Arch Linux

dan34

Member

Registered: 2011-07-29

Posts: 17

problems setting up GPT

I am trying to use GPT with Arch and encountering some problems. I recently converted my two Fedora systems to use GPT and wanted to do the same on my Arch system. With Fedora you start gdisk, type "w" and you're done. With Arch it's not so easy.

First I tried to convert my existing system. I followed the two wiki articles, "GRUB2" and "GUID Partition Table". I first installed grub2 and got that working. Then I ran gdisk. After a reboot it hangs at a screen that reads "GRUB".

Then I tried with a fresh install using the instructions in the above articles. This time I get a little further, but still can't boot. Grub gives an error about file not found, and another saying "you need to load a kernel first."

Any help would be appreciated.

dan34

Member

Registered: 2011-07-29

Posts: 17

Re: problems setting up GPT

Well, from the lack of response I'd guess not very many people are using GPT at this point. I managed to get it working, so I thought I'd pass on a few notes.

First, my experience with Fedora was not helpfull. They do so much back-porting of features that it's no longer representative of a stock Linux system. For example, on Fedora GPT works even thought they use grub legacy.  From what I've read only grub2 supports GPT, so apparently Fedora has back-ported the support.

When you install grub2 it creates two files in /boot/grub: grub.cfg and grub.cfg.example. The first one, grub.cfg is completely broken. Delete it or rename it and copy grub.cfg.example to grub.cfg.

You can setup GPT during the install, or on an existing system. One caveat: you need an empty partition at the beginning of the disk for GPT. It doesn't need to be very big. I used 8MB which was the smallest the partitioning tool would let me make. If you don't have this you could perhaps backup your /boot partition, delete it, create two new partitions, and restore boot. I did not try this. It could break your system so you are on your own here.

On an existing system with a spare partition you can install grub2 and set up GPT without too much trouble. I mostly followed the WIKI articles. I initially installed Arch using 4 partitions:

  empty for GPT 8MB
  boot  100MB
  swap 2.4GB
  root  10GB

I left the rest of the disk un-used. All four partitions should be primary partitions.

Now install gptfdisk. Run "gdisk /dev/sdX" (using the proper identifier for your disk. Type "w" to write the table and exit. Now install grub2 following the WIKI.

For a new install the steps are a little different. The biggest problem is that the install CD doesn't contain gdisk. I tried installing it, but after getting the live system updated and installing gdisk the installer had a problem selecting packages saying that it couldn't find core.db. If you like pain you can try to use parted which is on the install CD. I ended up booting up with Parted Magic, partitioning my disk and then booting the Arch install CD. The install is pretty standard after that.

If there is any interest I could expand on the steps that I took. Hope this is helpfull.

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: problems setting up GPT

Moving from Newbie Corner to Installation.

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