Arch Linux error - update bios or force_addr

im installing it on virtualbox,
ah brilliant, ill look into it!
thanks

Hi all,
im getting through the process of installing arch linux and got to installing the gnome desktop, now im receiving this error and cant type any command!
any help would be appreciated!
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

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Booting 'Arch Linux' Error 15: File not found

Booting 'Arch Linux'
root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=792
Error 15: File not found
Press any key to continue...
It's the message that Grub send me choose any option.
Can I solve or I need to format and reinstall?

donniezazen,
Note that you responded to a three year old thread. I cannot tell if you are having a problem, but I doubt this thread has any bearing on it.
Closing. If you are having an issue, please open a new thread. Our policy
Thanks

Error updating BIOS on B75MA-P45

When I try to update my BIOS on B75MA-P45 I get the corrupt file error:
Please help!

Don't use live update for such things. If you don't have any problems, bios shouldn't be updated anyway. If there is a need however, use >>Use the MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<< and download the bios file from MSI's website. http://www.msi.com/product/mb/B75MA-P45.html#/?div=BIOS

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Does the computer still work at this point?

Boot camp assistant error update BIOS

I have a Mac Pro 4.1 using 10.6.5 and BC Setup Assistant 3.0.1.
I'd like to enlarge the space on my BC partition of my startup disk, but I have the familiar boot camp assistant error which tells the user that in order to install boot camp you must update the Boot ROM Firmware. I've already updated the firmware to 1.4 (MP4.0081.B07; SMC Version 1.39f5), so this gets me nowhere. What's a little different about my problem than most of the others I've seen is that I have an early 2009 Mac Pro, not a laptop, AND journaling is enabled on all my disks.
I tried downgrading to 10.5.6 by installing it on another drive and starting up from that. It shows that Boot Camp Setup Assistant is version 2.0, but still it tells me that I need upgrade the Boot ROM Firmware.
From within Windows I installed Boot Camp 3.1 and 3.2 and restarted both times. I've run Disk Utility and verified and/or repaired Disk Permissions on startup disks; so, too, Verify Disk.
Any help you can offer over this American Thanksgiving Holiday will be greatly appreciated.

Paragon-Software CampTune $20 can resize.
But I would just put Windows on its own hard drive instead.
Has nothing to do with OS X. Your drive's free space and how fragmented can be an issue when creating Windows partition.
The error message is in error itself and not helpful or accurate.
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp

Arch Linux and Splashy, a big update

edit 2:
If you don't want to build from sources have a look at this post: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 03#p371403
edit:
UPDATED LINK:
http://slexiw.netsons.org/files/splashy-stuff7.tar.gz
About me:
I'm a professional developer (mainly c/c++) with 10 years of development experience. I've never programmed in bash before so this is my first experience. My Linux knowledge isn't good either but i learned a lot thanks to Arch Linux.
About the thread:
I need a boot splash for a mini-pc I'm building and i want, of course, use Arch Linux. The current status is pretty depressive, initscripts-splash are outdated and there is no real support for user-mode boot splashing system (like splashy).
A few suggestions (IMHO) for the Arch Linux developers:
-Integrate the splash system in the official initscripts. If you write a wrapper like start_daemon and stop_daemon to be used in /etc/rc.multi and /etc/rc.shutdown, we can limit the changes to just /etc/rc.d/functions and at least the initscripts-splash will be more maintainable and the whole code more clean.
-Patch killall5 to add the support to ignore pids. The patch is really small and the one used by Ubuntu is http://patches.ubuntu.com/s/sysvinit/ex … ids.dpatch. There is a package in AUR that uses a different patch: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16445. I tested it and so far it worked fine, no problems to be reported.
Why do we need a patched killall5? Splashy gets killed early during the shutdown process and the whole purpose of having a splash system is defeated. Currently Splashy cannot handle the reboot/shutdown.
Enough talking, now back to the real stuff. I've modified the initscript-splash package (completely rewritten) and the splashy package (almost completely rewritten).
I've also written a new package to support splashy themes. I'm using these packages for my system and i never had any problem so far.
initscripts-splash:
Rewritten to fit my needs for Splashy. Based on initscripts-2008.05-1 (in testing, if you are not using the testing repo you should better wait till the package hits core).
It only supports MY Splashy package, no other splash system is supported, not even the "old" Splashy package from AUR.
splashy:
Based on the great work done by the maintainers and the contributors of the package in AUR. A lot has been rewritten and it's actually a lot different.
splashy-themes:
Simple package with just 1 theme (for now), depends on archlinux-wallpaper and uses a little hack to use the wallpapers provided. I will provide new themes as soon as i have time.
Splashy now supports:
Progress bar
Text output
Shutdown/Reboot
Still working on resume/suspend and "verbose on error".
Installation tutorial:
-Download, compile and install sysvinit-mod from aur: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16445
-Remove your old initscripts or initscripts-splash package, remember to back /etc/rc.conf and /etc/inittab before.
-Download, build and install initscripts-splash from http://slexiw.netsons.org/files/initscr … ash.tar.gz
-Download, build and install splashy from http://slexiw.netsons.org/files/splashy.tar.gz
-Download, build and install splashy-themes from http://slexiw.netsons.org/files/splashy-themes.tar.gz
-You may want to restore your old /etc/rc.conf and /etc/inittab now.
-Add SPLASH="splashy" to the end of /etc/rc.conf.
-Edit /etc/splashy/config.xml to select the theme you want (to list the installed themes do "ls /usr/share/splashy/themes/", use the directory name as the theme name).
-Add the "splashy" hook to /etc/mkinitcpio.conf (mine is after v86d and before autodetect)
-Rebuild your initramfs: mkinitcpio -g /boot/kernel26.img
-Add "splash" to the kernel command line, if you are not using uvesafb (v86d hook) add vga=791 too. You should also add "quiet".
If you are still confused follow this guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Splashy
Looking for suggestions, bug reports and patches!
Thank you for reading this, you've done what i couldn't do, i can't believe i wrote all that cr*p.
Last edited by lexiw (2008-05-29 15:28:49)

phrakture wrote:
lexiw wrote:-Integrate the splash system in the official initscripts. If you write a wrapper like start_daemon and stop_daemon to be used in /etc/rc.multi and /etc/rc.shutdown, we can limit the changes to just /etc/rc.d/functions and at least the initscripts-splash will be more maintainable and the whole code more clean.
Now, we've gone through this a couple of times, and I don't actually want to integrate splash SPECIFIC stuff in the initscripts.
However, we have the ability to override functions used by the initscripts. All we need to do is extrapolate out the pieces that you would need so that you can override them.
So, if you would be willing to provide a patch against git (http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=initsc … ;a=summary) which extrapolates the pieces you need, we could get that applied, and you simply need to dump your overriding functions in /etc/rc.d/functions.d/. NOTE: submit the patch to the bug tracker, it will get lost if you just post it on the forums.
Alternatively, you can just tell us (http://bugs.archlinux.org/) which pieces you want extrapolated, but this will take much longer, as I don't think anyone dealing with this stuff is really gung-ho about splash support.
I will probably provide a patch after i studied the code a little deeper The /etc/rc.d/functions.d/ solution seems the right way to implement it.
phrakture wrote:
lexiw wrote:-Patch killall5 to add the support to ignore pids. The patch is really small and the one used by Ubuntu is http://patches.ubuntu.com/s/sysvinit/ex … ids.dpatch. There is a package in AUR that uses a different patch: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16445. I tested it and so far it worked fine, no problems to be reported.
Why do we need a patched killall5? Splashy gets killed early during the shutdown process and the whole purpose of having a splash system is defeated. Currently Splashy cannot handle the reboot/shutdown.
This seems a little silly to me. I'm sure there's 10 or 20 other ways you could implement the same functionality without needing to patch a quasi-critical binary just for splash support. The patch affects all users. Splashy does not.
I could not find an alternative solution by myself, as i stated my Linux knowledge isn't more than average. If you could provide me some hints I'll be happy to do some further research on the issue and provide a patch. I'll be glad to drop the sysvinit-mod dependency.
Without the right know-how i just went the "mainstream way" and did what Debian/Ubuntu did.
Edit:
I didn't know you could ovveride functions, this will be a great boost for the initscripts-splash project Thank you!
Last edited by lexiw (2008-05-22 17:35:15)

