On Sun 31 Mar 2024 at 11:18:30 (+0200), DdB wrote: > Already before assembling the hardware, grub was working from the SSD, > which got lvm partitioning and is basically empty. As i have no working > CD drive nor can this old machine boot from USB, i put an ISO for > bookworm onto an lvm-LV. Using grub, i can manually boot from that ISO > and see the first installer screens. But after asking some questions, > the installer wants to mount the external media (ISO), and does not find > it on sd[a-z], then aborts. > By switching to Desktop 4, i can see the attempt to search for the > "CD"-drive, which is bound to fail. > I am not familiar with the very restricted shell, that is available from > the installer (busybox) and have not yet found an approach to circumvent > my problems. i would like to use the installer, as debootstrapping would > necessitate alot more knowledge than mine.
My memory of doing this is rusty, as it's a while since my Seattle2 machine finally expired. I would try downloading the kernel¹ and initrd from: http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/amd64/ as these can search for the ISO in a greater range of locations. I'd copy the two files onto the hard disk, and use an entry like: menuentry "Install Debian via HTTP" { search --no-floppy --label --set=root noah03 linux /boot/linux priority=low initrd /boot/initrd.gz } in Grub to boot it. (Add a custom entry, or just edit a preexisting entry to suit. BTW I use LABELs on my disks.) Make sure the kernel versions are the same for those two files and the ISO. https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/apas02.en.html#howto-getting-images-hard-disk https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/ch05s01.en.html#boot-initrd https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/ch04s04.en.html ¹ I see linux, rather than vmlinuz, at that location now. Cheers, David.
