Installation of GrUB

Hi
WHY does openSUSE 15.6 change every time I try an install.

Yesterday nearly 10 hours of failure to do a re-install.

Today some success, in that I achieved a working -ish install.

Used a different USB device, with Ventoy on it, used a live gnome iso, and the final point of failure was…

Execution of command "[["/usr/bin/grub2-editenv", "list]]" failed.
Exit code: 1
Error output: /usr/bin/grub2-editenv:  error: cannot find a device  for /boot/grub2
(is /dev mounted?).

So I thunk and checked out the flags on boot-efi and all was well, as windows still booted from there and the 1st working install also had.

Solution seems to be that at the very end of my storage device was 1 meg or so unallocated space, changed that be a legacy/mbr area and did an over the top re-install and Voila.

I did at least 3 things wrong,
used ventoy
installed from a live gnome iso
over the top install, no formatting.

AND the 2nd attempt went ‘flawlessly’.

I don’t understand why GrUB failed to install, as it had previously done so.

NOR do I understand why a live installer worked, when the usual installer throws up a hundred plus errors, and it installed well over 2500 packages.

Any clues anyone?

@clive Ventoy… it known to have issues with openSUSE iso images (hybrid) and not recommended to use… plus third party tools you loose any security…
Ref: https://en.opensuse.org/Create_installation_USB_stick#Ventoy

Use dd, imagewriter etc

Hi

I used Balena Etcher to download and verify an iso image, took about 2 hours and NADA.

What I am struggling with is somehow I cannot replicate the errors, although they do seem to be common enough, and my two best installs have been with a DVD and combo Ventoy/Live.

It is not the writing/creating of the install media, I been doing it for a coupla decades, it is the the perceived failure of the installer.

So what / where is the installer script for me to examine?

Because whatever I download and write has ca-certificates and python3 fail almost every time.
The GrUB failure is quite common among a lot of distro’s, it’s just the weird error messages that go along with the failure I don’t like (bring back Li-Lo).

On the plus side, I got the Wi-Fi working quite quickly this time.

Why not using the programs in the link provided by malcolm?

Please avoid using Ventoy.

2 Likes

@LyzyrdSkynyrd Interesting :wink: The powers of social engineering…

@clive 2 hours?? Did you look for a closer mirror in your locale?

As my user;
wget --show-progress -O openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso.sha256 \
       https://mirror.fcix.net/opensuse/distribution/leap/15.6/iso/openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso.sha256

--2024-10-28 10:38:19--  https://mirror.fcix.net/opensuse/distribution/leap/15.6/iso/openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso.sha256
Resolving mirror.fcix.net (mirror.fcix.net)... 23.152.160.16, 2620:13b:0:1000::16
Connecting to mirror.fcix.net (mirror.fcix.net)|23.152.160.16|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 117 [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso.sha256’

openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media. 100%[=====================================================================================================>]     117  --.-KB/s    in 0s      

2024-10-28 10:38:20 (62.5 MB/s) - ‘openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso.sha256’ saved [117/117]

wget --show-progress -O openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso \
https://mirror.fcix.net/opensuse/distribution/leap/15.6/iso/openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso

--2024-10-28 10:38:30--  https://mirror.fcix.net/opensuse/distribution/leap/
15.6/iso/openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso
Resolving mirror.fcix.net (mirror.fcix.net)... 23.152.160.16, 2620:13b:0:1000::16
Connecting to mirror.fcix.net (mirror.fcix.net)|23.152.160.16|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 4631560192 (4.3G) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso’

openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media. 100%[=====================================================================================================>]   4.31G  56.9MB/s    in 78s     

2024-10-28 10:39:49 (56.3 MB/s) - ‘openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso’ saved [4631560192/4631560192]

time sha256sum -c openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso.sha256
openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso: OK

real	0m25.062s
user	0m24.383s
sys	0m0.663s

As root user;

fdisk -l openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso

Disk openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso: 4.31 GiB, 4631560192 bytes, 9046016 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x4568d8e4

