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Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2025 7:00 pm
by Falcon
I have an Acer desktop that has both Windows 7 and MX-21.3 installed on it. I want to increase the size of the Windows partition and decrease the size of the MX partition accordingly. I booted the computer with a Live-USB and then started the Gparted program.
I started the operation by moving the start of the MX partition to the right to free up about 25GB of space for the Windows partition to move into. By the way, I did not actually do the move operation, I just added it to the list of operations to be performed when the Execute function was used. As you can see in the picture below this operation would show about 25 GB of unallocated space after the Windows partition. When i selected the Windows partition and attempted to move the end of the partition to the right, I was unable to do so. When I select this unallocated space and click Partition, the only option that I get is New.
How do I go about making this space available for the Windows partition?
Thanks in advance.
[url=
https://postimg.cc/9r7FYvhz][img]
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2025 7:30 pm
by CharlesV
This sounds like your windows is set to fast startup, or it was not shutdown on shift shutdown.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2025 7:39 pm
by Falcon
I'm not sure what this means. Sorry for my lack of knowledge on this.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2025 7:51 pm
by CharlesV
So, windows has a "feature" call quick boot (or Fast boot depending upon who you talk woo :-) ) .. it basically creates a kind of 'hybernation' that maintains a lock on devices and windows. This can totally do this kind of lock on a partition.
To disable Quick Boot (also known as Fast Startup) in Windows, press the Windows Key + R, type "powercfg.cpl" and hit Enter. In the Power Options window, click on "Choose what the power buttons do," then uncheck "Turn on fast startup" under Shutdown settings and save your changes.
Optionally.. you can hold down the shift key and shut windows down which will do a full shutdown instead of a partial hibernation.( partial hibernation is the default behavior.) This method ensures that the system fully resets / shutdown, and can help resolve certain issues. ( or in this case - if that IS the issue, you can then get around it.)
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2025 8:00 pm
by Falcon
Charles,
I'll check on this tomorrow and post what I find.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2025 11:27 pm
by m_pav
Let's deal with moving your Linux partitions starting location marker first. This will most likely break the GRUB loader because it will look for file markers in a specific storage address space that will no longer be available, however it's not a terminal break as GRUB can be reinstalled from a Live boot session after the fact.
If you use a single root partition which includes your homedir, then I suggest you do a backup first. On a SSD, moving a partition is not such a big deal because everything will be working in a vitual address space, the actual data does not need to move, but on a spinning platter, it's a different story. A move like this can take a very long time and hiccup at any point can mean a resinstall will be the simplest form of recovery.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2025 9:11 am
by Falcon
I think that I may have thought of the problem before I went to bed last night. I haven't done anything with partitioning disks in a long time, but I remembered that partitions may be Primary or Extended. It occurred to me that the Windows partition was most likely a Primary partition, and I know that the MX partition is an Extended partition. I'm guessing that you can't expand a Primary partition into an Extended partition. So I fired up Gparted again and set up the following operations:
1) Delete the MX partition
2) Delete the Extended partition
3) Move the right end of the Windows partition into the Unallocated space.
4) Create a new Primary partition for MX in the Unallocated space.
5) Format to ext4
I didn't actually run the operations, only testing to see if it was possible to do them and Gparted seemed to think that everything would work. I'm guessing that if I had made the MX partition Primary when I created it, that I would have been able to do the resize without any issue. I'll have to reinstall MX again, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem, because I made a new LiveUSB before i started all this. I'll post the results when I get done.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2025 11:00 am
by dreamer
Falcon wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 9:11 am
I think that I may have thought of the problem before I went to bed last night. I haven't done anything with partitioning disks in a long time, but I remembered that partitions may be Primary or Extended. It occurred to me that the Windows partition was most likely a Primary partition, and I know that the MX partition is an Extended partition. I'm guessing that you can't expand a Primary partition into an Extended partition. So I fired up Gparted again and set up the following operations:
1) Delete the MX partition
2) Delete the Extended partition
3) Move the right end of the Windows partition into the Unallocated space.
4) Create a new Primary partition for MX in the Unallocated space.
