Bug 755160

Summary: Have BIOS Boot partition, But it says I don't
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: monobello
Component: anacondaAssignee: Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: urgent Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 16CC: anaconda-maint-list, dcantrell, gaspard, jonathan, stefanrin, the.ridikulus.rat, vanmeeuwen+fedora
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: x86_64   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2012-07-19 21:37:16 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Attachments:
Description Flags
storage.log
none
anaconda.log
none
program.log
none
syslog none

Description monobello 2011-11-19 08:01:30 UTC
Description of problem:

I have a 3TB drive on which I created a GPT using gparted. I have installed on this disc before and anaconda gave me an option to create a BIOS Boot in the custom disc layout and the install went fine. I however wanted to make some changes like encryption and started another install. I did some changes and I didn't touch the BIOS Boot partition and it gave me an error it couldn't find one. So I deleted it and when I tried to add it back in, it didn't give me the option of a BIOS Boot partition. I tried several times, no luck. So I started over with Gparted and created a GPT and also created a BIOS Boot partition. Anaconda listed a BIOS Boot partition and I added all the volumes back in, but it says there isn't one.

I also added a new drive during this installation and I thought that may be the problem.  So I also created a BIOS Boot partition on that one as well, but it didn't help.  It just keep saying I don't have one. I have tried a 1.5 days and can't get past this problem.

Here is what the custom disc layout shows:

LVM Volume groups
vgroup00             1339968
    samba            50016     /samba     ext4    (encrypt)
    home             200000    /home      ext4    (encrypt)
    audio            400000    /audio     ext4
    root             200000    /          ext4
    free             489952
vgroup01             1503584
    vm               1503584   /vm        ext4    (encrypt)
vgroup02             1430784
    backup           1430784   /backup    ext4    (encrypt)
Hard Drives
sda
    sda1                   2              BIOS Boot
    sda2                1000   /boot      ext4
    sda3             1340000   vgroup00   physical volume (LVM)
    sda4               17000              swap
    sda5             1503585   vgroup01   physical volume (LVM)
sdb
    sdb1                   2               BIOS Boot
    sdb2             1430796    vgroup02  physical volume (LVM)

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Happens every time.

Additional info:

Comment 1 David Lehman 2012-01-06 13:51:27 UTC
Please attach the following files from the shell on vt2 and attach each one to this report as type text/plain:

 /tmp/anaconda.log
 /tmp/storage.log
 /tmp/program.log
 /tmp/syslog

Thanks.

Comment 2 David Lehman 2012-01-06 13:52:09 UTC
It is worth noting that a BIOS Boot partition should be between 512KB and 1MB in size. Yours appear to be 2MB.

Comment 3 Stefan Ring 2012-05-12 16:33:11 UTC
I have the same problem with the F17 Beta installer.

First of all, the BIOS boot partition should not be necessary for msdos partition tables, but the installer says I need one. Secondly, when I create one, it still says that I didn't and won't let me continue.

Comment 4 Stefan Ring 2012-05-12 16:34:16 UTC
Created attachment 584043 [details]
storage.log

Comment 5 Stefan Ring 2012-05-12 16:34:55 UTC
Created attachment 584044 [details]
anaconda.log

Comment 6 Stefan Ring 2012-05-12 16:35:21 UTC
Created attachment 584045 [details]
program.log

Comment 7 Stefan Ring 2012-05-12 16:35:50 UTC
Created attachment 584046 [details]
syslog

Comment 8 Stefan Ring 2012-05-30 12:00:32 UTC
In fact, as of now, I have not been able to install F17 on a real machine at all because of this. It failed on 3 machines. Installing CentOS/Fedora has always been a breeze for years, but that's definitely not the case anymore. I had to install in a virtual machine and transfer the image over to the real machine with some manual tweaking.

Comment 9 David Lehman 2012-05-30 14:56:43 UTC
(In reply to comment #8)
> In fact, as of now, I have not been able to install F17 on a real machine at
> all because of this. It failed on 3 machines. Installing CentOS/Fedora has
> always been a breeze for years, but that's definitely not the case anymore.
> I had to install in a virtual machine and transfer the image over to the
> real machine with some manual tweaking.

You cannot use the same disk to hold your installation media and as the system boot disk. This is largely to protect users from erroneously configuring removable media as the boot disk and then being unable to boot after removing that media. You will have to find some other place to store your install media.


By the way -- is it really saying something about a BIOS boot partition? If so, what is the exact message?

Comment 10 Stefan Ring 2012-05-31 06:30:28 UTC
(In reply to comment #9)
> You cannot use the same disk to hold your installation media and as the
> system boot disk. This is largely to protect users from erroneously
> configuring removable media as the boot disk and then being unable to boot
> after removing that media. You will have to find some other place to store
> your install media.

This is a good explanation why it doesn't work, but it's highly annoying. I've been duing installs this way for years. Maybe this "protection" can be made optional?

> By the way -- is it really saying something about a BIOS boot partition? If
> so, what is the exact message?

The message is exactly the same as the one in the screenshot in bug #739389 ("you have not created a bootloader stage1 target device"), which every FAQ translates to "please create a BIOS Boot partition".

Comment 11 David Lehman 2012-05-31 14:24:45 UTC
(In reply to comment #10)
> (In reply to comment #9)
> > By the way -- is it really saying something about a BIOS boot partition? If
> > so, what is the exact message?
> 
> The message is exactly the same as the one in the screenshot in bug #739389
> ("you have not created a bootloader stage1 target device"), which every FAQ
> translates to "please create a BIOS Boot partition".

The message does not necessarily refer to a BIOS boot partition. It generally means "there is no suitable place to install your bootloader". (Having ruled out the disk containing the installation media, there is indeed no place to install the bootloader.)

Unfortunately, if we make it possible to click through and proceed that is exactly what people will do. Then, when their systems do not boot, they will file bug reports complaining that we allowed them to do something unreasonable.

It should be possible to obtain a USB flash drive to hold your install media.

Comment 12 Stefan Ring 2012-05-31 17:01:57 UTC
> It should be possible to obtain a USB flash drive to hold your install media.

You are right. It works this way. It's a nuisance, but it's managable. Thanks.

Comment 13 Stefan Ring 2012-06-01 08:35:00 UTC
(In reply to comment #11)
> (In reply to comment #10)
> > The message is exactly the same as the one in the screenshot in bug #739389
> > ("you have not created a bootloader stage1 target device"), which every FAQ
> > translates to "please create a BIOS Boot partition".
> 
> The message does not necessarily refer to a BIOS boot partition. It
> generally means "there is no suitable place to install your bootloader".
> (Having ruled out the disk containing the installation media, there is
> indeed no place to install the bootloader.)

In particular, here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F16_bugs#Error_.22you_have_not_created_a_bootloader_stage1_target_device.22_appears_in_partitioning_menu

As this is semi-official Fedora documentation, it would be good to update it. Apparently, the message can have a completely different meaning, as seen in my example.

Comment 14 Jesse Keating 2012-07-19 21:37:16 UTC
Original issue has been resolved, closing this bug.