Michael wrote: > On Thursday, 19 October 2023 05:49:25 BST Dale wrote: >> Neil Bothwick wrote: >>> On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 17:27:28 -0500, Dale wrote: >>>> I used cgdisk and GPT for my disk even tho it is small, only 300GBs or >>>> so, mostly out of habit. The grub install failed and I did a search. I >>>> found this and it worked. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> grub-install fails with "grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label >>>> contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible." > If you are booting a BIOS MoBo, or an EFI MoBo in 'BIOS Legacy' mode, from a > disk which contains a GPT partitioning scheme, then you will need a separate > partition created as type 'BIOS Boot Partition' for GRUB to install its > core.img: > > GRUB's Stage 1 boot.img is still installed in sector 0 on a GPT disk, same as > on a disk with an MBR partition table. However, on a GPT disk GRUB's Stage > 1.5 core.img with all its filesystem drivers has to be installed in a > partition of its own, because unlike an MBR disk sectors 1 to 62 are not > empty > but contain the GPT header and the GPT partition list. Without its > filesystem > drivers GRUB won't be able to access its modules in its Stage 2 filesystem, > which is stored in the OS /boot/ partition, or its grubx64.efi UEFI > executable. > > It helps to get straight before you start an installation what combo of MoBo > and type of disk partition tables you intend to use: > > BIOS Vs EFI > MBR Vs GPT >
When I did the install on the old 770T, I used GPT, out of habit to be honest. I have very few small drives here. Heck, I'm up to buying 18TB drives now. Anyway, grub gave me a error when I tried to install it. I searched and found the sequence of commands that I posted in another reply. It uses parted. Anyway, it worked after that. Thing is, by the time you get to the part about installing grub, you have also installed most of the OS. Going back and using MBR means reinstalling. I plan to check into those parted commands and see what it does and if I can grasp it. :/ >>> Simple answer, don't use GRUB :-) >>> >>> Seriously, GRUB is a bootloader, EFI is a bootloader. You are using one >>> bootloader to load another bootloader before booting the system. >>> >>> rEFIind and systemd-boot are both boot managers, they work with the EFI >>> bootloader - or you can boot a kernel directly without a boot manager, >>> but I prefer not to do that as it gives no opportunity to edit options >>> when booting. > I like rEFIind, but I recall it needs/needed a separate /boot partition if > you > are running LVM/RAID. > I have /boot on ext2, / on ext4 and rest on LVM on my main system. On the 770T rig, I have /boot on ext2 I think and everything else on ext4. I don't think I used LVM on it. I even put /usr and /var on the / partition. I didn't get fancy or anything. I did put /home on its own partition. I'm not sure why really. I'll look into rEFIind then. If you like it, it has to be good. ;-) >>> If you like simple, here is a config file I use with systemd-boot >>> >>> version 6.1.57-gentoo >>> linux /vmlinuz-6.1.57-gentoo >>> options root=/dev/sda3 panic=10 net.ifnames=0 i915.enable_ips=0 >>> >>> That's it! There is a separate file for each menu entry, but they are >>> this simple. There's also a global loader.conf, that runs to a massive 2 >>> lines here! >> Right now, I'm still using BIOS type boot. I've read where you and a >> couple others use something else and they do sound good but I just >> haven't got the nerve up to switch. When I build a new rig, I'll likely >> get into some other boot manager. In a way I kinda dread it but on the >> other hand, I just might like it. You and several others make the other >> options sound really good. >> >> That config kinda reminds me of the old grub. A title line, location of >> kernel and then options. Sounds easy enough. The new grub config is >> almost impossible to config by hand. They had to make a tool to do it. >> That says a lot there. ;-) > Not really, the GRUB developers were trying to make maintaining a boot > manager > simpler by scripting the process and offering to hook it up from binary > distros' kernel install scripts. Anyway, you can still write the > configuration by hand if you follow the GRUB2 syntax. You do not need to run > GRUB's grub-mkconfig script to automatically update the grub.cfg file if you > prefer to do it manually, but it is certainly simpler to use it since it is > already there for you. > The one thing I like about the new grub, if the kernel is named wrong, the init thingy is named wrong or some other problem with the config, it will tell you when you run the script. I always check to make sure it finds both the kernel and init thingy in sets. I have three kernels I think and one init thingy for each. They should list in pairs. If I name one wrong, it will miss it. With the old grub, you found out you messed up when you rebooted and it fails to load. I need to search youtube and check into some of this new stuff. Dale :-) :-)
