Multi-boot of Encrypted distros

[Vargr]

https://medium.com/@manujarvinen/settin ... a1fcf8d502

This article is aimed at distro hoppers who like to install multiple Linux distributions to their system drive and to be able to replace them with minimal effort when new ones come along.

I'm trying to adapt this guide, I don't need that many distros however having encryption on each one is a must.

I tried to follow the guide as closely as possible but had a few issues, so I never got very far.
- made the follow partitions (GPT)

$shutter_001.png

sda1 /boot
sda2 swap (not in use for now)
sda3 MX18
sda4 Second System to be installed later
sda5 free space like in the article
sda6 free space like in the article
sda7 /work (temporary storage, no encryption needed)

- started to set up MX18 first but the sda1 boot was changed from fat32 to ext4, no problem there as I won't be using windows.
- set up Mx18 to be encrypted and installed on sda3 with the boot on sda1, no swap selected for now
- grub was installed on mbr, the option to use ESP was not available

That's where the problem is cause if I install a second system I lose the first.
Is there any reason for ESP to be unselect-able?

[dolphin_oracle]

Yes You don't Have An esp.In Your partitions.

/boot is not the esp. /boot is the place where the grub folder and initrd will be stored.

[Adrian]

I think ESP needs to be a FAT partition with the ESP flag set up.

[Vargr]

I think ESP needs to be a FAT partition with the ESP flag set up.

It was a fat32 partition with the ESP and BOOT flag on, but the MX installer changed to ext4.
Testing on a vm right now and the installer is not even showing the first partition as an option for boot

[dolphin_oracle]

I think ESP needs to be a FAT partition with the ESP flag set up.

It was a fat32 partition with the ESP and BOOT flag on, but the MX installer changed to ext4.
Testing on a vm right now and the installer is not even showing the first partition as an option for boot

just saying, again, that the /boot partition is not the same thing as an ESP. the /boot is a seperate unencrypted partition housing the grub boot files, except for the EFI stub, which will be stored on the ESP (the fat32 formated partition).

So a UEFI encrypted setup will have the following at minimum.

1. ESP partition (fat32)
2. /boot partition (ext4 in our installer's case)
3. / (root) partition for the system

optionally you can have a /home partition and a /swap partition.

[Vargr]

So I'd have to change to something like this?

sda1 fat32 with the esp flag
sda2 boot (ext4)
sda3 swap (not in use for now)
sda4 MX18
sda5 Second System to be installed later
...

What the minimum size for the fat32 and boot partitions?

[dolphin_oracle]

the ESP can be pretty small. some folks use 128 MB, I think we use 256MB for the ESP, and 256MB for the /boot when we make one of those in the autoinstaller. I would go larger on /boot if you plan to install multiple kernels.

[Vargr]

Testing on a VM I had this set up

gparted vm.jpg

It went perfect until the grub install

esp issue.jpg

[dolphin_oracle]

did you run the installer after you made your partitions, or did you try to make some partitions after running the installer.

sorry I can't ready the error messages or anything in the screenshots.

[Vargr]

Ran the installer after making the partitions.

Those screenshots got massively reduced, the first is just showing the format

sda1 fat32 with the esp flag 128mb
sda2 boot (ext4) 350mb
sda3 MX18 encrypted 10gb
sda4 open for second system 10gb

The error occurred right after installing grub.
"Sorry, installing GRUB failed. This may be due to a change in the disk formatting. You can uncheck GRUB and finish installing then reboot to the LiveDVD or LiveUSB and repair the installation with the reinstall GRUB function."