Re: help needed to get a bookworm install to succeed
On Sun 31 Mar 2024 at 11:18:30 (+0200), DdB wrote:
> Already before assembling the hardware, grub was working from the SSD,
> which got lvm partitioning and is basically empty. As i have no working
> CD drive nor can this old machine boot from USB, i put an ISO for
> bookworm onto an lvm-LV. Using grub, i can manually boot from that ISO
> and see the first installer screens. But after asking some questions,
> the installer wants to mount the external media (ISO), and does not find
> it on sd[a-z], then aborts.
> By switching to Desktop 4, i can see the attempt to search for the
> "CD"-drive, which is bound to fail.
> I am not familiar with the very restricted shell, that is available from
> the installer (busybox) and have not yet found an approach to circumvent
> my problems. i would like to use the installer, as debootstrapping would
> necessitate alot more knowledge than mine.
My memory of doing this is rusty, as it's a while since my
Seattle2 machine finally expired. I would try downloading the
kernel¹ and initrd from:
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/amd64/
as these can search for the ISO in a greater range of locations.
I'd copy the two files onto the hard disk, and use an entry like:
menuentry "Install Debian via HTTP" {
search --no-floppy --label --set=root noah03
linux /boot/linux priority=low
initrd /boot/initrd.gz
}
in Grub to boot it. (Add a custom entry, or just edit a preexisting
entry to suit. BTW I use LABELs on my disks.) Make sure the kernel
versions are the same for those two files and the ISO.
https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/apas02.en.html#howto-getting-images-hard-disk
https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/ch05s01.en.html#boot-initrd
https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/ch04s04.en.html
¹ I see linux, rather than vmlinuz, at that location now.
Cheers,
David.
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