Update....
I was able to create a working "portable" USB disk by installing on
the *internal* disk, and then dd'ing it over to the USB disk (and
zero-ing the internal disk to make sure it didn't boot from there).
However, a 2nd older system still does not see the USB disk as a boot
device. I'm thinking this might be because anaconda is creating the
partition table as GPT, and the older system might not understand it?
As a test, I am trying again with a 2nd disk with a DOS partition
table.
On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 10:11 AM, ja <ja(a)jaa.org.uk> wrote:
> On Mon, 2018-06-25 at 10:04 -0400, Go Canes wrote:
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 8:51 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan
>> <pocallaghan(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Mon, 2018-06-25 at 08:47 -0400, Go Canes wrote:
>> > > But then
>> > > when I go to boot the external drive, it immediately displays
>> > > "Operation System not found" - Note that is is
"Operation", *not*
>> > > "Operating".
>> >
>> > That could be a message from your BIOS, which would imply it's not
>> > finding even the first stage boot block. Check BIOS settings.
>>
>> I get a single bit of disk activity when I try to boot off the
>> external drive, so it is at least *trying* to find the 1st stage boot
>> block. While I am obviously not 100% certain, my thinking is that
>> something isn't quite right with the grub config.
>>
>> Let me see if I can't take a peek at the 1st sector and see what is in
there.
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>> JXUM7VIHINSRBULEAUS3ZPJEBNTAG/
>
> I have tidied up my efforts about USB booting - it might help
> The mailer will probably destroy the layout though!
>
> 2018_06_03
>
> //-----------------------------------
> The latest "standard" SSD layout is as follows.
> The "BIOS boot partition" may well not be required as grub2 data is
probably located in sectors 1 -> 2047
> The separate /boot partition (sda3) may well not be used.
> [root@gtx:~]$ gdisk -l /dev/sda
> Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
> Disk /dev/sda: 250069680 sectors, 119.2 GiB
> Model: Voyager GTX
> Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
> Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
> Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
> 1 2048 4095 1024.0 KiB EF02 BIOS boot partition
1MiB none ????
> 2 4096 1028095 500.0 MiB EF00 EFI System
500MiB vfat /boot/efi
> 3 1028096 2097152 522.0 MiB 8300 Linux filesystem
1GiB ext4 /boot
> 4 2099200 18876415 8.0 GiB 8200 Linux swap
8GiB swap
> 5 18876416 134219775 55.0 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
ext4 /
> 6 134219776 250069646 55.2 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
ext4 spare
> //-----------------------------------
> If the UEFI does not "see" the SSD then check the status of the Protective
MBR boot flag using gdisk/fdisk
> To CLEAR the flag gdisk /dev/sda p ; v ; x ; n ; w ;
> To SET/CLEAR the flag fdisk /dev/sda M ; i ; a ; i ; w ; q ;
> //-----------------------------------
> USB SSD TRIM - As root
> /home/ja/bin/wiper.sh --verbose --commit /dev/sda1
> //-----------------------------------
> To discover how the machine was booted
> 1. Check grub menu entries for linux16 or linuxefi
> 2. When booted in UEFI mode efibootmgr will provide relevant information
> //-----------------------------------
> To ensure that the device will run on the widest range of machines
> dnf install dracut-config-generic
To force a generic initrd
> To force an existing kernel to use a "fully configured" initramfs file
then
> dracut --regenerate-all --force
> //-----------------------------------
> Creation of an SSD (USB or SATA) device that will boot on both BIOS and UEFI based
machines.
> References:
>
https://blog.heckel.xyz/2017/05/28/creating-a-bios-gpt-and-uefi-gpt-grub-...
>
https://superuser.com/questions/801515/is-a-hybrid-linux-usb-stick-for-ue...
>
> Currently it is not known how the fedora installer determines which boot mechanism to
use.
>
> Once a bootable installation has been achieved (BIOS or UEFI) the
"alternative" boot mechanism
> can be installed. Both of the possibilities described below have been well tested.
> Triple check the correct device name at all stages, /dev/sda is assumed below.
>
> Case 1: The machine has booted from a BIOS install Install the
UEFI boot loader
> mkfs -t vfat /dev/sda2
if required (double check sda2)
> mount /dev/sda2 /boot/efi
(double check sda2)
> dnf [re]install grub2-efi-x64 shim-x64 efibootmgr this should
populate /boot/efi/EFI/fedora
> grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg create the
UEFI .cfg file*
> geany /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
change linux16 > linuxefi,initrd16 > initrdefi*
> grub2-install --target=x86_64-efi /dev/sda This
is unnecessary - DO NOT USE - why?
>
> Case 2: The machine has booted from a UEFI install Install the
BIOS boot loader
> mount /dev/sda3 /boot
probably not required
> dnf [re]install grub2-pc
only installs 3 files
> grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
create the BIOS .cfg file*
> geany /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
change linuxefi > linux16,initrdefi > initrd16*
> grub2-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
install grub on the MBR (double check sda)
> double check that /boot/grub2/grub.cfg is not over written by
grub2-install
>
> *When a kernel update occurs the appropriate grub.cfg may require re-generation.
> This has been tested when booted using both UEFI & BIOS. No changes are
necessary as both grub.cfg files
> are updated and include the correct entries for linux[efi | 16] and initrd[efi |
16].
>
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