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#1 2018-07-11 23:39:56

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

[SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

Hello,

I'm trying to install Arch onto a 120 GB SSD following the guide on the wiki, and have been unable to get my computer to see that there is an bootable operating system on the SSD. I believe the issue is due to the fact that the fstab file only contains the primary partition and not the boot (I've tried re-installing Arch about a half-dozen times since I discovered this, but it won't add the boot partition to the fstab file). I've attempted to manually insert it, but I have no idea what options need to be set.

Installation Commands:

timedatectl set-ntp true
parted /dev/sda
(parted) rm 1
(parted) rm 2
(parted) mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 551MiB
(parted) set 1 boot on
(parted) mkpart primary ext4 551MiB 100%
(parted) quit
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
pacstrap /mnt base
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
nano /mnt/etc/fstab

nano /mnt/etc/fstab:

# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/sda2
UUID=5f627b48-8adf-473-b557-e4d21552e7c8      /                    ext4                    rw,relatime      0 1

Installation Commands (cont.):

arch-chroot /mnt
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York
hwclock -systohc
nano /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
nano /etc/hostname
nano /etc/hosts
passwd
exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

At which point the system reboots and sits at a screen stating:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

Last edited by TheMohawkNinja (2018-07-14 14:51:11)

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#2 2018-07-11 23:44:23

circleface
Member
Registered: 2012-05-26
Posts: 639

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

Those are backwards.  You have to mount /mnt before you can mount /mnt/boot

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#3 2018-07-11 23:57:33

2ManyDogs
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-01-15
Posts: 4,645

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

circleface wrote:
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

Those are backwards.  You have to mount /mnt before you can mount /mnt/boot

And mkdir /mnt/boot after you mount /mnt, not before.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … le_systems


How to post. A sincere effort to use modest and proper language and grammar is a sign of respect toward the community.

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#4 2018-07-11 23:59:18

jasonwryan
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From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

Additional observation: if genfstab fails, just write it by hand. The script is an aid, not a requirement.


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#5 2018-07-12 00:13:17

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

circleface wrote:
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

Those are backwards.  You have to mount /mnt before you can mount /mnt/boot

That makes sense... how would it know what /mnt/boot is if /mnt wasn't mounted yet.

Well, I reinstalled Arch with those two commands flipped, however I did have to do what 2ManyDogs stated and mount /mnt, then mkdir /mnt/boot then mount /mnt/boot. This did populate the fstab file with both partitions, however after continuing the installation as normal (and correcting for the mistake I noticed I make in the ln -sf line) I am still receiving the same error on boot.

Current fstab contents:

# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/sda2
UUID=92d1cc79-06c3-411d-995e-727882d59eb9      /                    ext4                    rw,relatime      0 1

# /dev/sda1
UUID=7CA3-2C53           /boot                     vfat                       rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro           0 2

I did double-check in the BIOS to make sure that the SSD is a boot option, which it is.

Last edited by TheMohawkNinja (2018-07-12 00:16:06)

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#6 2018-07-12 00:15:41

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

jasonwryan wrote:

Additional observation: if genfstab fails, just write it by hand. The script is an aid, not a requirement.

I noticed that in the installation guide, but I have no idea what values I would need to put in for the options. It does looks like (now that the fstab file is populating with two partitions) that the options it generated mirror the ones shown on the fstab page though, which I would assume means that's what I want since I'm not exactly doing anything unusual with my installation.

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#7 2018-07-12 00:24:42

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,194

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

Did you forget to install a boot loader?  I do not see one in the commands you used.

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#8 2018-07-12 00:29:59

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

loqs wrote:

Did you forget to install a boot loader?  I do not see one in the commands you used.

I was under the impression that you only needed something like GRUB when you are dual booting. Do I need it even if I'm only putting one OS on the SSD?

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#9 2018-07-12 00:40:33

progandy
Member
Registered: 2012-05-17
Posts: 5,184

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

You need a way to tell UEFI which OS to start. For a minimal UEFI system use either EFISTUB or systemd-boot
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ca … ot_loaders

Last edited by progandy (2018-07-12 00:41:17)


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#10 2018-07-12 01:01:04

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

TheMohawkNinja wrote:
jasonwryan wrote:

Additional observation: if genfstab fails, just write it by hand. The script is an aid, not a requirement.

I noticed that in the installation guide, but I have no idea what values I would need to put in for the options.

That's what the man page and wiki are for.


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#11 2018-07-12 23:40:11

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

Okay, now GRUB is erroring when trying to configure it. which results in the system booting to the same error.

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub/cfg
[ 1672.511214] FAT-fs (sda1): Invalid FSINFO signature: 0x00821cea, 0x8a001002 (sector = 1)
Generating grub configuration file ...
[ 1672.511214] FAT-fs (sda1): Invalid FSINFO signature: 0x00821cea, 0x8a001002 (sector = 1)
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux.img
/usr/bin/grub-probe: error: unknown filesystem
Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img
done
parted /dev/sda
(parted) print
Model: ATA SanDisk SSD PLUS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 120GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start      End         Size       File system    Name    Flags
1            1049kB 578MB    577MB                                       bios_grub
2            578MB  120GB    119GB   ext4

Googling seems to lead either to 20 year old archived posts that haven't proven very helpful, modifying the grub.cfg (which, their install was much different than mine, so I didn't know what applied and what didn't, if any), and removing an external HDD (which I don't have attached).

I had less trouble the very first time installing Arch, and I was doing a portable install onto a USB stick.....

Last edited by TheMohawkNinja (2018-07-12 23:41:17)

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#12 2018-07-12 23:44:44

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,194

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

How did you install grub?
Edit:

1            1049kB 578MB    577MB                                       bios_grub

Why has the ESP lost its fat32 format and boot, esp flags?

Last edited by loqs (2018-07-12 23:47:33)

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#13 2018-07-12 23:46:50

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

loqs wrote:

How did you install grub?

pacman -S grub
grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

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#14 2018-07-12 23:49:48

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,194

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

You were supposed to follow GRUB#Installation_2 if you are using grub under UEFI instead I think you have installed grub for BIOS over the protective MBR and start of of the ESP.

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#15 2018-07-13 00:00:19

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

This is no longer an fstab issue: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … ow_to_post

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.


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#16 2018-07-13 00:11:28

TheMohawkNinja
Member
Registered: 2017-07-11
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab not inserting boot partition into fstab file

loqs wrote:

You were supposed to follow GRUB#Installation_2 if you are using grub under UEFI instead I think you have installed grub for BIOS over the protective MBR and start of of the ESP.

Maybe I shouldn't try and install Arch when my brain is fried from work lol.

After following that, and working through a couple more errors, Arch is now installed.

Thank you for your help, and sorry for all the mistakes that could have been resolved by just reading the bloody wiki correctly.

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