running postrm hook script /usr/sbin/update-grub.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done
Removing linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic ...
Running postrm hook script /usr/sbin/update-grub.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done
The link /vmlinuz.old is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link vmlinuz.old
 you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]
The link /initrd.img.old is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link initrd.img.old
 you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]
Purging configuration files for linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic ...
Running postrm hook script /usr/sbin/update-grub.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done
Removing linux-image-generic ...
Removing linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic ...
WARN: Proceeding with removing running kernel image.
Running postrm hook script /usr/sbin/update-grub.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done
The link /vmlinuz is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link vmlinuz
 you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]
The link /initrd.img is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link initrd.img
 you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]
Purging configuration files for linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic ...
Running postrm hook script /usr/sbin/update-grub.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED
  gdebi-kde* grub-common* grub-pc* install-package* kdepimlibs-data*
  kdepimlibs5* kdesudo* libakonadiprivate1* libboost-program-options1.40.0*
  libpackagekit-glib2-12* libpackagekit-qt-12* libqt4-help*
  libqt4-scripttools* libqt4-test* linux-headers-2.6.32-21*
  linux-headers-2.6.32-21-generic* os-prober* packagekit*
  packagekit-backend-apt* phonon* python-kde4* python-packagekit* python-qt4*
  python-sip* software-properties-kde* update-manager-kde* wireless-crda*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 27 to remove and 23 not upgraded.
After this operation, 144MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 180149 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing software-properties-kde ...
Removing install-package ...
Removing gdebi-kde ...
Removing grub-pc ...
Purging configuration files for grub-pc ...
Removing grub-common ...
Purging configuration files for grub-common ...
Removing update-manager-kde ...
Removing python-kde4 ...
Removing kdepimlibs5 ...
Purging configuration files for kdepimlibs5 ...
Removing kdepimlibs-data ...
Purging configuration files for kdepimlibs-data ...
Removing kdesudo ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/kdesu-distrib/kdesu to provide /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/kdesu (kdesu) in auto mode.
Removing libakonadiprivate1 ...
Purging configuration files for libakonadiprivate1 ...
Removing libboost-program-options1.40.0 ...
Purging configuration files for libboost-program-options1.40.0 ...
Removing packagekit ...
Purging configuration files for packagekit ...
dpkg: warning: while removing packagekit, directory '/var/lib/PackageKit' not empty so not removed.
Removing libpackagekit-glib2-12 ...
Purging configuration files for libpackagekit-glib2-12 ...
Removing libpackagekit-qt-12 ...
Purging configuration files for libpackagekit-qt-12 ...
Removing python-qt4 ...
Removing libqt4-help ...
Purging configuration files for libqt4-help ...
Removing libqt4-scripttools ...
Purging configuration files for libqt4-scripttools ...
Removing libqt4-test ...
Purging configuration files for libqt4-test ...
Removing linux-headers-2.6.32-21-generic ...
Removing linux-headers-2.6.32-21 ...
Removing os-prober ...
dpkg: warning: while removing os-prober, directory '/var/lib/os-prober' not empty so not removed.
Removing packagekit-backend-apt ...
Purging configuration files for packagekit-backend-apt ...
Removing phonon ...
Removing python-packagekit ...
Removing python-sip ...
Removing wireless-crda ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_GB.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Processing triggers for install-info ...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
Unknown media type in type 'all/all'

Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'

Unknown media type in type 'uri/mms'

Unknown media type in type 'uri/mmst'

Unknown media type in type 'uri/mmsu'

Unknown media type in type 'uri/pnm'

Unknown media type in type 'uri/rtspt'

Unknown media type in type 'uri/rtspu'

Unknown media type in type 'fonts/package'

Unknown media type in type 'interface/x-winamp-skin'

william@william-desktop:~$ mount
/dev/sda6 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
devtmpfs on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs type debugfs (rw,relatime)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/william/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=william)
/dev/sda1 on /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1 type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
william@william-desktop:~$ swapon -s
Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sda7                               partition    724984    207996    -1
william@william-desktop:~$ touch /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/footouch: cannot touch `/media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo': Permission denied
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo touch /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo rm /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
william@william-desktop:~$ ls -l /home /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home
/home:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 38 william william 4096 2011-01-24 10:02 william

/media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 36 william william 4096 2010-12-09 17:08 william
william@william-desktop:~$ ls -n /home /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home
/home:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 38 1000 1000 4096 2011-01-24 10:02 william

/media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 36 1000 1000 4096 2010-12-09 17:08 william
william@william-desktop:~$

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 10:40

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
actionparsnip meant for you to enter that command on a single line. This
command is equivalent, and you can paste it in as it appears here (and
then press enter to run it):

sudo apt-get --purge remove \
linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic \
linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic \
linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic; \
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

Please also run the following seven commands, and paste their output,
too:

mount
swapon -s
touch /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
sudo touch /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
sudo rm /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/foo
ls -l /home /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home
ls -n /home /media/b28c7a5a-1c3d-4149-acc0-26b7f50f2cb1/home

The last two of those commands will reveal the names (but not the
contents) of some documents and folders in your home folder, possibly
including the names of some documents and folders that you think you no
longer have (see below). Therefore, you should look through the output;
feel free to censor out the names of some or all of the entries. It's
actually the other information, besides the names, that I'm interested
in. If you censor out the names, please tell me that you did so. You may
also feel free not to run those last two commands. However, if you are
willing to run them, they may provide useful diagnostic information.

It appears that your 110 GB partition belongs to another Ubuntu (or
other Linux-based) OS installation. Did you ever attempt to upgrade your
version of Ubuntu (say, from 10.04 to 10.10) by booting from the Ubuntu
Desktop Install CD? Doing that is not supported (instead, upgrade to new
Ubuntu versions in the Update Manager or, if you must, by using the
Ubuntu Alternate Install CD). But sometimes people do it anyway and tell
the installer to install the new Ubuntu system alongside the existing
operating system. That leaves the old Ubuntu version, and installs the
new Ubuntu version as well. As you can no doubt imagine (and perhaps are
experiencing), that's an undesirable situation.

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

It seems that, rather than replacing your old installation of Ubuntu, you installed it again as a separate operating system, shrinking down the original system but leaving it in place.

But the first order of business is a small uh-oh:

Removing linux-image-generic ...
Removing linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic ...
WARN: Proceeding with removing running kernel image.

Given that, it's possible that actionparsnip's package removal scheme was a touch too aggressive, and could prevent your computer from booting. Just in case, go ahead and run

sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic

to ensure that you *have* a kernel in your system. Then run:

uname -r

If that spits out "2.6.32-27-generic", then it's best to reinstall the kernel version you're currently running; in that case, run:

sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic

Then reboot your computer. If you are presented with a GRUB menu allowing you to choose between different kernel versions, pick the highest version. Once you have rebooted, run:

uname -r

If the version is higher than 2.6.32-27, then you know it's safe to remove the old version; in that case, run:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-2.6.32-27

The seven commands I asked you to run (i.e. the commands whose output you just posted) have provided enough information that I can tell you how to successfully store files on the 110 GB partition. However, since the above issue could potentially prevent your Ubuntu system from booting, I strongly recommend dealing with that first. When you inform me that you have dealt with that, as described above, I will then explain your several options for storing data on the 110 GB partition. (If you wish, I will explain it before then. But I highly recommend dealing with this issue now. In its present state, your Ubuntu system might not have any Linux kernels installed with which to boot the system.)

If you have already successfully rebooted since you ran that multi-line command with the backslashes, then the above concerns are not a problem. If you have already rebooted and *cannot* boot into your Ubuntu system, then that problem is not too hard to solve either; just let me know. In the latter case, you will need the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD (or some other Linux-based live CD).

Your browser (or you) are having issues copying and pasting from the browser so I'll make this dead easy (copy each command line by line and hit enter):

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic
sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic
sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

Should do it

@actionparsnip: I saw that problem, and so I gave William Pritchard a multi-line version (with backslashes at the end of the lines) of the command you asked him to run. Then he ran it and reported the output to us. Unfortunately, from the output, it seems likely that this command removed *all* his kernels (rather than all his kernels except the latest one). With the hope that I could reply in time (before he rebooted), I provided him with instructions to ensure that the linux-image-generic package is installed at *some* version, to ensure that whatever kernel is *currently* running is installed, and to remove that version after reboot if rebooting switches successfully to a newer kernel. We'll see what happens. On the parallel thread of discussion here, regarding the usability of his 110 GB partition for storing files, I have figured out what's going on with that, but I'm waiting to go into detail about that until this potential issue is resolved. This is just a summary--you can see the above posts for all the details.

@William: Sorry to talk about you as though you're not here! ;-) Those four commands are equivalent to the multi-line command with the backslashes that I gave you and which you already ran.

Ahh I see. Well we will have significantly more space as he now has only one kernel :)

I got to config grub2 then screen with blue surround I reset terminal then tried again with result below Please advise

sudo apt-get install linux-image-genericwilliam@william-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic
[sudo] password for william:
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
william@william-desktop:~$

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 12:08

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
It seems that, rather than replacing your old installation of Ubuntu,
you installed it again as a separate operating system, shrinking down
the original system but leaving it in place.