5) Format to ext4
I didn't actually run the operations, only testing to see if it was possible to do them and Gparted seemed to think that everything would work. I'm guessing that if I had made the MX partition Primary when I created it, that I would have been able to do the resize without any issue. I'll have to reinstall MX again, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem, because I made a new LiveUSB before i started all this. I'll post the results when I get done.
The quote above would probably work (Gparted knows best). AFAIK you can only resize into unallocated space. You can't resize into existing partitions - you have to delete them or shrink them first to free up some unallocated space.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2025 6:06 pm
by Falcon
Well, that didn't work so good. I set up Gparted with the operations above, and then clicked the Execute button. The first two operations completed successfully, but when the Resize operation for the Windows partition started, it generated an error. The message window only stated that there was an error, but no indication as to what the error was. I'm guessing that for some reason the partition is being blocked from moving into the unallocated space. I had deleted both the MX logical partition and the extended partition so that the unallocated space should be completely clear. I guess that I will need a brain bigger than mine to fix this one.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2025 6:52 pm
by Falcon
Okay, upon looking into this a little more, I did manage to find a file that specifies the problem. Here is the section that defines the problem:
Grow /dev/sda3 from 71.67 GiB to 101.49 GiB 00:00:00 ( ERROR )
calibrate /dev/sda3 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS )
path: /dev/sda3 (partition)
start: 61024256
end: 211326975
size: 150302720 (71.67 GiB)
check file system on /dev/sda3 for errors and (if possible) fix them 00:00:00 ( ERROR )
ntfsresize -i -f -v '/dev/sda3' 00:00:00 ( ERROR )
ntfsresize v2017.3.23AR.3 (libntfs-3g)
Device name : /dev/sda3
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 76954989056 bytes (76955 MB)
Current device size: 76954992640 bytes (76955 MB)
Checking for bad sectors ...
Bad cluster: 0xcdd430 - 0xcdd430 (1)
ERROR: This software has detected that the disk has at least 1 bad sector.
****************************************************************************
* WARNING: The disk has bad sector. This means physical damage on the disk *
* surface caused by deterioration, manufacturing faults or other reason. *
* The reliability of the disk may stay stable or degrade fast. We suggest *
* making a full backup urgently by running 'ntfsclone --rescue ...' then *
* run 'chkdsk /f /r' on Windows and reboot it TWICE! Then you can resize *
* NTFS safely by additionally using the --bad-sectors option of ntfsresize.*
****************************************************************************
Gparted seems to think that the SSD has one or more bad sectors. Should I just log into Windows and do the operations suggested above? After deleting the MX partition, the computer doesn't boot. Do I just need to reinstall GRUB from the Live USB to get it running again?
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2025 6:54 pm
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 6:06 pm
Well, that didn't work so good. I set up Gparted with the operations above, and then clicked the Execute button. The first two operations completed successfully, but when the Resize operation for the Windows partition started, it generated an error. The message window only stated that there was an error, but no indication as to what the error was. I'm guessing that for some reason the partition is being blocked from moving into the unallocated space. I had deleted both the MX logical partition and the extended partition so that the unallocated space should be completely clear. I guess that I will need a brain bigger than mine to fix this one.
OK, lessons learnt. For safety reasons: Never "touch" a Window partition from linux, to resize. Do this from within Windows tools, which is proven to be safe.
Now, try to boot into Windows with help of MX LiveUSB -> LiveBootMenu-> Switch to Grub -> Boot Rescue, and search for -> Windows bootloader.
It should find, a windows loader, which when selected might boot to WIndows and it may offer to try to repair the files system.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2025 9:26 pm
by Falcon
Thanks, Fehlix. I'll give this a try tomorrow.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 8:17 am
by Falcon
Fehlix,
Before I get started on this I should ask a couple of questions, since I've never used the Windows disk management tools.
1) Since I've used Gparted to delete the MX logical drive and the extended partition, I'm assuming that when I look at the available space on the disk, it should appear that the entire disk is available.
2) After expanding the Windows partition I will need to create a new partition for MX. I'm assuming that I should use the Windows tools to create this partition, also. Should I make the new partition a Primary partition or an Extended partition?
3) Once I've finished with the above work, should I then go back and use Gparted to format the new partition to ext4, and then go ahead and use the Live-USB to reinstall MX?
