Unable to complete configuration on new 4.2 install

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 5:39am

Hi, I’m trying to install v4.2 onto a 128GB USB3.2 stick on my Asus ROG i7 laptop.
It worked great with v4.1.1 but this new version installs, and after first boot configuration toward the end it gives me this error:

[‘/usr/bin/qvm-start’,‘sys-firewall’] failed;
stdout: “”
sterr: “Start failed: internal error: libxenlight failed to create new domain ‘sys-firewall’, see /var/log/libvirt/libxl-driver.log for details”

So I’ve re-verified my install usb every way possible, I’ve tryed to install it 3 times now with different settings on the config screen after boot, all virt settings are turned on in bios, but nothing helps. The install doesn’t complete. It gives me the gui after I press ok, but only sys-net is running and No apps are found in any qube – missing. The log file mentioned doesnt give me any valuable info that I can make sense of … kinda frustrating, please help!

apparatus · January 9, 2024, 6:23am

Post the logs form dom0:

/var/log/libvirt/libxl-driver.log
/var/log/xen/console/guest-sys-firewall.log
journalctl > journalctl.log

Or search for errors/failures there and post them.

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 3:58pm

Ok I got the logs on my google drive here if that’s ok:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pIqzvm9d3ggWbssGXQkwVdzTgVD9R-W5

apparatus · January 9, 2024, 5:20pm

What’s the output of this command in dom0 terminal for your disk where Qubes OS is installed?

sudo fdisk -l

Maybe it’s a problem with sector size:

github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues

Support 4k storage

opened 09:39PM - 13 Apr 19 UTC

ij1

T: enhancement C: installer P: default hardware support C: storage

**Qubes OS version** R4.0 **Affected component(s) or functionality** VM…s not working/starting right from a fresh install. **Brief summary** Right after a fresh install, all VMs fail to mount root and therefore fails to start beyond the point where they expect /dev/xvda3 available. This happens on a device that has 4kB logical and physical block sizes (NVMe drive). This was not problem in R3.2 (as it used files by default for VM storage). **To Reproduce** Steps to reproduce the behavior: 1. Install Qubes to a drive with 4kB sector size (both logical / physical); (I put /boot to a SATA drive with 512B sectors to avoid BIOS/NVMe boot challenges, rest of the system is on the NVMe with 4kB sectors). 2. Firstboot stuff fails 3. After clicking "finish" for firstboot, find out that no VM will start successfully (which explains firstboot failures I guess) 4. Look to the VM logs, and find this from there: ```... [ 0.887548] blkfront: xvda: flush diskcache: enabled; persistent grants: enabled; indirect descriptors: enabled; [ 0.902355] blkfront: xvdb: flush diskcache: enabled; persistent grants: enabled; indirect descriptors: enabled; [ 0.924386] blkfront: xvdc: flush diskcache: enabled; persistent grants: enabled; indirect descriptors: enabled; [ 0.940325] blkfront: xvdd: flush diskcache: enabled; persistent grants: enabled; indirect descriptors: enabled; Waiting for /dev/xvda* devices... Qubes: Doing R/W setup for TemplateVM... [ 1.049451] random: sfdisk: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read) [ 1.052481] xvdc: xvdc1 [ 1.060250] random: mkswap: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read) Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 8 GiB (8589930496 bytes) no label, UUID=... Qubes: done. mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/xvda, missing codepage or helper program, or other error In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so. Waiting for /dev/xvdd device... mount: /dev/xvdd is write-protected, mounting read-only [ 1.099814] EXT4-fs (xvdd): mounting ext3 file system using the ext4 subsystem [ 1.106796] EXT4-fs (xvdd): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null) mount: /sysroot not mounted or bad option In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so. [ 1.119049] clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x1e335a008d5, max_idle_ns: 440795216613 ns mount: /sysroot not mounted or bad option In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so. switch_root: failed to mount moving /sysroot to /: Invalid argument switch_root: failed. Sorry. [ 1.217841] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00000100 ... ``` **Expected behavior** VMs would start. Firstboot stuff would work. Drives with 4kB sector size would work. **Additional context** I've tracked this down to the handling of the partition table. With 512B sectors the location of the GPT differs from that of with 4kB sectors and therefore VMs fail to find the correct partition table from xvda. Obviously also the partition start/end values will be off by the factor of 8 because the templates are built(?) with an assumption of 512B sector size. I'm not sure if there are other assumptions based on 512B sectors with the other /dev/xvd* drives. **Solutions you've tried** I cloned a template and I tried to manually fix the partition table of the clone (in dom0 through /dev/qubes_dom0/...). There's was plenty of space before the first partition, however, at the end the drive is so tight on space that the GPT secondary table won't fit so the xvda3 partition's tail was truncated slightly and I didn't try to resize its filesystem first (this probably causes some problems, potentially corruption?). With such a fixed partition table, I could start VMs (but there are then some other problems/oddities that might be due to incomplete firstboot or non-fixed fedora template, I only fixed the debian one which I mainly use normally). I could possibly enlarge the relevant LV slightly to avoid the truncate problem at the tail of xvda3 but I've not tried that yet. I tried to look if I could somehow force pv/vg/lv chain to fake the logical sector size but couldn't find anything from the manpages. Libvirt *might* be able to fake the ```logical_block_size``` but I've not yet tried that. **Relevant [documentation](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/) you've consulted** During install, I used the custom install steps to create manual partitioning (but I think it is irrelevant). **Related, [non-duplicate](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/reporting-bugs/#new-issues-should-not-be-duplicates-of-existing-issues) issues** None I could find, some other issues included failure to mount root successfully but the causes are different.