But the first order of business is a small uh-oh:

Removing linux-image-generic ...
Removing linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic ...
WARN: Proceeding with removing running kernel image.

Given that, it's possible that actionparsnip's package removal scheme
was a touch too aggressive, and could prevent your computer from
booting. Just in case, go ahead and run

sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic

to ensure that you *have* a kernel in your system. Then run:

uname -r

If that spits out "2.6.32-27-generic", then it's best to reinstall the
kernel version you're currently running; in that case, run:

sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic

Then reboot your computer. If you are presented with a GRUB menu
allowing you to choose between different kernel versions, pick the
highest version. Once you have rebooted, run:

uname -r

If the version is higher than 2.6.32-27, then you know it's safe to
remove the old version; in that case, run:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-2.6.32-27

The seven commands I asked you to run (i.e. the commands whose output
you just posted) have provided enough information that I can tell you
how to successfully store files on the 110 GB partition. However, since
the above issue could potentially prevent your Ubuntu system from
booting, I strongly recommend dealing with that first. When you inform
me that you have dealt with that, as described above, I will then
explain your several options for storing data on the 110 GB partition.
(If you wish, I will explain it before then. But I highly recommend
dealing with this issue now. In its present state, your Ubuntu system
might not have any Linux kernels installed with which to boot the
system.)

If you have already successfully rebooted since you ran that multi-line
command with the backslashes, then the above concerns are not a problem.
If you have already rebooted and *cannot* boot into your Ubuntu system,
then that problem is not too hard to solve either; just let me know. In
the latter case, you will need the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD (or some
other Linux-based live CD).

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Ensure no updates are running and close software centre, then retry. If neither were running then run:

sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock;sudo dpkg --configure -a

Response below What now?

sudo apt-get install linux-image-genericwilliam@william-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic
[sudo] password for william:
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
[sudo] password for william:
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/var/lib/dpkg/lock:  root      20900 F.... dpkg
Kill process 20900 ? (y/N) y
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up os-prober (1.38) ...
Setting up linux-image-generic (2.6.32.27.29) ...
Setting up grub-pc (1.98-1ubuntu9) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing grub-pc (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 grub-pc
william@william-desktop:~$

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, actionparsnip <email address hidden> wrote:

From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 17:32

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Answered

actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
Ensure no updates are running and close software centre, then retry. If
neither were running then run:

sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock;sudo dpkg --configure -a

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"I got to config grub2 then screen with blue surround"

Do you mean that you got to a screen that was asking you to provide configuration information for grub2, but rather than providing configuration information, you exited the Terminal window, hanging up the terminal on the dpkg process during that step?

If so, then next time, rather than doing that, select an option so the installation can continue. If you don't know what option to select (or, if there's a text field, what to type), please feel free to ask.

If you mean something else, can you be more specific?

"Response below What now?"

Run this again (since some time has passed, conceivably things could have changed...and if they have but we operate on the assumption that they haven't, then things will get even more confusing):
sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock

If the output is still "/var/lib/dpkg/lock: root 20900 F.... dpkg", then say "y" (like last time), and then run:
ps 20900

If the output is just the line
  PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
then try running "sudo dpkg --configure -a" again. (In case you haven't guesses, semicolons have the effect of turning two separate commands into one, which has the effect of running the first command, then immediately running the second command.)

On the other hand, if the output is more that just that line (i.e. if there is a second line that starts with "20900") then run the command:
kill -KILL 20900

Then run "ps 20900" again. If it's just the line "PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND" then try running "sudo dpkg --configure -a" again.

Please continue pasting the output, as you have been doing.

The grub2 config screen froze and I reset terminal in desperation. I could not provide nor was i asked for information.The screen seemed to be information only
I am not driving a Rolls Royce here it has only 256MB of Ram and a 399MHz processor!
It has not responded to your last suggestion see below
Many thanks for your patience as I am new to Ubuntu

sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
[sudo] password for william:
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up grub-pc (1.98-1ubuntu9) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing grub-pc (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 grub-pc
william@william-desktop:~$

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 18:29

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
"I got to config grub2 then screen with blue surround"

Do you mean that you got to a screen that was asking you to provide
configuration information for grub2, but rather than providing
configuration information, you exited the Terminal window, hanging up
the terminal on the dpkg process during that step?

If so, then next time, rather than doing that, select an option so the
installation can continue. If you don't know what option to select (or,
if there's a text field, what to type), please feel free to ask.

If you mean something else, can you be more specific?

"Response below What now?"

Run this again (since some time has passed, conceivably things could have changed...and if they have but we operate on the assumption that they haven't, then things will get even more confusing):
sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock

If the output is still "/var/lib/dpkg/lock:  root      20900 F.... dpkg", then say "y" (like last time), and then run:
ps 20900

If the output is just the line
  PID TTY      STAT   TIME COMMAND
then try running "sudo dpkg --configure -a" again. (In case you haven't guesses, semicolons have the effect of turning two separate commands into one, which has the effect of running the first command, then immediately running the second command.)

On the other hand, if the output is more that just that line (i.e. if there is a second line that starts with "20900") then run the command:
kill -KILL 20900

Then run "ps 20900" again. If it's just the line "PID TTY      STAT
TIME COMMAND" then try running "sudo dpkg --configure -a" again.

Please continue pasting the output, as you have been doing.

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Huh. I don't know what caused the GRUB configuration screen to freeze up. Oh well...we'll deal with that if and when it happens again.

It seems that we're making progress. One of the two (or more) conditions that were preventing "sudo dpkg --configure -a" from succeeding has been addressed. Now try:

sudo fuser -vki /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

If it asks you if you want to kill the process, then say "y" (like before), and then try running "sudo dpkg --configure -a" again.

Here is the screen I seem to have stopped at. Sudo fuser seemed to work again and I pressed yes

Package configuration

 ┌──────────────────────────┤ Configuring grub-pc ├──────────────────────────┐
 │                                                                           │
 │ The grub-pc package is being upgraded.  This menu allows you to select    ↑
 │ which devices you'd like grub-install to be automatically run for, if     ▮
 │ any.                                                                      ▒
 │                                                                           ▒
 │ It is recommended that you do this in most situations, to prevent the     ▒
 │ installed GRUB from getting out of sync with other components such as     ▒
 │ grub.cfg or with newer Linux images it will have to load.                 ▒
 │                                                                           ▒
 │ If you're unsure which drive is designated as boot drive by your BIOS,    ▒
 │ it is often a good idea to install GRUB to all of them.                   ▒
 │                                                                           ▒
 │ Note: It is possible to install GRUB to partition boot records as well,   ▒
 │ and some appropriate partitions are offered here.  However, this forces   ▒
 │ GRUB to use the blocklist mechanism, which makes it less reliable, and    ↓
 │
 │                                  <Ok>

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 19:52

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
Huh. I don't know what caused the GRUB configuration screen to freeze
up. Oh well...we'll deal with that if and when it happens again.

It seems that we're making progress. One of the two (or more) conditions
that were preventing "sudo dpkg --configure -a" from succeeding has been
addressed. Now try:

sudo fuser -vki /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

If it asks you if you want to kill the process, then say "y" (like
before), and then try running "sudo dpkg --configure -a" again.

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

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Is it possible for you to scroll down?

I presume that pressing Enter doesn't work. Did you try pressing Tab, with the hope that <Ok> would be selected and then you could press Enter?

(These may seem obvious, but I must consider these possibilities first.)

TAB and enter gave me this screen but TAB and enter again  gets me back to the first screen. I am still stuck!
Package configuration

           ┌────────────────┤ Configuring grub-pc ├─────────────────┐
           │ GRUB install devices:                                  │
           │                                                        │
           │    [ ] /dev/sda (160041 MB, Hitachi_HDP725016GLAT80)   │
           │    [ ] - /dev/sda6 (39408 MB, /)                       │
           │                                                        │
           │                                                        │
           │                         <Ok>                           │
           │                                                        │
           └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 20:47

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
Is it possible for you to scroll down?

I presume that pressing Enter doesn't work. Did you try pressing Tab,
with the hope that <Ok> would be selected and then you could press
Enter?

(These may seem obvious, but I must consider these possibilities first.)

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Since you are able to scroll (i.e., you can move between two screens), it's not frozen.

You want to install GRUB on /dev/sda (the first option). Is it possible for you to select that, and continue? If you can tab to it, you should be able to either select it by pressing Spacebar, or use the arrow keys to move the selection between it and the other option (/dev/sda6, which is not the one you want).

Using a combination of Tab, the arrow keys, and Spacebar, you should be able to make your selection. Then, using a combination of Tab, possibly arrow keys, and Enter, you should be able to say "Ok" and proceed with the installation.

Does any of that work?

OK, I found the program that provides you with these menus. It's called upgrade-from-grub-legacy (and it's located in /sbin). On the screen where you select GRUB install devices:

(1) Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move between the devices (in your case the options offered are /dev/sda and /dev/sda6). You should install GRUB to /dev/sda.

