[SOLVED] Installing debian 10 onto usb

larstrier · 07-09-2020, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

copy the /boot/grub/grub.cfg from debian over to the usb boot/grub.
edit the first debian menu entry and change uuids to match the uuid of /dev/sdb2 and kernel versions numbers of the kernels in the usb /boot.
Boot the usb and run update-grub

I have done the following:

Code:

mount /dev/sdg1 /mnt
grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdg
cp /boot/grub/grub.cfg /mnt/boot/grub/
gedit /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg

On gedit I used the 'find/replace' function to change the of UUID in grub.cfg to the new UUID of sdg1.

I'm guessing I now need to change the kernel number (3.16.0-11-amd64) in grub.cfg to the new kernel number of sdg1.
Where can I find the new kernel number?

colorpurple21859 · 07-09-2020, 11:50 PM

in /mnt/boot or change the linux line from /boot/vmlinuz-<version?> to /vmlinuz and the initrd line to /initrd.img

larstrier · 07-10-2020, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

in /mnt/boot or change the linux line from /boot/vmlinuz-<version?> to /vmlinuz and the initrd line to /initrd.img

I have more than one version of debian on disk.
grub.cfg therefore has 3 different kernel numbers. Will it be ok to change them all to the new kernel number of debian 10 (4.19.0-9-amd64)?

colorpurple21859 · 07-10-2020, 12:21 AM

change the grub.cfg lines to this and you won't have to bother with version numbers.

Code:

linux /vmlinuz root=UUID=<some number> ro ...... splas quiet
initrd /initrd.img

larstrier · 07-10-2020, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

change the grub.cfg lines to this and you won't have to bother with version numbers.

Code:

linux /vmlinuz root=UUID=<some number> ro ...... splas quiet
initrd /initrd.img

There is no reference to 'splash' on /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg.

For the lines referring to 'vmlinuz I get this:

Code:

linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-10-amd64 root=UUID=some number ro  quiet
linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-10-amd64 root=UUID=some number ro single

Also there is:

Code:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-10-amd64 root=UUID=some number ro resume=UUID=some number quiet
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-10-amd64 root=UUID=some number ro single resume=UUID=some number

Then there is:

Code:

'osprober-gnulinux-/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-10-amd64--some number'
'osprober-gnulinux-/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-10-amd64-root=UUID=some number ro single resume=UUID=some number'

1. What will I need to change with each line referring to 'vmlinuz'?

With initrd it is much simpler:

Code:

initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-10-amd64

This line is the same throughout grub.cfg but they have 3 different kernel numbers.
What will I need to change with 'initrd'?

colorpurple21859 · 07-10-2020, 03:24 AM

Your only going to edit the first debisn menu entry. I was guessing at was on the linux line. Only replace /boot/vmlinuz-3.16... with /vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.img-3.16..... with /inird.img

This is to enable booting the usb the first time. When you boot the usb a and run update-grub these edits will be replaced.

larstrier · 07-10-2020, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Your only going to edit the first debisn menu entry. I was guessing at was on the linux line. Only replace /boot/vmlinuz-3.16... with /vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.img-3.16..... with /inird.img

This is to enable booting the usb the first time. When you boot the usb a and run update-grub these edits will be replaced.

Ok, it's finally worked! Thank you very much for your time and patience!
I really couldn't have done this myself.

There is an issue though.
I ran:

Code:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

A number of packages were installed.

But when I ran 'update-grub' it gave an error message 'command not found'.
Do I need to install a package on this live system which installs more commands?

colorpurple21859 · 07-10-2020, 06:38 AM

Quote:

But when I ran 'update-grub' it gave an error message 'command not found'.

This would indicate the grub package isn't installed, run as root.

Code:

apt-get install grub
update-grub

Do not run grub-install.

On a side note you don't have to install the grub-package, if you leave as is the system will still boot after kernel updates because /vmlinuz and /initrd.img are links to the newest installed kernel. You can also edit the grub.cfg manually.