I attempted to upgrade my 15.5 system but there were a pile of issues with the installed system that were not looking easy to sort so bought a new 4 TB drive so I could install a whole new system and then transfer data across later.
Created a bootable USB installation media and ran the install. When it asked about an EFI partition I went with that naively(ignorantly really!) and proceeded but when it went to boot the system it threw up an error and the 15.6 partition is not visible in GRUB and I am a bit blank as to what I have got myself into here.
After reading up a bit more it appears I am trying to use a legacy boot loader and need to modify the Bios to enable EFI. Hopefully that will work but I thought I would check first to make sure I don’t end up with a system that is not bootable.
I am still running an old IBM MT 4253 Server with multiple drives but at least an EFI capable BIOS.
Anyone have any experience to share?
Your system must be either UEFI or legacy. And when you can set that in the BIOS, you must set that to one of those and remember that.
After that you must use that way of booting and installing only for all operating systems on the system and for booting the install medium, and during install (well, that will be done by the installer automatic when booted correct).
I suggest if your system is UEFI capable, that you disable CSM (legacy/BIOS) boot support in the BIOS, so that your computer will never try to boot in legacy mode. Only after this process, trouble like you describe simply shouldn’t ever happen, though UEFI firmware well can be buggy. Doing this and then installing afresh on the new 4T should be a breeze, and your issue not repeated.
Thanks for that. I actually think this might not be what I thought and I am feeling about as dumb as an ox about it!
I thought I would be able to just do an install on the new drive and go from there but I am pretty sure the problem is the partition is not bootable and given the multiple installs, drives and partitions across the system I am not sure how to do make it bootable and get it into Grub as a selectable option on boot.
Its been a very long time since I had to attack a system like this to make it work and remembering what you can and cannot do with partitions a bit shaky.
I am going to try a few things and come back when I have it clearer what I need to do here. It appears I will continue to use legacy boot on this system but I think I have things a bit screwy with the installation.
I can’t actually see an option to disable legacy boot on this one. Circa 2010 BIOS. Might have to fight through this or upgrade machine.
I do not understand that. I do not know your hardware nor your BIOS. But when your system can only boot legacy, then you should not even try to create anything EFI, but stich to legacy boot and MS_DOS partitioning. IT will be possible to install Leap 15.6 in such a way. No reason to change your hardware.
When you system can use legacy and UEFI and you have now already some legacy system on it that you want to keep, that again install anything new using legacy.
When your system can do both and now uses UEFI then use UEFI for booting the installer and it will create an UEFI system (on GPT).
What is the problem?
Maybe you should describe in more detail what your system has now. Best by posting real information from it. E.g.
fdisk -l
and
lsblk -f
(as root) will give info about what type of partitioning is on the existing disks and what the partitioning is.
Edit:
I re-read your first post. It seems that there is no other operating system and that you have a “fresh” disk. Thus boot the installation medium and install.
This is no information anybody can take as a start to say anything useful. What is the error! And what means "not visible in GRUB. We can not look over your shoulder, you must provide all information through this topic.
Like I said, its confusing. Sorry for being unclear.
I installed off a bootable USB stick Leap 15.6 to the new 4 TB drive. It rebooted and I selected the "boot from hard drive option. Instead of starting the 15.6 that I had just installed it started the old 15.5 system and 15.6 was not an option on the GRUB2 screen.
At the time, I did not have time to sort out what I had done wrong but I got a message saying it could not boot a UEFI system or something along those lines.
Today I tried re-installing and that appeared to work correctly but I again got no option to run 15.6 from the Grub menu.
fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 232.89 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Disk model: HDS721025CLA382
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: gpt
Disk identifier: 4FB9D2B1-EFA8-4D6D-BA96-519BF1BCD76C
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 321535 319488 156M EFI System
/dev/sda2 321536 4530175 4208640 2G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3 4530176 146612223 142082048 67.8G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda4 146612224 146640895 28672 14M BIOS boot
/dev/sda5 291143680 291145727 2048 1M BIOS boot
/dev/sda6 291145728 448432127 157286400 75G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda7 146640896 204443647 57802752 27.6G EFI System
/dev/sda8 204443648 291143679 86700032 41.3G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda9 448432128 488397134 39965007 19.1G Linux swap
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
Disk /dev/sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD1002FAEX-0
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: 0x0008c25b
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 209713151 209711104 100G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 209713152 1953523711 1743810560 831.5G 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdd: 3.64 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD43PURZ-74B
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 02AA360C-D104-4E5A-B0E6-FE5F5817961C
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdd1 2048 2147485695 2147483648 1T Linux filesystem
/dev/sdd2 2147485696 3468691455 1321205760 630G Linux swap
/dev/sdd3 3468691456 3468707839 16384 8M BIOS boot
/dev/sdd4 3468707840 7814037134 4345329295 2T Linux LVM
Disk /dev/sdc: 232.89 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Disk model: HDS721025CLA382
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: 0x000bdf7e
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1 2048 41945087 41943040 20G 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 41945088 488396799 446451712 212.9G 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sde: 28.67 GiB, 30784094208 bytes, 60125184 sectors
Disk model: SanDisk 3.2Gen1
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: 0x3fb88115
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sde1 264 9083 8820 4.3M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sde2 * 9084 534527 525444 256.6M 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
Disk /dev/loop0: 359.93 MiB, 377417728 bytes, 737144 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
Disk /dev/loop1: 63.77 MiB, 66863104 bytes, 130592 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
Disk /dev/loop2: 1.34 GiB, 1441648640 bytes, 2815720 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
Disk /dev/loop3: 4 KiB, 4096 bytes, 8 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
Disk /dev/loop4: 73.89 MiB, 77479936 bytes, 151328 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
Disk /dev/loop5: 66.76 MiB, 70004736 bytes, 136728 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
Disk /dev/loop6: 63.77 MiB, 66867200 bytes, 130600 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
Disk /dev/loop7: 70.52 MiB, 73945088 bytes, 144424 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
Disk /dev/loop10: 1.34 GiB, 1441652736 bytes, 2815728 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
Disk /dev/loop9: 55.36 MiB, 58052608 bytes, 113384 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
Disk /dev/loop11: 70.53 MiB, 73953280 bytes, 144440 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
Disk /dev/loop14: 354.16 MiB, 371359744 bytes, 725312 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
Disk /dev/loop13: 73.89 MiB, 77475840 bytes, 151320 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
Disk /dev/loop12: 55.36 MiB, 58052608 bytes, 113384 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
Disk /dev/loop8: 66.76 MiB, 70004736 bytes, 136728 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
Disk /dev/loop15: 206.3 MiB, 216317952 bytes, 422496 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
Disk /dev/loop16: 206.83 MiB, 216879104 bytes, 423592 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
Disk /dev/loop17: 164.82 MiB, 172830720 bytes, 337560 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
Disk /dev/loop18: 164.82 MiB, 172830720 bytes, 337560 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
Disk /dev/loop19: 349.69 MiB, 366678016 bytes, 716168 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
Disk /dev/loop20: 349.7 MiB, 366682112 bytes, 716176 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
Disk /dev/loop21: 505.09 MiB, 529625088 bytes, 1034424 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
Disk /dev/loop22: 516.01 MiB, 541073408 bytes, 1056784 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
Disk /dev/loop23: 404.38 MiB, 424017920 bytes, 828160 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
Disk /dev/loop24: 91.69 MiB, 96141312 bytes, 187776 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
Disk /dev/loop25: 81.26 MiB, 85209088 bytes, 166424 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
Disk /dev/loop26: 207.39 MiB, 217464832 bytes, 424736 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
Disk /dev/loop27: 30.39 MiB, 31862784 bytes, 62232 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
Disk /dev/loop28: 505.45 MiB, 529997824 bytes, 1035152 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
Disk /dev/loop29: 506.09 MiB, 530673664 bytes, 1036472 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
Disk /dev/loop30: 44.45 MiB, 46604288 bytes, 91024 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
Disk /dev/loop31: 50.89 MiB, 53366784 bytes, 104232 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
Disk /dev/loop32: 90.82 MiB, 95232000 bytes, 186000 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
Disk /dev/loop33: 90.83 MiB, 95244288 bytes, 186024 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
Disk /dev/loop34: 387.51 MiB, 406335488 bytes, 793624 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
Disk /dev/loop35: 451.31 MiB, 473235456 bytes, 924288 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
