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triquetra
n00b
Joined: 09 Apr 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Kansas, USA
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 Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:18 am Post subject: [Solved] grub2 lvm "Installation is impossible." |
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I've been tinkering with linux variants for a couple years now. My path has been roughly from ubuntu -> debian -> arch -> gentoo.
Currently, my laptop has the following structure:
Windows boot = /dev/sda1
Music (ntfs) = /dev/sda2
lvm volume = /dev/sda3
Shared Data (ext4) = /dev/vg1/share
swap = /dev/vg1/swap
arch = /dev/vg1/arch
gentoo = /dev/vg1/gentoo
kubuntu = /dev/vg1/kubuntu
debian = /dev/vg1/debian
I've been running burg (based on grub2) in arch as my boot manager, and installed gentoo from arch. I've been using my gentoo install for about six months now booting (with boot and root on lvm) from the burg boot loader maintained by the arch install, so I know I have a working initramfs. I've decided I really like gentoo, and I'd like to make it my primary linux distribution. So, I emerged grub2, and attempted to install it, but no go. (Yes, I realize that I don't need it if I'm using burg on arch, but my goal is to get rid of arch  )
I have successfully generated a /boot/grub2/grub.cfg with grub2-mkconfig, but when I try to install it to the boot block with "grub2-install /dev/sda" I get the following error:
Path `/boot/grub2' is not readable by GRUB on boot. Installation is impossible. Aborting.
This is very puzzling to me since I have had no problems with burg (which is essentially grub2) in arch. I have tried adding lvm and ext2 as insmod lines in grub.cfg, and I have tried setting the root variable to '(vg1-gentoo)' without any change in the error. I've searched this forum and the internet, and I can't seem to find anyone reporting a similar error.
Does anyone have some idea of what I should try next?
Last edited by triquetra on Sun Apr 22, 2012 1:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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BillWho
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Joined: 03 Mar 2012
Posts: 1581
Location: US
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:49 am Post subject: |
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triquetra,
Just curious - did you install sys-boot/grub-1.99-r2 
The error message | Quote: | | Path `/boot/grub2' is not readable by GRUB on boot. |
is because grub looks to /boot/grub and not /boot/grub2
I don't have grub installed in gentoo. I too have arch installed, but I also have lmde and it's lmde that's booting the distros so I can't explain how you ended up with a grub2 directory  |
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triquetra
n00b
Joined: 09 Apr 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Kansas, USA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:32 am Post subject: |
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| BillWho wrote: | | Just curious - did you install sys-boot/grub-1.99-r2 |
I followed the directions at the Gentoo Wiki, so I actually have sys-boot/grub-2.00_beta3-r1 installed.
| BillWho wrote: | The error message | Quote: | | Path `/boot/grub2' is not readable by GRUB on boot. |
is because grub looks to /boot/grub and not /boot/grub2
I don't have grub installed in gentoo. I too have arch installed, but I also have lmde and it's lmde that's booting the distros so I can't explain how you ended up with a grub2 directory |
This wiki suggests that the proper place for the grub2 files is /boot/grub2, so I made the directory and directed the output of grub2-mkconfig there. grub then added additional files to the directory when I tried to install it.
Just as a test, I added a symlink from /boot/grub to /boot/grub2, but I still get the same error when trying grub2-install. |
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BillWho
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Joined: 03 Mar 2012
Posts: 1581
Location: US
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:17 am Post subject: |
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triquetra,
I just took a quick look at those sites and I'm now more confused than ever with grub  I spent many a frustrating evening trying to figure out why I couldn't get it to set the entries for gentoo and arch with /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig.
I finally threw in the the proverbial towel and made them manually. Its worked fine, but I just had to preserve a safe copy for when lmde updated grub.cfg and wiped my entries.
Later I did make the entries in /etc/grub.d/40_custom which seems to be holding up OK.
I was under the impression that grub only looked in /boot/grub, but now I stand corrected.
Hopefully a grub expert will be able to help you with this  |
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Arkhelion
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 07 Sep 2010
Posts: 127
Location: France
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:49 am Post subject: |
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It may be a wild guess, but is the USE flag device-mapper set on your grub install?
Does grub2-mkconfig set the "insmod lvm" in your grub.cfg?
I guess you're using boot-on-lvm
_________________
Arkhelion |
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triquetra
n00b
Joined: 09 Apr 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Kansas, USA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| BillyWho wrote: | | I was under the impression that grub only looked in /boot/grub, but now I stand corrected. |
I believe this is a gentoo specific modification since gentoo permits both legacy grub and grub 2 to be installed at the same time in different "slots". I've noticed that both Arch and Debian install grub 2 to the /boot/grub directory.
| Arkhelion wrote: | | It may be a wild guess, but is the USE flag device-mapper set on your grub install? |
That did it! Thanks Arkhelion!
This was not intuitive. The gentoo wikis suggest that grub2 has lvm support out of the box and do not mention the device-mapper USE flag (that I noticed). I did look at this use flag, but since I don't have sys-fs/device-mapper installed on my system (and still don't), I didn't think it was useful.
I guess my next task will be to learn how to contribute by modifying the wikis to make this more plain. |
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Installing Gentoo