(2) Use the Tab key to move between the menu that has the devices, and the Ok button. So, if the arrow keys don't work, that probably means the Ok button is currently selected.

(3) When the Ok button is selected (i.e. in red), press enter to "click" it.

This text-based semi-GUI-ish interface is the same as the interface used for mandatory initial configuration of a number of packages, so this should help you in the future. And if this doesn't work, please let me know. Please also continue to post the text in the Terminal.

Once you've successfully finished (re)installing linux-image-generic (at which point you know that *some* kernel version is installed, typically the highest available for your Ubuntu version), please proceed with the instructions for making sure the currently running kernel version is installed, and then rebooting and removing that version if a newer version is running. For your convenience, since that was a while back, here are the relevant instructions, in slightly more compact form than above:

Run "sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic" to ensure that you *have* a kernel in your system. [That's what you're doing now.]

Run "uname -r". If that spits out "2.6.32-27-generic", then it's best to reinstall the kernel version you're currently running; in that case, run "sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic".

Reboot your computer. If you are presented with a GRUB menu allowing you to choose between different kernel versions, pick the highest version. Once you have rebooted, run "uname -r". If the version is higher than 2.6.32-27, then you know it's safe to remove the old version; in that case, run "sudo apt-get purge linux-image-2.6.32-27".

If this is your only available computer (and thus probably your only way to access the Internet easily), then it's a good idea to have the Ubuntu Install CD handy (to use as a live CD, not to actually reinstall Ubuntu). It's always good to have it handy, but especially when you're manually messing with boot-up stuff, it's a good idea. That way, if your computer doesn't boot up successfully, you can pop in the live CD, boot up, get on the Internet, post what happened, and receive assistance.

After this is dealt with, I suggest we move on to using the space in the 110 GB partition.

Hi Eliah,
I seem to be in a loop of 3 screens I cannot exit.The normal terminal disp,lay is also inthe loop. The 3rd screen is shown below to which I answer no, should I answer yes here? It warns against doing that.

Package configuration

 ┌──────────────────────────┤ Configuring grub-pc ├──────────────────────────┐
 │                                                                           │
 │ You chose not to install GRUB to any devices.  If you continue, the boot  │
 │ loader may not be properly configured, and when your computer next        │
 │ starts up it will use whatever was previously in the boot sector.  If     │
 │ there is an earlier version of GRUB 2 in the boot sector, it may be       │
 │ unable to load modules or handle the current configuration file.          │
 │                                                                           │
 │ If you are already running a different boot loader and want to carry on   │
 │ doing so, or if this is a special environment where you do not need a     │
 │ boot loader, then you should continue anyway.  Otherwise, you should      │
 │ install GRUB somewhere.                                                   │
 │                                                                           │
 │ Continue without installing GRUB?                                         │
 │                                                                           │
 │                    <Yes>                       <No>                       │
 │                                                                           │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

--- On Mon, 24/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Monday, 24 January, 2011, 22:28

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
Since you are able to scroll (i.e., you can move between two screens),
it's not frozen.

You want to install GRUB on /dev/sda (the first option). Is it possible
for you to select that, and continue? If you can tab to it, you should
be able to either select it by pressing Spacebar, or use the arrow keys
to move the selection between it and the other option (/dev/sda6, which
is not the one you want).

Using a combination of Tab, the arrow keys, and Spacebar, you should be
able to make your selection. Then, using a combination of Tab, possibly
arrow keys, and Enter, you should be able to say "Ok" and proceed with
the installation.

Does any of that work?

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

You should heed its warning; you should not answer Yes there. Instead you should *select* the option to install grub at:

/dev/sda (160041 MB, Hitachi_HDP725016GLAT80)

That is, when you are on the screen that shows that, press the Up arrow. If nothing happens, press the Down arrow. If still nothing happens, press Tab, and try again with the Up and Down arrow keys. If still nothing happens, press Tab a second time, and try again (i.e. a third time) with the Up and Down arrow keys. Once you are able to move between the two options (/dev/sda and /dev/sda6) using the Up and Down arrow keys, use the arrow keys to highlight /dev/sda, and press Spacebar to select it. It will fill in the [ ] to show that it is selected. Then press Tab again until the Ok button is highlighted in red. At that point, press Enter to "click" the Ok button.

If that does not work, and the reason it does not work is that your Tab key is not doing anything, then make sure that your Tab key produces indentation in your text editor. If you press it once, it might or might not move the blinking cursor perceptibly to the right, but if it doesn't, then the second time (without moving the cursor in any other way in the interim) should do the trick. If the Tab key works in the text editor but not in the Terminal, then make sure that you are not holding down any other key while you press it.

If that does not work, and the reason it does not work is that your arrow keys are not doing anything, then open up a text editor and enter at least two lines of text. Use your Up and Down arrow keys to move the blinking cursor up and down in the text inside the text editor. Accomplishing this should enable you to do whatever is necessary to make your arrow keys work. Perhaps you have to turn Num Lock off on your keyboard. Or perhaps you have to hold down a key that says "Fn" or something, in order to use your arrow keys. I don't know what your keyboard looks like. Every keyboard I have ever used has had a set of arrow keys that always worked (and without holding down any other key). But perhaps your keyboard is different. Or perhaps you are using a strange keyboard layout.

If the arrow keys have the effect of moving the mouse pointer rather than the text cursor, then you have Mouse Keys enabled. Either use a different set of arrow keys (typically it's just the numeric keypad that is affected by Mouse Keys), or disable Mouse Keys. To disable Mouse Keys, go to System > Preferences > Keyboard to bring up the Keyboard Preferences window. Click the Mouse Keys tab (in the tab bar at the top of the window). Uncheck the checkbox labeled "Pointer can be controlled using the keypad" and click Close.

If those steps do not restore the functionality of Tab and the Up and Down arrow keys in the Terminal, then go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts... in the terminal and make sure that the Tab key and the Up and Down arrow keys are not keyboard shortcuts for anything.

Hi Eliah,
The first paragraph worked. See output below.
What is the next step?
sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
[sudo] password for william:
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up grub-pc (1.98-1ubuntu9) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing grub-pc (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 grub-pc
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fuser -vki /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
[sudo] password for william:
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat:
                     root      25020 f.... frontend
Kill process 25020 ? (y/N) y
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up grub-pc (1.98-1ubuntu9) ...

Installation finished. No error reported.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done

william@william-desktop:~$

--- On Tue, 25/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Tuesday, 25 January, 2011, 18:28

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Answered

Eliah Kagan proposed the following answer:
You should heed its warning; you should not answer Yes there. Instead
you should *select* the option to install grub at:

/dev/sda (160041 MB, Hitachi_HDP725016GLAT80)

That is, when you are on the screen that shows that, press the Up arrow.
If nothing happens, press the Down arrow. If still nothing happens,
press Tab, and try again with the Up and Down arrow keys. If still
nothing happens, press Tab a second time, and try again (i.e. a third
time) with the Up and Down arrow keys. Once you are able to move between
the two options (/dev/sda and /dev/sda6) using the Up and Down arrow
keys, use the arrow keys to highlight /dev/sda, and press Spacebar to
select it. It will fill in the [ ] to show that it is selected. Then
press Tab again until the Ok button is highlighted in red. At that
point, press Enter to "click" the Ok button.

If that does not work, and the reason it does not work is that your Tab
key is not doing anything, then make sure that your Tab key produces
indentation in your text editor. If you press it once, it might or might
not move the blinking cursor perceptibly to the right, but if it
doesn't, then the second time (without moving the cursor in any other
way in the interim) should do the trick. If the Tab key works in the
text editor but not in the Terminal, then make sure that you are not
holding down any other key while you press it.

If that does not work, and the reason it does not work is that your
arrow keys are not doing anything, then open up a text editor and enter
at least two lines of text. Use your Up and Down arrow keys to move the
blinking cursor up and down in the text inside the text editor.
Accomplishing this should enable you to do whatever is necessary to make
your arrow keys work. Perhaps you have to turn Num Lock off on your
keyboard. Or perhaps you have to hold down a key that says "Fn" or
something, in order to use your arrow keys. I don't know what your
keyboard looks like. Every keyboard I have ever used has had a set of
arrow keys that always worked (and without holding down any other key).
But perhaps your keyboard is different. Or perhaps you are using a
strange keyboard layout.

If the arrow keys have the effect of moving the mouse pointer rather
than the text cursor, then you have Mouse Keys enabled. Either use a
different set of arrow keys (typically it's just the numeric keypad that
is affected by Mouse Keys), or disable Mouse Keys. To disable Mouse
Keys, go to System > Preferences > Keyboard to bring up the Keyboard
Preferences window. Click the Mouse Keys tab (in the tab bar at the top
of the window). Uncheck the checkbox labeled "Pointer can be controlled
using the keypad" and click Close.

If those steps do not restore the functionality of Tab and the Up and
Down arrow keys in the Terminal, then go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts...
in the terminal and make sure that the Tab key and the Up and Down arrow
keys are not keyboard shortcuts for anything.

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756/+confirm?answer_id=34

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

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Why did you run fuser again? Were you having some problem *before* you ran fuser, this time?

