I recently upgraded a desktop computer by replacing major parts in it including the mainboard and CPU. I now want to install in it a more up to date operating system than Wheezy which was the one used before the upgrade. Having noted that the release of Bullseye is imminent I decided to use the RC2 iteration of Bullseye rather than Buster. I consequently downloaded file 'Debian-bullseye-DI-rc2-amd4-netinst.iso' and also the 2021-07-18 version of the 'Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide".
I had considerable difficulties with the installer, to the effect that it took me about 27 hours off and on over 10 days with nine false starts. I managed to complete the installation but with one crucial exception. In due course I want to impart to you my complete installation experience -- but not before that exception is rectified. I refer to the last item on the installation menu, 'Install the boot loader' -- it was never installed. The verbatim transcript of the messages received from the installer at this point and my answers thereto follow. ------------------------------------ Install the GRUB boot loader. First message from the installer: It seems that this new installation is the only operating system on this computer. If so, it should be safe to install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive (UEFI partition/boot record). I gave my consent to have the GRUB boot loader to my primary drive. Second message: You need to make the newly installed system bootable, by installing the GRUB boot loader on a bootable device. The usual way to do this is to install GRUB to your primary drive (UEFI partition/boot record). You may instead install GRUB to a different drive (or partition), or to removable media, Device for boot loader installation: Enter device manually /dev/sda (ata-ST2000DM008-2FR102_ZFL3PHLG /dev/sdb (ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z340HH9V I chose to install it on /dev/sda. The installer however did not like the answer and sent me a third message: It seems that this computer is configured to boot via EFI, but maybe that configuration will not work for booting from the hard drive. Some EFI firmware implementations do not meet the EFI specification (i.e. they are buggy!) and do not support proper configuration of boot options from system hard drives. A workaround for this problem is to install an extra copy of the EFI version of the GRUB boot loader to a fall back location, the “removable media path”. Almost all EFI systems, no matter how buggy, will boot GRUB that way. Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable path? <Yes> or <No> Once again I did not really have much choice in the matter; so I chose <Yes> and pressed 'Enter', but the installer did not seem to like that answer either. Next a series of messages crossed the screen too quickly for me to read them, and then the screen went blank. Not only was the ‘Install the boot loader’ aborted but also was aborted whatever would follow – if anything. I would consequently be very grateful if someone could tell me what needs to be done to provide the boot loader and how to do it. I am quite eager to start using this computer as soon as possible. By the way I was able to find a way into the computer by doing a Knoppix live installation. I examined the files in /boot/grub, the one belonging to the computer, not to Knoppix. I discovered that in directory /boot/grub there is no grub.cfg file. Also there is no directory /boot/efi. Finally I noted that from the installer start page grub commands are accessible. On 2021-08-12 I sent this message to sub...@bug.debian.org; but I was told that my message will be ignored unless I identify the package to which it relates and its version. My situation is such that i don't think i can provide such information. For the record the mainboard is a Gigabyte B450 I Aorus pro wifi. The CPU is a 4 core AMD RyZen3 3200G with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics. I will not be using a separate GPU. There are two 2 tb hard drives for a RAID1, with LVM. Regards, Ken
