Fail to boot Proxmox 8 installed from Debian

M

microll

New Member
Jun 23, 2023
19
0
1
I have hit yet another puzzle.

If I install upon Debian 12 prepared with encrypted root, what would happen to the encryption after Proxmox formats one of the drives? When I updated from Debian 11, nothing changed, and, of course, I didn't format anything new. But if Proxmox formats a disk, I suppose it won't have encrypted root any more, is this correct, and, if so, how to set it up to return/reestablish encrypted root on the Proxmox drive?
 
Installing Proxmox VE on top of a Debian Bookworm does not format any disks by itself.
The one place where you can wipe/format disks in Proxmox VE (apart from using the usual tools manually on the command line of course) is
in the GUI->Datacenter->Node->Disks part where you can create storages on unused disks - for disks which contain data you would have to click on Wipe manually <- just don't do this on any disk you need the data from and you should be on the safe side.

As this cannot be said often enough: Make sure you have a working and tested backup of all data you need before attempting to change anything on your disks!

I hope this helps!
 
Stoiko Ivanov said:
Installing Proxmox VE on top of a Debian Bookworm does not format any disks by itself.
The one place where you can wipe/format disks in Proxmox VE (apart from using the usual tools manually on the command line of course) is
in the GUI->Datacenter->Node->Disks part where you can create storages on unused disks - for disks which contain data you would have to click on Wipe manually <- just don't do this on any disk you need the data from and you should be on the safe side.

As this cannot be said often enough: Make sure you have a working and tested backup of all data you need before attempting to change anything on your disks!

I hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Just to reconfirm: to which case then does this formatting apply on the link below, in the answer by your colleague? Since there're these two opposite answers, I'm worried.

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-ve-8-0-released.129320/page-4#post-566826
 
microll said:
Just to reconfirm: to which case then does this formatting apply on the link below, in the answer by your colleague? Since there're these two opposite answers, I'm worried.
Click to expand...
The post from @t.lamprecht mentions and refers to the ISO Installer, which ... installs PVE on the disks you select (and wipes them before)
I'm referring to installing Proxmox VE on top of Debian bookworm:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_12_Bookworm

I hope this explains it!
 
Stoiko Ivanov said:
The post from @t.lamprecht mentions and refers to the ISO Installer, which ... installs PVE on the disks you select (and wipes them before)
I'm referring to installing Proxmox VE on top of Debian bookworm:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_12_Bookworm

I hope this explains it!
Click to expand...
Well, ok then. Since only the ISO way works for me, he's right that I can only install Proxmox by formatting a disk what I don't want to do.

Then I return to my original problem: how to install Proxmox not from ISO, but from Debian 12 Bookworm, if the recommended procedure on a clean system fails in every variation?

For example, can I install from Debian, but somehow enable CLI debug install, since it worked in ISO?
 
Last edited:
I think I might have a clue why, maybe even in general, kernel installation fails most oftentimes: there's a warning during the package installation that dkms finds no kernel headers suitable to the PvE kernel version, that is 6.2.16-3-pve.

I have tried to install them separately, but they aren't found in the repositories.

Code: 
apt search linux-headers-6.2.16-3-pve
My current Debian 12 kernel version is 6.1.0-9-amd64

Any help?

PS
Someone filed the issue
https://github.com/strongtz/i915-sriov-dkms/issues/85
 
Last edited:
Another idea: I have kernel 5.1 and kernel 6.1 listed. Can they interfere? Later the installation instructions recommend to remove them, but as I've never made it to there, I haven't.
 
microll said:
Well, ok then. Since only the ISO way works for me, he's right that I can only install Proxmox by formatting a disk what I don't want to do.

Then I return to my original problem: how to install Proxmox not from ISO, but from Debian 12 Bookworm, if the recommended procedure on a clean system fails in every variation?

For example, can I install from Debian, but somehow enable CLI debug install, since it worked in ISO?
Click to expand...
I cannot follow?
Why does only the ISO way work for you? - Why can't you just install Debian Bookworm:
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual
and then install Proxmox 8.0 on top:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_12_Bookworm
?

What exactly does not work for you?

microll said:
think I might have a clue why, maybe even in general, kernel installation fails most oftentimes: there's a warning during the package installation that dkms finds no kernel headers suitable to the PvE kernel version, that is 6.2.16-3-pve.
Click to expand...
the header packages for pve-kernels are called pve-headers

Why do you need dkms drivers?


microll said:
Another idea: I have kernel 5.1 and kernel 6.1 listed.
Click to expand...
yes they can interfere:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_12_Bookworm#Remove_the_Debian_Kernel
 
It just doesn't work.

Here's what we have discussed in the last couple of days
https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-ve-8-0-released.129320/page-3#post-566623

Dkms generated the only warning, but didn't interrupt and finished the Proxmox installation. I don't know what else to suspect.

About deleting previous kernel, I just again don't know, if it is good, when no Proxmox kernel is yet installed.

I could try removing kernel 5.
 
Last edited:
Removed kernel 5. The Proxmox 8 installation process looked quite different after, but the result is the same.

Then I tried to get to the initramfs during the loading. I appended break=mount in GRUB to the linux line, executed, but no, it doesn't load at all.

So,

/boot/initrd.img-6.2.16-3-pve

doesn't work for me.

Also, I tried to add nomodeset there, and boot in recovery mode. Nothing changes anything.
 
Last edited:
Tried to install Proxmox 7 with pve-kernel-6.1, and it also gets stuck in the same place of ramdisk loading stage.
 
