Hi all,
I am attempting to install NetBSD 9.0 on my UEFI enabled laptop's GPT disk.
This disk also contains
windows and linux paritions, so I do not want to clear the partition table. I
attempted installation
using a usb drive with the install image 'NetBSD-9.0-amd64-uefi-install.img'.
The laptop model is
Acer Aspire E15 E5-575G-57D4.
I have attempted many methods to correctly format the partition, but nothing
seems to be working,
and I am not sure if this is the result of bugs or user ignorance. From my
perspective the problem
appears to be Sysinst not cooperating with my GPT.
My steps to attempt this installation are:
1. In linux, use gparted to create a new partiton which will contain NetBSD, I
figured the file system
type I select is arbitrary because Sysinst will format the partition to FFS
2. The resulting partition table looks like :
Disk /dev/sda: 238.49 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Disk model: Micron_1100_MTFD
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: C3E0E834-7CB3-463F-B8B2-3075FC41D216
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 206847 204800 100M EFI System
/dev/sda2 206848 239615 32768 16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda3 239616 289686755 289447140 138G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda4 498020352 500117503 2097152 1G Windows recovery
environment
/dev/sda5 330246144 498020351 167774208 80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6 289687552 330246143 40558592 19.3G Linux filesystem
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
The 19.3G /dev/sda6 partition is the target partion for NetBSD
3. I then shutdown and boot into Sysinst and take the following steps:
Select "a: Install NetBSD on hard disk"
Select "b: yes"
I then select the partition I reserved for NetBSD
Sysinst asks if I wish to continue, I select "b: yes"
Systisnt asks "The selected partition does not seem to have a valid file
system. Do you want to newfs it?"
I select "b: yes"
I then get the following error: "Status: Command Failed, Command:
/sbin/newfs -V2 -O2 /dev//rdk5/,
newfs: /dev//rdk5/ partition type is not
'4.2BSD'"
Followed by the error: "Status: Command Failed, Command: /sbin/mount -o
async /dev/dk5 /targetroot/
mount_ext2fs: /dev/dk5 on /targetroot: Read-only
file system"
Sysinst then returns the main menu
4. After that I tried to use to the utility menu to format the partition like
so:
I select "e: utility menu" -> "d: partiton a disk"
I select the target partition which at this point is still listed as Ext2
file system
I select "a: edit" then I change type to "FFSv2" and I change mount,
install, and newfs all to "yes"
I change the label to "4.2BSD"
When I select "Save Changes" the following error occurs:
"Status: Command failed
Command: gpt label -b 289687552 -T
49f48d5a-b10e-11dc-b99b-0019d1879648 wd0"
5. After that I repeat the steps I listed in section 3, but instead of
producing any error, I simply
get kicked back to the main menu with no messages, but NetBSD is not
installed in the partition.
However when I return to linux the parition fs type has been changed to ufs.
Any ideas on what is going on here? I really have no idea if it is me or
Sysinst that is in the wrong here.
I have also tried manually formatting the partition using the Sysinst shell and
trying out the gpt and disklabel
commands, but they always return errors such as "device busy" or "ioctl misuse"
(this is a paraphrase, I can't
recall the exact error). I am certain I'm using the commands on the correct
device as I always ensure it matches
the device listed in the partition utility.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and potentially help me,
James Browning
