Install failed, anyone point me to the cause?

Q&A
1

Hi,
being absolutely new to Clear Linux (not to GNU Linux in general), I tried to install Clear Linux in a VM. Live Media was running just fine, however, the install process failed.

Here is the log:
https://paste.opensuse.org/37735465

Can anyone point to me to the error and the potential cause? Thanks!

2

Installation Steps Complete

What do you mean by “failed”?

3

The installer aborts with a message that the installation failed, and tells me to consult the log file I pasted above. There, I can’t find the cause for the failed installation.

4

you can post these information, with the log file, to clearlinux/clr-installer repo on GitHub.

5

Did you follow one of the guides here - https://docs.01.org/clearlinux/latest/get-started/index.html#install-in-a-virtual-machine ?
Specifically the prerequisite, “Enable virtualization, such as Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT), on the host system from EFI/BIOS.”

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6

I can, will open an issue there.

Didn’t know the doc but the steps I took are identical to the linked guide. And yes, the host is set up to run VMs, I have several configured and ready to go. Also I could boot the Live environment and play with it just fine.

7

I read the log again, and this time I guess I found what’s going wrong:

2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/cli/cli.c:L142): No such file: /tmp/install-717382988//etc/kernel/update_efi_vars
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [INFO] cbm (../src/bootman/bootman.c:L744): Current running kernel: 5.7.13-975.native
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/lib/probe.c:L271): Root device exists on device-mapper configuration
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/bootman/bootman.c:L140): shim-systemd caps: 0x26, wanted: 0x0c
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/bootloaders/grub2.c:L563): grub2 not found at /tmp/install-717382988/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/bootman/bootman.c:L140): grub2 caps: 0x00, wanted: 0x0c
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/bootman/bootman.c:L140): syslinux caps: 0x2c, wanted: 0x0c
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [DEBUG] cbm (../src/bootman/bootman.c:L157): Legacy boot now selected (syslinux)
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [ERROR] cbm (../src/bootloaders/syslinux-common.c:L288): No boot partition found, you need to mark the boot partition with "legacy_boot" flag.
2020/08/10 13:55:37 [DBG] [FATAL] cbm (../src/bootman/bootman.c:L163): Cannot initialise bootloader syslinux

Am I supposed to to offer the VM UEFI firmware instead of Legacy BIOS?
FYI, I selected the automatic partitioning on a 20GB virtual HDD, just ticked the encryption box.

That does apparently not mean that the steps were completed sucessfully.

8

Link to the issue reported: Installation from Live Media fails (Legacy BIOS mode): Cannot initialise bootloader syslinux · Issue #751 · clearlinux/clr-installer · GitHub

Solution/workaround: Installing Clear in a VM with EFI mode.

Feature or bug? I don’ know. Should legacy bios installation not be supported, the installer should make a quick check before attempting to install on legacy bios system.

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9

From reporting the issue I learned:

Legacy bios is only supported on bare metal. VM shall use EFI firmware/EFI boot.

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