Hi,
I’m having difficulty upgrading / installing openSUSE 13.2 - it will not boot. I’ve tried scores of times with different install options, partitions & used the grub2-install countless times. I think my difficulties relate to this thread “GRUB2 & BTRFS” which refers to this “Grub2 fails with btrfs”.
So I figure I should be starting with the right partition arrangement but what should I have that’s suitable with 13.2?
I have a 10 year old Dell PC which is dual boot with Windows.
The 1st partition (fat16) starts at sector 63 and is labelled DellUtility - I expect to leave that alone.
The 2nd is for Windows (ntfs) (which I use less these days but would like to keep there).
3rd is a Boot partition (ext4, 100MB).
4th is an extended partition with:
/ on a btrfs sub-partition,
/home on an xfs sub-partition,
linux-swap on a linux-swap sub-partition.
There are no gaps.
I need advice on what partition setup to use - in particular:
I think my previous 12.2 OpenSUSE did not use the Boot partition & it worked fine so do I need it & should I keep it there?
I think there used to be a gap somewhere - do I need a gap, if so where & how big?
Should I continue with the existing btrfs for the root partition?
Please advise.
Similar problems with 10 year old laptop. It was Windows Vista on one hard disc, and OpenSUSE 13.1 on second hard disc. Suse 13.2 has trashed the set up and even trying to restore 13.1 with reformat does not work.
I think these are problems with GRUB2 and confiruration as all loads until boot configuration and then fails. I have tried withboth BTRFS , and Ext 4 for the root partition while leaving /home as ext4
I have something similar to that, except I use “ext4” for my root partition.
I’m guessing that your problem is because of that sector 63, which probably does not leave enough space for installing grub2 on the MBR. On my box with that arrangement, I boot from “/boot”. Hmm, another difference is that I use “ext2” for “/boot”, though that probably doesn’t matter. I use “ext2” because it is my understanding that grub2 doesn’t read the journal anyway, so there’s no great value in a journaling file system for “/boot”
My suggestion:
Configure booting so that you boot from “/boot” (not from the MBR);
Configure boot setup to install generic boot code in the MBR.
I’m a bit unclear what “/boot” refers to - I’m guessing it’s a separate primary partition, as you say formatted ext2, not the folder under under root which is also “/boot”.
I’m going to need some help with this. When I tried to do it I ran into the error:
grub2-bios-setup: error: filesystem `btrfs` doesn't support blocklists.
So should I change to using ext4 for the root partition?
When you wrote “3rd is a Boot partition (ext4, 100MB),” I assumed that you were referring to such a partition.
I’m going to need some help with this. When I tried to do it I ran into the error:
grub2-bios-setup: error: filesystem `btrfs` doesn't support blocklists.
So should I change to using ext4 for the root partition?[/QUOTE]
If you have a separate “/boot” partition, you should not get that message (assuming that you are not using “btrfs” on the separate boot partition). Perhaps something else is going wrong.
When I tried “btrfs” for opensuse 13.1 (the beta), I ran into a problem where I had configured “/boot” as a separate partition, but it apparently wasn’t used. The installer had screwed up. It supposedly mounted “/boot” first then mounted the root partition on top, hiding the “/boot” mount. Maybe that bug is still there.
In any case, switching your root partition to “ext4” won’t hurt and might solve your problem. I have stayed with “ext4” with opensuse 13.2. I do think “btrfs” might be the file system of the future, but I think that future has not yet quite arrived.
When I installed 13.2 I couldn’t find any option for Boot from Boot although it was referred to as a recommended option in the help. So, last time (of several), I selected Boot from Root Partition and Boot from Extended Partition but deselected the option for Boot from Master Boot Record. If I remember right, I didn’t select Write generic Boot Code to MBR. I’m not at all sure if all that was correct but it installed without error then, as many times before, would not boot.
Then I set the boot flag to my Boot partition & tried to set up the Boot partition with grub-install. That gave me the btrfs/blocklists error.
Please can you give me some advice on how I should configure the Boot from Boot configuration.
In my experience, you get to the boot options near the end. You have already gone through the partitioning, the user set, the time setup. Then you are presented with a screen that gives a summary. One of the headings of that screen is “Booting” or similar. I click on that to get the various options.
That screen also has three tabs - boot option, kernel options, general option (if I recall). You may have to look in those tabs to find the particular option.
During the earlier (partitioning) section, I do tell it to format my boot partition ("/dev/sda1" on two of my computers) and mount it as “/boot”.
I guess I could try another install using “btrfs” and make notes (then abort before actually installing), if you need more details.
ux-swap sub-partition.
> There are no gaps.
>
> I need advice on what partition setup to use - in particular:
> I think my previous 12.2 OpenSUSE did not use the Boot partition & it
> worked fine so do I need it & should I keep it there?