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 8:35 am
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 8:17 am
Fehlix,
Before I get started on this I should ask a couple of questions, since I've never used the Windows disk management tools.
1) Since I've used Gparted to delete the MX logical drive and the extended partition, I'm assuming that when I look at the available space on the disk, it should appear that the entire disk is available.
2) After expanding the Windows partition I will need to create a new partition for MX. I'm assuming that I should use the Windows tools to create this partition, also. Should I make the new partition a Primary partition or an Extended partition?
3) Once I've finished with the above work, should I then go back and use Gparted to format the new partition to ext4, and then go ahead and use the Live-USB to reinstall MX?
First, hurtle, would be to figure out, whether the file system is still in a shape to allow find the windows boot loaded, and that it boots.
Not the entire disk, but the empty part of the disk will be shown within Windows disk manager tool as unused space, so you can increase the windows partition to your liking.
You can create a new partition within Windows, and later reformat in Gparted.
But I do normal just leave empty space, and create with Gparted new partitions with this empty space,
this avoids Windows complains next boot about a missing partition.
Also note: When shutting down Windows, do a "full shutdown" e.g by holding the Shift-Key when clicking on Shutdown ( or disable permanently hyber/fast-boot in windows)
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:13 am
by Falcon
Okay, to recap:
1) Use the Windows tools to expand the Windows partition.
2) Insure that fast boot is not set up. I've never set up this feature myself, but I'll make sure that it wasn't set up this way by Acer.
3) Use Gparted to create an new partition for Linux in the unallocated space and then re-install MX from the Live-USB.
4) I also wanted to ask if the new partition for MX should be a Primary or Extended partition, or does is really make any difference?
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:44 am
by j2mcgreg
Falcon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:13 am
Okay, to recap:
1) Use the Windows tools to expand the Windows partition.
2) Insure that fast boot is not set up. I've never set up this feature myself, but I'll make sure that it wasn't set up this way by Acer.
3) Use Gparted to create an new partition for Linux in the unallocated space and then re-install MX from the Live-USB.
4) I also wanted to ask if the new partition for MX should be a Primary or Extended partition, or does is really make any difference?
With <= Windows 8.1, Fast Start Up was a bios control called Quick Start. However, I don't remember it ever being present in Win 7 machines.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 10:00 am
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:13 am
1) Use the Windows tools to expand the Windows partition.
Maybe called diskmgr.cfg (or similar, or search windows menu..)
Falcon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:13 am
2) Insure that fast boot is not set up. I've never set up this feature myself, but I'll make sure that it wasn't set up this way by Acer.
That's a Windows feature enabled by default. Just hold the Shift when clicking on Poweroff in Windows.
Falcon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:13 am
3) Use Gparted to create an new partition for Linux in the unallocated space and then re-install MX from the Live-USB.
4) I also wanted to ask if the new partition for MX should be a Primary or Extended partition, or does is really make any difference?
You can have max 4 primaries. So in case you want to adjust (e.g add a swap or data partition), may be consider
to add an extended partition (as the 4th primary) and fill the extended partition with real partitions like MX-root etc.
But remember you cant move the "start" of the extented partions without creating trouble, so better think about your space usage.
Within the extended partition, you can add more logical/secondary partitions.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 1:41 pm
by DukeComposed
fehlix wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 10:00 am
Falcon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:13 am
1) Use the Windows tools to expand the Windows partition.
Maybe called diskmgr.cfg (or similar, or search windows menu..)
Try diskmgmt.msc.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 1:39 pm
by Falcon
Here is what I've done so far:
I booted from the Live USB and selected the Boot Repair option. Going through the menus, I found the Windows boot loader and it allowed me to start Windows successfully. I shut down using the Shift-Shutdown procedure. Then I Went through the above process again and started Windows once more.
First, I opened Windows Explorer and ran a Check Disk operation without any of the repair options. The scan operation did not report any errors, so when Gparted reported sector errors, it may have been erroneous.
I used the
diskmgmt.msc command and that started the program to allow me to resize the Windows partition. That operation seemed to complete successfully.
