Difference between pages "Windows 10 Virtualization with KVM" and "Install/ru/Partitioning"

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{{Article
<noinclude>
|Author=Drobbins
{{InstallPart|процесс разбиения диска и создания файловых систем}}
}}
</noinclude>
This page describes how to set up Funtoo Linux to run Windows 7 Professional 32-bit within a KVM virtual machine. KVM is suitable for running Windows 7 for general desktop application use. It does not provide 3D support, but offers a nice, high-performance virtualization solution for day-to-day productivity applications. It is also very easy to set up.
=== Подготовка жесткого диска ===
 
В этой части  мы научимся различным способам установки Funtoo Linux -- и загрузки с -- жесткий диск.
 
==== Введение ====
 
В прежние времена существовал лишь один способ загрузить PC-совместимый компьютер. Все наши дектопы и сервера имели стандартный PC BIOS, все наши харды использовали MBR и были разбиты используя схему разбивки MBR.  Вот как это все было и нам это нравилось!
 
Затем появились EFI и UEFI,  встроенные программы нового образца наряду со схемой разбивки GPT, поддерживающая диски размером более 2.2TБ. Неожиданно, нам стали доступны различные способы установки и загрузки Линукс систем . То, что было единым методом, стало чем-то более сложным.
 
Let's take a moment to review the options available to you for configuring a hard drive to boot Funtoo Linux. This Install Guide uses, and recommends, the old-school method of BIOS booting and using an MBR. It works and (except for rare cases) is universally supported. There's nothing wrong with it. If your system disk is 2TB or smaller in size, it won't prevent you from using all of your disk's capacity, either.
 
But, there are some situations where the old-school method isn't optimal. If you have a system disk >2TB in size, then MBR partitions won't allow you to access all your storage. So that's one reason. Another reason is that there are some so-called "PC" systems out there that don't support BIOS booting anymore, and force you to use UEFI to boot. So, out of compassion for people who fall into this predicament, this Install Guide documents UEFI booting too.
 
Our recommendation is still to go old-school unless you have reason not to. The boot loader we will be using to load the Linux kernel in this guide is called GRUB, so we call this method the '''BIOS + GRUB (MBR)''' method. It's the traditional method of setting up a PC-compatible system to boot Linux.
 
If you need to use UEFI to boot, we recommend not using the MBR at all for booting, as some systems support this, but others don't. Instead, we recommend using UEFI to boot GRUB, which in turn will load Linux. We refer to this method as the '''UEFI + GRUB (GPT)''' method.
 
And yes, there are even more methods, some of which are documented on the [[Boot Methods]] page. We used to recommend a '''BIOS + GRUB (GPT)''' method but it is not consistently supported across a wide variety of hardware.
 
'''The big question is -- which boot method should you use?''' Here's how to tell.
 
;Principle 1 - Old School: If you can reliably boot System Rescue CD and it shows you an initial light blue menu, you are booting the CD using the BIOS, and it's likely that you can thus boot Funtoo Linux using the BIOS. So, go old-school and use BIOS booting, ''unless'' you have some reason to use UEFI, such as having a >2.2TB system disk. In that case, see Principle 2, as your system may also support UEFI booting.
 
;Principle 2 - New School: If you can reliably boot System Rescue CD and it shows you an initial black and white menu -- congratulations, your system is configured to support UEFI booting. This means that you are ready to install Funtoo Linux to boot via UEFI. Your system may still support BIOS booting, but just be trying UEFI first. You can poke around in your BIOS boot configuration and play with this.
 
;What's the Big Difference between Old School and New School?: Here's the deal. If you go with old-school MBR partitions, your <code>/boot</code> partition will be an ext2 filesystem, and you'll use <code>fdisk</code> to create your MBR partitions. If you go with new-school GPT partitions and UEFI booting, your <code>/boot</code> partition will be a vfat filesystem, because this is what UEFI is able to read, and you will use <code>gdisk</code> to create your GPT partitions. And you'll install GRUB a bit differently. That's about all it comes down to, in case you were curious.
 