> I think there used to be a gap somewhere - do I need a gap, if so where
> & how big?
> Should I continue with the existing btrfs for the root partition?
> Please advise.
>
> Mike
>
Thanks,
Might be just me who did not too close enough.
Cheers.
>
Mark
Caveat emptor
Nullus en verba
Nil Illigitimi Carborundum
Let me see if I can clarify… With BTRFS you may need a separate boot partitions that is not formatted BTRFS. This should be formatted ext2 or ext4 and mounted as /boot it should be at least 300 meg and better if 500 meg to give expansion room (must hold 3 complete kernels and associated files) This may require you to manual define the boot partition using the advanced/expert options in the installer.
On the other hand there is no requirement at all to use BTRFS it is simply the default. Unless you need it’s advanced features ( if you don’t know then you don’t need them) you can tell the installer to use ext4 which is perfectly good and does not have the little gotchas that BTRFS has.
Success! Many thanks to nrickert for the help. I can now boot to OpenSUSE & Windows.
Briefly, the proposed partition setup was OK. Boot from Boot Partition is only available if a suitable partition is selected at the Suggested Partitioning stage.
The partition setup I’ve used is:
The 1st partition (fat16) starts at sector 63 and is labelled DellUtility.
The 2nd is for Windows (ntfs).
3rd is a Boot partition (ext2, 100MB).
4th is an extended partition with:
root on a btrfs sub-partition,
/home on an xfs sub-partition,
linux-swap on a linux-swap sub-partition.
There are no gaps between the partitions.
The procedure to configure a Boot from Boot Partition went as follows:
At page Suggested Partitioning select Create Partition Setup
Then Custom Partitioning (for experts) {if you want Boot from Boot, you’re an expert}
In the Expert Partitioner, select the partition for Boot, setting its Formatting Option & Mounting Option,
also set the mounting details for the other Linux partitions by right click.
Accept the warning about shadowed mount point.
Check carefully that the proposed partition setup is what is required - for me the /home was wrong & I went through the selections again after which it was ok.
Progress to the 7th page - Installation Settings.
Now there will be a Boot from Boot Partition option. (not there if a Boot partition was not selected earlier)
All the default settings here were good for me.
They can be checked by clicking on Boot.
My Boot Loader Settings were:
Boot from Boot; no Boot from MBR; no Boot from Extended Partition;
Set active flag; Write Generic Boot Code to MBR.
Finally, Install.
I then had another nightmare with the driver for my antiquated Nvidia graphics card leading to illegible characters & no way of reading what was wrong. But that’ll be another thread on another day.
I’m glad you have it working. And yes, start a separate thread for the Nvidia issue.
I should have warned you that 100M is a bit tight for “/boot”. Starting with opensuse 12.3, the default has been to retain multiple kernel versions. So there could be up to three kernels at one time (briefly). And they probably won’t all fit in 100M.
You can disable multi-version kernels in “/etc/zypp/zypp.conf”. Or you can be diligent, and when a second kernel is installed, delete the older kernel (after you are sure that the newer kernel is working well).
I have similar case for dual boot openSUSE 13.2 and openSUSE Tumbleweed. I install both from a DVD.
I have one single new 1000 GB Harddisk and created and formatted the following partions:
Installing openSUSE13.2 went oke using sda1 as /boot partition. I mounted also sda5, sda6, sda7 and sda8.
After the install finished and the system restarted I could select from the Grub 2 menu the openSUSE entry and
openSUSE13.2 stated correctly.
In my next trial I want to install openSUSE Tumbleweed in sda1, sda2, sda3, sda7 and sda8 so I mounted them, similar as
I have done for openSUSE13.2 but the end result was that in Grub 2 menu I could only select openSUSE Tumbleweed and
openSUSE 13.2 Was no longer available inthe Grub 2 menu.
I have mounted sda1, sda7 and sda8
I have formatted and mounted sda2 and sda3
I presume that I have done something wrong on the boot settings on the overview screen.
I had selected use sda1 as boot partition and upon accepting that the system presented a message " Installing in a not
partitioned partition is not oke so I went back to partitioning screen and partitioned sda1. Back on the overview
screen boot section the error message disappered and I went on to finish the install with the above mentioned result.
What have i done wrong. How and from where get the system the info from the 1st install or should I have NOT reformatted
sda1 during the 2nd install.
I recently had the same problem: dual boot setup on an old Windows XP notebook with openSUSE 13.2 32 Bit DVD and keeping the default root filesystem btrfs. => Bootloader could not be installed. Sadly, this happens not until the end of the openSUSE setup and only a very generic error message is shown (bootloader installation failed without details).
This solution worked in my case: Re-installation with ext4 as root filesystem.