On Sat 15 Apr 2023 at 15:51:46 (-0700), David Christensen wrote: > On 4/15/23 02:36, Andrew Wood wrote: > > Ive just used the Debian 11 installer ISO running from a USB stick > > to do an install (AMD64/UEFI) on another USB stick to use as a > > 'portable PC'. > > > > When it got to the Grub install stage I was expecting it to ask me > > which disk I wanted Grub installed on as it has in the past but > > instead it did not. > > > > When I came to reboot the PC I found not only had it put Grub on > > the USB it had also put on the PCs NVMe SSD overwriting the > > Windows bootloader on there. > > > > Surely it should have prompted which disk I wanted it on? I > > thought it was only Windows that trashed other peoples bootloaders > > ;) > > I recently had a similarly confusing experience with a Dell Precision > 3630 with an NVMe PCIe SSD, Windows 10 Pro, and BIOS Setup configured > as follows: > > "System Configuration" -> "SATA Operation" -> "AHCI" > > > I installed a 2.5" SATA SSD, inserted a debian-11.6.0-amd64-netinst > CD, booted the CD, and installed Debian: > > "Debian GNU/Linux UEFI Installer menu" -> "Install" > ... > "Partitioning method" -> "Manual" -> <2.5" SATA SSD> > ...
What was the partitioning layout you used on this disk at that time? > In the past, d-i "Install" would prompt me regarding GRUB. This time, > it did not. > > > When d-i was complete, the computer could boot either Windows or > Debian, with suitable BIOS Setup > > "General" -> "Boot Sequence" > > > When I moved the 2.5" SATA SSD to a homebrew Intel DQ67SW computer and > configured BIOS Setup: > > "Boot" -> "UEFI Boot" -> "Enable" > > The SSD would not boot. > > > I zeroed the SSD and installed Debian again. The SSD now works in > both computers. > > > I later discovered that the first install created a directory and put > files into the Dell's ESP (!). I did not select this, nor do I desire > it. This is a defect with d-i: > > 2023-04-15 15:10:34 root@taz ~ > # ls -ld /mnt/nvme0n1p1/EFI/debian > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 16 22:19 /mnt/nvme0n1p1/EFI/debian > > 2023-04-15 15:10:36 root@taz ~ > # ls -l /mnt/nvme0n1p1/EFI/debian > total 5892 > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 108 Mar 16 22:19 BOOTX64.CSV > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 84648 Mar 16 22:19 fbx64.efi > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 121 Mar 16 22:19 grub.cfg > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4150720 Mar 16 22:19 grubx64.efi > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 845480 Mar 16 22:19 mmx64.efi > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 934240 Mar 16 22:19 shimx64.efi > > > So, I agree that d-i "Install" choice has bug(s) when installing > Debian into a computer with multiple storage devices. Cheers, David.
