Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[tomas]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 02:35:59PM -0500, David Wright wrote:
> On Mon 18 Mar 2024 at 17:31:24 (+0100), Marco Moock wrote:
> > Am 18.03.2024 um 16:17:55 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:
> > 
> > > EFI. While not installing grub, no boot entry is created too.
> > 
> > This is to be expected.
> > 
> > > It seems the installer fails silently at some point, after having
> > > installed all packages. Maybe it fails installing grub?

See below.

> > This doesn't explain the users not being set up.
> 
> My installer logs show Grub being installed before the
> users are set up.

This would go first, yes.

> > Can you go to the other virtual consoles to investigate the situation?
> > Maybe there is an error message.
> 
> There should be /var/log/installer/syslog on the newly installed
> filesystem.

My hunch currently is that nothing at all gets really written to
the disk, either failing silently or the OP not seeing the failures.

I wouldn't bet my farm on it (first of all because I have no
farm), but this would be the first I'd check. For example, by
looking around after the installer thinks it's done and *before*
the final reboot. What is mounted? Which devices are there?
Which partitions? What's in there?

Alternatively, boot the install/live medium in rescue mode and
try to find/mount the partitions where the fresh installation
is supposed to have landed.

If everything is there, my hunch was wrong and the primary suspect
seems to become Grub. Some BIOSes are rumoured to play games here.

Cheers
-- 
t


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Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Jeffrey Walton]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 4:32 PM Thomas Schweikle  wrote:
>
> Am Mo., 18.März.2024 um 16:44:32 schrieb Greg Wooledge:
> > On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 03:24:14PM +0100, Thomas Schweikle wrote:
> >> Package: Debian installer
> >> Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
> >> Severity: critical
> >
> > Note that you sent this email to the debian-user list, not to the bug
> > tracking system.
>
> I know. The bog tracking system wants me to use reportbug, but since I
> do not have access to the installed system i cant use reportbug to
> report a bug.

You could email the report to sub...@bugs.debian.org. No need for
reportbug. See "How to report a bug in Debian using email,"
.

Jeff

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[David Wright]

On Mon 18 Mar 2024 at 17:31:24 (+0100), Marco Moock wrote:
> Am 18.03.2024 um 16:17:55 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:
> 
> > EFI. While not installing grub, no boot entry is created too.
> 
> This is to be expected.
> 
> > It seems the installer fails silently at some point, after having
> > installed all packages. Maybe it fails installing grub?
> 
> This doesn't explain the users not being set up.

My installer logs show Grub being installed before the
users are set up.

> Can you go to the other virtual consoles to investigate the situation?
> Maybe there is an error message.

There should be /var/log/installer/syslog on the newly installed
filesystem.

Cheers,
David.

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[tomas]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 07:00:57PM +, Andy Smith wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 05:31:24PM +0100, Marco Moock wrote:
> > Am 18.03.2024 um 16:17:55 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:
> > > It seems the installer fails silently at some point, after having
> > > installed all packages. Maybe it fails installing grub?
> > 
> > This doesn't explain the users not being set up.
> 
> Given that this is a live media, is it possible that by leaving the
> disc in, the OP is in fact booting the live environment not the one
> they installed? This might explain no users and "wrong" locale.

I think the OP even said that. But by all appearances, the installer
(silently?) fails to write the boot loader to the disk (and possibly
to write to the disk at all, not sure about that).

@Thomas: can you check whether anything was written to the disk?
You could try to list its partition table and even mount (some of)
its partitions, if any, from your live system. Anything in there?

Cheers
-- 
t


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Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Andy Smith]

Hi,

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 01:40:44PM -0500, Nicholas Geovanis wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 12:48 PM Thomas Schweikle 
> wrote:
> > 1. Download debian live-CD/DVD from:
> > https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso
> > or
> > https://ftp.gwdg.de/debian-cd/12.5.0-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso

[…]

> Is it possible that the hard-drive is not working correctly?
> It seems that all of those symptoms point to an un-writable hard-drive.

I think OP is actually booting the live media they installed from
and expecting it to be their installed system.

I don't know why their bootloader ends up misconfigured.

Thanks,
Andy

-- 
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Andy Smith]

Hi,

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 05:31:24PM +0100, Marco Moock wrote:
> Am 18.03.2024 um 16:17:55 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:
> > It seems the installer fails silently at some point, after having
> > installed all packages. Maybe it fails installing grub?
> 
> This doesn't explain the users not being set up.

Given that this is a live media, is it possible that by leaving the
disc in, the OP is in fact booting the live environment not the one
they installed? This might explain no users and "wrong" locale.

I've never used Debian live media so I am just guessing.

I think it may have installed but something is wrong with the
bootloader setup.

