MX-21 Live Boot Persistence Broken [SOLVED]

[calinb]

Using dynamic persistence, "persist-save" results in a "Dynamic persistence not enabled" error message or similar. I tried "persist all" and "persist root." The timezone setting is not sticking with live boot either.

I've been using live boot persistence since MX-15 and I occasionally use AntiX live boot persistence too. This is the first time it's totally failed for me. I used three different SD cards/USB fobs (including an MX-17 live persistence SD card that previously worked that I overwrote). I tried the following .iso files using the same flash memory too.

MX-21.1_386.iso
MX-21.1_x64.iso
antiX-19.5_x64-full.iso

Only antix persistence functions for me. I need the environment to try to install Winlink EMS (essentially a ham radio email bridge to the Internet) under WINE. I think I'll just use AntiX for this project for now, but I'm much more familiar with and more productive using MX.

[dolphin_oracle]

Quick-system-info while running the live usb with persistence would be usueful

[calinb]

Quick-system-info while running the live usb with persistence would be usueful

I'll make a new USB and run system-info.

I have to make a new larger AntiX USB too. After installing WINE and associated stuff on AntiX on a 16MB, I ran out of home partition space and bad things happened to the system. Many commands no longer work.

[calinb]

I finished my live AntiX WINE environment and successfully installed and ran Winlink EMS. I'll probably make a public snapshot of it to distribute to the local ham radio club members who might prefer a turn-key solution with Linux.

Here's the info From MX-17. None of the menu item changes (timezone, live persistence options, etc.) seem to be sticking in the latest MX-21 release.

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-13-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/antiX/vmlinuz quiet splasht nosplash lang=en_US kbd=us 
           tz=America/Los_Angeles persist_all 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.1_x64 Wildflower April 9  2022 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP Laptop 15-bs0xx v: Type1ProductConfigId 
           serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: HP model: 832C v: 25.26 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: F.10 date: 05/10/2017 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 25.5 Wh (100.0%) condition: 25.5/31.1 Wh (82.0%) volts: 12.4 
           min: 10.9 model: COMPAL PABAS0241231 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: Intel Pentium N3710 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Airmont family: 6 
           model-id: 4C (76) stepping: 4 microcode: 411 cache: L2: 1024 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 bogomips: 12800 
           Speed: 898 MHz min/max: 480/2560 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 782 2: 723 3: 615 4: 624 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass status: Not affected 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated 
           Graphics 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:22b1 
           class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: Cheng Uei Precision Industry (Foxlink) HP Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
           bus-ID: 1-5.2:5 chip-ID: 05c8:0233 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver: 
           loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
           s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
           Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 101 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") 
           diag: 394mm (15.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 405 (BSW) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.5 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High 
           Definition Audio 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
           chip-ID: 8086:2284 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.0-13-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: rtl8188ee v: kernel modules: wl port: 2000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8179 
           class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 1000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 
           chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 480.09 GiB used: 340.21 GiB (70.9%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABF050 size: 465.76 GiB 
           block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 
           serial: <filter> rev: 4C temp: 32 C scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide 
           size: 14.33 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR 
           SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure? 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: 27.8 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     Packages: note: see --pkg apt: 1991 lib: 988 flatpak: 0 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
Info:      Processes: 247 Uptime: 9m wakeups: 2 Memory: 7.68 GiB used: 1.81 GiB (23.5%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 running-in: quick-system-info-mx 
           inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

[calinb]

Okay--it looks like it's the config menus failing to store the configuration. If I re-select persistence (I selected "root persistence and simply used the defaults) and also re-select the timezone which always goes back to New York on every boot, persistence seems to work. It's inconvenient to have to do the config setup for every boot, of course."

UPDATE:
I'm still getting failures. When it goes to save root persistence on reboot, I'm getting "cannot open proc/stat or something similar in the Alt-F1 screen and then persistence fails.

Keep in mind that AntiX persistence has proven to be completely reliable on the same USB flash drive.

[dolphin_oracle]

make sure you select the save options to make them stick.

[calinb]

make sure you select the save options to make them stick.

That must be a new feature :( (which hasn't even been rolled into AntiX yet). Looks like that's the problem. I'll mark this thread "SOLVED" when I fully confirm, but timezone was right.

Thanks, DO!

[dolphin_oracle]

make sure you select the save options to make them stick.

That must be a new feature :( (which hasn't even been rolled into AntiX yet). Looks like that's the problem. I'll mark this thread "SOLVED" when I fully confirm, but timezone was right.

Thanks, DO!

its not new, but its very easy to miss/forget about

glad that was an easy one!

[calinb]

I have a new Inspiron 3535 Ryzen 7 laptop and it seems I'm having this problem saving a live persistence boot memory stick configuration again. I don't know how I was able to get the boot settings to stick last time, after DO reminded me to "save", or what I'm missing here, but perhaps there's something about the boot configuration process that is not at all intuitive to me. I only see one place to save.

I'll explain what I'm doing step-by-step in the attached photos and maybe DO or someone else can help me again. How can I get these settings to stick?



Where is that elusive "save" button that I need again? I only see that one place to save in the "Advanced Options" screeen.

Thanks so much again,

Cal

Edit: Given the subsequent solution, non-relevant photos deleted.

[fehlix]

picture #10 with "grubsave" is correct
if not post
* full QSI "Quick System Info" report
* and how the live usb was made.