I shutdown using the Shift-Shutdown and then restarted again and used Windows Explorer to check to see if it reflected the new partition size, and it did.
I shut down and then restarted with the Live-USB, then ran Gparted to create the new Extended partition and the new Logical partition for MX. I also formatted the partition for ext4.
Then I went back to the desktop to run the Installer and put MX on the new partition. Everything seemed to go alright until the installation of GRUB started about 93% of the way in. I got a message that the installation of GRUB failed and that I could use Boot Repair to fix it. So I aborted the installation and opened MX Tools and selected.Boot Repair. Then I ran Reinstall GRUB. I got the following error message:
Code: Select all
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: cannot copy `/usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' to `/boot/grub/locale/sr.mo': Is a directory.
Then I ran the Repair GRUB Configuration File operation and it seemed to complete successfully with the following output:
Code: Select all
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/mx_linux/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-34-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-34-amd64
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows Recovery Environment on /dev/sda1
Found Windows 7 on /dev/sda2
done
I tried rebooting normally, i.e., not from the Live-USB. but the reboot failed. How do I proceed from here? Thanks for all of the help, so far.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 2:08 pm
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 1:39 pm
Code: Select all
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: cannot copy `/usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' to `/boot/grub/locale/sr.mo': Is a directory.
Not sure about this error.
But:
Falcon wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 1:39 pm
Then I ran the Repair GRUB Configuration File operation and it seemed to complete successfully with the following output:
Code: Select all
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/mx_linux/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-34-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-34-amd64
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows Recovery Environment on /dev/sda1
Found Windows 7 on /dev/sda2
done
I tried rebooting normally, i.e., not from the Live-USB. but the reboot failed. How do I proceed from here? Thanks for all of the help, so far.
You would want to run also the "grub-install " part, to "install" the grub-boot loader into the MBR.
Only with a valid GRUB-loader within the MBR, the grub-config can be loaded.
So Try first again with "MX Boot Repai" to "install grub" into the MBR again.
The grub,cfg is probaly already ok, but wouldn't hurt to rerun.
But make sure you select the correct target drive sda or sdb of the internal drive, b/c with LiveUSB you may now have sda is LiveUSB and what a sda was is now sdb.
The kernels assign the names at boot, depending how the LiveUSB is connect you might get different names on LiveBoot.
IF still failed, boot into the LiveSystem and open "Change root" rescue.
Select the found installtion.
on "chroot>" check the namse with
or
and run
where sdX is the device name of the internal drive, you want to boot from.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 3:44 pm
by Falcon
I tried to reinstall GRUB again from the MX Boot Repair tool. You were right about the disk naming. It looks like sda is the Live-USB and the computer's disk is sdb. So I tried installing to sdb, but the installation still failed as it had before.
I then used your instructions to try to install GRUB from Chroot Rescue Scan. It got the same error:
Code: Select all
(chroot> grub-install /dev/sda5
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: cannot copy `/usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' to `/boot/grub/locale/sr.mo': Is a directory.
i opened up the File Manager and started looking Into the /usr and /boot folders. I found the /usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' folder, but when I looked into /root/grub the only subfolder that was shown was Themes. So if the installer is looking for the /locale folder it doesn't exist. Maybe the error message should read "Is NOT a directory". I was going to go ahead and create that directory and try again, but thought that I had better check with you first to keep from causing some other problem.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 4:07 pm
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 3:44 pm
I tried to reinstall GRUB again from the MX Boot Repair tool. You were right about the disk naming. It looks like sda is the Live-USB and the computer's disk is sdb. So I tried installing to sdb, but the installation still failed as it had before.
I then used your instructions to try to install GRUB from Chroot Rescue Scan. It got the same error:
Code: Select all
(chroot> grub-install /dev/sda5
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: cannot copy `/usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' to `/boot/grub/locale/sr.mo': Is a directory.
i opened up the File Manager and started looking Into the /usr and /boot folders. I found the /usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' folder, but when I looked into /root/grub the only subfolder that was shown was Themes. So if the installer is looking for the /locale folder it doesn't exist. Maybe the error message should read "Is NOT a directory". I was going to go ahead and create that directory and try again, but thought that I had better check with you first to keep from causing some other problem.