Device                                              Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso1       4240   13059    8820  4.3M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso2 *    13060 9046015 9032956  4.3G 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS

wipefs -a /dev/sdd1
/dev/sdd1: 8 bytes were erased at offset 0x00000003 (exfat): 45 58 46 41 54 20 20 20

wipefs -a /dev/sdd

/dev/sdd: 8 bytes were erased at offset 0x00000200 (gpt): 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54
/dev/sdd: 8 bytes were erased at offset 0x39cfffe00 (gpt): 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54
/dev/sdd: 2 bytes were erased at offset 0x000001fe (PMBR): 55 aa
/dev/sdd: calling ioctl to re-read partition table: Success

dd if=openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso of=/dev/sdd bs=4M iflag=fullblock oflag=direct status=progress

4626317312 bytes (4.6 GB, 4.3 GiB) copied, 426 s, 10.9 MB/s4631560192 bytes (4.6 GB, 4.3 GiB) copied, 425.636 s, 10.9 MB/s

1104+1 records in
1104+1 records out
4631560192 bytes (4.6 GB, 4.3 GiB) copied, 425.658 s, 10.9 MB/s

sync
sync

lsblk /dev/sdd
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sdd      8:48   1 14.5G  0 disk 
├─sdd1   8:49   1  4.3M  0 part 
└─sdd2   8:50   1  4.3G  0 part 

1 Like

Hi

It seems I am failing miserably to communicate.

I don’t have any Linux OS’s installed and working, only W10.

So with a check-summed ISO I use Anyburn, as I have for years, and the creation is successful I believe.

I used Balena Etcher and total failure.
Unetbootin, failed twice. The file or folder /run/media/clive/UNETBOOTIN does not exist.
It offers 11.1 if memory serves.

The net install is not secure, as you no doubt know, it’s only a HTTP.
My UK mirror doesn’t work for a net install.

All in All a complete car wreck.

#########################

More later.

The files are signed and there is a checksum file, so if you compare it, it`s safe:
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Download_help#Checksums

1 Like

@clive Use rufus then and select dd for the creation…

Hi
Thank you Malcolm.

I think it is best to ignore me for a few hours/days while I work thru the dd media.

clive@IdeaPad:~> sudo dd if=openSUSE-Leap-15.6-DVD-x86_64-Build710.3-Media.iso of=/dev/sdB bs=4M iflag=fullblock oflag=direct status=progress
4626317312 bytes (4.6 GB, 4.3 GiB) copied, 291 s, 15.9 MB/s
1104+1 records in
1104+1 records out
4631560192 bytes (4.6 GB, 4.3 GiB) copied, 291.383 s, 15.9 MB/s

Your code was immaculate, and so I will try it out.

I have /dev/sda with a 16 gig partition for/as W10 recovery area and will do a dry run in that partition if at all practicable.

Thank you to all for their tolerance.

It used to be so easy, a set of 6 floppy disks, an IP4 address, and using disks 1,2 and 4 I did a network install over a modem.

As a point of contrast, we’ve never had an install failure. Numerous and disparate machines around here, and all installs go fine.

Granted, we never do a net install, because of the possibility of a network glitch - we always download the Offline Image ISO and do a checksum.

We burn the image to a USB Flash Drive using the “dd” command, which is very reliable and well known. We never use a 3rd party burn tool.

Heck, just installed Leap 16 Pre-Alpha last week and all went fine.

1 Like

Hi

Well I should swap my picture for one with an omelette, as I have egg all over my face.

That was the quickest cleanest install I have experienced in many a long year.

I am back and believe I am logged into my new install via Malcolm’s excellent code.

dd I have used for Rasberry Pi installs in the past, but not never normally for a laptop.

So I must now remove the omelette, get a ““racing spoon”” (SAS reference) and start eating humble pie.

I am loathe to upset my other install, and it is on an NVMe SSD, but will remain contrite and grateful for quite a while.

THANK YOU every one.

1 Like

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