installation failure because of grub-install error (embedding is not possible)

[bunjes]

Hello,

our proxmox 2 installation on a HP ProLiant Server fails with the error message "unable to install the boot loader".
Details:
# chroot /target /usr/sbin/grub-install --no-floppy '(hd0)'
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: This msdos-style partition label has no post-MBR gap; embedding won't be possible
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for cross-disk install.
unable to install the boot loader
# umount /target/boot
...

Booting from the super-grub2-disk as suggested elsewhere did not help, since this tool doesn't find any grub configuration.

Error occurs no matter if the two internal drives are configured as hardware-raid or not.

Any help is highly appreciated.

All the best,

Friedemann

 

[dietmar]

Is there more than one disk inside that server?

 

[bunjes]

Is there more than one disk inside that server?

Yes, there are two local disks and three raid volumes.
I tried to install on the first of the two local disks /dev/sda.

 

[dietmar]

Yes, there are two local disks and three raid volumes.
I tried to install on the first of the two local disks /dev/sda.

And the bios also considers that as first (boot) disk?

 

[bunjes]

Here they mention, that there needs to be some free space after the MBR.+ Reply to Thread

 

[bunjes]

Yes, the embedded HP SmartArray B110i SATA RAID Controller that manages the local disks is at position 1 in the boot order.

 

[dietmar]

Here they mention, that there needs to be some free space after the MBR.+ Reply to Thread

You use software raid?

 

[bunjes]

It seems, that grub2 can not write it's core.img to the 512 bytes after the MBR (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2#MBR_aka_msdos_partitioning_specific_instructions).

Is there a way to influence the install CD's partitioning scheme?

 

[bunjes]

No. There its yet no software installed.

 

[dietmar]

Is there a way to influence the install CD's partitioning scheme?

No, but the partitioning scheme works here. How large is that disk?

 

[bunjes]

750 gb

 

[bunjes]

no, sorry, 698 GB

 

[bunjes]

Is there a way to boot into the installed system bypassing the not-installed grub?

 

[dietmar]

Is there a way to boot into the installed system bypassing the not-installed grub?

boot from CD, and type 'pveboot' at the boot prompt - that should boot into the existing installation.

 

[bunjes]

RESOLVED: inst. failure because of grub-install error (embedding is not possible)

boot from CD, and type 'pveboot' at the boot prompt - that should boot into the existing installation.

Hi,

I booted into the fresh installation with the pveboot command as suggested.
I then ran upgrade-from-grub-legacy and selected my disk /dev/sda.

Thanks the help!

Best,

Friedemann