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 8:11pm

Wow, lots of disks in that list! I added it to the google folder, including my ‘mount’ output if that’s any help, but my booted usb disk is listed as /dev/sdb. I dont see any errors reported there
( QubesLogs – Google Drive )
btw, ya I cant access my gui any more–there’s no menu bar only mouse, I gotto do Ctrl-Alt-F3 to get a terminal

apparatus · January 9, 2024, 8:22pm

Your issue is not about sector size.
Can you upload these logs as well?

/var/log/xen/console/guest-sys-net.log
/var/log/xen/console/guest-sys-net-dm.log

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 8:30pm

Yea I uploaded my whole var/log dir there, it should be in there

apparatus · January 9, 2024, 9:12pm

Your USB drive is very slow, the sys-net start time is 7 minutes.
Try to run sys-firewall after sys-net is fully started.
Then again I’m not sure if this slow drive speed could break something and this is why there is no apps etc.

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 9:21pm

Hmm, ok I noticed the bootup being super slow but I though it was due to some background errors.
True I used a different usb for v4.1.1 but otherwise this usb amazed me with super rw speed transferring files in windows. I also benchmarked it in windows at ~100-120mb/s (at least I think it was mb ok maybe I’ll try a different usb and see if it makes a diff

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 9:27pm

is there a script I can run to redo the first-boot configuration?
(would like to see if I could run it with sys-net already started)
Oh, could the 7m sys-net startup have anything to do with me unplugging the ethernet the last time I installed it?

ChrisA · January 9, 2024, 9:50pm

Something like running:

sudo /usr/libexec/initial-setup/initial-setup-graphical

in dom0? – check the path … I found it in an old post about Qubes OS 4.1 (IIRC) …

sparrow88 · January 9, 2024, 10:55pm

That looks like it could be what I’m looking for, I’ll give it a try, thanks!

sparrow88 · January 11, 2024, 6:02am

Well! What-do-ya-know! A different usb boot device made all the difference!
I had a 128GB microSD card kicking around and used a USB adapter where I tried installing Qubes onto. The initial install amazed me for taking about a 1/4 of the usual time, but the after-boot config took its time. Anyway, it completed nicely, and the system is running smoothly now!
Thank you guys very much for your help and quick responses! Much Appreciated!

No idea why that was the case though, using it in windows formatted as NTFS was a blaze! It seemed like the fastest usb stick I owned, but I guess using it with an encrypted ext4 drive it didn’t like that too much. Maybe that’s why I got a bargain price for it…well to think that’s all it was… Thanks for your time and info though!