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There is a problem with booting Qubes 4.1.1 after installation marked by installer as successful. The validity of the image is confirmed and hardware requirements should be passed.

SETUP [docs]

  • Intel Core i9-10900K
  • MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
  • Corsair MP400 2TB
  • NVIDIA GeForce 1060 6GB

PROCEDURE

  1. Reset UEFI to default values: Settings - Save & Exit - Restore Defaults
  2. Disable Secure Boot: Settings - Security - Secure Boot - Secure Boot
  3. Enable VT-x(d): OC - CPU Features - Intel Virtualization Tech, Intel VT-D Tech
  4. Set SATA mode to AHCI: Settings - Advanced - Integrated Peripherals - SATA Mode
  5. Set NVMe as first in boot priority: Settings - Boot - FIXED BOOT ORDER
  6. Install Qubes using ‘Test media and install Qubes OS R4.1.1’

OUTCOME

Installation ends with saying the operation was successful and that user is ready to use Qubes. Not sure if relevant but getting this after clicking Reboot button: enter image description here

PC doesn't reboot means there is a need to power the computer off and manually start it again, removing the installation USB stick meanwhile. PC boots into UEFI.

TROUBLESHOOTING PASSED

Boot device not recognized after installing [docs]

Tried to execute command:

cp -r /boot/efi/EFI/qubes/. /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT

Output:

cp: cannot stat '/boot/efi/EFI/qubes/.': No such file or directory

Checking up the boot directory:

cd boot

ls

Output:

initramfs-5.15.52-1.fc32.qubes.x86_64.img

Accessing installer Rescue mode on UEFI [docs]

pkill -9 anaconda

anaconda --rescue

> 1

> {PASSPHRASE}

You don't have any Linux partitions. Rebooting.

Please press ENTER to get a shell:

Checking up on partitions:

fdisk -l

enter image description here

What’s the catch? Thank you so much for the help.

EDIT #1

  • Tried to install Qubes without GPU attached - didn't help
  • Tried switching from UEFI mode to CSM - didn't help

EDIT #2

  • Looks like installer runs in correct mode (EFI). See output of ls /sys/firmware/efi: config_table efivars fw_platform_size systab

EDIT #3

  • There is probably problem with mounting a partition. When I lsblk in shell I got these results:

enter image description here

None of the NVMe has its mount point set. I went to Mint (Debian based) shell and executed this script:

#!/bin/bash -x

mount -v /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/ && cd /mnt/
mount -v /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi/


apt install -y efibootmgr


efibootmgr -v


echo '# EFIbootmgr fix start'
efibootmgr -v -c -u -L QubesOS -l /EFI/qubes/grubx64.efi -d /dev/nvme0n1 -p 1 && echo "# EFIbootmgr fix done"
#efibootmgr -v


cd /; sleep 1
umount -v /mnt/efi
umount -v /mnt

After reboot Qubes doesn't boot (still the same problem). When I plug in Qubes USB stick and go to shell I got the same lsblk results. What could cause this problem with no mounting?

Kotkoroid
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2 Answers2

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It would appear that the installation process was not successful, as the /boot/efi/ directory hasn't been populated correctly.

In this scenario, it would be worth running through the install process again. Making sure that VT-x & VT-d are enabled, UEFI mode enabled, CSM disabled and check the NVMe settings are correct. Be sure to set the NVMe boot priority.

When going through the motions with anaconda, use manual partitioning and make sure the partitions are created properly. If everything goes well, you should be able to reboot into UEFI and make sure the new EFI partition shows up as a boot option. Set it to the first boot option if it hasn't done so already.

At this point you should be able to boot into your new qubes install.

xentoo
  • 194
1

Thanks to @xentoo and other helpful folks Qubes was booted. However the cause of the problem haven't been confirmed. There are two options in play: NVMe or UEFI. Find procedure down below that made Qubes boot (tried multiple times):

PROCEDURE

Values for MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI

  1. Reset to default values
  2. Set Advanced - BIOS CSM/UEFI Mode option to CSM
  3. Set Advanced - Intergrated Peripherals option to AHCI Mode
  4. Set Overclocking - CPU Features - Intel VT-D Tech option to Enabled
  5. Set the disk as first in boot priorities menu
  6. Save and reboot
  7. Apply Advanced - Secure Erase+ to the disk
  8. Plug USB stick with Qubes installation
  9. Install using Test media and install Qubes OS R4.1.1
Kotkoroid
  • 21