On Thu, Feb 10, 2022 at 04:37:55PM -0500, Dan Ritter wrote: > Nitebirdz wrote: > > I currently have a laptop running buster on an encrypted disk that boots > > via EFI. The filesystems look like this: > > > > /dev/mapper/tangier--vg-root / > > /dev/mapper/tangier--vg-home /home > > /dev/sda1 /boot/efi > > /dev/sda2 /boot > > > > I know I can easily upgrade to bullseye from the running system. However, > > what I usually do when it's time to upgrade Debian on a laptop is to start > > from a clean slate. It's my chance to clean up and remove old cruft (well, > > with the exception of my own home partition, of course). So, instead of > > upgrading, I just install the new version of Debian. > > > > Now, my problem is that, whenever I launch the installer, it wants to > > partition the disk. Is there a way to tell the installer to leave the > > existing partitioning scheme alone? Also, I'd need the installer to leave > > the home partition alone, and format and install over the other > > partitions. Is this possible? If so, how? I've been trying different > > approaches, and I don't seem to be able to find the way to do it. > > Yes. Tell the installer you want to partition the disks > manually, and then select each one and assign it to the role > that you want. For /home, either don't assign it or make sure > that you mark it as "leave the contents alone". > Thanks. But it doesn't appear to work. The disk partitioning tool only shows the actual partitions, but no trace of the already existing encrypted volumes. See the screenshot attached. I'm testing this using QEMU. No matter what entry I select on that screen, it wants me to continue partitioning, and ends up destroying the previous setup. I cannot see a way to just get it to notice the already existing layout. That does work for more simple setups, but not for encrypted volumes, it seems. > But if you're going to do that, why not try a nice in-place > upgrade first? I bet you'll be happy with it, and if not, you've > lost maybe an hour over what you were going to do anyway. > Yes, I've done Debian upgrades before, and they are quite reliable. As mentioned in my original message, though, I take this as an opportunity to "clean up house", and remove all the cruft that I have been accumulating for the last couple of of years. That's the reason why, when a new Debian release comes out, I prefer to reinstall (well, on this particular system; I usually do standard upgrades on others). -- Nitebirdz
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