Try editing the kernel commandline and removing the 'quiet' in the end - maybe this will then show where the issue is

Also (although from the description of the errors it sounds an unlikely cause) - make sure that secure boot is disabled in your system
(Debian supports secure boot - PVE not yet )
 
Last edited:
Stoiko Ivanov said:
Try editing the kernel commandline and removing the 'quiet' in the end - maybe this will then show where the issue is

Also (although from the description of the errors it sounds an unlikely cause) - make sure that secure boot is disabled in your system
(Debian supports secure boot - PVE not yet )
Click to expand...
I can confirm secure boot is disabled. I have tried editing the kernel command line with
vi /etc/default/grub
- GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
+ - GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""

sudo update-grub
sudo systemctl reboot

and it hangs on exactly the same message as before, nothing more.
 
please check what exactly grub is trying to boot (hit 'e' when the blue screen appears and go to the entry you're trying to boot) - currently I'm a bit out of ideas what could be wrong in this case...
 
are the files indeed in / ? - /initrd.img-6.2.16-4-pve and the kernel image?
(this might not be an issue - it depends on which partitions are set as root ...) - but check and compare the entry with the one that acutally boots and with the contents of your filesystem...
 
It would appear they are not.

/ shows
Code: 
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   30 Jul 13 23:31 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-10-amd64
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   27 Jul 13 23:31 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-10-amd64

but they exist in /boot
Code: 
# ls -l /boot/
total 177512
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   259507 Jul  3 19:28 config-6.1.0-10-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   259446 May  8 20:16 config-6.1.0-9-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   275191 Jul  7 04:22 config-6.2.16-4-pve
drwx------ 3 root root     4096 Jan  1  1970 efi
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root      101 Jul 13 23:34 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 42994279 Jul 13 23:31 initrd.img-6.1.0-10-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 42965254 Jul 13 23:24 initrd.img-6.1.0-9-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57781752 Jul 13 23:34 initrd.img-6.2.16-4-pve
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root       47 Jul 13 23:34 pve
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       83 Jul  3 19:28 System.map-6.1.0-10-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       83 May  8 20:16 System.map-6.1.0-9-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  7675809 Jul  7 04:22 System.map-6.2.16-4-pve
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  7977184 Jul  3 19:28 vmlinuz-6.1.0-10-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  7962368 May  8 20:16 vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13592416 Jul  7 04:22 vmlinuz-6.2.16-4-pve

so I ran
Code: 
ln -sf /boot/initrd.img-6.2.16-4-pve /initrd.img
ln -sf /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.16-4-pve /vmlinuz

but still have the same issue.

apt install pve-kernel-6.2 output below in case that helps at all.
Code: 
apt install pve-kernel-6.2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  pve-firmware pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve
Suggested packages:
  linux-image
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  firmware-linux-free firmware-misc-nonfree
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  pve-firmware pve-kernel-6.2 pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 174 MB of archives.
After this operation, 754 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm/pve-no-subscription amd64 pve-firmware all 3.7-1 [76.0 MB]
Get:2 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm/pve-no-subscription amd64 pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve amd64 6.2.16-4 [97.7 MB]                                                                                 
Get:3 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm/pve-no-subscription amd64 pve-kernel-6.2 all 8.0.3 [4,856 B]                                                                                               
Fetched 174 MB in 26s (6,804 kB/s)                                                                                                                                                                               
(Reading database ... 67485 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing firmware-linux-free (20200122-1) ...
Removing firmware-misc-nonfree (20230210-5) ...
Selecting previously unselected package pve-firmware.
(Reading database ... 66639 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../pve-firmware_3.7-1_all.deb ...
Unpacking pve-firmware (3.7-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve.
Preparing to unpack .../pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve_6.2.16-4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve (6.2.16-4) ...
Selecting previously unselected package pve-kernel-6.2.
Preparing to unpack .../pve-kernel-6.2_8.0.3_all.deb ...
Unpacking pve-kernel-6.2 (8.0.3) ...
Setting up pve-firmware (3.7-1) ...
Setting up pve-kernel-6.2.16-4-pve (6.2.16-4) ...
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 6.2.16-4-pve /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.16-4-pve
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.2.16-4-pve
setupcon is missing. Please install the 'console-setup' package.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub 6.2.16-4-pve /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.16-4-pve
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.16-4-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.2.16-4-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-10-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-10-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-9-amd64
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done
Setting up pve-kernel-6.2 (8.0.3) ...
 
Last edited:
Hmm .. really haven't run into this issue of nothing at all being printed
martincarpenter said:
Loading Linux 6.2.16-4-pve ...
Loading initial ramdsk ...
Click to expand...
especially if the quiet parameter is not listed in the kernel commandline (like in your screenshot)

one thing you still could try is to regenerate the init-rd and the grub config
* update-initramfs -kall -u
* update-grub

I hope this helps
 
Unfortunately still hitting the same problem.
Code: 
    1  apt install pve-kernel-6.2
    2  vi /etc/default/grub
    3  ln -sf /boot/initrd.img-6.2.16-4-pve /initrd.img
    4  ln -sf /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.16-4-pve /vmlinuz
    5  ls -l /
    6  update-initramfs -kall -u
    7  update-grub
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

About

The Proxmox community has been around for many years and offers help and support for Proxmox VE, Proxmox Backup Server, and Proxmox Mail Gateway.
We think our community is one of the best thanks to people like you!

Quick Navigation

Home Get Subscription Wiki Downloads Proxmox Customer Portal About

Get your subscription!

The Proxmox team works very hard to make sure you are running the best software and getting stable updates and security enhancements, as well as quick enterprise support. Tens of thousands of happy customers have a Proxmox subscription. Get yours easily in our online shop.

Buy now!
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2024 XenForo Ltd.
Top Bottom
Back