Installing Arch Linux on USB key: error while booting

Hello,
first of all, I must say I've followed the steps from this article on arch wiki to install archlinux on my USB key: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … _a_USB_key
So what I did is to use one of my 2 usb keys to INSTALL linux, and the second one to RUN linux. I used dd to write on the 1st usb, eveything worked fine when booting, then I do install arch on the my second usb following the stept from the link above, everything works until I get this error while booting (at the middle):
Waiting 10 seconds for device /dev/sdc/
Root device '/dev/sdc' doesn't exist. Attempting to create it.
ERROR: Unable to determine major/minor number of root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/lotsofnumbers'
You are being dropped to a recovery shell
Type 'exit' to try and continue booting
/bin/sh: Can't contact tty; job control turned off
[ramfs /]#
To summarize I'll show you my conf files that could help you to resolve my problem:
/etc/fstab.conf
/dev/sdc1 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdc2 / ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdc3 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
So here I've sdc1 boot 32MB partition; sdc2 root 3GB partition; sdc3 home 978MB partition for a total of 4GB USB key~
I didn't make a swap partition as in the tutorial they are writing it's unnecessary for some kind of reasons.
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS="base udev usb autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems"
I've added to here, "usb" to the hooks
installed GRUB on my sdc, here is the menu.ist:
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux (USB)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdc ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26.img
So, I boot GRUB without problems, start Arch Linux, but then I got this error above.
I've searched alot on some forums and read many stuffs, but sitll can't fix it and it seems complicated.
I've tried to boot with UUID, also, but didn't make difference. I tried to remove some parameter from the hooks, but unfortunately this wasn't working still. I've read somewhere to use chroot, but I didn't catch on how to do that and what was the use of chroot, I'm still noob user of arch linux and currently learning. Maybe it's the problem, as some forum were talking about creating a new image, but I still don't know how to make it. By the way, I'm not sure this could have fixed my current problem. I've also read somewhere it could be due to my lack of space, but I wrote you how I did partition my USB key, let me know if you have any suggestion please.

1. What I did is re-installing entirely from my installation disk or USB to test out different setting in my config files, because I don't know how to edit my .conf as I can't really finish to boot to the end and get in terminal mode? If there is a quicker way to edit files from any terminal to go into my current USB sdc to modify directly my file from there, I'd enjoy probably. So rebuilding the initpio, no, I just re-installed to test out different configs.
2. Yes, same error.
3. Tested out by-id/by-path and uuid = no difference
4. Didn't know about larch, it seems to be a nice tool, I'll check it out

[Lenovo Y530 & Arch Linux] Lot of errors due to optical reader

Hi there.
I've installer Arch Linux on my laptop since a while, and I always had a very weird error during my boot..
Here : http://moe.mabul.org/up/moe/2010/04/14/img-1229424imjv.jpg
I don't know what I've this errors, my boot time because of it is approximately 3-4 minutes instead of 20-25 seconds.
If anyone has an advice, a tip.. Thanks in advance
Solved!
Go to Solution.

i'm not expert on linux systems but you can try to make clean installation or if there's any option to repair boot settings, you can use that.
ps: please, post your issues to the linux board ( which are about linux issues )

Updating BIOS in Linux: MSI A88XM GAMING

Hello Everyone,
I recently purchased MSI A88XM-GAMING motherboard.
Is there anyway for me to apply updates (bios & chipset) to this motherboard under linux? Or is there a how-to guide for linux users?
Also since this is my first MSI motherboard curios as to driver support under linux for this motherboard.

Quote from: mmoh2015 on 17-June-15, 22:36:31
Thanks darkhawk.
Any idea how much support there is for motherboard drivers under linux
I personally do not know. But I would imagine that mostly it should be supported just fine.

Thinkpad Yoga memory error after bios update

I updated BIOS to version 1.25 for windows 10 installation.Now I have errors and sometimes blue screen. Lenovo solution center test gives a memory error.WME800800-RK7CBK

Dear luca,
welcome in lenovo community,
Could you please send us your machine serial number
Thanks to use lenovo community.

Computer freezes before BIOS after arch linux install

This is my first time installing arch linux, I followed the beginners install guide word for word. However, after the install, my computer gets stuck before the BIOS. It identifies the RAM, GPU, and harddrive (all Diagnostic lights are ok on my MOBO). Before the install it booted fine, but now when I boot it up it wont go to the BIOS screen no matter how many times I press delete. However, when I remove the harddrive it boots to the arch linux install screen on my USB drive perfectly.
I know it is not my hardware because I did many different tests (mem-test, swapped out harddrives, tried 1 stick of RAM in different slots, etc). More importantly, my harddrive is brand new so I know it isn't dead because I could partition it when I was installing arch linux.
Computer specs:
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+
DFI LANPARTY nf4-d
ATI Radeon x800
2 GB DDR RAM
160 GB SSD
I have no idea what the problem is, I must have screwed something up with the bootloader or something. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Try clearing the CMOS settings either by removing the motherboard battery for some minutes or by using the relevant jumper on the motherboard. Check the manual of your motherboard for details.
Last edited by Foucault (2013-07-03 16:19:41)

H61MU-E35 (B3) Updating BIOS....File Not Found Error

I have MSI H61MU-E35 (B3) Motherboard with Intel i3 CPU.
I downloaded latest BIOS File 7680vC3.zip (on web page it's says Version: 12.3 from -> -www.msi.com/support/mb/H61MUE35_B3.html#down-bios
Using Windows XP OS From 7680vC3.zip => Extracted E7680vC3.exe => Placed on USB Drive (I did not format USB Pendrive, and used by just making it empty by deleting files) ==> Ran this exe file on the computer where this motherboard is....
Inside Windows XP, when BIOS Update process started, In a green window, it shown me current BIOS old version and New Version side by side. (I did not given much attention to notedown from which number to which number it's updating).
In Windows XP after BIOS Process completed, it restarted computer (I kept USB File as it in the computer as I had read that, I have to keep USB in computer after restart).
When computer restarted...nothing came on the screen and just blank screen for long time and on the right side on screen bottom corner only letter like: A2 stayed for long long time. I waited for 15 minutes but nothing was happening except blank screen...
So, I restarted computer....and kept USB as it is in the computer....but Nothing comes on the screen...
After I concluded that, something is wrong, to resolve the issue...
--- What Try and Experiments I have done ----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) I placed Restarted computer without USB: and Message comes on the screen is:
BIOS Update is not yet completed, please insert the USB pen drive and reset system.
(2) I refered some forums, and also contacted MSI Support. As suggested, I formatted USB Drive with FAT32 and placed E7680IMS.C30 file (only one file) on USB placed in computer and started computer.. Now Message is coming:
Updating BIOS...... File Not Found..
Note that: E7680IMS.C30 File was given to me by MSI Support Staff as I did not kept Original files during formatting USB PenDrive.
But computer is not looking for .C30 Rom File, Computer is looking for .BIN File
(3) I have remove the battery and waited for 5 min. and placed again, to reset BIOS, but not difference on result or on message...
Renamed: file E7680IMS.C30 to EIVB.BIN
Result: Just Blank Screen with A2 text on right side bottom corner, No other message
In some other same issue post, they recommand to change ROM File name to: EIVB.BIN which worked for others, so I also tried and renamed: file E7680IMS.C30 to EIVB.BIN, in this case, I was able recreate original Issue: When computer boots, Screen stays completely Blank, and on the right side bottom corner, only 2 digit tect comes is: A2. Computer does not give any other message and nothing happens...even I waited for 30 minutes...
Also, by looking at USB Pendrive light, I can tell that, motherboard is reading file on the Pen Drive...
Renamed: file E7680IMS.C30 to E7680IMS.BIN
Result: Message comes on the screen: Updating BIOS...... File Not Found..
(5) What I am thinking is: When motherboard power-ups, it's giving me two different type of Valid message based on if USB is in the computer or not, based on if file name is .BIN or not, so I believe motherboard is still not dead and there are hope to feed the file which motherboard is looking for. But issue how to find what specific file which it's looking for... Even sometime I have seen at screen right side bottom area, 2 Digit numbers are changing just like system is doing internal healthcheck before booting up...
(6) Note that, I would like to put old version file on USB to feed, but one of the biggest issue with MSI is, once you download EXE from their website, to Extract EXE file content it needs to be run on the same motherboard computer, so in my case, if your motherboard is not in bootable cituation then you can not extract any other BIOS File to try...
Please help me...by havin this computer down....I am suffering everyday...
(By profession, I am electronics Engineer and have worked with programming Microcontroller and bootloaders, but in this case, I do not have SPI Programmer to program BIOS chip externally.)

