Can't install Arch distros

[Trml]

I do still have a /boot under my root file-system but the only thing that resides there is "amd-ucode.img"

That image is probably old residue, if you use use the microcode hook now. In any case your /boot mount will be the same as /efi.

Also it seems like you are dual-booting since you also have an two efi

Good catch. @Anluz you need to use the existing efi partition, two on the same device are not supported by UEFI. Grub will add itself in subdirectories there.

Best you explain how you wanted to create the /boot partition (separate, within /, or within /efi). The mounts before and grub-install after must take consideration of that.

 

[f33dm3bits]

That image is probably old residue, if you use use the microcode hook now. In any case your /boot mount will be the same as /efi.

I'm using the microcode hook, every time I install/update amd-ucode it gets placed under /boot. So I just left it there now, I have a pacman hook that automatically copies to /efi where the rest of my boot files are. What's the better way to do it?

 

[Trml]

If your kernel/initramfs is under the /efi, that's where /boot should be mounted too. If it is, it is odd microcode extracts to another path. In any case, see this noextract tip.

 

[f33dm3bits]

If your kernel/initramfs is under the /efi, that's where /boot should be mounted too. If it is, it is odd microcode extracts to another path. In any case, see this noextract tip.

Thanks for the tip, that worked and didn't know about that before. I'm confused by part of your reply but I won't continue it here since it will go too much off-topic for user who created it. We can discuss in private conversation if you are okay with that?

 

[Trml]

We can discuss in private conversation if you are okay with that?

I'm actually not using the microcode hook, since the obscure firmware I run needs a specific initramfs format, but sure.

And yes, let's see here what @Anluz gets out of the info so far.

 

[Anluz]

Heyo.
Tried once again today to no avail.

ls -l /mnt/boot /mnt/efi

This is the output of that:

history of commands this time:

Sadly i realized i didnt show the lsblk but i did follow the advice of just mounting on the windows EFI partition, altho i believe i did something wrong on this step.

History of commands on chroot:

I added the modules once again, uncommented the hook related to microcode and forgot to add that i did pacman -s intel-ucode at the end.

I'm wondering if using another bootloader would change anything or the issue most likely related to nvidia will remain.

 

[Trml]

i did follow the advice of just mounting on the windows EFI partition, altho i believe i did something wrong on this step.

So, you did not use the command I quoted above

What this does is mount /boot to the EFI/esp partition (so the path in the guide is /efi/boot).

in your install. This means /boot got created inside the system root, so you should see a path like /boot/grub/grub.cfg on the /dev/nvme*6 partition. We can't see it in your ls -l output, because you did that prior to installing grub.

In the grub install you dropped the --boot-directory option. However, this second batch of your history2 shows you did not install grub within chroot/archstrap (root@ubuntu). This cannot work.

You can, indeed, install Ubuntu's grub for starters and replace it later when you are booted in Arch, but the way you do it (without --boot-directory /mnt/boot) it cannot find a kernel like that.

I see three options: 1. you redo the grub installation from inside archstrap chroot, 2. correct it with Ubuntu grub-install, 3. another boot loader.
What do you think?

 

[Anluz]

So, you did not use the command I quoted above

I completely forgot, sorry about that

I see three options: 1. you redo the grub installation from inside archstrap chroot, 2. correct it with Ubuntu grub-install, 3. another boot loader.

I will try option 1, i do have to look up how to do it. If that doesnt work then one of the other two, most likely option 2.

 

[Anluz]

These are the steps taken to reinstall grub.

i still get stuck in the same place tho.

# mount --mkdir /dev/efi_system_partition /mnt/boot

I'm having troubles with this part tho, it does not detect it as an EFI partition, and because of that i mounted it at /mnt/boot/efi. Altho im sure thats the wrong way to do it. Later on tonight ill try getting a bigger windows EFI partition (i believe the 200mb it has is not enough)

 

[Trml]

EFI partition (i believe the 200mb it has is not enough)

That's true, if you keep Linux /boot files on it. But you are not doing that yet. It is perfectly fine to have a separate /boot partition for Linux (or also to have it in the Linux root file system), and then all it needs is one boot-loader .efi executable to launch it.

