On 2017-08-20 14:58 -0600 Arjun Krishnan <arju...@gmail.com> wrote: >On Sun, Aug 20, 2017 at 2:13 PM, Pascal Hambourg <pas...@plouf.fr.eu.org> >wrote: >> Also, IIRC, the ISO file must be on a FAT filesystem, because at that >> stage the installer can only mount FAT or ISO9660. > >Oh! This does make a difference, because all my linux isos were on an ext4 >filesystem. But so are the kernel and the initrd. > >[...] > >The use case in the debian installation manual ><https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s04.html.en> does appear >to cover my use case. But perhaps it doesn't work because it can only load >a FAT filesystem?
This is incorrect. The initrd.gz and vmlinuz of “hd-image” *CAN* load from an ext4 filesystem. That is is how I installed the system I am using right now, as I write this message! However, I installed from the original Stretch release (not the 9.1 release). Of course, there is a small chance that a bug has been introduced in the latest release that prevents loading from an ext4 file-system, but I judge the probability as very small. >Do you know why the debian installer fails to support this, but the debian >live cd and other ubuntu installers all manage to boot off the iso? To >elaborate, why does loading the iso as a loop device, and then loading the >kernel and initrd off of that work for the debian live cd, but not for the >debian installer? My guess is that you are not following the instructions in the Debian installation guide complemented by my commentary. You seem to have your own idea of how to do things, which to me appears to be your own wild guess. For example, you say that you load the ISO with the loop option in GRUB. Why are you doing this? GRUB does NOT need the ISO, only the vmlinuz and initrd.gz from “hd-media”, which are (AFAIK) not found anywhere within the ISO. The ISO contains a different initrd.gz and vmlinuz. Let us recall the steps to install Debian 9 from a USB drive or hard disk: (1): Downloaded and verify “debian-9.1.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso” (from here: <https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/debian-9.1.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso> or another mirror) and placed it WITHOUT renaming (I do not know if renaming is allowed, but let us assume that it is not) in the root directory of your ext4 partition in the USB drive. (2): Download and verify <http://ftp.mx.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch/main/installer-amd64/20170615+deb9u1/images/hd-media/gtk/vmlinuz> and <http://ftp.mx.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch/main/installer-amd64/20170615+deb9u1/images/hd-media/gtk/initrd.gz>. I described how to verify them in a previous message so I am not going to repeat it. (3): Copy these files to the directory within the USB drive where the GRUB configuration files are. Probably this is “$PATH_TO_ROOT_OF_DRIVE/boot/grub”. Set up your “grub.cfg” to load *THESE* initrd and vmlinuz (*NOT* the ones from the ISO image). (4): Reboot and install. If this procedure fails, please describe the error message, or whatever is at the screen at the moment of failure. Do not eat animals, respect them as you respect people. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+to+(become+OR+eat)+vegan
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