Thank you flobelix and Nichrome.
Quick Result Summary: 128MB USB Key formatted FAT32 with HP Tool, made MS-Dos Bootable and placed EIVB.BIN file given by flobelix, but final result is: Screen comes Blank and only shows "A0" Code at right side bottom corner. nothing else.
Detail
Since Flobelix proviced ROM BIN File, I was too exicited to try it out and here is what I did...
(1) As per Nichrome link for HP USB Format Tool, I installed it on "Win XP" machine, and formatted 128MB USB key by selecting "FAT32" and selected option to make "MS-DOS Bootable" and shown Win98 source files as per the instruction.
-128MB USB drive made bootable with FAT32.
(2) I downloaded EIVB.rar given by flobelix and extracted and copied EIVB.BIN file on USB root.
Inserted USB in MSI and powered up...
As soon as I give power: Imidiately one normal beep and Screen comes completly Dark Blank. No message about "File not found". only at right side bottom of screen, it shows "A0".
I inserted USB key in each and every USB slot, but result is same: Screen stays Blank and on right side corner only "A0" letter.
I given around 3-5 minutes time to see something changes on screen, but no change.
- If I power-up computer without connecting any USB Drive: then message comes on screen that: Bios Update has not completed, please insert USB Key and Reset System.
- On USB Key, If I put ROM File with any other name (except EIVB.BIN) then Message comes: Updating BIOS... File Not Found...
- I have removed battery to give a try for resetting BIOS, but not change.
Question:
(1) Is it possible that, motherboard is looking for specific version of File or some different version of file ? and just staying silent and not complaining for existing EIVB.BIN ?
Here is I experiment: I simply created empty text file (0 Byte) on USB Drive and given name EIVB.BIN and booted up computer and same result: Blank Screen and just "A0" on right side bottom corner.
So, it tells me that, when power is given, the program which executes in motherboard for BIOS, it is not able to identify real or fake EIVB.BIN. I think, it's looking for some specific file and when not found, it's getting confuse on what to do....and not saying anything on the screen....
Has anyone old version BIN file of H61MU-E35 (B3) ?
Is there any trick so I can download older version Packaged EXE from MSI website and extract it ? I can give a try....

