Linux operating systems require their installation files to be loaded in a partition within their own file system(ext), not that of Windows. And also, the partition needs to be defined to be mounted as a root Linux directory, i.e., ‘/’ by default.The error arises if the requirements aren’t met during installation. In order to troubleshoot this issue, you will have to change the partition configuration in the ways described in this article.
How to Fix “No root file system is defined” in Linux?
Although Linux can read and write from other OS file systems, its installation folder is not compatible with a partition journaled with Windows or macOS journaling system. In other words, the root folder cannot be installed in Windows/Mac OS file systems. The error is common malpractice during installation, which is setting a wrong mount point. We will be starting with the solution of changing the mount point and dealing with the other one in the following sections:
Enter ‘/’ as the Mount Point
In a Linux environment, the Root symbolized by /, needs to be defined on a physical partition. If you are familiar with working on a windows environment, root is equivalent to C:/ which contains all essential operating system files. All other mount points like home, etc, var, boot or swap, can either be defined to be mounted on a physical volume or you can let them be automatically mounted within the same partition as root. However, without defining a mount point for root under a correct filesystem, the Linux environment cannot be set up. Here are the steps to follow in the advanced installation wizard:
Change Windows to Linux File System
The partition on which you want to install your boot loader of Linux OS mustn’t have its file system defined in Windows file systems like FAT/FAT32 or NTFS. Linux operating systems work in completely different file systems, and their installation files should be installed on partitions with ext2, ext3, or ext4 journaling systems. Ext4 being the latest, is the recommended one. So, if you try to install Linux on a partition with a Windows file system, it would show the “No root file system is defined” error. The file system can be observed from the Type column.In order to fix it, you will either need to delete the Windows partition and create a new Linux partition or change the file system to Linux ones. To delete the Windows partition and create a new Linux one, you can follow the steps below:But if it has other partitions with important files, back them up and change the file system of just the desired root partition. For just changing the file system, follow the steps below:
