Bug 1040147

Summary:	Can't install fedora on new disk. Really needed wizard for setup boot partitions in anaconda.
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Mikhail <mikhail.v.gavrilov>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	unspecified	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	rawhide	CC:	anaconda-maint-list, awilliam, g.kaviyarasu, jonathan, vanmeeuwen+fedora
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Reopened
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Hardware:	Unspecified
OS:	Unspecified
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2013-12-11 15:16:44 UTC	Type:	Bug
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description Mikhail 2013-12-10 20:14:50 UTC

Description of problem:
I am try first time install system on new non formatted SSD and anaconda suggest strange things as "create 1MB 'biosboot' partition" or "You have not created a bootloader stage1 target device" "You have not created a bootable partition"

Demonstration: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0nwzlfiB4aQUmhjNXVtRlBKVkU/edit?usp=sharing
also with UEFI bios: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0nwzlfiB4aQTlVEYnJaazZoc3c/edit?usp=sharing

Questions:
1. Which is better for SSD GPT or MBR/DOS
2. Whether always need a separate partition 1MB for GPT? (In which cases it would not needed?)
3. Whether always need a separate partition for UEFI BIOS??? (In which cases it would not needed? And which is minimum size for EFI partition)

Conclusion. It would be much easier and more understandable if the anaconda have wizard and step by step told which partitions it is necessary to create and why.

Comment 1 Brian Lane 2013-12-11 02:18:17 UTC

You should be using autopart.

Comment 2 Mikhail 2013-12-11 02:30:12 UTC

autopart very unusefull, because
1. create more partition than really needed
2. size of created partition much more than I wanted
2. autopart cant reuse partitions from previous install (I want use olf home partition without reformat and and / partition with reformat)

So be better replace autopart with wizard which I described above.

Comment 3 Chris Lumens 2013-12-11 15:16:44 UTC

We are not going to take this approach, sorry.  Your options are to use autopart, or to use the custom partitioning tool provided, or to create your non-root partitions with some external tool and point anaconda at them.

Comment 4 Adam Williamson 2014-01-28 02:22:04 UTC

"Which is better for SSD GPT or MBR/DOS"

It doesn't really matter. GPT is, technically speaking, a better format. You are highly unlikely to notice any difference between them on a day-to-day basis.

I would recommend using GPT for a UEFI native install, and MBR for a BIOS native install.

"Whether always need a separate partition 1MB for GPT? (In which cases it would not needed?)"

You always need this BIOS Boot partition if doing a BIOS native install to a GPT-formatted disk. You do *not* need it if you're doing a UEFI native install, or a BIOS native install to an MBR-formatted disk.

"Whether always need a separate partition for UEFI BIOS??? (In which cases it would not needed? And which is minimum size for EFI partition)"

Yes, an EFI system partition is always required for a UEFI native install. Currently, anaconda requires that it must be on a GPT-formatted disk (this is technically an excessive requirement - some firmwares can in fact handle ESPs on MBR-formatted disks - but that is outside the UEFI spec and I'd really recommend using GPT for a UEFI install). Minimum size isn't something we can give you a really hard number for, but Rod Smith's done a lot of advising people on UEFI matters, and he recommends 550MB as a good size. You must set its type to 'EFI system partition', and its mount point to /boot/efi .