System encryption using LUKS and GPG encrypted keys for arch linux

Update: As of 2012-03-28, arch changed from gnupg 1.4 to 2.x which uses pinentry for the password dialog. The "etwo" hook described here doesn't work with gnupg 2. Either use the openssl hook below or use a statically compiled version of gnupg 1.4.
Update: As of 2012-12-19, the mkinitcpio is not called during boot, unless the "install" file for the hook contains "add_runscript". This resulted in an unbootable system for me. Also, the method name was changed from install () to build ().
Update: 2013-01-13: Updated the hook files using the corrections by Deth.
Note: This guide is a bit dated now, in particular the arch installation might be different now. But essentially, the approach stays the same. Please also take a look at the posts further down, specifically the alternative hooks that use openssl.
I always wanted to set up a fully encrypted arch linux server that uses gpg encrypted keyfiles on an external usb stick and luks for root filesystem encryption. I already did it once in gentoo using this guide. For arch, I had to play alot with initcpio hooks and after one day of experimentation, I finally got it working. I wrote a little guide for myself which I'm going to share here for anyone that might be interested. There might be better or easier ways, like I said this is just how I did it. I hope it might help someone else. Constructive feedback is always welcome
Intro
Using arch linux mkinitcpio's encrypt hook, one can easily use encrypted root partitions with LUKS. It's also possible to use key files stored on an external drive, like an usb stick. However, if someone steals your usb stick, he can just copy the key and potentially access the system. I wanted to have a little extra security by additionally encrypting the key file with gpg using a symmetric cipher and a passphrase.
Since the encrypt hook doesn't support this scenario, I created a modifed hook called “etwo” (silly name I know, it was the first thing that came to my mind). It will simply look if the key file has the extension .gpg and, if yes, use gpg to decrypt it, then pipe the result into cryptsetup.
Conventions
In this short guide, I use the following disk/partition names:
/dev/sda: is the hard disk that will contain an encrypted swap (/dev/sda1), /var (/dev/sda2) and root (/dev/sda3) partition.
/dev/sdb is the usb stick that will contain the gpg encrypted luks keys, the kernel and grub. It will have one partition /dev/sdb1 formatted with ext2.
/dev/mapper/root, /dev/mapper/swap and /dev/mapper/var will be the encrypted devices.
Credits
Thanks to the authors of SECURITY_System_Encryption_DM-Crypt_with_LUKS (gentoo wiki), System Encryption with LUKS (arch wiki), mkinitcpio (arch wiki) and Early Userspace in Arch Linux (/dev/brain0 blog)!
Guide
1. Boot the arch live cd
I had to use a newer testing version, because the 2010.05 cd came with a broken gpg. You can download one here: http://releng.archlinux.org/isos/. I chose the “core“ version. Go ahead and boot the live cd, but don't start the setup yet.
2. Set keymap
Use km to set your keymap. This is important for non-qwerty keyboards to avoid suprises with passphrases...
3. Wipe your discs
ATTENTION: this will DELETE everything on /dev/sda and /dev/sdb forever! Do not blame me for any lost data!
Before encrypting the hard disc, it has to be completely wiped and overwritten with random data. I used shred for this. Others use badblocks or dd with /dev/urandom. Either way, this will take a long time, depending on the size of your disc. I also wiped my usb stick just to be sure.
shred -v /dev/sda
shred -v /dev/sdb
4. Partitioning
Fire up fdisk and create the following partitions:
/dev/sda1, type linux swap.
/dev/sda2: type linux
/dev/sda3: type linux
/dev/sdb1, type linux
Of course you can choose a different layout, this is just how I did it. Keep in mind that only the root filesystem will be decrypted by the initcpio. The rest will be decypted during normal init boot using /etc/crypttab, the keys being somewhere on the root filesystem.
5. Format and mount the usb stick
Create an ext2 filesystem on /dev/sdb1:
mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1
mkdir /root/usb
mount /dev/sdb1 /root/usb
cd /root/usb # this will be our working directory for now.
Do not mount anything to /mnt, because the arch installer will use that directory later to mount the encrypted root filesystem.
6. Configure the network (if not already done automatically)
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
echo "nameserver 192.168.0.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf
(this is just an example, your mileage may vary)
7. Install gnupg
pacman -Sy
pacman -S gnupg
Verify that gnupg works by launching gpg.
8. Create the keys
Just to be sure, make sure swap is off:
cat /proc/swaps
should return no entries.
Create gpg encrypted keys (remember, we're still in our working dir /root/usb):
dd if=/dev/urandom bs=512 count=4 | gpg -v --cipher-algo aes256 --digest-algo sha512 -c -a > root.gpg
dd if=/dev/urandom bs=512 count=4 | gpg -v --cipher-algo aes256 --digest-algo sha512 -c -a > var.gpg
Choose a strong password!!
Don't do this in two steps, e.g don't do dd to a file and then gpg on that file. The key should never be stored in plain text on an unencrypted device, except if that device is wiped on system restart (ramfs)!
Note that the default cipher for gpg is cast5, I just chose to use a different one.
9. Create the encrypted devices with cryptsetup
Create encrypted swap:
cryptsetup -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool -d /dev/urandom create swap /dev/sda1
You should see /dev/mapper/swap now. Don't format nor turn it on for now. This will be done by the arch installer.
Important: From the Cryptsetup 1.1.2 Release notes:
Cryptsetup can accept passphrase on stdin (standard input). Handling of new line (\n) character is defined by input specification:
if keyfile is specified as "-" (using --key-file=- or by positional argument in luksFormat and luksAddKey, like cat file | cryptsetup --key-file=- <action> ), input is processed
as normal binary file and no new line is interpreted.
if there is no key file specification (with default input from stdin pipe like echo passphrase | cryptsetup <action> ) input is processed as input from terminal, reading will
stop after new line is detected.
If I understand this correctly, since the randomly generated key can contain a newline early on, piping the key into cryptsetup without specifying --key-file=- could result in a big part of the key to be ignored by cryptsetup. Example: if the random key was "foo\nandsomemorebaratheendofthekey", piping it directly into cryptsetup without --key-file=- would result in cryptsetup using only "foo" as key which would have big security implications. We should therefor ALWAYS pipe the key into cryptsetup using --key-file=- which ignores newlines.
gpg -q -d root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v -–key-file=- -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool luksFormat /dev/sda3
gpg -q -d var.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v –-key-file=- -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool -v luksFormat /dev/sda2
Check for any errors.
10. Open the luks devices
gpg -d root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v –-key-file=- luksOpen /dev/sda3 root
gpg -d var.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v –-key-file=- luksOpen /dev/sda2 var
If you see /dev/mapper/root and /dev/mapper/var now, everything is ok.
11. Start the installer /arch/setup
Follow steps 1 to 3.
At step 4 (Prepare hard drive(s), select “3 – Manually Configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints. Choose /dev/sdb1 (the usb stick) as /boot, /dev/mapper/swap for swap, /dev/mapper/root for / and /dev/mapper/var for /var.
Format all drives (choose “yes” when asked “do you want to have this filesystem (re)created”) EXCEPT for /dev/sdb1, choose “no”. Choose the correct filesystem for /dev/sdb1, ext2 in my case. Use swap for /dev/mapper/swap. For the rest, I chose ext4.
Select DONE to start formatting.
At step 5 (Select packages), select grub as boot loader. Select the base group. Add mkinitcpio.
Start step 6 (Install packages).
Go to step 7 (Configure System).
By sure to set the correct KEYMAP, LOCALE and TIMEZONE in /etc/rc.conf.
Edit /etc/fstab:
/dev/mapper/root / ext4 defaults 0 1
/dev/mapper/swap swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/var /var ext4 defaults 0 1
# /dev/sdb1 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
Configure the rest normally. When you're done, setup will launch mkinitcpio. We'll manually launch this again later.
Go to step 8 (install boot loader).
Be sure to change the kernel line in menu.lst:
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/mapper/root cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:root cryptkey=/dev/sdb1:ext2:/root.gpg
Don't forget the :root suffix in cryptdevice!
Also, my root line was set to (hd1,0). Had to change that to
root (hd0,0)
Install grub to /dev/sdb (the usb stick).
Now, we can exit the installer.
12. Install mkinitcpio with the etwo hook.
Create /mnt/lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo:
#!/usr/bin/ash
run_hook() {
/sbin/modprobe -a -q dm-crypt >/dev/null 2>&1
if [ -e "/sys/class/misc/device-mapper" ]; then
if [ ! -e "/dev/mapper/control" ]; then
/bin/mknod "/dev/mapper/control" c $(cat /sys/class/misc/device-mapper/dev | sed 's|:| |')
fi
[ "${quiet}" = "y" ] && CSQUIET=">/dev/null"
# Get keyfile if specified
ckeyfile="/crypto_keyfile"
usegpg="n"
if [ "x${cryptkey}" != "x" ]; then
ckdev="$(echo "${cryptkey}" | cut -d: -f1)"
ckarg1="$(echo "${cryptkey}" | cut -d: -f2)"
ckarg2="$(echo "${cryptkey}" | cut -d: -f3)"
if poll_device "${ckdev}" ${rootdelay}; then
case ${ckarg1} in
*[!0-9]*)
# Use a file on the device
# ckarg1 is not numeric: ckarg1=filesystem, ckarg2=path
if [ "${ckarg2#*.}" = "gpg" ]; then
ckeyfile="${ckeyfile}.gpg"
usegpg="y"
fi
mkdir /ckey
mount -r -t ${ckarg1} ${ckdev} /ckey
dd if=/ckey/${ckarg2} of=${ckeyfile} >/dev/null 2>&1
umount /ckey
# Read raw data from the block device
# ckarg1 is numeric: ckarg1=offset, ckarg2=length
dd if=${ckdev} of=${ckeyfile} bs=1 skip=${ckarg1} count=${ckarg2} >/dev/null 2>&1
esac
fi
[ ! -f ${ckeyfile} ] && echo "Keyfile could not be opened. Reverting to passphrase."
fi
if [ -n "${cryptdevice}" ]; then
DEPRECATED_CRYPT=0
cryptdev="$(echo "${cryptdevice}" | cut -d: -f1)"
cryptname="$(echo "${cryptdevice}" | cut -d: -f2)"
else
DEPRECATED_CRYPT=1
cryptdev="${root}"
cryptname="root"
fi
warn_deprecated() {
echo "The syntax 'root=${root}' where '${root}' is an encrypted volume is deprecated"
echo "Use 'cryptdevice=${root}:root root=/dev/mapper/root' instead."
if poll_device "${cryptdev}" ${rootdelay}; then
if /sbin/cryptsetup isLuks ${cryptdev} >/dev/null 2>&1; then
[ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ] && warn_deprecated
dopassphrase=1
# If keyfile exists, try to use that
if [ -f ${ckeyfile} ]; then
if [ "${usegpg}" = "y" ]; then
# gpg tty fixup
if [ -e /dev/tty ]; then mv /dev/tty /dev/tty.backup; fi
cp -a /dev/console /dev/tty
while [ ! -e /dev/mapper/${cryptname} ];
do
sleep 2
/usr/bin/gpg -d "${ckeyfile}" 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup --key-file=- luksOpen ${cryptdev} ${cryptname} ${CSQUIET}
dopassphrase=0
done
rm /dev/tty
if [ -e /dev/tty.backup ]; then mv /dev/tty.backup /dev/tty; fi
else
if eval /sbin/cryptsetup --key-file ${ckeyfile} luksOpen ${cryptdev} ${cryptname} ${CSQUIET}; then
dopassphrase=0
else
echo "Invalid keyfile. Reverting to passphrase."
fi
fi
fi
# Ask for a passphrase
if [ ${dopassphrase} -gt 0 ]; then
echo ""
echo "A password is required to access the ${cryptname} volume:"
#loop until we get a real password
while ! eval /sbin/cryptsetup luksOpen ${cryptdev} ${cryptname} ${CSQUIET}; do
sleep 2;
done
fi
if [ -e "/dev/mapper/${cryptname}" ]; then
if [ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ]; then
export root="/dev/mapper/root"
fi
else
err "Password succeeded, but ${cryptname} creation failed, aborting..."
exit 1
fi
elif [ -n "${crypto}" ]; then
[ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ] && warn_deprecated
msg "Non-LUKS encrypted device found..."
if [ $# -ne 5 ]; then
err "Verify parameter format: crypto=hash:cipher:keysize:offset:skip"
err "Non-LUKS decryption not attempted..."
return 1
fi
exe="/sbin/cryptsetup create ${cryptname} ${cryptdev}"
tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f1)
[ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --hash \"${tmp}\""
tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f2)
[ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --cipher \"${tmp}\""
tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f3)
[ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --key-size \"${tmp}\""
tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f4)
[ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --offset \"${tmp}\""
tmp=$(echo "${crypto}" | cut -d: -f5)
[ -n "${tmp}" ] && exe="${exe} --skip \"${tmp}\""
if [ -f ${ckeyfile} ]; then
exe="${exe} --key-file ${ckeyfile}"
else
exe="${exe} --verify-passphrase"
echo ""
echo "A password is required to access the ${cryptname} volume:"
fi
eval "${exe} ${CSQUIET}"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
err "Non-LUKS device decryption failed. verify format: "
err " crypto=hash:cipher:keysize:offset:skip"
exit 1
fi
if [ -e "/dev/mapper/${cryptname}" ]; then
if [ ${DEPRECATED_CRYPT} -eq 1 ]; then
export root="/dev/mapper/root"
fi
else
err "Password succeeded, but ${cryptname} creation failed, aborting..."
exit 1
fi
else
err "Failed to open encryption mapping: The device ${cryptdev} is not a LUKS volume and the crypto= paramater was not specified."
fi
fi
rm -f ${ckeyfile}
fi
Create /mnt/lib/initcpio/install/etwo:
#!/bin/bash
build() {
local mod
add_module dm-crypt
if [[ $CRYPTO_MODULES ]]; then
for mod in $CRYPTO_MODULES; do
add_module "$mod"
done
else
add_all_modules '/crypto/'
fi
add_dir "/dev/mapper"
add_binary "cryptsetup"
add_binary "dmsetup"
add_binary "/usr/bin/gpg"
add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/10-dm.rules"
add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/13-dm-disk.rules"
add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/95-dm-notify.rules"
add_file "/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules" "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/11-dm-initramfs.rules"
add_runscript
help ()
cat<<HELPEOF
This hook allows for an encrypted root device with support for gpg encrypted key files.
To use gpg, the key file must have the extension .gpg and you have to install gpg and add /usr/bin/gpg
to your BINARIES var in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf.
HELPEOF
Edit /mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.conf (only relevant sections displayed):
MODULES=”ext2 ext4” # not sure if this is really nessecary.
BINARIES=”/usr/bin/gpg” # this could probably be done in install/etwo...
HOOKS=”base udev usbinput keymap autodetect pata scsi sata usb etwo filesystems” # (usbinput is only needed if you have an usb keyboard)
Copy the initcpio stuff over to the live cd:
cp /mnt/lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo /lib/initcpio/hooks/
cp /mnt/lib/initcpio/install/etwo /lib/initcpio/install/
cp /mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.conf /etc/
Verify your LOCALE, KEYMAP and TIMEZONE in /etc/rc.conf!
Now reinstall the initcpio:
mkinitcpio -g /mnt/boot/kernel26.img
Make sure there were no errors and that all hooks were included.
13. Decrypt the "var" key to the encrypted root
mkdir /mnt/keys
chmod 500 /mnt/keys
gpg –output /mnt/keys/var -d /mnt/boot/var.gpg
chmod 400 /mnt/keys/var
14. Setup crypttab
Edit /mnt/etc/crypttab:
swap /dev/sda1 SWAP -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 -s 256 -h whirlpool
var /dev/sda2 /keys/var
15. Reboot
We're done, you may reboot. Make sure you select the usb stick as the boot device in your bios and hope for the best. . If it didn't work, play with grub's settings or boot from the live cd, mount your encrypted devices and check all settings. You might also have less trouble by using uuid's instead of device names. I chose device names to keep things as simple as possible, even though it's not the optimal way to do it.
Make backups of your data and your usb stick and do not forget your password(s)! Or you can say goodbye to your data forever...
Last edited by fabriceb (2013-01-15 22:36:23)