Thanks,
Andy

-- 
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Nicholas Geovanis]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 12:48 PM Thomas Schweikle 
wrote:

> Package: Debian installer
> Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
> Severity: critical
>
> 1. Download debian live-CD/DVD from:
> https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso
> or
> https://ftp.gwdg.de/debian-cd/12.5.0-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso
> 2. Boot from this DVD
> 3. Doubble click on "Install to harddisk"
> 4. Select to erase a partitioned harddisk
> 5. Select "German"
> 6. For User and Passwort enter
> Full name: demo Demo
> Username: de-de
> Password 1st: start123
> Password 2nd: start123
> 7. Click install
> 8. Wait until the installer finishes and reboots into this newly installed
> system
> 9. Try to login with the credentials given above:
> User: de-de
> Password: start123
>
> The newly installed system just tells: unknown user or password, user or
> password wrong. You wont be able to login.
>

Did the password you typed include any non-ASCII characters? Same question
for non -en_US characters?
And: Are you using a German-language keyboard? Or a "standard" US-style?


> Having a closer look at the system installed:
> - The system language ist set to en_US, instead, as selected to de_DE.
> - The keyboard language and layout ist set to en_US, instead, as selected
> to de_DE.
> - The user given isn't created at all.
> - The password isn't entered into /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow.
> - Root is created, but does not have a password, while passwordless logins
> are prohibited
>

Is it possible that the hard-drive is not working correctly?
It seems that all of those symptoms point to an un-writable hard-drive.


> Conclusion: it is not possible to login to the system. Youl have to hack
> it to get access.
>
> --
> Thomas
>

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[tomas]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 11:44:32AM -0400, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 03:24:14PM +0100, Thomas Schweikle wrote:
> > Package: Debian installer
> > Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
> > Severity: critical
> 
> Note that you sent this email to the debian-user list, not to the bug
> tracking system.
> 
> > 6. For User and Passwort enter
> > Full name: demo Demo
> > Username: de-de
> > Password 1st: start123
> > Password 2nd: start123
> > 7. Click install
> > 8. Wait until the installer finishes and reboots into this newly installed
> > system
> > 9. Try to login with the credentials given above:
> > User: de-de
> > Password: start123
> > 
> > The newly installed system just tells: unknown user or password, user or
> > password wrong. You wont be able to login.
> 
> I wonder if it's the hyphen character.  Maybe the installer transforms
> that into an underscore, or omits it entirely?  That's just a guess.

Hyphen seems to be fine, at least according to the useradd(8) man page.
It has even a paragraph referencing Debian, mentioning the restriction
that the hyphen not be at the beginning of the name. But who knows. Perhaps
something else breaks.

Cheers
-- 
t


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Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Max Nikulin]

On 18/03/2024 23:17, Thomas Schweikle wrote:

Maybe it fails installing grub?


Maybe /var/log/installer contains some logs?

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Marco Moock]

Am 18.03.2024 um 16:17:55 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:

> EFI. While not installing grub, no boot entry is created too.

This is to be expected.

> It seems the installer fails silently at some point, after having
> installed all packages. Maybe it fails installing grub?

This doesn't explain the users not being set up.
Debian can be installed without GRUB (especially useful on BIOS systems
when a boot manager from another OS already exists).

Can you go to the other virtual consoles to investigate the situation?
Maybe there is an error message.

-- 
Gruß
Marco

Send unsolicited bulk mail to 1710775075mu...@cartoonies.org

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Marco Moock]

Am 18.03.2024 um 16:07:15 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:

> I know. The bog tracking system wants me to use reportbug, but since
> I do not have access to the installed system i cant use reportbug to 
> report a bug.

It simply sends a pre-formatted email to sub...@bugs.debian.org. You
can do that manually.

https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting

-- 
Gruß
Marco

Send unsolicited bulk mail to 1710774435mu...@cartoonies.org

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Thomas Schweikle]

Am Mo., 18.März.2024 um 17:06:51 schrieb Marco Moock:

Am 18.03.2024 um 15:49:29 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:


And: after rebooting without any CD/DVD it just boots into an error:
no system found.


EFI or old BIOS system?
If EFI: Does a boot entry exist?


EFI. While not installing grub, no boot entry is created too. It seems 
the installer fails silently at some point, after having installed all 
packages. Maybe it fails installing grub?

--
Thomas



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Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Thomas Schweikle]

Am Mo., 18.März.2024 um 16:44:32 schrieb Greg Wooledge:

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 03:24:14PM +0100, Thomas Schweikle wrote:

Package: Debian installer
Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
Severity: critical


Note that you sent this email to the debian-user list, not to the bug
tracking system.


I know. The bog tracking system wants me to use reportbug, but since I 
do not have access to the installed system i cant use reportbug to 
report a bug.



6. For User and Passwort enter
 Full name: demo Demo
 Username: de-de
 Password 1st: start123
 Password 2nd: start123
7. Click install
8. Wait until the installer finishes and reboots into this newly installed
system
9. Try to login with the credentials given above:
 User: de-de
 Password: start123

The newly installed system just tells: unknown user or password, user or
password wrong. You wont be able to login.