MBR is on start of the disk /dev/sda, not on start of partition sda5
You have run
So you command needs to be
in cas /dev/sda is the internal drive you want to boot from.
But wait a minute, something wrong with your grub (package) maybe.
What ISO is the installation based on?
Also noted you didn't post a QSI "Quick Sysem Info" from the running Live System.
In addtion to QSI, show partition layout from running live system:
and
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 4:41 pm
by Falcon
Sorry that I didn't post the QSI. I was going to but got sidetracked.
Here is the output of the lsblk -f command:
Code: Select all
wartweasel@Wartweasel:~
$ lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
fd0
loop0 squashfs 4.0 0 100% /live/linu
sda
├─sda1 ntfs PQSERVICE 5C28C22E28C2074C
├─sda2 ntfs SYSTEM RESERVED 8A80C2E480C2D63B
├─sda3 ntfs Acer 02BA9B45BA9B345F
├─sda4
└─sda5 ext4 1.0 rootMX21 fea2ab78-0290-47ca-aa5a-12a52e172055
sdb
└─sdb1 ntfs DE6A06686A063DB1
sdc
├─sdc1 ext4 1.0 Live-usb 10d646a8-f283-410a-9a6f-4c544a6de781 23.5G 18% /live/boot
└─sdc2 vfat FAT32 LIVE-UEFI 5FBD-6F74
sr0
And here is the output of the sudo parted --list command:
Code: Select all
[/wartweasel@Wartweasel:~
$ sudo parted --list
[sudo] password for wartweasel:
Model: ATA CT250MX500SSD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 31.1GB 31.1GB primary ntfs lba
2 31.1GB 31.2GB 105MB primary ntfs boot
3 31.2GB 150GB 119GB primary ntfs
4 150GB 250GB 99.9GB extended
5 150GB 250GB 99.9GB logical ext4
Model: ATA CT250MX500SSD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 160GB 160GB primary ntfs boot
Model: SanDisk Cruzer Glide 3.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 31.3GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 31.3GB 31.3GB primary ext4 boot
2 31.3GB 31.3GB 51.4MB primary fat32 esp
Here is the QSI
Code: Select all
Snapshot created on: 20230820_1243
System: Kernel: 6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64 [6.2-23~mx21+1] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1
parameters: audit=0 intel_pstate=disable hpet=disable rcupdate.rcu_expedited=1 quiet
splash usbcore.autosuspend=-1 lang=en_US kbd=us tz=America/New_York
Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 7
dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.3_x64 Wildflower October 20 2021
base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine: Type: Desktop System: Acer product: Veriton M265 v: P01-A1 serial: <filter> Chassis:
type: 3 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Acer model: EG31M v: P01-A1 serial: <filter> BIOS: ACER v: P01-A1
date: 11/10/2009
Battery: Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M185 serial: <filter>
charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging
CPU: Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn family: 6
model-id: 17 (23) stepping: 7 microcode: 705 cache: L2: 6 MiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 22611
Speed: 2826 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2826 2: 2753 3: 2823 4: 2826
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2
mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics: Device-1: AMD Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM] vendor: Dell
driver: radeon v: kernel alternate: amdgpu bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6778
class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.14 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver:
loaded: ati,radeon unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1440x900 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 380x237mm (15.0x9.3")
s-diag: 448mm (17.6")
Monitor-1: DVI-0 res: 1440x900 hz: 60
OpenGL: renderer: AMD CAICOS (DRM 2.50.0 / 6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64 LLVM 14.0.5)
v: 3.3 Mesa 22.0.5 compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Elite Systems
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:27d8 class-ID: 0403
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.2.14-1-liquorix-amd64 running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes
Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Elite Systems RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d800
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: Local Storage: total: 494.95 GiB used: 18.92 GiB (3.8%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT250MX500SSD1 size: 232.89 GiB
block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: <unknown> type: SSD serial: <filter>
rev: 023 scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Crucial model: CT250MX500SSD1 size: 232.89 GiB
block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: <unknown> type: SSD serial: <filter>
rev: 023 scheme: MBR
ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide 3.0
size: 29.18 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: Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 30.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 52.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos: Packages: note: see --pkg apt: 2254 lib: 1102 flatpak: 0
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ bullseye main
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/google-earth-pro.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
2: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bullseye ahs
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/softmaker.list
1: deb http://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info: Processes: 236 Uptime: 3h 24m wakeups: 7 Memory: 3.83 GiB used: 2.03 GiB (52.9%)
Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1
alt: 10 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.1.4-release inxi: 3.3.06
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)
I didn't try installing GRUB to sda, yet. I thought that I would have you look at this first. Did I give you all of the info that you wanted?