I'm trying to run my install script that is based on https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=129885
Decrypting the gpg key after grub works, but then "Devce root already exists." appears every second.
any idea ?
#!/bin/bash
# This script is designed to be run in conjunction with a UEFI boot using Archboot intall media.
# prereqs:
# EFI "BIOS" set to boot *only* from EFI
# successful EFI boot of Archboot USB
# mount /dev/sdb1 /src
set -o nounset
#set -o errexit
# Host specific configuration
# this whole script needs to be customized, particularly disk partitions
# and configuration, but this section contains global variables that
# are used during the system configuration phase for convenience
HOSTNAME=daniel
USERNAME=user
# Globals
# We don't need to set these here but they are used repeatedly throughout
# so it makes sense to reuse them and allow an easy, one-time change if we
# need to alter values such as the install target mount point.
INSTALL_TARGET="/install"
HR="--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
PACMAN="pacman --noconfirm --config /tmp/pacman.conf"
TARGET_PACMAN="pacman --noconfirm --config /tmp/pacman.conf -r ${INSTALL_TARGET}"
CHROOT_PACMAN="pacman --noconfirm --cachedir /var/cache/pacman/pkg --config /tmp/pacman.conf -r ${INSTALL_TARGET}"
FILE_URL="file:///packages/core-$(uname -m)/pkg"
FTP_URL='ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch'
HTTP_URL='http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch'
# Functions
# I've avoided using functions in this script as they aren't required and
# I think it's more of a learning tool if you see the step-by-step
# procedures even with minor duplciations along the way, but I feel that
# these functions clarify the particular steps of setting values in config
# files.
SetValue () {
# EXAMPLE: SetValue VARIABLENAME '\"Quoted Value\"' /file/path
VALUENAME="$1" NEWVALUE="$2" FILEPATH="$3"
sed -i "s+^#\?$${VALUENAME}$=.*$+\1=${NEWVALUE}+" "${FILEPATH}"
CommentOutValue () {
VALUENAME="$1" FILEPATH="$2"
sed -i "s/^$${VALUENAME}.*$$/#\1/" "${FILEPATH}"
UncommentValue () {
VALUENAME="$1" FILEPATH="$2"
sed -i "s/^#$${VALUENAME}.*$$/\1/" "${FILEPATH}"
# Initialize
# Warn the user about impending doom, set up the network on eth0, mount
# the squashfs images (Archboot does this normally, we're just filling in
# the gaps resulting from the fact that we're doing a simple scripted
# install). We also create a temporary pacman.conf that looks for packages
# locally first before sourcing them from the network. It would be better
# to do either *all* local or *all* network but we can't for two reasons.
# 1. The Archboot installation image might have an out of date kernel
# (currently the case) which results in problems when chrooting
# into the install mount point to modprobe efivars. So we use the
# package snapshot on the Archboot media to ensure our kernel is
# the same as the one we booted with.
# 2. Ideally we'd source all local then, but some critical items,
# notably grub2-efi variants, aren't yet on the Archboot media.
# Warn
timer=9
echo -e "\n\nMAC WARNING: This script is not designed for APPLE MAC installs and will potentially misconfigure boot to your existing OS X installation. STOP NOW IF YOU ARE ON A MAC.\n\n"
echo -n "GENERAL WARNING: This procedure will completely format /dev/sda. Please cancel with ctrl-c to cancel within $timer seconds..."
while [[ $timer -gt 0 ]]
do
sleep 1
let timer-=1
echo -en "$timer seconds..."
done
echo "STARTING"
# Get Network
echo -n "Waiting for network address.."
#dhclient eth0
dhcpcd -p eth0
echo -n "Network address acquired."
# Mount packages squashfs images
umount "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
umount "/packages/core-any"
rm -rf "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
rm -rf "/packages/core-any"
mkdir -p "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
mkdir -p "/packages/core-any"
modprobe -q loop
modprobe -q squashfs
mount -o ro,loop -t squashfs "/src/packages/archboot_packages_$(uname -m).squashfs" "/packages/core-$(uname -m)"
mount -o ro,loop -t squashfs "/src/packages/archboot_packages_any.squashfs" "/packages/core-any"
# Create temporary pacman.conf file
cat << PACMANEOF > /tmp/pacman.conf
[options]
Architecture = auto
CacheDir = ${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/cache/pacman/pkg
CacheDir = /packages/core-$(uname -m)/pkg
CacheDir = /packages/core-any/pkg
[core]
Server = ${FILE_URL}
Server = ${FTP_URL}
Server = ${HTTP_URL}
[extra]
Server = ${FILE_URL}
Server = ${FTP_URL}
Server = ${HTTP_URL}
#Uncomment to enable pacman -Sy yaourt
[archlinuxfr]
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/\$arch
PACMANEOF
# Prepare pacman
[[ ! -d "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/cache/pacman/pkg" ]] && mkdir -m 755 -p "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/cache/pacman/pkg"
[[ ! -d "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/lib/pacman" ]] && mkdir -m 755 -p "${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/lib/pacman"
${PACMAN} -Sy
${TARGET_PACMAN} -Sy
# Install prereqs from network (not on archboot media)
echo -e "\nInstalling prereqs...\n$HR"
#sed -i "s/^#S/S/" /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Uncomment all Server lines
UncommentValue S /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Uncomment all Server lines
${PACMAN} --noconfirm -Sy gptfdisk btrfs-progs-unstable libusb-compat gnupg
# Configure Host
# Here we create three partitions:
# 1. efi and /boot (one partition does double duty)
# 2. swap
# 3. our encrypted root
# Note that all of these are on a GUID partition table scheme. This proves
# to be quite clean and simple since we're not doing anything with MBR
# boot partitions and the like.
echo -e "format\n"
# shred -v /dev/sda
# disk prep
sgdisk -Z /dev/sda # zap all on disk
#sgdisk -Z /dev/mmcb1k0 # zap all on sdcard
sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/sda # new gpt disk 2048 alignment
#sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/mmcb1k0
# create partitions
sgdisk -n 1:0:+200M /dev/sda # partition 1 (UEFI BOOT), default start block, 200MB
sgdisk -n 2:0:+4G /dev/sda # partition 2 (SWAP), default start block, 200MB
sgdisk -n 3:0:0 /dev/sda # partition 3, (LUKS), default start, remaining space
#sgdisk -n 1:0:1800M /dev/mmcb1k0 # root.gpg
# set partition types
sgdisk -t 1:ef00 /dev/sda
sgdisk -t 2:8200 /dev/sda
sgdisk -t 3:8300 /dev/sda
#sgdisk -t 1:0700 /dev/mmcb1k0
# label partitions
sgdisk -c 1:"UEFI Boot" /dev/sda
sgdisk -c 2:"Swap" /dev/sda
sgdisk -c 3:"LUKS" /dev/sda
#sgdisk -c 1:"Key" /dev/mmcb1k0
echo -e "create gpg file\n"
# create gpg file
dd if=/dev/urandom bs=512 count=4 | gpg -v --cipher-algo aes256 --digest-algo sha512 -c -a > /root/root.gpg
echo -e "format LUKS on root\n"
# format LUKS on root
gpg -q -d /root/root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v --key-file=- -c aes-xts-plain -s 512 --hash sha512 luksFormat /dev/sda3
echo -e "open LUKS on root\n"
gpg -d /root/root.gpg 2>/dev/null | cryptsetup -v --key-file=- luksOpen /dev/sda3 root
# NOTE: make sure to add dm_crypt and aes_i586 to MODULES in rc.conf
# NOTE2: actually this isn't required since we're mounting an encrypted root and grub2/initramfs handles this before we even get to rc.conf
# make filesystems
# following swap related commands not used now that we're encrypting our swap partition
#mkswap /dev/sda2
#swapon /dev/sda2
#mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 # this is where we'd create an unencrypted root partition, but we're using luks instead
echo -e "\nCreating Filesystems...\n$HR"
# make filesystems
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/root
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
#mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/mmcb1k0p1
echo -e "mount targets\n"
# mount target
#mount /dev/sda3 ${INSTALL_TARGET} # this is where we'd mount the unencrypted root partition
mount /dev/mapper/root ${INSTALL_TARGET}
# mount target
mkdir ${INSTALL_TARGET}
# mkdir ${INSTALL_TARGET}/key
# mount -t vfat /dev/mmcb1k0p1 ${INSTALL_TARGET}/key
mkdir ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot
mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot
# Install base, necessary utilities
mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/var/lib/pacman
${TARGET_PACMAN} -Sy
${TARGET_PACMAN} -Su base
# curl could be installed later but we want it ready for rankmirrors
${TARGET_PACMAN} -S curl
${TARGET_PACMAN} -S libusb-compat gnupg
${TARGET_PACMAN} -R grub
rm -rf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/grub
${TARGET_PACMAN} -S grub2-efi-x86_64
# Configure new system
SetValue HOSTNAME ${HOSTNAME} ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/rc.conf
sed -i "s/^$127\.0\.0\.1.*$$/\1 ${HOSTNAME}/" ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/hosts
SetValue CONSOLEFONT Lat2-Terminus16 ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/rc.conf
#following replaced due to netcfg
#SetValue interface eth0 ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/rc.conf
# write fstab
# You can use UUID's or whatever you want here, of course. This is just
# the simplest approach and as long as your drives aren't changing values
# randomly it should work fine.
cat > ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/fstab <<FSTAB_EOF
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda1 /boot vfat defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/cryptswap none swap defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/root / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
FSTAB_EOF
# write etwo
mkdir -p /lib/initcpio/hooks/
mkdir -p /lib/initcpio/install/
cp /src/etwo_hooks /lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo
cp /src/etwo_install /lib/initcpio/install/etwo
mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/hooks/
mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/install/
cp /src/etwo_hooks ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/hooks/etwo
cp /src/etwo_install ${INSTALL_TARGET}/lib/initcpio/install/etwo
