Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

gsingh93 · 2013-11-30 02:04:13

I followed all of the steps in the beginner's installation guide, but when I tried to boot, grub wouldn't even show up. I realized after running fdisk -l that I hadn't made anything bootable. I made the /boot partition bootable using the 'a' option in fdisk, and my problem was solved. Is this something that should be added to the wiki?

Last edited by gsingh93 (2013-11-30 02:04:44)

jasonwryan · 2013-11-30 02:12:49

No: from memory, each of the partitioning tool pages (eg., fdisk, gdisk) contain that sort of detailed information; its not something that should be replicated in the Beginners' Guide.

gsingh93 · 2013-11-30 02:18:17

Are you referring to an Arch Wiki page or an external page? If it's an Arch Wiki page, can you point me to it?

bleach · 2013-11-30 02:52:29

it is true it would be an a to make the partition bootable(which is not mentioned) and also in the diagram at the end of the fdisk section there is no star(multiply symbol). though I say follow nothing blindly and understand what it is you are doing if you do not know what is going on research. understanding is the key to knowledge.

*hint* notice when installing the bootloader with syslinux at least the -a switch.

Last edited by bleach (2013-12-02 04:47:51)

gsingh93 · 2013-11-30 02:55:11

bleach wrote:

understanding is the key to knowledge.

Having things in the wiki is fairly useful for understanding... Someone who's using fdisk for the first time isn't going to suddenly realize he didn't make a partition bootable and start googling how to do it.

jasonwryan · 2013-11-30 03:01:04

gsingh93 wrote:

Are you referring to an Arch Wiki page or an external page? If it's an Arch Wiki page, can you point me to it?

Why would I be referring to some external page in a thread about the wiki?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ge_summary

gsingh93 · 2013-11-30 03:04:09

jasonwryan wrote:

gsingh93 wrote:
Are you referring to an Arch Wiki page or an external page? If it's an Arch Wiki page, can you point me to it?
Why would I be referring to some external page in a thread about the wiki?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ge_summary

Because I saw that page and didn't see anything referring to making a partition bootable with fdisk.

cfr · 2013-11-30 03:46:36

Somebody who uses MBR should probably add that information to the wiki. The page explains how to do the equivalent for GPT using gdisk so it makes sense to include something about doing it for MBR with fdisk. Maybe a note box similar to the one for GPT/gdisk?

EDIT: Note that whether this is needed or not depends on your configuration and which thing is needed also varies according to partition map, boot method and boot loader/manager (at least).

Last edited by cfr (2013-11-30 03:59:06)

teateawhy · 2013-11-30 11:09:31

The partitioning example in the beginner's guide does not suggest to create a seperate /boot partition for BIOS booting. IMHO if you do not follow the example, you should know what you are doing. Marking the partition as bootable is not required when following the example with seperate root and home partitions only.

satanselbow · 2013-11-30 11:44:11

gsingh93 wrote:

... but when I tried to boot, grub wouldn't even show up. I realized after running fdisk -l that I hadn't made anything bootable. I made the /boot partition bootable using the 'a' option in fdisk, and my problem was solved. Is this something that should be added to the wiki?

Are you using "GRUB" or "GRUB2" ? The installation routine for grub2 (as detailed in said wiki page) sets the boot flag on the relevant drive by default, as does syslinux - couldn't comment on GRUB. Possibly an omission given that grub (legacy) is deprecated?

gsingh93 · 2013-11-30 17:03:14

teateawhy wrote:

The partitioning example in the beginner's guide does not suggest to create a seperate /boot partition for BIOS booting. IMHO if you do not follow the example, you should know what you are doing. Marking the partition as bootable is not required when following the example with seperate root and home partitions only.

That's a good point. I think this information should then go in the Partitioning page, where the /boot partition is mentioned.

satanselbow wrote:

Are you using "GRUB" or "GRUB2" ? The installation routine for grub2 (as detailed in said wiki page) sets the boot flag on the relevant drive by default, as does syslinux - couldn't comment on GRUB. Possibly an omission given that grub (legacy) is deprecated?

GRUB2. I refer to this as GRUB and the older GRUB as GRUB Legacy. I looked at the Wiki page and don't see where they mention setting the boot flag on the drive. Could you quote the part you're talking about?

satanselbow · 2013-11-30 17:33:45

gsingh93 wrote:

GRUB2. I refer to this as GRUB and the older GRUB as GRUB Legacy. I looked at the Wiki page and don't see where they mention setting the boot flag on the drive. Could you quote the part you're talking about?

No direct quote - and have been on syslinux for quite a while - but seem to recall from the dim, dark grub2 days that the installer/configure scripts handled this for you

Lestrad · 2019-11-26 20:27:36

jasonwryan wrote:

No: from memory, each of the partitioning tool pages (eg., fdisk, gdisk) contain that sort of detailed information; its not something that should be replicated in the Beginners' Guide.

Typical Arch Linux answer - "If you don't already know that you shouldn't be here."

V1del · 2019-11-26 20:39:35

Did you seriously just necrobump a 6 year old thread to rant and completely misinterpret the statement? Don't do that again.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … bumping%22
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … pics/rants

Closing.

Last edited by V1del (2019-11-27 00:41:12)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-11-30 02:04:13

Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#2 2013-11-30 02:12:49

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#3 2013-11-30 02:18:17

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#4 2013-11-30 02:52:29

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#5 2013-11-30 02:55:11

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#6 2013-11-30 03:01:04

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#7 2013-11-30 03:04:09

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#8 2013-11-30 03:46:36

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#9 2013-11-30 11:09:31

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#10 2013-11-30 11:44:11

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#11 2013-11-30 17:03:14

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#12 2013-11-30 17:33:45

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#13 2019-11-26 20:27:36

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

#14 2019-11-26 20:39:35

Re: Making a partition bootable in the beginners guide

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