This is originally from this forum: Qubes 4.1 installation failure - #20 by eftryuio347h
I figured I would make a new post for this issue because the original thread is like 4 years old
Essentially, this is the issue: You install the OS for the first time, reboot system after it is done, and it does not let you install whonix, as it is greyed out. Once you get into the system, there is nothing but the dom0 cube.
After pressing done with the template config, it loads and then gives you an error saying “Qubes initial configuration failed”:
On my first install, checking /var/log/salt/minion would give me this error twice (I could be mistaken, I do not remember specifically):
[CRITICAL] Specified ext_pillar interface qvm_prefs is unavailable
And then, I would run ‘sudo qubesctl --all state.highstate’ and it would give me the same error twice, and then print out a message regarding a fail, saying that there was 1 fail and 1 success. After this, I googled the error and found a forum telling me to run:
- sudo qubesctl saltutil.sync_all
- sudo qubes state.highstate
I ran these, but it did not seem to do anything.
After this, I wiped this install and reinstalled, as I found the forum linked at the start of the post and I wanted to try the solution from that forum. I am going to copypaste the rest from that forum below:
— begin copy paste —
I waited for install to complete (got to where it asked me to reboot system now), then I switched to the terminal and tried checking for files in /var/lib/qubes/template-packages, but there was no template-packages folder at all. I figured I would try to do the steps that were mentioned previously, by running:
dnf config-manager --add-repo /tmp/installer.repo
dnf download --downloaddir=/mnt/sysimage/var/lib/qubes/template-packages qubes-template-*
This hung on a screen that seemed to be a download screen (see below)
After this (while it was still hanging, wasn’t sure if it was doing anything or not), I tried to quit to go to the reboot button but I wasn’t sure how, so I rebooted the system. After this, it brought me to the configuration part like usual, but whonix was not available, just like my last attempt:
Any pointer on where to go from here? I don’t really know what to do – if there are logs that I can provide, please let me know. I’m not very familiar with Qubes nor Anaconda.
— end copy paste —
This was last night. This morning, I opened the machine and decided to try running some of the commands (I did not do this last night)
I checked /var/log/salt/minion, but there did not appear to be any errors this time.
I ran: ‘sudo qubesctl --all state.highstate’ and it appears to actually have succeeded in doing something. The output reads as follows:
However, I do not really know where to go from here… there is still only the dom0 qube available. I was able to pull the anaconda.log if that helps, please let me know if there are any other log files that would be useful for troubleshooting.
anaconda.log (488.4 KB)
Regarding hardware, I am on a Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5; According to the Hardware compatibility list (HCL) | Qubes OS page, everything should be compatible (or actually, looking at it now shows that it was only tested on R4.1, should I try to downgrade and see how that works?)
Thank you in advance