# write crypttab
# encrypted swap (random passphrase on boot)
echo cryptswap /dev/sda2 SWAP "-c aes-xts-plain -h whirlpool -s 512" >> ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/crypttab
# copy configs we want to carry over to target from install environment
mv ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf.orig
cp /etc/resolv.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf
mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/tmp
cp /tmp/pacman.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/tmp/pacman.conf
# mount proc, sys, dev in install root
mount -t proc proc ${INSTALL_TARGET}/proc
mount -t sysfs sys ${INSTALL_TARGET}/sys
mount -o bind /dev ${INSTALL_TARGET}/dev
echo -e "umount boot\n"
# we have to remount /boot from inside the chroot
umount ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot
# Create install_efi script (to be run *after* chroot /install)
touch ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
chmod a+x ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
cat > ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi <<EFI_EOF
# functions (these could be a library, but why overcomplicate things
SetValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" NEWVALUE="\$2" FILEPATH="\$3"; sed -i "s+^#\?$\${VALUENAME}$=.*\$+\1=\${NEWVALUE}+" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
CommentOutValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^$\${VALUENAME}.*$\$/#\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
UncommentValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^#$\${VALUENAME}.*$\$/\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
echo -e "mount boot\n"
# remount here or grub et al gets confused
mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /boot
# mkinitcpio
# NOTE: intel_agp drm and i915 for intel graphics
SetValue MODULES '\\"dm_mod dm_crypt aes_x86_64 ext2 ext4 vfat intel_agp drm i915\\"' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
SetValue HOOKS '\\"base udev pata scsi sata usb usbinput keymap consolefont etwo encrypt filesystems\\"' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
SetValue BINARIES '\\"/usr/bin/gpg\\"' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
mkinitcpio -p linux
# kernel modules for EFI install
modprobe efivars
modprobe dm-mod
# locale-gen
UncommentValue de_AT /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
# install and configure grub2
# did this above
#${CHROOT_PACMAN} -Sy
#${CHROOT_PACMAN} -R grub
#rm -rf /boot/grub
#${CHROOT_PACMAN} -S grub2-efi-x86_64
# you can be surprisingly sloppy with the root value you give grub2 as a kernel option and
# even omit the cryptdevice altogether, though it will wag a finger at you for using
# a deprecated syntax, so we're using the correct form here
# NOTE: take out i915.modeset=1 unless you are on intel graphics
SetValue GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX '\\"cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:root cryptkey=/dev/sda1:vfat:/root.gpg add_efi_memmap i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1 pcie_aspm=force quiet\\"' /etc/default/grub
# set output to graphical
SetValue GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT gfxterm /etc/default/grub
SetValue GRUB_GFXMODE 960x600x32,auto /etc/default/grub
SetValue GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX keep /etc/default/grub # comment out this value if text only mode
# install the actual grub2. Note that despite our --boot-directory option we will still need to move
# the grub directory to /boot/grub during grub-mkconfig operations until grub2 gets patched (see below)
grub_efi_x86_64-install --bootloader-id=grub --no-floppy --recheck
# create our EFI boot entry
# bug in the HP bios firmware (F.08)
efibootmgr --create --gpt --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --write-signature --label "ARCH LINUX" --loader "\\\\grub\\\\grub.efi"
# copy font for grub2
cp /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 /boot/grub
# generate config file
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
exit
EFI_EOF
# Install EFI using script inside chroot
chroot ${INSTALL_TARGET} /install_efi
rm ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
# Post install steps
# anything you want to do post install. run the script automatically or
# manually
touch ${INSTALL_TARGET}/post_install
chmod a+x ${INSTALL_TARGET}/post_install
cat > ${INSTALL_TARGET}/post_install <<POST_EOF
set -o errexit
set -o nounset
# functions (these could be a library, but why overcomplicate things
SetValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" NEWVALUE="\$2" FILEPATH="\$3"; sed -i "s+^#\?$\${VALUENAME}$=.*\$+\1=\${NEWVALUE}+" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
CommentOutValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^$\${VALUENAME}.*$\$/#\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
UncommentValue () { VALUENAME="\$1" FILEPATH="\$2"; sed -i "s/^#$\${VALUENAME}.*$\$/\1/" "\${FILEPATH}"; }
# root password
echo -e "${HR}\\nNew root user password\\n${HR}"
passwd
# add user
echo -e "${HR}\\nNew non-root user password (username:${USERNAME})\\n${HR}"
groupadd sudo
useradd -m -g users -G audio,lp,optical,storage,video,games,power,scanner,network,sudo,wheel -s /bin/bash ${USERNAME}
passwd ${USERNAME}
# mirror ranking
echo -e "${HR}\\nRanking Mirrors (this will take a while)\\n${HR}"
cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.orig
mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.all
sed -i "s/#S/S/" /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.all
rankmirrors -n 5 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.all > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
# temporary fix for locale.sh update conflict
mv /etc/profile.d/locale.sh /etc/profile.d/locale.sh.preupdate || true
# yaourt repo (add to target pacman, not tmp pacman.conf, for ongoing use)
echo -e "\\n[archlinuxfr]\\nServer = http://repo.archlinux.fr/\\\$arch" >> /etc/pacman.conf
echo -e "\\n[haskell]\\nServer = http://www.kiwilight.com/\\\$repo/\\\$arch" >> /etc/pacman.conf
# additional groups and utilities
pacman --noconfirm -Syu
pacman --noconfirm -S base-devel
pacman --noconfirm -S yaourt
# sudo
pacman --noconfirm -S sudo
cp /etc/sudoers /tmp/sudoers.edit
sed -i "s/#\s*$%wheel\s*ALL=(ALL)\s*ALL.*$$/\1/" /tmp/sudoers.edit
sed -i "s/#\s*$%sudo\s*ALL=(ALL)\s*ALL.*$$/\1/" /tmp/sudoers.edit
visudo -qcsf /tmp/sudoers.edit && cat /tmp/sudoers.edit > /etc/sudoers
# power
pacman --noconfirm -S acpi acpid acpitool cpufrequtils
yaourt --noconfirm -S powertop2
sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/)/ @acpid)/" /etc/rc.conf
sed -i "/^MODULES/ s/)/ acpi-cpufreq cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_powersave coretemp)/" /etc/rc.conf
# following requires my acpi handler script
echo "/etc/acpi/handler.sh boot" > /etc/rc.local
# time
pacman --noconfirm -S ntp
sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/hwclock /!hwclock @ntpd /" /etc/rc.conf
# wireless (wpa supplicant should already be installed)
pacman --noconfirm -S iw wpa_supplicant rfkill
pacman --noconfirm -S netcfg wpa_actiond ifplugd
mv /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.orig
echo -e "ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=network\nupdate_config=1" > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
# make sure to copy /etc/network.d/examples/wireless-wpa-config to /etc/network.d/home and edit
sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/)/ @net-auto-wireless @net-auto-wired)/" /etc/rc.conf
sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/ network / /" /etc/rc.conf
echo -e "\nWIRELESS_INTERFACE=wlan0" >> /etc/rc.conf
echo -e "WIRED_INTERFACE=eth0" >> /etc/rc.conf
echo "options iwlagn led_mode=2" > /etc/modprobe.d/iwlagn.conf
# sound
pacman --noconfirm -S alsa-utils alsa-plugins
sed -i "/^DAEMONS/ s/)/ @alsa)/" /etc/rc.conf
mv /etc/asound.conf /etc/asound.conf.orig || true
#if alsamixer isn't working, try alsamixer -Dhw and speaker-test -Dhw -c 2
# video
pacman --noconfirm -S base-devel mesa mesa-demos
# x
#pacman --noconfirm -S xorg xorg-xinit xorg-utils xorg-server-utils xdotool xorg-xlsfonts
#yaourt --noconfirm -S xf86-input-wacom-git # NOT NEEDED? input-wacom-git
#TODO: cut down the install size
#pacman --noconfirm -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-utils xorg-server-utils
# TODO: wacom
# environment/wm/etc.
#pacman --noconfirm -S xfce4 compiz ccsm
#pacman --noconfirm -S xcompmgr
#yaourt --noconfirm -S physlock unclutter
#pacman --noconfirm -S rxvt-unicode urxvt-url-select hsetroot
#pacman --noconfirm -S gtk2 #gtk3 # for taffybar?
#pacman --noconfirm -S ghc
# note: try installing alex and happy from cabal instead
#pacman --noconfirm -S haskell-platform haskell-hscolour
#yaourt --noconfirm -S xmonad-darcs xmonad-contrib-darcs xcompmgr
#yaourt --noconfirm -S xmobar-git
# TODO: edit xfce to use compiz
# TODO: xmonad, but deal with video tearing
# TODO: xmonad-darcs fails to install from AUR. haskell dependency hell.
# switching to cabal
# fonts
pacman --noconfirm -S terminus-font
yaourt --noconfirm -S webcore-fonts
yaourt --noconfirm -S fontforge libspiro
yaourt --noconfirm -S freetype2-git-infinality
# TODO: sed infinality and change to OSX or OSX2 mode
# and create the sym link from /etc/fonts/conf.avail to conf.d
# misc apps
#pacman --noconfirm -S htop openssh keychain bash-completion git vim
#pacman --noconfirm -S chromium flashplugin
#pacman --noconfirm -S scrot mypaint bc
#yaourt --noconfirm -S task-git stellarium googlecl
# TODO: argyll
POST_EOF
# Post install in chroot
#echo "chroot and run /post_install"
chroot /install /post_install
rm /install/post_install
# copy grub.efi file to the default HP EFI boot manager path
mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/EFI/Microsoft/BOOT/
mkdir -p ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/EFI/BOOT/
cp ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/grub/grub.efi ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/EFI/Microsoft/BOOT/bootmgfw.efi
cp ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/grub/grub.efi ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
cp /root/root.gpg ${INSTALL_TARGET}/boot/
# NOTES/TODO

