Arch Linux

newsboost

Member

Registered: 2016-07-24

Posts: 157

[SOLVED] "archinstall"-script encrypted my partitions - boot failure

Hi all

I've been using arch linux for some years, but this time I saw there's a new script "archinstall" that supposedly should make it easier/faster to install on a new pc. I've used clonezilla to clone everything so I wasn't really worried about testing it. First time I tried to install, a python-exception occured, complaining something about that it didn't understood what to do with the "swap"-partition. I googled and found out it was a known issue (with the swap-partition). I thought I would install and just mark the "/" mount-point and the "/boot"- mount point and "/" should be encrypted (not /boot). I could later manually add the swap-partition. I I didn't want other partitions than the root "/" to be encrypted...

Now the installer has completed and from the UEFI-menu I can't boot Windows anymore - nor anything at all. I can only plug in a USB-stick and boot from that. So I booted into ubuntu and ran "gparted" and can now see [Encrypted] in the "file system"-column for all partitions except "microsoft reserved" and "/boot" (which makes sense). This was unexpected (that it encrypted e.g. NTFS-partition(s))... Since I have a backup I'm not too worried, but what is going on? Is the "archinstall"-script useless? Or do I just need to make it boot correctly and then it'll unlock all partitions and present a boot-menu, from which windows can also be loaded? From booting with an ubuntu-usb-stick I can see that I can rightclick a partition and select "Open Encryption", then type in my password - and the partition will be unlocked. Should I just manually "un-encrypt" everything other than the linux root "/"-partition or what is the best way to proceed from here, if I want to fix dualboot linux & windows?

Hope someone can help, thanks!

Last edited by newsboost (2022-02-23 20:29:06)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,196

Re: [SOLVED] "archinstall"-script encrypted my partitions - boot failure

What exactly was/is /boot in this case? Unless the docs are out of date, note: https://python-archinstall.readthedocs. … n-of-drive it will completely wipe your drive, but not much of an expert here, please get used to outright posting archinstall issues in the appropriate subforum, so the maintainer gets notified.

FWIW just on a quick check: https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues/998 reads similar to what happened, you generally shouldn't encrypt /boot unless with very specific GRUB setups that I doubt the installer actually covers properly.

Moving to the "Guided Installer" subforum

Last edited by V1del (2022-02-23 13:33:53)

newsboost

Member

Registered: 2016-07-24

Posts: 157

Re: [SOLVED] "archinstall"-script encrypted my partitions - boot failure

What exactly was/is /boot in this case? Unless the docs are out of date, note: https://python-archinstall.readthedocs. … n-of-drive it will completely wipe your drive, but not much of an expert here, please get used to outright posting archinstall issues in the appropriate subforum, so the maintainer gets notified.

The /boot partition was just 1 GB boot-partition I created from unallocated space, so the install could create a boot-partition.
Thanks a lot for the link to those docs. It says "(Future versions of archinstall will support multiboot on the same drive and more complex partition setups)" - I must admit I thought this was more mature, I mean: Why should it even touch partitions that wasn't/isn't used at all for the linux-installation? It makes absolutely no sense to me - but luckily I can afford trying this out, because I started doing a full clonezilla image to usb... I think I'll have to restore that image now and restart the whole installation process, but without using the archinstall guided installer - or install without encryption, reboot and then figure out how to encrypt only my homefolder... Thanks a lot also for explaining about the relevant subforum, I didn't see/knew we had gotten this one, sorry (and thanks!)!

FWIW just on a quick check: https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues/998 reads similar to what happened, you generally shouldn't encrypt /boot unless with very specific GRUB setups that I doubt the installer actually covers properly.

Moving to the "Guided Installer" subforum

About the /boot : It must be a misunderstanding, I've edited the original post. The 1 GB /boot-partition is currently *not* encrypted - like the microsoft reserved partition - but still it doesn't appear in my F12 UEFI-boot menu, that's also something that I don't really understand... The github-issue you linked to looks very relevant and was opened just 2 days ago. I really think the script - at least with encryption - is too inmature to make available to all arch linux users. It's a huge mistake that it behaves this way, that it wants to encrypt a lot of partitions it shouldn't touch, like NTFS... It makes no sense at all (or maybe I did a mistake, that's also why I thought I wanted to ask here before potentially submitting/opening an issue). I thought the tool was "safe" to use and because I knew I had a whole image I wasn't too afraid of testing it out. Looks like I should restore from the image now, thanks a lot for your quick help and guidance + relevant and useful comments, thanks! I'll leave this discussion open a bit and mark it as solved later, just want to see if there are additional comments coming up...

newsboost

Member

Registered: 2016-07-24

Posts: 157

Re: [SOLVED] "archinstall"-script encrypted my partitions - boot failure

Not really "solved", but I've added my experience to the open issue here: https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues/998 - thanks @V1del for pointing me in this direction and hopefully this critical issue will be fixed in near future!