Or did you not run fuser again? That is, is the text

Installation finished. No error reported.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS (10.04) on /dev/sda1
done

william@william-desktop:~$

the only text that was created *after* you left the blue menus that you'd been having trouble with for a while?

I understand if you don't know when what text was produced. If that is the case, please just let me know if you ran "fuser" again since successfully leaving those blue menus. (If you didn't, I am *not* telling you to do so.)

By the way, it is considerably easier for me (and others) to understand your replies if you do not include the complete text of the message you are replying to. Usually, there is no reason to include *any* of the text of the message you are replying to. This also helps to keep the size of Questions down, so that they are more useful for other people with similar problems in the future.

Hi Eliah,
I did not run fuser again I inadvertently copied the terminal text left on screen.Is this OK?
Willam

Yes, that's fine. You don't need to run fuser again (and you shouldn't). Things are looking good so far. Run the command:

sudo apt-get install linux-generic linux-image-`uname -r`

I recommend pasting that command, but if you type it in, please take note that "uname -r" is enclosed in backticks, not apostrophes. On a US/English keyboard, the backtick is the "lower-case" tilde (i.e. you get it by pressing the key that would give you a ~, if pressed with shift).

That command makes sure you have the complete kernel installed, and that you have the **currently running** kernel installed. That way, if the new kernel doesn't work on your system (rare, but it happens), then you have the current one (which we know works because you're running it now) to fall back on.

Then you should reboot. Everything will probably work fine, but if not, it's better for it to go wrong (and for us to fix it) now, rather than at some uncertain future time.

After successfully rebooting, run the command:

dpkg -l | grep linux-

This will reveal if there is any other old kernel stuff that can be safely removed to free up space (either stuff that was put back by the process you just completed, or otherwise). Once you've gotten to the point where you run that command (i.e. once you reboot successfully), your kernel issue is fixed; I'll tell you what command(s), if any, to run based on "dpkg -l | grep linux-", and I'll also explain what's going on with your 110 GB and what you options are for making it usable to store files.

If this is your only computer, and thus your only easy way to access the Internet, then it would be a good idea to have an Ubuntu Desktop Install CD on hand when you reboot. You wouldn't use it to install/reinstall Ubuntu, but rather to give you a working Ubuntu system (by selecting Try Ubuntu when it boots), with which to obtain further advice on Launchpad, and to repair your existing system. It's unlikely that this will be necessary. But it would be a good idea to have it (or some other means of accessing the Internet), just in case.

Hi Eliah,
Have tried the command see below.
Is it OK to reboot now?

sudo apt-get install linux-generic linux-image-`uname -r`william@william-desktop -r`sudo apt-get install linux-generic linux-image-`uname
[sudo] password for william:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
linux-image-2.6.32-27-generic is already the newest version.
The following NEW packages will be installed
  linux-generic
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 37 not upgraded.
Need to get 4,184B of archives.
After this operation, 32.8kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get: 1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main linux-generic 2.6.32.27.29 [4,184B]
Fetched 4,184B in 0s (9,523B/s)
Selecting previously deselected package linux-generic.
(Reading database ... 164724 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-generic (from .../linux-generic_2.6.32.27.29_i386.deb) ...
Setting up linux-generic (2.6.32.27.29) ...
william@william-desktop:~$

-

Yes, you should reboot now. (Before you do, please consider my recommendation regarding having an Ubuntu Desktop Install CD on hand.)

And the output of the command you just ran indicates that there is nothing else kernel-related that you need to do, after rebooting. You have one kernel installed now, it's the one that you are running, and it is the one that you will be running when you reboot. Thus, you have saved substantial space on your / partition (which is a good thing).

When you installed GRUB (the blue screen with the menu was part of this), it found the old and presumably broken Ubuntu installation at /dev/sda1. It's possible that GRUB will try to boot into that, instead of the system you're currently using. We could spend more time before rebooting, to prevent this, but in my opinion, it's not really worth it. If it boots into that system, the best way to correct the problem will be to get rid of that system and resize your current system (the one at /dev/sda6) to fill all the space on your hard drive, which will add 110 GB of free space (give or take)! Even if you do end up able to boot without problems, that might end up the best ultimate solution to your space issue.

Once you've rebooted, please post again, and, if possible, please include the output of these two commands (run them *after* rebooting):

uname -a
df -h

Hi Eliah
I have rebooted and get the following screen which I am unable to exit. This message is sent from another machine. Please advise

GNU Grub version 1.98-1ubuntu9
Minimal BASH line editing is supported. For the final word,TAB list possible command completions.Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions.

GRUB> cursor

Pressing TAB gives a list of what appear to be various commands

At this point, we should use the solution that will address that problem (getting your Ubuntu system working again), and also give you 110 GB more space to use.

Your computer has two Ubuntu systems on it, and one of them takes up 110 GB. That one also doesn't work. When you installed Ubuntu a second time (in response to that system ceasing to function), you shrunk it down from the full size of the disk to 110 GB, and your current Ubuntu system (the one that worked until just now and which will be working again very soon) has comparatively little space available.

The best thing to do would be to get rid of the old space-consuming system, and expand the currently-used system to take up the space. (And then update the GRUB configuration.)

However, to do that, you need to have someplace where you can back up any important files in your Ubuntu system, since when you resize a partition, there's a small but significant chance of data loss.

In addition, your old Ubuntu system might potentially contain important files, so you should look through it too.

You can do all this by booting from the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD and clicking Try Ubuntu--you'll get a live CD desktop, where you can do these things. But to back things up, you'll have to have somewhere to back them up to.

Or perhaps you have good computing practices and already have backups of all your important files.

If you have backups, or have a way to back up your files (I find that web-based or IMAP email works well for most documents, which are not actually that large), then we should go with this option. That you have another computer suggests that you do have a way to back up your files.

If you have backups already, or can back up your files (or, as a bad alternative that you should not choose, if you decide not to back up your files), then please let me know, and I'll provide instructions for deleting the partitions corresponding to your old Ubuntu system and expanding the current Ubuntu system to take up the whole disk. (And I'll provide instructions for updating the GRUB configuration.)

Otherwise, we could try to fix the problem without modifying your partition table. This is the more difficult and hassle-ridden option (and it would be less desirable, even if it were just as easy). But I'm up for it.

Hi Eliah,
When this last happened I followed instructions in the grub2 help document (express boot to the most recent kernel) and the system rebooted. I mention this in case it is relevant to any actions you are considering.
I have back ups of the files through my network and am not worried about potential loss.   I am looking forward to having full access to the disk space!!

"When this last happened I followed instructions in the grub2 help document (express boot to the most recent kernel) and the system rebooted. I mention this in case it is relevant to any actions you are considering."

You can probably fix this problem that way. But then (unless you make additional changes) you will probably keep having this problem from time to time.

The great thing about clobbering the old defunct Ubuntu system and expanding the current system to take up the whole disk is that this should (1) fix the problem now, (2) prevent it from happening ever again, and (3) immediately and seamlessly give you 110 GB more storage space.

To do this, boot from the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD, selecting Try Ubuntu. When the desktop comes up, go to System > Administration > GParted Partition Editor. At the upper-right corner of the window, you select the physical drive you're working on. It will probably already be correct (/dev/sda). If not, click the drop-down menu and select /dev/sda.

The way GParted works is that you tell it what operations to perform, and then click the green check mark to make it perform the operations. Be very careful while you are doing this--you can easily wipe out your entire disk.

Your partitions are represented by sections of a horizontal bar, and also by items in a list. I will describe what it shows you. If it differs from my description, you should reply, indicating how it differs. The first (i.e. leftmost) partition is /dev/sda1, a 110 GB ext4 partition. To the right of that is /dev/sda2, an extended partition. An extended partition is a container for other partitions. Inside the extended partition you have /dev/sda5 (a linux-swap partition about 708 MB large), and then /dev/sda6 (a 37 GB ext4 partition; this contains your current Ubuntu system's root filesystem), and finally /dev/sda7 (another linux-swap partition of the same size as /dev/sda5; this provides the swap space for your current Ubuntu system).

Before you start editing your partition table with GParted, there are three more things I want to tell you about GParted. First, if you tell it the wrong thing, you can undo it by clicking the curly orange left-arrow button, which is to the immediate left of the green check-mark. Second, you can only undo operations when they are *planned*; after they have been applied (by clicking the green check mark), they cannot be reversed. Third, sometimes when editing partitions, the horizontal bar representing the physical drive disappears. That is not cause for alarm; if it happens, just click on any of the partition entries in the list below where the horizontal bar was, to bring the horizontal bar back.

First, right-click on /dev/sda1 and click Delete. Then, right-click on /dev/sda6, and click Copy. Then, right click in the grey unallocated space that was created by deleting /dev/sda1, and click Paste. A dialog box titled "Paste /dev/sda6" comes up--keep all the default values and just click the Paste button at the lower-right corner of this dialog box. Now is a good time to apply all operations by clicking the green check-mark. This will take some time; that's OK.