[HOWTO] Installing Arch Linux stable release on Acer Aspire One 522

[This is a work on progress and my first howto ever]
These steps will teach you how to install ArchLinux x64 stable release (currently 2010.05) on Acer Aspire One 522 from an existing ArchLinux (your desktop computer)
As you need a 2.6.37+ kernel to make networking work on the AO522, installing stable release as is won't work.
This Howto borns with the intention to address this problem.
You need to be familiarized with Linux internals to follow this howto.
(Expect this howto to become useless with new stable releases of ArchLinux.)
Remember to make a backup of your Windows 7 Starter system before installing ArchLinux.
I did a full raw copy of the harddisk by using systemrescuecd, an external harddisk and dd utility:
Just boot with systemrescuecd
Mount your external harddisk on /mnt/floppy for example
Clone harddisk with: dd if=/dev/sda |gzip -c > /mnt/floppy/ao522.img
This process took me a lot of time since my external harddisk is USB-1 (almost an entire evening)
Result image was about 22GB size
This image will restore partition table, boot sector and all data if things go wrong.
I followed some of the steps from this guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ting_Linux
If you have some Gentoo Linux experience you will find those steps really familiar.
You will need 2 USB pendrives or similar storage options.
One is needed to boot into your netbook, and the other to store our custom archlinux build.
Making an updated ArchLinux system
1) Make a local dir on your existing linux system
# mkdir ./newarch
2) Install pacman database on it
# pacman -Sy -r ./newarch
3) Install base system
# pacman -S base -r ./newarch
4) Let's chroot inside
# cp /etc/resolv.conf ./newarch/etc/
# cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist ./newarch/etc/pacman.d
# mount -t proc proc ./newarch/proc
# mount -t sysfs sys ./newarch/sys
# mount -o bind /dev ./newarch/dev
# chroot ./newarch /bin/bash
5) Edit configuration files
# nano -w /etc/rc.conf
# nano -w /etc/hosts
# nano -w /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
Forget /etc/fstab for now since you don't know what partitions to use yet
6) Generate kernel image
# mkinitcpio -p kernel26
7) Generate locales
# nano -w /etc/locale.gen
# locale-gen
8) Make a tarball with our custom ArchLinux
# exit
# umount ./newarch/proc
# umount ./newarch/dev
# umount ./newarch/sys
# tar -cvpf newarch.tar ./newarch
9) Copy this tarball to an USB pendrive or external harddisk
10) Boot your netbook with a Linux bootable USB stick (I used systemrescuecd, and remember to pick the x64 bit kernel at grub screen)
You can use any linux distribution with usb bootable options. I suppose ArchLinux works too
To install SystemRescueCD on an USB stick follow this tutorial -> SystemRescueCD on usb stick
Insert the usb stick on your netbook, switch on, hit F2 to enter BIOS menu, and choose to boot from USB as first option. Save and Exit.
You should be booting into SystemRescueCD without any problem.
After initialization you will end in a root prompt.
11) Let's partition the disk
You will find 3 partitions if this is your first time:
/dev/sda1 2048 29362175 14680064 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 * 29362176 29566975 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 29566976 488397167 229312696 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
My recomendation is to leave sda1 and sda2 intact, as they have the recovery information to restore Windows 7 Starter
You have plenty of space with sda3, about 230G.
So run fdisk/cfdisk and delete /dev/sda3
Now create a 100M partition for boot
Now create a Extended partition with all the space left
Now create a 1GB logical partition for swap
Now create a 10-15 GB logical partition for root system
And finally a logical partition for our home partition with all space left
Your partition table should look like this:
/dev/sda1 2048 29362175 14680064 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 * 29362176 29566975 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 29566976 29771775 102400 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 29771776 488397167 229312696 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 29773824 31821823 1024000 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 31823872 63281151 15728640 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 63283200 488397167 212556984 83 Linux
12) Create filesystems
I choosed ext2 for boot, and reiserfs for root and home partitions.
# mke2fs /dev/sda3
# mkreiserfs /dev/sda6
# mkreiserfs /dev/sda7
# mkswap /dev/sda5
13) Mount partitions
# mkdir arch
# mount /dev/sda6 arch
# mkdir arch/boot
# mount /dev/sda3 arch/boot
# mkdir arch/home
# mount /dev/sda7 arch/home
14) Copy our custom ArchLinux build on it
# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/floppy (for example)
# cd arch
# tar -xvpf /mnt/flopy/newarch.tar
15) Configure /etc/fstab
Mine is as follows:
devpts /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
shm /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda3 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda6 / reiserfs defaults 0 1
/dev/sda7 /home reiserfs defaults 0 1
/dev/sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
16) Chroot in your new system
# mount -t proc proc ./proc
# mount -t sysfs sys ./sys
# mount -o bind /dev ./dev
# chroot ./ /bin/bash
17) Install grub
# grub-install
Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to suit your needs
Mine looks like this:
timeout 5
default 0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda6 ro
initrd /kernel26.img
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda6 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img
title Windows 7 Recovery
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
As you see, you can restore Windows 7 Starter from Grub.
18) Change root password
# passwd
19) Add a regular user account
# useradd -G video,audio,users -m username
# passwd username
20) You're done!
# exit
# cd ..
# umount ./arch/proc
# umount ./arch/dev
# umount ./arch/sys
# umount ./arch/boot
# umount ./arch/
# reboot
Remove the usb stick from your netbook.
If all went ok, you will be inside your new stable and updated ArchLinux system
Next post is reserved for software configurations specific to the Acer Aspire One 522
Last edited by tigrezno (2011-04-20 12:22:38)

