[Request] Prestium OS setup guide

User Support General
, ,
1

Can someone write a guide on how to setup the https://prestium.org ISO file as a Standalone VM in QubesOS 4.2? I am unable to figure out the networking settings for the Standalone VMs by reading the QubesOS documentation.

2

Should be easy, but you probably have to learn the process of installing an OSvm from a iso.file in another vm.

  1. downloading the .iso from here → probably into your download folder in your personal vm
  2. start the qubes manager from the menu in dom0 or simply choose “create qubes vm” from the menu > qubes tools
  3. call it “prestium-os”, label it blue (or red), choose StandaloneVM, template = none, network=sys-firewall, check “Launch settings after creation” → OK
  4. on the settings window > basic tab, choose the space for your private max storage (probably 2GB), on advanced, choose 4096mb or 8184 mb for RAM and thats all
  5. on the advanced tab also press "boot qube from CD-ROM > from file in qube > personal > … > downloads dir > prestium…iso > OK > OK and finally the thing went up, as it would, if you install an OS on an empty machine…
3

Famous last words :smiley:
It doesn’t work to solve the problem as you wrote (though the instructions are correct), mainly because:

  1. “Prestium” is a live-iso-only distro, you don’t have an installer; of course you can start each time from the ISO by running a dom0 command or by selecting each time “boot from image” in the properties of the AppVM in Qube Manager.
  2. The network didn’t autoconfigure, and in the short time I had yesterday to test, even the manual network config didn’t work.
  3. The above problem is compounded by the fact that there is no way to debug, in the normal ISO: no sudo, no root account. There exists an EE version which supposedly has debug capabilities.
2 Likes
4

I failed at this, as well. I would really like to have someone show how to make it work.

5

Gave it another 15 minutes:
The problem is that the Prestium (linux) detects the underlying Xen, loads the xen_netfront module, and tries to talk directly to sys-net (or wherever you have the physical network devices connected),
Adding “modprobe.blacklist=xen_frontend” to the kernel command line results in no ethernet devices being detected (only “lo” is present).

EDIT: it is “modprobe.blacklist”, not “module.blacklist” as I wrote initially.

1 Like
6

Ooh, that’s interesting. Do you think this is the default linux kernel behavior in part of Prestium OS when it detects the Xen, or did the Prestium developer put some forethought into possible operation under QubesOS for his OS?

7

No, it is not on purpose. This is the default in all modern Linux distros. Some intesting reads (though not leading to a solution) are:

https://wiki.xenproject.org/wiki/Xen_Networking

1 Like
8

Yeah, I read the qubes os docs links that you give. However, couldn’t figure out how to get Prestium OS internet access.

1 Like
9

This looks like chatGPT - all the right words, confident tone,
but simply wrong.

The process is relatively simple: I assume from your question that you
have successfully run Prestium. For those who have not, the steps are:

  1. Download the Prestium EE iso in some qube. Validate the download.
  2. Create a standalone qube - prestium - Select “Do not clone” - in the
    advanced settings set Initial RAM at 4096. Opt to open Settings after
    creation.
  3. Take note of the network settings for IP and gateway on the “basic”
    tab.
  4. Start the prestium qube from the command line:
    qvm-start prestium --cdrom=QUBE:PATH_TO_ISO
    Replace QUBE with the name of the qube in Step 1, and PATH_TO_ISO with
    the full path to the iso file in that qube.
    You can, if you like, create a launcher or menu item to run this
    command in the future.
  5. Once the qube has started, open a terminal and configure the network.
    Many problems that people have in Qubes are actually not Qubes specific.
    This is one of those.
    You can find many guides online to configuring the network in Debian,
    which Prestium is based on.
    The steps are, running as root (su - : default password is toor):
    ip a - this will show you the network devices - probably enX0
    ip address add IP_ADDRESS/8 dev enX0 - sets network device to
    IP_ADDRESS from step 3.
    ip route add default via GATEWAY dev enX0 - sets route to use GATEWAY
    from step 3.
    Of course IP_ADDRESS and GATEWAY must be replaced with the values
    from step3.

Done

Open the Tor Browser - confirm connection using https://check.torproject.org
Your i2p tunnels should start to propagate once network is connected.

Steps 1-3 will create a Standalone that you can use with any live
iso.
Step 5 is not Qubes specific. For other live distros you may also need
to set the nameservers: you dont for Prestium.

For a live distro you will have to reconfigure the network on each
boot. (Actually you dont have to do this every time, but that’s a
separate issue.)

3 Likes
10

I run prestium on a dedicated machine. I booted into it from a USB drive, yes. But I haven’t achieved yet running it inside QubesOS.

11

Where is this setting? I do not see such a thing when creating a new standalone qube.

12

This worked. Thanks.

13

Great to hear, finally. Would you be so kind to write about your experience with using Prestium in a dedicated topic?

1 Like
14

Here: Prestium OS Setup - #2 by tanky0u

2 Likes
15

Great @tanky0u, tanky0u!

1 Like