Boot partition not recognised during installation of MATE testing .ISO
Closed, InvalidPublicBUG
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	WetGeek
	Jun 26 2023, 2:05 PM

Description

Summary : While creating a MATE VM, the installer step where partitions are mounted does not properly accept the prepared EFI partition. The disks are prepared like this:

1.0 GB boot partition, formatted FAT32, flags boot, efi
 6.0 GB swap partition, formatted linux_swap, flags swap
25 GB root partition, formatted EXT4,  no flags

When it comes time to assign these to mount points in the installer, the boot partition isn't assigned manually. The swap partition is assigned to swap, and the root file system partition is assigned to /. The boot partition is never assigned to a mount point, but is used according to its format and flags.

Steps to reproduce:

Prepare to create a VM in the VirtualBox manager, giving it 32 GB of storage.
In the manager, apply the settings as usual, including creating a shortcut item on the desktop.
Begin the installation, selecting language, location, etc.
On the page that offers to allow the installer to partition the disk, or use prepared partitions, choose the latter.
The next page alloows clicking on each partition's "mount point" and assigning it accordingly.
Assogn the swap partition to the swap mount point, and the root file system partition to the / mount point.
There is no mount point for the boot partition. It is used based on its FAT32 format and boot and efi flags.
The [Next] button will now be enabled, letting you move on to the next page.

Expected result: The boot partition will be identified and a bootloader created on that partition.

Actual result; The boot partition is not identified, and cannot be used. An error message complains that there is no boot partition identified, as is required for an efi installation. The installation cannot be completed.

This error occurs during installation of the OS, so there is no further information available.

Event Timeline

WetGeek created this task.Jun 26 2023, 2:05 PM

Herald edited projects, added Lacks Project; removed Triage Team. · View Herald TranscriptJun 26 2023, 2:05 PM

Any reason for not allowing the installer to auto create the ESP partition? We know in general that os-installer sucks when trying to use custom ESP partitions but it's not super likely to get fixed as we're looking to drop os-installer and switch to calamares.

Not wetgeek here obviously but I like to keep my computer clean, so whenever I can I make the ESP partition shared among Linux and Windows.

I am unable to reproduce the issue using the downloaded MATE ISO.

The only difference in setup is that I'm using GNOME Boxes for virtual machines. Besides that, the VM is set up for EFI, I set up the disk for GPT, created a 1 GB fat32 partition as the first partition, then created partitions for swap and root. After the partitions were created, I changed the flags for the boot partition to boot + esp. In the installer, I assigned mount points to swap and root, and on the next page the fat32 partition was identified and pre-selected for installing the bootloader.

In T10563#202095, @joebonrichie wrote:

Any reason for not allowing the installer to auto create the ESP partition? We know in general that os-installer sucks when trying to use custom ESP partitions but it's not super likely to get fixed as we're looking to drop os-installer and switch to calamares.

Only that I've always created the boot and swap partitions, and allowed the installer to use those. This worked for all four editions in 4.3.

I look forward to the Calamares installer. I've used it with many other distros, and like it a lot. It'll add some class to Solus. 🙂

In T10563#202099, @EbonJaeger wrote:

I am unable to reproduce the issue using the downloaded MATE ISO.

The only difference in setup is that I'm using GNOME Boxes for virtual machines. Besides that, the VM is set up for EFI, I set up the disk for GPT, created a 1 GB fat32 partition as the first partition, then created partitions for swap and root. After the partitions were created, I changed the flags for the boot partition to boot + esp. In the installer, I assigned mount points to swap and root, and on the next page the fat32 partition was identified and pre-selected for installing the bootloader.

That's the way I expected it to work using VirtualBox. The GPartEdit tool allows assigning the flags, but the KDE Partition Manager does not. I've always assumed that the FAT32 format is all that's needed to identify the boot partition, and that has always worked in 4.3, for the Plasma edition, which I've installed on many machines and VMs.

The difference is apparently between Boxes and VBox, then. If the installer is going to be replaced with Calamares, this issue may be moot.

NOTE: This same issue occurs with the Plasma edition .ISO file. I"m going to create the MATE and Plasma VMs by letting the installer do the partitioning, so I can continue testing. I'll re-create them later, if I get a chance.

TClark77 added a subscriber: TClark77.Jun 26 2023, 3:57 PM

Did you format the disk as GPT?

I installed VirtualBox and created a new VM with the same setup, and it also works there, so I am unsure what the difference is.

EbonJaeger triaged this task as Needs More Info priority.Jun 26 2023, 5:35 PM

EbonJaeger edited projects, added Installation; removed Lacks Project.

TClark77 added a project: MATE.Jun 27 2023, 3:02 PM

In T10563#202105, @stalebrim wrote:

Did you format the disk as GPT?

That would be the partition table on the device. Yes, I'm sure I created a gpt partition table, but in order to get the VM up and running for testing, I had to let the installer take over the partitioning. It's possible that the current partition table was created by the installer.

I can create another MATE VM and try again, or alternatively, I won't be offended at all if it's closed as "cannot reproduce."

Closing per request on the forums. Appears to be resolved.