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 5:14 pm
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 4:41 pm
I didn't try installing GRUB to sda, yet. I thought that I would have you look at this first. Did I give you all of the info that you wanted?
Yea, wait a bit, don't do any thing, we need to figure out the grub-install error first.
You may try to boot into the installed system using LiveUSB,
by slecting on the LiveUSB boot menu:
Switch To Grub -> Boot Rescue -> Search from "GRUB.cfg" , ( not search for "GRUB loader" - wont work),
it may show a GRUB menu and may boot into the installed system b/c it would use the GRUB modules from the LiveUSB.
But anyway, need to figure out this grub-install error, before any additional repair attempts.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 5:34 pm
by Falcon
Okay, I used the Live-USB GRUB menu to navigate to a boot loader for MX-21, as opposed to Live-USB. I think it was correct because I got the usual login screen. So that much works at least.
I really appreciate the time that you are devoting to helping me solve this issue.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 6:05 pm
by juwido
Well, why does QSI show x86_64 while the error massage is: "Installing for i386-pc platform"?
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 6:19 pm
by fehlix
juwido wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 6:05 pm
Well, why does QSI show x86_64 while the error massage is: "Installing for i386-pc platform"?
grub is not run by the kernel and needs "i386-pc platform" modules to run on BIOS/mbr boot, even on 64bit CPU platform used by the kernel.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions [Solved]
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 6:41 pm
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 5:34 pm
Okay, I used the Live-USB GRUB menu to navigate to a boot loader for MX-21, as opposed to Live-USB. I think it was correct because I got the usual login screen. So that much works at least.
I really appreciate the time that you are devoting to helping me solve this issue.
OK, great,
And now the big news, the show stopper you have seen above
Code: Select all
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: cannot copy `/usr/share/locale/sr.gmo' to `/boot/grub/locale/sr.mo': Is a directory.
is a real one. And caused by something completely differently.
Seems to be related to a faulty package "xfce4-weather-plugin", which created all those "/usr/share/locale/*.gmo"
directories as these gmo, stuff rather looks like pacakge build artifatcts and do not belong under /usr/share/locale/,
where you normally only find valid local files like "*.mo".
So in case some other faulty gmo-artifcates are hanging around.
Simplest "workaround" would be to instruct grub-install to not install any translation files.
This way:
When booted into the installed system with help of
->MX LiveUSB->LiveBootMenu->Switch to GRUB->Search fot "GRUB cfg":
* Do open within the installed system terminal as normal user.
* Do check the device names (check this always before running grub-install)
with help of lsblk -f, so you are sure /dev/sda is you install drive.
Now run this:
Code: Select all
sudo grub-install --locale-directory=/tmp /dev/sda
where we use a "trick" to tell grub-install to search for locales with a /tmp directory, where it would not find any.
Effectively tells "grub-install" to not install any locale translations, which you don't need as the default is in English anyway.
The command should complete without any error.
Now to be sure, also do re-generated fresh the grub menu with:
Note ; The above command could also have been run from the "Chroot Rescue" visited system, in case
you would not have any grub menu already with the system, and "Chroot Rescue " would be the only way
to fix grub.
You may consider to purge/remove the faulty package xfce4-weather-plugin
which caused the show-stopper gmo-locale dirs, by running this:
Code: Select all
sudo apt purge xfce4-weather-plugin
afterwards, you would probably not need the no-locale trick "--locale-directory=/tmp" to get grub-install run successfully.
Good Luck.