;Also Note: To install Funtoo Linux to boot via the New School UEFI method, you must boot System Rescue CD using UEFI -- and see an initial black and white screen. Otherwise, UEFI will not be active and you will not be able to set it up!
 
{{Note|'''Some motherboards may appear to support UEFI, but don't.''' Do your research. For example, the Award BIOS in my Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 rev 1.1 has an option to enable UEFI boot for CD/DVD. '''This is not sufficient for enabling UEFI boot for hard drives and installing Funtoo Linux.''' UEFI must be supported for both removable media (so you can boot System Rescue CD using UEFI) as well as fixed media (so you can boot your new Funtoo Linux installation.) It turns out that later revisions of this board (rev 3.0) have a new BIOS that fully supports UEFI boot.  This may point to a third principle -- know thy hardware.}}
 
==== Old-School (BIOS/MBR) Method ====
 
{{Note|Use this method if you are booting using your BIOS, and if your System Rescue CD initial boot menu was light blue. If you're going to use the new-school method, [[#New-School (UEFI/GPT) Method|click here to jump down to UEFI/GPT.]]}}
 
===== Preparation =====
 
First, it's a good idea to make sure that you've found the correct hard disk to partition. Try this command and verify that <code>/dev/sda</code> is the disk that you want to partition:
 
<console>
# ##i##fdisk -l /dev/sda
 
Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes, 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: gpt
 
 
#        Start          End    Size  Type            Name
1        2048  1250263694  596.2G  Linux filesyste Linux filesystem
</console>
 
Now, it's recommended that you erase any existing MBR or GPT partition tables on the disk, which could confuse the system's BIOS at boot time. We do this using <code>sgdisk</code>:
{{fancywarning|This will make any existing partitions inaccessible! You are '''strongly''' cautioned and advised to backup any critical data before proceeding.}}
 
<console>
# ##i##sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda
 
Creating new GPT entries.
GPT data structures destroyed! You may now partition the disk using fdisk or
other utilities.
</console>
 
This output is also nothing to worry about, as the command still succeded:
 
<console>
***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory.
***************************************************************
</console>
 
===== Partitioning =====
 
Now we will use <code>fdisk</code> to create the MBR partition table and partitions:
 
<console>
# ##i##fdisk /dev/sda
</console>
 
Within <code>fdisk</code>, follow these steps:
 
'''Empty the partition table''':
 
<console>
Command (m for help): ##i##o ↵
</console>
 
'''Create Partition 1''' (boot):
 
<console>
Command (m for help): ##i##n ↵
Partition type (default p): ##i##↵
Partition number (1-4, default 1): ##i##↵
First sector: ##i##↵
Last sector: ##i##+128M ↵
</console>
 
'''Create Partition 2''' (swap):
 
<console>
Command (m for help): ##i##n ↵
Partition type (default p): ##i##↵
Partition number (2-4, default 2): ##i##↵
First sector: ##i##↵
Last sector: ##i##+2G ↵
Command (m for help): ##i##t ↵
Partition number (1,2, default 2): ##i## ↵
Hex code (type L to list all codes): ##i##82 ↵
</console>
 
'''Create the root partition:'''
 
<console>
Command (m for help): ##i##n ↵
Partition type (default p): ##i##↵
Partition number (3,4, default 3): ##i##↵
First sector: ##i##↵
Last sector: ##i##↵
</console>
 
'''Verify the partition table:'''
 
<console>
Command (m for help): ##i##p
 
Disk /dev/sda: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x82abc9a6
 
Device    Boot    Start      End    Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1          2048    264191    131072  83 Linux
/dev/sda2        264192  4458495  2097152  82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3        4458496 625142447 310341976  83 Linux
</console>


== Introduction ==
'''Write the parition table to disk:'''


KVM is a hardware-accelerated full-machine hypervisor and virtualization solution included as part of kernel 2.6.20 and later. It allows you to create and start hardware-accelerated virtual machines under Linux using the QEMU tools.
<console>
Command (m for help): ##i##w
</console>


[[File:Windows7virt.png|400px|Windows 7 Professional 32-bit running within qemu-kvm]]
Your new MBR partition table will now be written to your system disk.


