Trying to install PVE on Debian 11 with LUKS-crypt boot volume results in boot hang on "Loading initial ramdisk"

[shredrick123]

I've now tried twice, with the process I'm using being a standard install of Debian 11 with an encrypted LVM, then following along the wiki guide to convert this install to PVE. Upon installing the pve-kernel, the system hangs on "loading initial ramdisk" on boot.

So far I've tried both the 5.15 and 5.19 kernels, nomodeset had not effect, nor did disabling zfs via a boot parameter, which seems to have worked for other people. The only way to boot the system is to go into advanced options in grub and boot the debian kernel instead.

I'm assuming this is a result of the encrypted lvm, though I'm unsure how to resolve it, any help would be great here!

EDIT: With the 5.13 pve kernel rather than 5.15, 5.19, or 6.1, I was able to boot successfully! Unsure why the updated kernels aren't working though and would love any insight anyone has.

 

[Dunuin]

Here it booted fine with LUKS encrypted LVM on older 5.15 kernel using grub and unencrypted boot partition until I wiped that server some months ago and replaced it with an encrypted ZFS installation. Back then I installed it as Debian 10.5 with PVE 6.3 and later upgraded it to Bullseye and PVE 7.2.
If you can't get that working you could also try out encrypted ZFS: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/encrypting-proxmox-ve-best-methods.88191/post-387731

 

[shredrick123]

Currently got it working with 5.13 and nomodeset but good to know theres other options, hopefully this gets fixed in the current kernels

 

[sternisaea]

The trick shredrick123 mentioned worked for me. I could boot into Debian with LUKS encryption and install Proxmox.

After installing Proxmox, I installed other PVE Kernels like 5.15 and 6.2. They now boot up just fine with LUKS encryption. Before installing Proxmox these kernels did not work.

 

[tipex]

Incase this is helpful for anyone else. I have proxmox running ZFS raid 1. Using this guide I can then encrypt each drive in turn, all from the shell: https://herold.space/proxmox-zfs-full-disk-encryption-with-ssh-remote-unlock/

This works on Proxmox 7 but fails on Proxmox 8.

What I managed to do tonight was install Proxmox 7, perform the encryption and then upgrade Proxmox from 7 to 8. Bit faffy of course but it worked.