Expanding the EFI partition can be difficult. If in doubt how to, rather leave that.

Also it may be that you fill up your efi unneeded with your tries.
What stumbles me again in your last try is that your output starts with arch@archstrap and you continue to chroot from there. Is that how that script works? As said, I've never used it.

Next you continue as root@ubuntu again to execute Arch's mkinitcpio -P. That makes no sense to me. Why is this so erratic?

We need to know which Linux you are running when you execute the commands. Perhaps you can summarise quickly how you start up the chroot with the script.

 

[Anluz]

What stumbles me again in your last try is that your output starts with arch@archstrap and you continue to chroot from there. Is that how that script works? As said, I've never used it.

Yes, it mostly sets up pacman, pacstrap and genfstab.

Next you continue as root@ubuntu again to execute Arch's mkinitcpio -P. That makes no sense to me. Why is this so erratic?

its not exclusive to the script, recently i tried chroot the manual way (according to the wiki), the result is the same root@ubuntu.

We need to know which Linux you are running when you execute the commands. Perhaps you can summarise quickly how you start up the chroot with the script.

The installation comes down to 3 steps:

1. cloning the script (archstrap) and setting it up.
2. preparing the disk (partition, formatting, mounting).
3. configuring the system from chroot.

i've encoutered some limitations to it, for instance it can't execute archinstall.

 

[Anluz]

Finally i've got some news!

i can "boot" into Arch, but with some caveats.

I added these to GRUB menu
efi=noruntime efi=debug

i'll have to redo some stuff since i forgot the password that i set for the user during last install.

 

[Trml]

i'll have to redo some stuff since i forgot the password that i set for the user during last install.

You can simply chroot from Ubuntu again to use passwd again.

 

[Anluz]

Hey there.

Just wanted to say it works! and thanks to everyone for helping and having lots of patience.

Proof that it worked!


Changed the password, but i wanted to try if those params worked on the live usb.

Having said that im gonna start experimenting with the distro right away.

Once again many thanks to everyone

 

[Mike-BTU]

Having said that im gonna start experimenting with the distro right away.

Uh ... First, you should clone the drive. One never knows when you'll make a mistake and need to restore it.

I use Foxclone on a USB Ventoy stick and a faster external 5GB USB2 hard drive.

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Foxclone

foxclone.org

 

[Anluz]

Uh ... First, you should clone the drive. One never knows when you'll make a mistake and need to restore it.

I use Foxclone on a USB Ventoy stick and a faster external 5GB USB2 hard drive.

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Foxclone

foxclone.org

Thanks! ill look into it right away.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Just wanted to say it works! and thanks to everyone for helping and having lots of patience.

There was a bit of confusion how you had your system setup but glad you got it working. Don't know if you will be using KDE Plasma or Gnome but I see that you have two gpu's in your system so sharing a link to that tool that may come in handy for that.

Switcheroo Control

Switcheroo-Control D-Bus service to check the availability of dual-GPU, integrates with the settings of KDE/plasma Gnome, and Cinnamon: “Launch using Dedicated Graphics Card” menu item appears on a…

discovery.endeavouros.com

 

[f33dm3bits]

Uh ... First, you should clone the drive. One never knows when you'll make a mistake and need to restore it.

I would also have a look at Timeshift, since that allows you to restore to a point in time by automatically creating snapshots.

Timeshift - ArchWiki

 

[Mike-BTU]

I would also have a look at Timeshift, since that allows you to restore to a point in time by automatically creating snapshots.

Timeshift - ArchWiki

Agreed. But periodically cloning the drive allows a restore of everything, even if Timeshift isn't configured correctly.

A Foxclone backup (clone all partitions) right now almost guarantees a bootable system if something happens.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Agreed. But periodically cloning the drive allows a restore of everything, even if Timeshift isn't configured correctly.

That means you have to have a same size drive which isn't the case for everyone. I have a 4T nvme drive and I don't clone it because that would mean I would another same size drive or bigger to clone it and doing that on a weekly bases would take a lot of time for big size drives.