I wonder if it's the hyphen character.  Maybe the installer transforms
that into an underscore, or omits it entirely?  That's just a guess.


Thought it too, but it is not. The user isn't created even if i just 
name it without any specials. I've even tried to install using en_US. 
But without success: same problem. The user account is not created.



Anyway, try logging in as "dede" or "de_de", just to see if one of those
works.  Otherwise, you'll need to boot in rescue mode (or any equivalent
of your choice), and look at the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files.
See what happened.


It is even more wired: if the installed system is rebooted from install 
media -- after finishing installation the system does boot, but is not 
accessible. In lack of any useable user account created.


If i then remove installation media and reboot, the system just does not 
find anything to boot into: the bootloader is not installed at all! Grub 
is missing!


The after-install-reboot is triggered without going the whole way: they 
"boot" by loading the kernel from the running install system kernel 
using kexec. This is faster and avoids rebooting into the install system 
again, but it wont work if the boot system is just about to be missing, 
because neither grub nor systemd.boot are installed.

--
Thomas



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Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Marco Moock]

Am 18.03.2024 um 15:49:29 Uhr schrieb Thomas Schweikle:

> And: after rebooting without any CD/DVD it just boots into an error:
> no system found.

EFI or old BIOS system?
If EFI: Does a boot entry exist?

-- 
Gruß
Marco

Send spam to 1710773369mu...@cartoonies.org

Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Thomas Schweikle]

Am Mo., 18.März.2024 um 15:24:14 schrieb Thomas Schweikle:

Package: Debian installer
Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
Severity: critical

1. Download debian live-CD/DVD from: 
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso  or https://ftp.gwdg.de/debian-cd/12.5.0-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso 

2. Boot from this DVD
3. Doubble click on "Install to harddisk"
4. Select to erase a partitioned harddisk
5. Select "German"
6. For User and Passwort enter
     Full name: demo Demo
     Username: de-de
     Password 1st: start123
     Password 2nd: start123
7. Click install
8. Wait until the installer finishes and reboots into this newly 
installed system

9. Try to login with the credentials given above:
     User: de-de
     Password: start123

The newly installed system just tells: unknown user or password, user or 
password wrong. You wont be able to login.

Having a closer look at the system installed:
- The system language ist set to en_US, instead, as selected to de_DE.
- The keyboard language and layout ist set to en_US, instead, as 
selected to de_DE.

- The user given isn't created at all.
- The password isn't entered into /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow.
- Root is created, but does not have a password, while passwordless 
logins are prohibited


Conclusion: it is not possible to login to the system. Youl have to hack 
it to get access.


And: after rebooting without any CD/DVD it just boots into an error: no 
system found.

--
Thomas



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Re: After installing no access to the installed system.

[Greg Wooledge]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 03:24:14PM +0100, Thomas Schweikle wrote:
> Package: Debian installer
> Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
> Severity: critical

Note that you sent this email to the debian-user list, not to the bug
tracking system.

> 6. For User and Passwort enter
> Full name: demo Demo
> Username: de-de
> Password 1st: start123
> Password 2nd: start123
> 7. Click install
> 8. Wait until the installer finishes and reboots into this newly installed
> system
> 9. Try to login with the credentials given above:
> User: de-de
> Password: start123
> 
> The newly installed system just tells: unknown user or password, user or
> password wrong. You wont be able to login.

I wonder if it's the hyphen character.  Maybe the installer transforms
that into an underscore, or omits it entirely?  That's just a guess.

Anyway, try logging in as "dede" or "de_de", just to see if one of those
works.  Otherwise, you'll need to boot in rescue mode (or any equivalent
of your choice), and look at the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files.
See what happened.

After installing no access to the installed system.

[Thomas Schweikle]

Package: Debian installer
Version: As on Debian live-CD/DVD for Debian 12.5
Severity: critical

1. Download debian live-CD/DVD from:
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso
or
https://ftp.gwdg.de/debian-cd/12.5.0-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-12.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso
2. Boot from this DVD
3. Doubble click on "Install to harddisk"
4. Select to erase a partitioned harddisk
5. Select "German"
6. For User and Passwort enter
Full name: demo Demo
Username: de-de
Password 1st: start123
Password 2nd: start123
7. Click install
8. Wait until the installer finishes and reboots into this newly installed
system
9. Try to login with the credentials given above:
User: de-de
Password: start123

The newly installed system just tells: unknown user or password, user or
password wrong. You wont be able to login.
Having a closer look at the system installed:
- The system language ist set to en_US, instead, as selected to de_DE.
- The keyboard language and layout ist set to en_US, instead, as selected
to de_DE.
- The user given isn't created at all.
- The password isn't entered into /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow.
- Root is created, but does not have a password, while passwordless logins
are prohibited

Conclusion: it is not possible to login to the system. Youl have to hack it
to get access.

-- 
Thomas