Assuming that all succeeded, now delete all three partitions that reside inside the extended partition (i.e., for /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6, and /dev/sda7, right click on each one and click Delete). Having done that, delete the extended partition itself. Since right-clicking inside the section of the bar representing the extended partition brings up the contextual menu applying to the unallocated space inside the partition rather than the partition itself, the easiest way to tell GParted that you want an extended partition deleted is to right-click on it in the list (which is below the horizontal bar) and click delete. But right-clicking the aquamarine border and clicking Delete works too.

At this point, you have a 37 GB ext4 partition, with gray unallocated space to the right of it. Now it's time to recreate your swap partition. Right-click in the unallocated space, and click New. This brings up the "Create new Partition" dialog box. For "New size (MiB)" put in 704 or, if you want more swap space, some higher value. You're unlikely to benefit from having more than 2 GB (i.e. 2048 MB) of swap...and it's likely that 704 MB is sufficient. Change "Free space following (MiB)" to 0. Change "File system" to linux-swap. Click Add. It's been a while since you've applied all operations, so go ahead and do so by clicking the green check-mark. This shouldn't take nearly as long as it took last time.

Now, it's time for the final step--you're going to stretch out your 37 GB ext4 partition containing your current Ubuntu system's root filesystem (which is now /dev/sda1) to fill up all the unallocated space up to the linux-swap partition (which is now /dev/sda2). Right-click on /dev/sda1 and click Resize/Move. Within the "Resize/Move /dev/sda1" dialog box, hover your mouse pointer over the right-side of the blue rectangle representing /dev/sda1. The mouse pointer turns into a horizontal double-headed arrow. Drag it all the way to the right. You know you did it correctly if "Free space following (MiB)" is 0. Then click Resize/Move. Finally, click the green check-mark to apply all operations. This also may take a while.

Assuming all that was successful, quit GParted and open a Terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal). Run the command:

swapon -s

If /dev/sda2 is not listed (in which case probably *nothing* is listed), run the command:
sudo swapon /dev/sda2

Now run these commands. Silence (i.e. no output) generally indicates success. If any of them spit out error messages, or you otherwise think they failed, please stop and post again, explaining what happened and pasting all the text from the Terminal. The "chroot" command will likely produce several lines of output and the $ before the blinking text cursor will change to a # -- that's expected.

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
sudo chroot /mnt
update-grub
exit
sudo umount /mnt
exit

The second "exit" command quits the Terminal window itself, and then you're ready to reboot (use the power icon on the upper-right corner of the screen--don't perform a hard-reset). Remember to take out the CD, so that your computer boots from the hard disk. If there are any problems, please post again.

Assuming everything worked correctly, when you reboot into your Ubuntu system installed on the hard disk, you should have 110 GB more free space!

Hi Eliah,
Rebooted from the cd got desktop but get the following error message seven times.Is it Ok to delete them?

error
The panel encountered a problem while loading
OAFIID Gnome Notification area applet
Do you want to delete applet from configuration?
Dont del    Delete

This is in your installed Ubuntu system, not the live CD system?

Does it happen seven times, referring to the notification area applet each time, or does it happen seven times, mentioning a different applet each time?

Also, after you dismiss the seven error messages, is your desktop usable? Is the notification area functional?

Hi Eliah,
This is the live cd.The desktop is usable and it is a different applet each time.I can open Gparted but have not done anything with it
Can I delete the applets and continue with Gparted?

Yes, there's no harm in allowing it to delete the applets. The worst that could happen is that the live CD system's desktop might be rendered unusable, or perhaps your network connection in the live CD system might be disabled. These problems would be corrected by rebooting. And they probably won't occur.

Hi Eliah,
Applet error messages deleted.
deleted sda1,copies sda6,pasted sda6,pressed applied
Get following messages

1.An error occured while applying the operations

2. Apply pending operations
Might take a longtime
1 of 2 operations completed
delete /dev/sda1 OKgreen tick
copy dev/sda6 start at 0,00  halt symbol
details
the destination is smaller than the source partition

The partition table shows a copied sda6 in what was sda1

Please quit GParted, open a Terminal, run "sudo fdisk -l", paste the output here, and load up GParted again. Then you and I will both know what your partition table looks like right now, and hopefully I can figure out the cause of the error.

Hi Eliah
Here is the output

sudo fdisk -lubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002dc05

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda2           14485       19458    39943169    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           19367       19458      728064   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6           14485       19276    38484992   83  Linux
/dev/sda7           19276       19367      724992   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Well, this is strange.

The first step--deleting the 110 GB /dev/sda1 partition--was successful. Now you have about 110 GB of unpartitioned space at the beginning of the disk. The /dev/sda6 partition is considerably smaller than that, so there shouldn't be any problems copying it.

Try it again. Right-click on /dev/sda6 (the ext4 partition in the middle of the extended partition), click Copy, and then right-click in the gray unpartitioned space at the beginning of the disk, and click Paste. Then click the green check-mark to apply the operation.

If this is successful, you can continue with the GParted instructions above.

If it is unsuccessful, please take a screenshot so I can see exactly what everything looks like in GParted. When you take the screenshot, try to show the full GParted window as well as the window showing the error message.

Hi Eliah,
Tried to copy twice no success Screen shot attached  i think I got most of it

Unfortunately, you cannot attach a file to a Launchpad question via email (or by any other method). Instead, please post the screenshot on the web. If you don't have someplace on the web to post it, that's no problem--you can use http://postimage.org/ or some such site.

Hi Eliah,
Postimage is unable to decode image and will not upload. I have tried ubuntu one but failed. Do you have any other way to get this file to you? The file is in Open office writer and 145KB. Apologies-this is all new to me.

--- On Sat, 29/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Saturday, 29 January, 2011, 11:56

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Needs information

Eliah Kagan requested for more information:
Unfortunately, you cannot attach a file to a Launchpad question via
email (or by any other method). Instead, please post the screenshot on
the web. If you don't have someplace on the web to post it, that's no
problem--you can use http://postimage.org/ or some such site.

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Eliah,
Try this url for the screen shot
http://postimage.org/image/tty2dt6s/

That URL worked. PNG is a good format for screenshots.

I'll need some more information. Please move the "Applying pending operations" window up to the top of the screen, and then expand (by clicking the + sign) where it says "Copy /dev/sda6 to /dev/sda (start at 0.00 B)". If necessary, please resize the window so that all the details can be seen.

Hi Eliah,
Here is the 2nd screen shot url
http://postimage.org/image/vtnoak1w/

Well, darn. That looks like a bug that was fixed in GParted 0.6.3 (https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=626946). The version of GParted currently in Maverick is based on 0.6.2, and I don't think a fix to that bug has been backported.

The best solution is to use the latest stable version of GParted (which currently is 0.7.1-5). You can download the official bootable ISO image for it (which is a live CD system that provides the GParted application) at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php (or just click http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-stable/0.7.1-5/gparted-live-0.7.1-5.iso/download). Then boot from that and try moving the partition. It *should* work. I think that's the only known GParted bug that produces this behavior.

Hey Eliah, do you mean that the ubuntu 10.04 live cd I got from a magazine has a bug?
This is a real roller coaster ride!! Help, I just want to access my whole disk space! You mention a Gparted live cd, is this a replacement for the cd I am already using? I am not familiar with downloading or iso images and how do I boot from it as I only have the ubuntu live cd.
Please explain

--- On Sat, 29/1/11, Eliah Kagan <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Eliah Kagan <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: [Question #141756]: Run out of disk space
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Saturday, 29 January, 2011, 19:35

Your question #141756 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

    Status: Open => Answered

Eliah Kagan proposed the following answer:
Well, darn. That looks like a bug that was fixed in GParted 0.6.3
(https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=626946). The version of
GParted currently in Maverick is based on 0.6.2, and I don't think a fix
to that bug has been backported.

The best solution is to use the latest stable version of GParted (which
currently is 0.7.1-5). You can download the official bootable ISO image
for it (which is a live CD system that provides the GParted application)
at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php (or just click
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-
stable/0.7.1-5/gparted-live-0.7.1-5.iso/download). Then boot from that
and try moving the partition. It *should* work. I think that's the only
known GParted bug that produces this behavior.

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756/+confirm?answer_id=60

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/141756

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

The GParted application on the Ubuntu live CD has a bug, yes.

The GParted live cd is sort of like the Ubuntu 10.04 live CD, except that, unlike the Ubuntu 10.04 live CD, the GParted live CD doesn't give you the ability to install an operating system. It also does not provide a fully functional desktop system. For example, it does not contain office productivity software. It mainly just contains GParted. It is a CD to boot from, specifically for editing partitions.

I recall at one point that you posted from another computer. Do you have access to that computer? Can you use it to download a file and burn it to a CD?

Alternatively, do you have any USB flash drives? Do you know if your computer (the primary one, the one with the Ubuntu installation on it that we're trying to fix) is able to boot off USB media? Rather than burning the image to CD, we could write it to the USB flash drive instead.

If you do not have these options, then we'll have to first get your Ubuntu system booting again, and then you can burn the GParted live CD inside your Ubuntu system, and then you can boot off of it and perform the modifications to the partition table.

I understand if you're getting tired of putting so much time and effort into this; if you want to discuss alternatives that can be accomplished more quickly and easily (but which are otherwise less desirable), please let me know.

