Install 4.2.4 w/o network?

[nealr]

I have Qubes 4.2.4 on a Ventoy 1.1.05 USB drive and it starts normally once I select it from among the various ISOs available.

The target is an HP EliteDesk G5, a 32GB i7-9700T systen with a 1TB NVMe drive. There are other things happening on my test stand, this machine has no ethernet connection and it will be some time tomorrow before I can provide one.

The installer seems determined to download some updates. I poked around in the interface, seeking a way to make it go forward with just what’s in the ISO, but no luck. I decided to try the Verify option and now it seems just stuck - I presume it’s doing lots of SHA256 on the ISO.

Installing sans network seems like a very normal thing as far as open systems go. Is there something I missed during startup that would make a no net setup possible?

[ChrisA]

Hi nealr

It’s been a while, since my last install – but I’m fairly sure, the installer should work fine without any network connection. All the RPMs should be on the USB.

Searching the forum for “Ventoy” I find your post from December 2023:

Ventoy 1.0.89: 4.1.2 works, 4.2.0rc5 does not

After an enormous amount of head scratching, working with an HP Z420, two USB sticks, and two 250GB SSDs: Ventoy 1.0.89 + 4.1.2 = install works Ventoy 1.0.89 + 4.2.0rc5 = does not work I used this one line script to write 4.2.0rc5 to a thumb drive and then the install works fine. dd if=$1 of=$2 status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync Do I need to rerun the Ventoy+rc5 and share results so developers can look at this? Or will the expedient “don’t use Ventoy” be the decision?

So maybe it is Ventoy and Qubes OS that still doesn’t play well together? – Can you - as a test - try and write the ISO directly to an USB stick?

[nealr]

The prior Ventoy problem was that it wouldn’t start the Qubes ISO. That is not the problem here, it successfully hands off the boot process to Qubes and things progress normally.

The following command failed to produce a working USB stick for me:

time dd bs=1M if=Qubes-R4.2.4-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sde

I will poke around a bit, see if I’ve got another stick I can use bare and try it again. I’ll also take screen shots of the particulars of the failure mode.

[ChrisA]

Hi nealr

Okay - nice if Ventoy works with Qubes ISO now! … I just had a “Didn’t I see something about Ventoy and Qubes OS not working?”, when I read your post.

Personally, I go with:

dd if=Qubes-4.2.4-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdbb status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync

without seeing the installer try to download anything.

I’ve not seen the messages you get, so images of the error would come in handy.

[adw]

@nealr

The installer seems determined to download some updates.
[…]
Installing sans network seems like a very normal thing as far as open systems go. Is there something I missed during startup that would make a no net setup possible?

The installer is supposed to be completely offline. This is actually an advertised feature at the top of this section of the installation guide (in the green box): https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/installation-guide/#installation-summary

I think any messages that speak of “downloading” updates during the installation process are actually just loading them from the ISO. Assuming your ISO is good, you might just need to give it more time.

@nealr

I decided to try the Verify option and now it seems just stuck - I presume it’s doing lots of SHA256 on the ISO.

This suggests that something might be wrong with your ISO or your hardware. I’d suggest carefully following the recommended instructions for copying the ISO onto the installation medium and maybe even re-verifying the installation medium after writing, if you want to double check.

@nealr

The following command failed to produce a working USB stick for me:

time dd bs=1M if=Qubes-R4.2.4-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sde

I’d try again with the recommended bs=1048576 and conv=fsync parameters from the aforementioned documentation.

[nealr]

I found an elderly USB 2.0 stick and it works fine, the USB 3.0 stick just not gonna behave. Most of that whole batch failed in mysterious ways, years ago, I guess the last survivor has finally let go.

I checked the SHA256 on the ISOs, the one I used for the dedicated and the one on the Ventoy media match.

I’m going to mess with this a bit more, see if I can sort out of it’s a media problem, or another Ventoy issue.

Can confirm the EliteDesk G5 works tho, will add it to HCL once I finalize an install.