+++EDIT+++
Just checked again, the show stopper which caused grub-install to fail seems only xfce4-weather-plugin on MX-21
Code: Select all
apt policy xfce4-weather-plugin
xfce4-weather-plugin:
Installed: 0.11.3-0.1~mx21+1
Candidate: 0.11.3-0.1~mx21+1
xfce4-weather-plugin (0.11.3-0.1~mx21+1) mx; urgency=medium
maybe our MX maintainer:
Code: Select all
xfce4-weather-plugin (0.11.3-0.1~mx21+1) mx; urgency=medium
* New upstream version 0.11.3.
-- Steven Pusser <stevep@mxlinux.org> Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:31:02 -0800
would consider to rebuild, in order to avoid those build artifacts directories:
Code: Select all
/usr/share/locale/ar.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ast.gmo
/usr/share/locale/be.gmo
/usr/share/locale/bg.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ca.gmo
/usr/share/locale/cs.gmo
/usr/share/locale/da.gmo
/usr/share/locale/de.gmo
/usr/share/locale/el.gmo
/usr/share/locale/en_AU.gmo
/usr/share/locale/en_GB.gmo
/usr/share/locale/es.gmo
/usr/share/locale/et.gmo
/usr/share/locale/eu.gmo
/usr/share/locale/fi.gmo
/usr/share/locale/fr.gmo
/usr/share/locale/gl.gmo
/usr/share/locale/he.gmo
/usr/share/locale/hr.gmo
/usr/share/locale/hu.gmo
/usr/share/locale/hye.gmo
/usr/share/locale/id.gmo
/usr/share/locale/is.gmo
/usr/share/locale/it.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ja.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ko.gmo
/usr/share/locale/lt.gmo
/usr/share/locale/lv.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ms.gmo
/usr/share/locale/nb.gmo
/usr/share/locale/nl.gmo
/usr/share/locale/nn.gmo
/usr/share/locale/oc.gmo
/usr/share/locale/pa.gmo
/usr/share/locale/pl.gmo
/usr/share/locale/pt.gmo
/usr/share/locale/pt_BR.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ru.gmo
/usr/share/locale/sk.gmo
/usr/share/locale/sl.gmo
/usr/share/locale/sq.gmo
/usr/share/locale/sr.gmo
/usr/share/locale/sv.gmo
/usr/share/locale/te.gmo
/usr/share/locale/th.gmo
/usr/share/locale/tr.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ug.gmo
/usr/share/locale/uk.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ur.gmo
/usr/share/locale/ur_PK.gmo
/usr/share/locale/zh_CN.gmo
/usr/share/locale/zh_TW.gmo
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 7:55 pm
by Falcon
Fehlix, you are a genius! I executed the three commands above and grub installed successfully and now works. I verified that I can log into both MX and Windows without any problem. If I do a new Snapshot of the current system, will that insure that I won't have this problem again, should I need to do another reinstall in the future for some reason?
Once again, I really appreciate all of your help and assistance.
Re: Trying to resize two disk partitions
Posted: Thu May 01, 2025 8:27 pm
by fehlix
Falcon wrote: ↑Thu May 01, 2025 7:55 pm
Fehlix, you are a genius! I executed the three commands above and grub installed successfully and now works. I verified that I can log into both MX and Windows without any problem. If I do a new Snapshot of the current system, will that insure that I won't have this problem again, should I need to do another reinstall in the future for some reason?
Once again, I really appreciate all of your help and assistance.
Great. Yes, in case you don't need / use the weather-plugin, keep it uninstalled, otherwise I guess a new fixed version will be probably soon available.
Either-way, without the faulty locale/*.gmo directories the installer would probably not fail.
So perhaps do update all packages and any changes else needed and create a new personal snapshot, in order you have always an good one to reinstall if needed.
Re Windows partitions, ok, in case any adjustment are needed to deal with those partitions, do this only from within Windows itself.
Maybe turn off windows hyper/sleep faststartup. Or what I always do for folks using Windows to place a "Full Shutdown" icon on the Windows desktop.
In case your are interested how this looks like, I may look in to my Windows install to share it here.
Now, with help of the snapshotted-ISO/LiveUSB in the drawer, you have always a good failsafe and restore tool available including some rescue means, either with help
of "Chroot Rescue" tool or the LiveGRUB Rescue menus.
Take care.