Hi Eliah,
Yes, I have access to another pc and can download a file and burn a cd.
I don't know if the ubuntu pc can boot from usb media. I have always used the live cd.
The only alternative I can think of is to reinstall the ubuntu OS. Can a reinstall overwrite the two previous attempts I have made and provide full access to the disk space?
( I realise that all data will be lost but I have backups and I only want to use ubuntu on this machine)

If you want, you should be able to finish the repartitioning process by downloading the GParted CD image, burning it on the other machine, and booting from it.

If you want to wipe out your whole disk and reinstall Ubuntu, that should also work out fine. Last time you tried reinstalling Ubuntu, you ended up resizing your previous installation and installing alongside it (which is what created the disk space situation that started this whole thing). I recommend that this time you use GParted (the bug-affected version on the Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop Install CD is fine) to erase all the remaining partitions on the disk (including the extended partition). Alternatively, with the hard drive selected in the drop-down menu at the upper-right corner of the GParted window, you could click Device > Create Partition Table..., and then click Apply. That latter way would actually be slightly preferable, as it would automatically fix any low level problems with the partition table (not that you probably have any such problems).

Those are the two options that I personally like, because they would enable you to have a single / partition spanning the whole disk (except for the fraction of the disk used for the swap partition). However, a third option would be to create a blank ext4 partition in the 110 GB of now-unpartitioned space at the beginning of the disk and set up GRUB to boot off the Ubuntu system inside the extended partition (the same system you had been using before). Then, once you boot back into Ubuntu, you could change file permissions on the 110 GB partition (which would now be your storage partition) to make it so that you could store files there. This could also be accomplished with GParted 0.6.3 on the Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop Install CD.

There are other options, too, but they are more technical and less likely to produce results that you want. (For example, you could make /home a mount point and mount the 110 GB partition there, with all your users' files moved into it. This might or might not free up space where more space is needed.) If you want me to go into detail about other options, besides the three above, please let me know.

Hi Eliah,
Are my files and settings retained with the first option? If so, it looks the best to me.   (downloading the GParted CD image, burning it on the other machine, and
booting from it)
Do I boot into Ubuntu?
Do I use the debugged Gparted as before to delete and copy partitions?

Hi Eliah,
I have downloaded and burned a cd with Gparted live 0.7.1-5. iso file. Do I just replace the ubuntu live cd with this one and boot the ubuntu machine using the power switch?

"Are my files and settings retained with the first option?"

Yes. The first option will expand your existing Ubuntu installation to fill the whole disk, so it should continue working as before, except have 110 GB more space.

"Do I boot into Ubuntu?"

Booting into your Ubuntu system would not be useful for getting the GParted CD to work, unless you wanted to use your Ubuntu system to burn the CD. However, we have not yet fixed GRUB (we'd just have to redo it after repartitioning, anyway), so since you have another computer with which you can download the GParted ISO image and burn it, it is probably preferable to use that.

If you are asking if it is necessary to boot back into the Ubuntu live CD before repartitioning with the newer version of GParted, the answer to that is also no (and that it would not be useful to do so).

As for whether or not you'll have to use the Ubuntu live CD again after repartitioning (to fix GRUB), that depends on whether or not the necessary tools to fix GRUB are part of the GParted CD. I'm not sure about that, but it will be easy to find out.

"Do I use the debugged Gparted as before to delete and copy partitions?"

Yes. When you run GParted from the GParted CD, you'll see the same thing that you saw the most recent time you ran GParted from the Ubuntu live CD. Except this time, copying the ext4 partition from inside the extended partition to the beginning of the grey unpartitioned space before the extended partition should be successful.

"I have downloaded and burned a cd with Gparted live 0.7.1-5. iso file. Do I just replace the ubuntu live cd with this one and boot the ubuntu machine using the power switch?"

I don't recommend shutting down your computer by hitting the power switch, even if you're booted from a live CD, except as a last resort. It is better to shut down by using the power icon on the upper-right corner of the screen. I'm not sure if you were asking about that, though.

If you're asking if you should boot from the GParted live CD in the same way that you would boot from the Ubuntu live CD, the answer is yes, absolutely. Put it in the drive, and turn on (or safely restart) your computer.

When the Ubuntu live CD shuts down or restarts, it may give you the opportunity to remove the CD. If that happens, you can go ahead and put in the GParted live CD at that time.

Hi Eliah,
The cd I made shows Gparted live 0.7.1-5. iso file . I am not familiar wth iso I cannot open it, Is it correctly downloaded?
There is no power icon on the top right hand screen. There is no obvious way of turning off on screen. (I am still using the ubuntu live cd).

"The cd I made shows Gparted live 0.7.1-5. iso file . I am not familiar wth iso I cannot open it, Is it correctly downloaded?"

It was probably correctly downloaded. If you tell me what operating system is on the computer you used to download and burn it, then I can tell you how to verify the download.

However, whether or not it was correctly downloaded, you did *not* burn it correctly. A .iso file is an *image* of a CD. It's sort of like an archive, but one that's meant to have its contents burned to a CD. Do not attempt to extract it and burn its contents, because you wouldn't get everything. (You wouldn't get, for example, the part that makes it possible to boot from it.) Instead, you need to select the option in your CD/DVD burning software, to burn an ISO image. If you tell me what operating system and CD burning application you use on the program where you have downloaded (and want to burn) the file, I can tell you how to do that.

(By the way, if you're interested, for more information on ISO images see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_image and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image.)

"There is no power icon on the top right hand screen. There is no obvious way of turning off on screen. (I am still using the ubuntu live cd)."

I just looked again at your screenshots, and you're right. That's very very weird. A number of your panel applets appear to be nonexistent. Panels get messed up sometimes, but I have never heard of them starting out messed up in a production-quality Ubuntu live CD environment.

You could try right-clicking at the top-right of the screen and clicking "Add to Panel..."; then, in the window that comes up, scroll down to Indicator Applet Session, click on it, and click the Add button. That *should* give you the power icon on the very right.

If that doesn't work, you can properly reboot your computer from the Terminal with the command:

sudo reboot

Or you can properly shut down your computer from the Terminal with the command:

sudo shutdown -P now

These commands will not allow programs to ask for confirmation on closing, so when you run them, make sure you don't have any applications that are running and in the middle of an important task.

When you're booted into your regular Ubuntu system (on the hard drive), do you also not see a power icon at the upper-right corner of the screen?

Hi Eliah,
I am running windows XP on the computer used for downloading.
Thanks for advice

As I mentioned in my most recent post, you will also have to tell me what application you are using to burn CD's, in order for me to provide instructions about how to create the GParted live CD.

Verifying the GParted live CD download is optional, but if you want to do it, follow the following instructions (which I have based on the instructions for verifying Ubuntu CD downloads at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM#MD5SUM%20on%20Windows). Please note that your lack of success burning a bootable CD from the file is *not* an indication that the download was bad, so there is no greater reason than usual to check the file's integrity.

To verify the GParted live CD download on Microsoft Windows, download and install WinMD5Sum:
http://www.nullriver.com/downloads/Install-winMd5Sum.exe

Right click on the ISO file and click Send To > winMD5sum.

Wait for WinMD5Sum to load and finish the checksum (this may take a significant amount of time depending on your computer's performance).

Then copy this hash into the bottom text box:
c3bcfe44f8ef30b365af4bd9db560d54

(That hash is not official; I am unable to find an official hash for gparted-live-0.7.1-5.iso. So I downloaded and md5summed it, and I got that hash. The chance that both our files downloaded incorrectly such that our hashes would be the same is negligible. But if the file is wrong on the server, then they could match up. Furthermore, if they don't match up, it's just as likely that my download was bad as that yours was...but then I could download it again, from a different mirror, and check.)

Click "Compare".

A message box will say "MD5 Check Sums are the same" if the hashes are equal. That means that your ISO file is probably not corrupted.

Hi Eliah,
The applicattion to burn cd comes as part of the windows XP operating system package and must be a microsoft application.
I downloaded Gparted live iso file 116MB into my documents folder.
Then I copied the file into the rewriter cd obeying the instructions shown on the left hand side windows screen.It then asks if I want to burn the cd but warns that data will be lost if I proceed.
The result is something which looks like an iso file on the cd.
There is no option shown for burning an iso image

Download and use http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home instead. (It won't keep your currently installed CD burning software from working--you'll still be able to use that.)

When you run that, you'll get a menu like http://cdburnerxp.se/pages/screenshots/startup.png. Select "Burn ISO image". I recommend you burn to a new CD, that you have never used before, but a used CD-RW should work OK too. I recommend using a CD-R if you have one (rather than a CD-RW), but a CD-RW should work fine too.

Hi Eliah,
Thanks for the burning program. I now have 7 files on the cd disk,isolinux,live,syslinux,utils,copying,Gparted live version
This looks better !
William

That sounds good. Go ahead and try booting from the newly burned GParted live CD. Assuming that works, you can go into GParted and finish the steps I listed above.

(If you want me to repost those steps down here to make things more clear and convenient, I'd be pleased to do that--just let me know.)

