R4.2 custom install: manual disk prep and crypto

User Support
1

i’ve been doing a “custom install” of qubes, where i manually configure the disk via cli prior to using the gui installer to complete it, since R2. apart from some modifications to accommodate the lvm config over the past several years, this process has remained relatively static and easy to do. however, as of R4.2, i have found it notably more difficult to get this process to work properly.

for several years, the process described in the link below has not given me any issues:

https://current-qubes-docrtd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/custom-install.html

what i have found is that the standard gui process for preparing the disk after it has been prepared on cli is not working. the option to format partitions and set their properties has been greyed out. it is possible to use the “advanced” gui process to setup the disk as a workaround. when doing an efi install, you must create 1 additional efi partition.

after getting everything partitioned correctly for the installation process, which is mostly as-described in that link, the first phase of the install goes fine. once at the post-reboot part of the install, where you “finish configuration”, you must manually select the existing lvm pool you created during the cli disk prep, or else you end up with a botched install and must reinstall. historically, this gotcha with having to manually select the existing pool versus creating a new one did not exist.

these abridged instructions should be enough for anyone who has done this for previous releases to get it working for R4.2.

if anyone thinks additional details would be helpful here, lmk and i can provide them.

2

Maybe it’s not a Qubes OS-specific issue but a general issue with Anaconda in Fedora.
Try the custom install of Fedora and see if that’s the case.
If it’s a problem with Fedora installer then try to search/ask on the Fedora forum, maybe you’ll get the answer faster this way:

1 Like
3

that is a good suggestion, but i’m disinclined to spend more time fiddling with installers now that i have qubes 4.2 installer working with this config.

it is odd because the identical disk setup works fine on 4.1, and whatever this gui partitioning tool is called just doesn’t work the same on 4.2.

my inference based on your reply is that qubes imports code for the gui installer directly from fedora with minimal modification. if this is the case, you’re likely correct that the problem is present in fedora as well.