Using acpid to achieve the following:
- Change screen brightness when operating in battery mode
- Power off when the power button is pressed
- Suspend when the lid is down
- Reduce CPU frequency speed to maximize battery usage
Remember that system suspend is only supported by ati free driver xf86-video-ati
1) Install acpid daemon and cpufrequtils
# pacman -S apcid cpufrequtils
2) edit acpid handler script
# nano -w /etc/acpi/handler.sh
Change the following section:
ac_adapter)
case "$2" in
AC)
case "$4" in
00000000)
echo -n $minspeed >$setspeed
#/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode start
00000001)
echo -n $maxspeed >$setspeed
#/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode stop
esac
*) logger "ACPI action undefined: $2" ;;
esac
for:
ac_adapter)
case "$2" in
ACAD)
case "$4" in
00000000)
echo 3 > /sys/devices/virtual/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
cpufreq-set -c 0 -f 800Mhz
cpufreq-set -c 1 -f 800Mhz
00000001)
echo 9 > /sys/devices/virtual/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
cpufreq-set -c 0 -f 1000Mhz
cpufreq-set -c 1 -f 1000Mhz
esac
*) logger "ACPI action undefined: $2" ;;
esac
Make sure you changed AC) for ACAD)
Now change this other section:
button/power)
#echo "PowerButton pressed!">/dev/tty5
case "$2" in
PWRF) logger "PowerButton pressed: $2" ;;
*) logger "ACPI action undefined: $2" ;;
esac
with:
button/power)
#echo "PowerButton pressed!">/dev/tty5
case "$2" in
PWRF) poweroff ;;
*) logger "ACPI action undefined: $2" ;;
esac
Change:
button/lid)
#echo "LID switched!">/dev/tty5
logger "ACPI group/action undefined: $1 / $2"
for:
button/lid)
pm-suspend && /etc/rc.d/network restart
logger "ACPI group/action undefined: $1 / $2"
Network restart is used because wlan0 will disconnect from AP after some time. You can try using iwconfig wlan0 essid <ap> key <key> instead of the network script, but haven't tested it myself.
3) Start acpid and load modules
# modprobe powernow-k8
# /etc/rc.d/acpid start
Add "acpid" to DAEMONS in /etc/rc.conf to start on boot
Add "powernow-k8" to the modules sections on /etc/rc.conf to load at boot
Stopping system freezes due to ethernet driver
The only way people have found to avoid freezes is by blacklisting atheros kernel drivers.
To do it at boot just edit /etc/rc.conf and change the MODULES line as this:
MODULES=(!ath9k !atl1c)
Reboot and you're done, but remember to not press the Wifi key, because it can freeze your system.
Correctly starting wireless at boot
I've found that standard scripts wont load properly my wireless lan. It gave an error telling you to use the WIRELESS_TIMEOUT variable and such.
To solve this, edit /etc/rc.d/network script and change the wi_up function by adding a second iwconfig command like this:
wi_up()
eval iwcfg="\$wlan_${1}"
[[ ! $iwcfg ]] && return 0
/usr/sbin/iwconfig $iwcfg
[[ $WIRELESS_TIMEOUT ]] || WIRELESS_TIMEOUT=2
sleep $WIRELESS_TIMEOUT
/usr/sbin/iwconfig $iwcfg
bssid=$(iwgetid $1 -ra)
It will do the trick and will start at boot correctly. This is not a solution but a fix.
Adjust Touchpad to disable false taps
What I did here is defining an area to be ignored. This area are 3 rectangles on top, left and right of the touchpad.
This means you can write and press space without having the cursor click out of the window and such.
# synclient AreaLeftEdge=150
# synclient AreaRightEdge=1300
# synclient AreaTopEdge=300
Also, add it to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf:
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "evdev touchpad catchall"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
Option "AreaTopEdge" "300"
Option "AreaLeftEdge" "150"
Option "AreaRightEdge" "1300"
EndSection
You can play with those values. They just work for me.
Last edited by tigrezno (2011-04-23 13:49:48)

How to setup grub2 with arch linux and xen, lvm on luks

OK, so I tried downloading this package from AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/xen-git/ , but that has patching problems as noted in the comments. It looks like the packagebuild sets up all the xen stuff for you, but I can't seem to get the package to install because of the error's while patching. If anyone can point me in the right direction on what all the extra files in the PKGBUILD are for or how to debug problems with PKGBUILDs not working because of patches.
So next I just tried to compile the latest xen from git://xenbits.xen.org/xen.git (with ./configure, make, make install) and that seemed to go fine, but I'm a bit confused:
1. Do I have to do any additional configuration for xen when working with arch linux? On ubuntu I could just compile the source, update grub, and make sure to start the x services at runtime.
2. How do I set up grub to load xen with this setup? Right now this is my /boot/grub/grub.cfg:
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Arch"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:vgStorage"
# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"
# Uncomment to enable Hidden Menu, and optionally hide the timeout count
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto
# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx"
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors. Used by normal and wallpaper
# modes only. Entries specified as foreground/background.
#GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
#GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"
# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/path/to/wallpaper"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"
# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"
~
I've tried throwing in a line like: XEN_HYPERVISOR_CMDLINE="cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:vgStorage", but nothing new shows up on the grub boot menu.
First time trying to set up a non-ubuntu system, please help!

As for XEN.... well you could always try QEMU/KVM or LXC.
As for the LVM2-on-LUKS/dm-crypt
My /etc/mkinitcpio.conf looks like this...
MODULES="aesni_intel ata_generic ata_piix nls_cp437 ext4 intel_agp i915 dm-snapshot"
BINARIES=""
FILES=""
HOOKS="base udev autodetect block keymap encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard fsck shutdown"
/etc/defaults/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=/dev/sda2:root:allow-discards"
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
The running grub config looks like this
/boot/grub/grub.cfg
9 insmod part_gpt
10 insmod part_msdos
53 if loadfont unicode ; then
54 set gfxmode=auto
55 load_video
56 insmod gfxterm
57 set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
58 set lang=en_US
59 insmod gettext
60 fi
61 terminal_input console
62 terminal_output gfxterm
63 set timeout=3
84 menuentry 'Backup, Arch Linux grsec kernel' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-grsec kernel-true-12341234-8080-8080-8080-332200882255' {
85 load_video
86 set gfxpayload=keep
87 insmod gzio
88 insmod part_msdos
89 insmod ext2
90 set root='hd1,msdos2'
91 if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
92 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos2 BBAAEEAA-FFCC-CCFF-FFCC-AABBCCEEBBAA
93 else
94 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BBAAEEAA-FFCC-CCFF-FFCC-AABBCCEEBBAA
95 fi
96 echo 'Loading Linux grsec kernel ...'
97 linux /vmlinuz-linux-grsec root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-lvroot rw cryptdevice=/dev/sda2:root:allow-discards quiet
98 echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
99 initrd /initramfs-linux-grsec.img
100 }
Things to note:
Numerical UUID is the UUID of the ROOT partition.
Alphabetical UUIS is the BOOT partition
hd1,msdos2 AND ahci1,msdos2 are how the Grub Bootloader numbers the drives not Linux.
I have my BOOT partition on a USB stick, and it is the Second partition.
So, that would make it, Device 2 and Partition 2
Device numbering starts at 0
Partition numbering starts at 1
Oh, and note that you don't need ":allow-discards" ... at all but certainly if you don't have an SSD. Also note that I included the line numbers so it is very clear that I didn't post the whole thing, but instead what I thought was relevant. Finally, I am loading modules that I don't even need, but what the hell... if it ain't broke, don't fix it
Last edited by hunterthomson (2013-12-04 08:31:45)

Arch Linux error - update bios or force_addr

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