Hi Eliah,
Yes, please repost the steps I now need to carry out.Thanks
William

[R]ight-click on /dev/sda6, and click Copy. Then, right click in the grey unallocated space that was created by deleting /dev/sda1, and click Paste. A dialog box titled "Paste /dev/sda6" comes up--keep all the default values and just click the Paste button at the lower-right corner of this dialog box. Now is a good time to apply all operations by clicking the green check-mark. This will take some time; that's OK.

Assuming that all succeeded, now delete all three partitions that reside inside the extended partition (i.e., for /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6, and /dev/sda7, right click on each one and click Delete). Having done that, delete the extended partition itself. Since right-clicking inside the section of the bar representing the extended partition brings up the contextual menu applying to the unallocated space inside the partition rather than the partition itself, the easiest way to tell GParted that you want an extended partition deleted is to right-click on it in the list (which is below the horizontal bar) and click delete. But right-clicking the aquamarine border and clicking Delete works too.

At this point, you have a 37 GB ext4 partition, with gray unallocated space to the right of it. Now it's time to recreate your swap partition. Right-click in the unallocated space, and click New. This brings up the "Create new Partition" dialog box. For "New size (MiB)" put in 704 or, if you want more swap space, some higher value. You're unlikely to benefit from having more than 2 GB (i.e. 2048 MB) of swap...and it's likely that 704 MB is sufficient. Change "Free space following (MiB)" to 0. Change "File system" to linux-swap. Click Add. It's been a while since you've applied all operations, so go ahead and do so by clicking the green check-mark. This shouldn't take nearly as long as it took last time.

Now, it's time for the final step--you're going to stretch out your 37 GB ext4 partition containing your current Ubuntu system's root filesystem (which is now /dev/sda1) to fill up all the unallocated space up to the linux-swap partition (which is now /dev/sda2). Right-click on /dev/sda1 and click Resize/Move. Within the "Resize/Move /dev/sda1" dialog box, hover your mouse pointer over the right-side of the blue rectangle representing /dev/sda1. The mouse pointer turns into a horizontal double-headed arrow. Drag it all the way to the right. You know you did it correctly if "Free space following (MiB)" is 0. Then click Resize/Move. Finally, click the green check-mark to apply all operations. This also may take a while.

Assuming all that was successful, quit GParted and open a Terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal). Run the command:

swapon -s

If /dev/sda2 is not listed (in which case probably *nothing* is listed), run the command:
sudo swapon /dev/sda2

Now run these commands. Silence (i.e. no output) generally indicates success. If any of them spit out error messages, or you otherwise think they failed, please stop and post again, explaining what happened and pasting all the text from the Terminal. The "chroot" command will likely produce several lines of output and the $ before the blinking text cursor will change to a # -- that's expected.

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
sudo chroot /mnt
update-grub
exit
sudo umount /mnt
exit

The second "exit" command quits the Terminal window itself, and then you're ready to reboot (use the power icon on the upper-right corner of the screen--don't perform a hard-reset). Remember to take out the CD, so that your computer boots from the hard disk. If there are any problems, please post again.

Assuming everything worked correctly, when you reboot into your Ubuntu system installed on the hard disk, you should have 110 GB more free space!

A few points specific to the GParted live CD:

(1) The first thing you'll see is the GParted live CD's own GRUB menu. The first option, "GParted Live (Default settings)" is selected. Just press enter.

(2) While it's booting up, if you get a text-based menu (sort of like the one for GRUB 2 that had temporarily flummoxed you before), and it looks like http://postimage.org/image/23daj5bes/, just press enter.

(3) When asked "Which language do you prefer?" you can press enter.

(4) When asked "Which mode do you prefer?" you can press enter.

(5) As the last step before quitting GParted, right-click on /dev/sda1 and click Manage Flags. If the checkbox labeled "boot" is not checked, check it. If the green check-mark becomes clickable after this step, then click it (and if not don't worry). This is actually not specific to the GParted live CD, I just forgot to include it in the above instructions. Things *should* work without it...but it's a good idea to do it. Sorry about that!

(6) There's no panel with menus, so you can't get to the Terminal by doing something like Applications > Accessories > Terminal. Instead, you can double-click on the big Terminal icon in the row of icons at the top of the desktop.

(7) There's no power icon at the upper-right corner of the screen; instead, to restart the computer safely from within the GParted Live CD environment, double-click on the big power icon, which is the leftmost icon in the row of icons at the top of the desktop. Then select the radio button for "Reboot" and click OK.

(8) You might find that you strongly prefer the graphical interface on the Ubuntu live CD. If that is the case, you can reboot from the GParted live CD as soon as you've quit GParted, and then put in the Ubuntu live CD and perform the Terminal steps with that. If you're going to do that, then you might feel like trying to boot off the hard drive in between. There's a chance that it will work. If it does, then all you have to do is run the command "sudo update-grub" in the Terminal once you get back into your system on the hard drive. If it doesn't, you can always pop the Ubuntu live CD back in and perform the Terminal steps in the Ubuntu live CD environment.

Hi Eliah,
Do I remove the ubuntu live cd ,insert the Gparted live cd into the cd drive?
As there is no power icon on screen can I shut the machine down then turn on again to boot?
William

"Do I remove the ubuntu live cd ,insert the Gparted live cd into the cd drive?"

When you restart the computer from the Ubuntu live CD, you will be prompted to remove the CD. This is a good time to remove it, and replace it with the GParted live CD. When you reboot the system from the GParted live CD, you will also be prompted to remove the CD; at that point, you can either remove it and have nothing in the CD drive (so your computer will attempt to boot from the hard drive), or you can put the Ubuntu CD back in (if you want to perform the Terminal steps from the Ubuntu CD, and you don't want to try to boot from the hard drive first).

"As there is no power icon on screen can I shut the machine down then turn on again to boot?"

On the GParted CD, as I explained above, double-click the power icon to shut down / restart.

On the Ubuntu CD, there is (apparently) no power icon, but that does *not* mean that you should shut the computer down with the power button! (The only exception to this is if you already *know* for sure that pressing the power button will bring up the shut down menu, rather than power-cycling the PC. The only way for you to know this is if you have already used it that way in the live CD before -- if it works this way in your installed Ubuntu system, that does *not* mean that it will work this way in the live CD system.)

As I explained before, there is *supposed* to be a power icon on the Ubuntu CD--it just doesn't show up on your computer for some reason. Other important parts of your panel don't show up either.

Was there a problem when you tried following my instructions for rebooting from the Ubuntu live CD? The fastest way to safely reboot in the live CD is to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete (make sure that you aren't running anything important, as you will probably not have the opportunity to close any programs). I neglected to mention that method in my earlier instructions for safely rebooting from your Ubuntu live CD. In case Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn't work, I'll repost those instructions (explaining other methods of safely restarting or shutting down your computer, without a power icon) for your convenience.

[These are the reposted instructions for rebooting or shutting down safely, if you don't have a power icon on your panel. This does not include the Ctrl+Alt+Delete method, which I had neglected to include here. That method is detailed in my previous post.]

You could try right-clicking at the top-right of the screen and clicking "Add to Panel..."; then, in the window that comes up, scroll down to Indicator Applet Session, click on it, and click the Add button. That *should* give you the power icon on the very right.

If that doesn't work, you can properly reboot your computer from the Terminal with the command:

sudo reboot

Or you can properly shut down your computer from the Terminal with the command:

sudo shutdown -P now

These commands will not allow programs to ask for confirmation on closing, so when you run them, make sure you don't have any applications that are running and in the middle of an important task.

Please could you stop posting with previous message included. I'm unable to read this thread.
If you need more help, could insert at top of first post a summary of current state.

@delance

I'm not sure which one of us you're talking to, but I have not ever done that here, and William Pritchard has not done it for a very long while. On the other hand, if you're objecting to me reposting *selections* from *my* previous messages, now that the instructions they contain have again become relevant, I would ask you to familiarize yourself with the context. The limited reposting that I have done has greatly increased the usability of this thread.

It's unfortunate if you're unable to read the thread, but you are not the person with the problem we're trying to solve, nor are you (thus far) a contributor in this thread. I hope you are not asking us to use a format that is less functional for solving the problem, on the grounds that it would be more convenient for you.

@Eliah
I was talking to William. The thread is so huge that I can't familiarize myself with the subject. I could only provide help if a summary is provided, which resumes the content at start of thread. Else I can't become a contributor of this thread.
You probably ever saw me writing summary on some questions, to avoid reading again and again thread each time a post is done. It also help to have a clear view of what was done and what is current state of issue. As I manage dozens of thread, I need a way to reenter fast in subject.
But if you both disagree with this way of doing, it's not a problem. I have enough work with others threads!
And be sure I really appreciate all the work you do on the forum, because I will not able to manage all installation and boot issues by myself! And you provide accurate answers.

@delance

Ah, I see.

Since this thread is so long, I can understand that you didn't see that William Pritchard is no longer posting with the contents of previous messages included.