Disk /dev/mapper/system-swap: 2 GiB, 2147483648 bytes, 4194304 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk /dev/mapper/system-root: 2.02 TiB, 2222658158592 bytes, 4341129216 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/eclipse/122
loop1 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core20/2582
loop2 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/android-studio/189
loop3 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/bare/5
loop4 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core22/1963
loop5 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core24/888
loop6 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core20/2571
loop7 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/authy/22
loop8 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core24/988
loop9 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core18/2846
loop10 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/android-studio/191
loop11 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/authy/23
loop12 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core18/2855
loop13 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/core22/1981
loop14 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/eclipse/120
loop15 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/flutter/145
loop16 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/flutter/149
loop17 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/194
loop18 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/198
loop19 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/140
loop20 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/143
loop21 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-42-2204/176
loop22 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-42-2204/202
loop23 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gnome-46-2404/90
loop24 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1535
loop25 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1534
loop26 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/mesa-2404/495
loop27 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/phockup/407
loop28 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/netbeans/132
loop29 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/netbeans/127
loop30 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/snapd/23771
loop31 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/snapd/24505
loop32 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/whatsapp-for-linux/58
loop33 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/whatsapp-for-linux/59
loop34 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/zoom-client/242
loop35 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /snap/zoom-client/258
sda
├─sda1 vfat FAT16 EE7D-C4DD
├─sda2 swap 1 0d9c50e7-4718-44c3-9958-42c609ba41fd [SWAP]
├─sda3 ext4 1.0 Three e2d24e22-11b8-4eab-b80a-16de3e730e13 57.7G 8% /dropbox
├─sda4
├─sda5
├─sda6 ext4 1.0 0db0ffd9-ff94-4e76-ac46-e58f82252059
├─sda7 btrfs 51d89249-d5f1-4174-a7aa-456f1021e457
├─sda8 xfs d74e4a8b-1deb-4063-aadd-03aa6ed84b75
└─sda9 swap 1 e96bc2e6-0151-40f0-bbd8-59d4a57e4a39 [SWAP]
sdb
├─sdb1 btrfs daac532d-764e-4e09-a9ae-ab1b3ebe6d7c 14.9G 83% /var/log
│ /tmp
│ /var/spool
│ /var/lib/pgsql
│ /var/cache
│ /var/lib/mysql
│ /var/lib/named
│ /var/lib/mariadb
│ /var/lib/mailman
│ /var/lib/machines
│ /var/lib/libvirt/images
│ /var/opt
│ /var/crash
│ /usr/local
│ /srv
│ /var/tmp
│ /opt
│ /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi
│ /boot/grub2/i386-pc
│ /.snapshots
│ /
└─sdb2 xfs 9b7c93f2-2799-4382-b606-704f27bfc895 558.5G 33% /home
sdc
├─sdc1 ext4 1.0 bf83ba77-76e6-4b37-bb64-a5e40f5b4aac
└─sdc2 ext4 1.0 0fb01749-298e-483d-8395-a69c8e74359a
sdd
├─sdd1 btrfs d6e4777c-890b-4bec-b2b7-ccb3eead1d8c
├─sdd2 swap 1 3ac7b316-4a8e-46de-aea8-6bdc4d2959a7
├─sdd3
└─sdd4 LVM2_member LVM2 001 NCWNlg-JtNL-PSi4-TsOL-BGce-mPV0-rR3zzJ
├─system-swap swap 1 ecbecea2-6d0f-43bf-a9ff-2a3cabfdbae9
└─system-root btrfs c8ed8921-93f9-475c-91ed-451151c2fe96
sde iso9660 Joliet Extension openSUSE-Leap-15.6-NET-x86_64710 2024-06-20-11-42-31-91
├─sde1 vfat FAT16 openSUSE-Leap-15.6-NET-x86_64710 5A00-902D
└─sde2 iso9660 Joliet Extension openSUSE-Leap-15.6-NET-x86_64710 2024-06-20-11-42-31-65
sr0
I am going to reboot and see if I can change the boot device to the 4TB drive and see what happens. The UEFI thing seems to be another issue I created by making a choice in the original install.
I can see the installed files on the 4 TB drive I just need to get it to be bootable so the install can complete I think. In hindsight I probably should have just pulled all the old drives and started fresh but I have to much on the 15.5 system to not have access!
So it now seems that you added the new disk to the system and not replaced the old disk. That was not clear to me from your first post!
This suggests to me your active Grub is not the new Grub, because you are booting according to the BIOS configuration looking to an old disk’s ESP filesystem. You should be able to get booted into the new installation on the new disk via either rearranging disk priorities in the BIOS, or using the BBS hotkey during POST to choose to boot from the new disk’s ESP instead of the old.
I think you are right Felix, so I finally managed to get the system booted by changing the boot sequence in the BIOS and I can now choose the old 15.5 system as well which is allowing me to get all my passwords and settings across to 15.6. Slow process but getting there.
It is still quite confusing with this UEFI and legacy stuff. The BIOS on this machine actually allows for both secure boot and legacy boot without it being explicitly required. Of course its tucked away in the BIOS but can be done. I won’t be. I’m saving to replace the machine in a year with something faster and more modern.
Thanks to all for the help, apologies if it was frustrating to watch!
You could probably copy your 15.5 /home over to your 15.6. That way you could have all your passwordds, etc. etc. on 15.6
Is that foolproof if you login as yourself to do it, whether or not UID/GID is the same in both 15.5 and 15.6? I think I’d login as root and use rsync -av, after ensuring they match. This doesn’t come up here because I always have /home on its own partition/filesytem.
Nope, it was not inteded as “use cp” or such. But without data/info it’s not easy to make it not confusing