At this point, the problem is completely diagnosed, different solutions discussed, and the desired solution decided upon. The recent discussion has been in regard to specific details of accomplishing it. Some problems, at least one arising from a bug in the GParted version present on the Ubuntu 10.10 CD, have occurred, necessitating forays in the discussion to talk about workarounds. After these forays, sometimes it has been useful for me to report selections from my previous posts (which is what I had thought you might have been referring to).

I agree that summaries are often useful, to distill down numerous confusing details into a description of the problem that provides the necessary big-picture information. But in this case, the big-picture issues are all dealt with (at least we hope!), and the only thing that remains is the details. I have been walking William Pritchard through the process of copying and expanding a partition, weathering an annoying GParted bug that makes this harder (including explaining how to burn an ISO image on a Windows system, so he can use the GParted live CD), and addressing his concerns as they arise.

"And you provide accurate answers."

That is possibly the best compliment that any https://answers.launchpad.net contributor could receive -- I hope that I really do live up to it, and that I continue to do so. Thank you!

(By the way, this question is actually not about a boot issue...there just happened to be a boot issue that came up in the middle...)

@William Pritchard
Any progress? (There's no rush, but if you've had any problems, I'm eager to help...and if everything worked, I'm eager to know. :-) )

Hi Eliah,
Sorry for slowness. I am making sure I understand your excellent instructions.(Ubuntu and Linux is all new to me- only used Windows till now)
William

"Sorry for slowness."

You have nothing to apologize for. As I said, there's no rush. If you have any questions about my instructions, or specific parts are unclear, please feel free to post asking for clarification.

Hi Eliah,
I got down to the final step in Gparted live but when resizing sda1 the blue rectangle is already fully right (showing 0 MiB following) and the button to resize is inactive. If I drag the rectangle slightly leftward  to show say 75MiB following the button becomes active. Is it OK to press the button to initiate resizing now?
William

sda1 should already be all the way to the left. Since you've already deleted the extended partition by the time you've created the new linux-swap partition, and you should have created the linux-swap partition on the very right side of the disk, there should be plenty of space between the ext4 partition on the very left side of the disk (sda1) and the linux-swap partition on the very right of the disk. Do you have any idea why that is not the case?

Hi Eliah,
The Gparted screen is as you describe and looks OK.
The Resize/move/ devsda1 dialog box is not as you have suggested.
It only shows the 37583MiB partition surrounded by the blue rectangle across the whole width of thebox and I am unable to proceed. Dragging only allows me to reduce the size,
On screen I have the diagram  and below

min27206 Max 37583MiB
Free space preceeding 0
Max size 37583 MiB
Free space following 0
Align to MiB or cylinder or none MiB is chosen

Please advise,
William

I have no idea why that is. Perhaps it is a failure of communication between us. Perhaps I am not properly imagining what is happening. While unlikely, perhaps it is another bug in GParted.

I think you should boot from the Ubuntu CD again. That provides Internet connectivity and the ability to take screenshots, and you have already performed the step (copying the partition) that the Ubuntu CD's GParted was unable to do. After booting from the Ubuntu CD, please take a screenshot showing the whole GParted window, and another screenshot showing the Resize/Move screen (assuming you still have the problem). If you can fit them both into one screen, great; but it's likely you'll need separate screenshots. Please also open the Terminal, run "sudo fdisk -l", and paste the text from the Terminal here (along with links to the two screenshots). That should clarify what's going on.

Hi Eliah,
I got down to the terminal commands but got following error at update grub see below. Please advise William

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ swapon -s
Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/ramzswap0                          partition    124796    124028    100
/dev/sda2                               partition    719864    20656    -1
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot /mnt
root@ubuntu:/# update-grub
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for / (is /dev mounted?).
root@ubuntu:/#

Is that to say that when you ran GParted from the Ubuntu CD, you were able to resize the partition successfully?

If that is the case, then run the "exit" command, then shut down the live CD system (you can use the command "sudo shutdown -P now"), remove the Ubuntu CD when prompted to do so, and try booting into the newly-expanded system on the hard disk (i.e. try booting your computer normally). If that succeeds, you can just open a Terminal window and run the command "sudo update-grub" to finalize the process. So that we can be sure it worked properly, please run these commands (still in the newly-expanded system on the hard disk, not when booted from the live CD):

df -h
mount
sudo fdisk -l

Then post their output. That will let us be sure that everything completed successfully.

As always, if there are any problems, please post again with details.

Hi Eliah,
I managed to resize eventually using the Gparted live cd then switched to the ubuntu live cd to open a terminal. Are your last instructions still valid?
William.

Yes, they are still valid.

Hi Eliah,
Managed to boot into hard drive at last See terminal o/p below. Is this OK?
William

william@william-desktop:~$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
done
william@william-desktop:~$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             147G   26G  113G  19% /
none                  118M  232K  118M   1% /dev
none                  122M  132K  122M   1% /dev/shm
none                  122M  312K  122M   1% /var/run
none                  122M     0  122M   0% /var/lock
none                  122M     0  122M   0% /lib/init/rw
none                  147G   26G  113G  19% /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs
william@william-desktop:~$ mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs type debugfs (rw,relatime)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/william/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=william)
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002dc05

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       19368   155569152   83  Linux
/dev/sda2           19368       19458      719872   82  Linux swap / Solaris
william@william-desktop:~$

That all looks good. Did "sudo update-grub" complete successfully when you ran it in the newly expanded system on the hard disk?

Also, I neglected to ask you to run the following command, which provides information as to whether or not swap is working correctly:

swapon -s

Please run that as well, and post the output. But so far, this is looking good. You have 113 GB of free space, which is just what we wanted!

Hi Eliah,
Yes sudo update-grub completed successfully when
I ran it in the newly expanded system on the hard disk.

Swapon output see below.There were no numbers on the output but there were numbers using the ubuntu live cd sent earlier.
Can you confirm if all is OK?
William

william@william-desktop:~$ swapon -s
Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priori
william@william-desktop:~$

The "swapon -s" output is actually bad. Easy to fix, but bad. It means the new swap partition is not in use...so when your programs try to allocate more space than available RAM, you'll have big problems (like programs crashing and losing your unsaved work). You don't have much RAM, so is is important to fix this.

Run these two commands, which will provide us with the necessary information for configuring Ubuntu to use your new swap partition:

cat /etc/fstab
sudo blkid

Then post the results. We're in the home stretch now! (Fixing this should be easy--it will consist of editing one line in a file.)

Hi Eliah,
Here is the information on the swap partition.
William
cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=c5fa6a9c-3724-4c43-bed0-a72fea98d8a3 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=a29a409d-8b82-4c75-b795-776f8a756f7d none            swap    sw              0       0
william@william-desktop:~$ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for william:
/dev/sda1: UUID="c5fa6a9c-3724-4c43-bed0-a72fea98d8a3" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: UUID="ad7a80a2-a395-46b7-b653-0336737746bb" TYPE="swap"
william@william-desktop:~$

First, back up the file /etc/fstab:

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.old

Then open it in a text editor, running as root. This text editor session is capable of editing anything anywhere on your computer, so don't make a new tab in it for your shopping list. ;-) The command to do this is:

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

You're interested in the last two lines of this file:

# swap was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=a29a409d-8b82-4c75-b795-776f8a756f7d none swap sw 0 0

Change the last line first, by making the UUID ad7a80a2-a395-46b7-b653-0336737746bb. That is, replace "a29a409d-8b82-4c75-b795-776f8a756f7d" with "ad7a80a2-a395-46b7-b653-0336737746bb". (This is the UUID of /dev/sda2--your swap partition--as revealed by "sudo blkid".) Thus, the last line will now look like this (but don't copy this whole line from Launchpad, because the spacing may be wrong and you don't want an ugly--and thus hard to use--fstab file):

UUID=ad7a80a2-a395-46b7-b653-0336737746bb none swap sw 0 0

The next-to-last line starts with a # character, so it's a comment. This means that Ubuntu doesn't look at this line. So you don't actually have to change it. But you should change it, because its purpose is to document the line after it (which you just changed). So change it to something like:

# swap is on /dev/sda2 since repartitioning

There is also a totally optional change you may want to make. The UUID for the root (/) filesystem is unchanged, because the root partition was moved rather than recreated. But while / was on /dev/sda6 during installation, it's on /dev/sda1 now. Therefore, you might want to change the line (higher up in the file) that says

# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation

to instead say something like

# / is on /dev/sda1 since repartitioning

or, even better:

# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation (since moved to /dev/sda1)

Remember that lines that start with # must *remain* starting with #, as that's what identifies them as comments.

When you're done editing this file, save it, and quit the text editor. Then reboot your computer (properly, as before, using the power icon on the upper-right corner of your screen). After rebooting your computer, open a Terminal window and run:

swapon -s

If it lists /dev/sda2, then that means swap is fixed, and you're all done!

Hi Eliah,
Please confirm that I am indeed all done now!! See terminal o/p below
William

william@william-desktop:~$ swapon -s
Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sda2                               partition    719864    3220    -1
william@william-desktop:~$

Hi Eliah,
Many thanks for your help and advice.
William

Thanks Eliah Kagan, that solved my question.

I'm glad to have helped, and that everything worked out in the end.

  http://www.renucosmeticlaser.com/lcu/stasv.fp Bill