== KVM Setup ==
{{Note|You're done with partitioning! Now, jump over to [[#Creating filesystems|Creating filesystems]].}}


You will need KVM to be set up on the machine that will be running the virtual machine. This can be a local Linux system, or if you are using SPICE (see [[#SPICE (Accelerated Remote Connection)|SPICE]]), a local or remote system. See the SPICE section for tweaks that you will need to make to these instructions if you plan to run Windows 7 on a Funtoo Linux system that you will connect to remotely.
==== New-School (UEFI/GPT) Method ====


Follow these steps for the system that will be running the virtual machine.
{{Note|Use this method if you are booting using UEFI, and if your System Rescue CD initial boot menu was black and white. If it was light blue, this method will not work.}}


If you are using an automatically-built kernel, it is likely that kernel support for KVM is already available.
The <tt>gdisk</tt> commands to create a GPT partition table are as follows. Adapt sizes as necessary, although these defaults will work for most users. Start <code>gdisk</code>:


If you build your kernel from scratch, please see [[KVM|the KVM page]] for detailed instructions on how to enable KVM. These instructions also cover the process of emerging qemu, which is also necessary. [[KVM|Do this first, as described on the KVM page]] -- then come back here.
<console>
# ##i##gdisk
</console>


{{fancyimportant|Before using KVM, be sure that your user account is in the <tt>kvm</tt> group so that <tt>qemu</tt> can access <tt>/dev/kvm</tt>. You will need to use a command such as <tt>vigr</tt> as root to do this, and then log out and log back in for this to take effect.}}
Within <tt>gdisk</tt>, follow these steps:


Prior to using KVM, modprobe the appropriate accelerated driver for Intel or AMD, as root:
'''Create a new empty partition table''' (This ''will'' erase all data on the disk when saved):


<console>
<console>
# ##i##modprobe kvm_intel
Command: ##i##o ↵
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): ##i##y ↵
</console>
</console>


== Windows 7 ISO Images ==
'''Create Partition 1''' (boot):


In this tutorial, we are going to install Windows 7 Professional, 32-bit Edition. Microsoft provides a free download of the ISO DVD image, but this does require a valid license key for installation. You can download Windows 7 Professional, 32 bit at the following location:
<console>
Command: ##i##n ↵
Partition Number: ##i##1 ↵
First sector: ##i##↵
Last sector: ##i##+500M ↵
Hex Code: ##i##↵
</console>


http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65804/X15-65804.iso
'''Create Partition 2''' (swap):


{{fancynote|Windows 7 Professional, 32-bit Edition is a free download but requires a valid license key for installation.}}
<console>
Command: ##i##n ↵
Partition Number: ##i##2 ↵
First sector: ##i##↵
Last sector: ##i##+4G ↵
Hex Code: ##i##8200 ↵
</console>


In addition, it's highly recommended that you download "VirtIO" drivers produced by Red Hat. These drivers are installed under Windows and significantly improve Windows 7 network and disk performance. You want to download the ISO file (not the ZIP file) at the following location:
'''Create Partition 3''' (root):


http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/latest/images/
<console>
Command: ##i##n ↵
Partition Number: ##i##3 ↵
First sector: ##i##↵
Last sector: ##i##↵##!i## (for rest of disk)
Hex Code: ##i##↵
</console>


== Create Raw Disk ==
Along the way, you can type "<tt>p</tt>" and hit Enter to view your current partition table. If you make a mistake, you can type "<tt>d</tt>" to delete an existing partition that you created. When you are satisfied with your partition setup, type "<tt>w</tt>" to write your configuration to disk:


In this tutorial, we are going to create a 30GB raw disk image for Windows 7. Raw disk images offer better performance than the commonly-used QCOW2 format. Do this as a regular user:
'''Write Partition Table To Disk''':


<console>
<console>
$ ##i##cd
Command: ##i##w ↵
$ ##i##qemu-img create -f raw win7.img 30G
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): ##i##Y ↵
</console>
</console>


We now have an empty virtual disk image called <tt>win7.img</tt> in our home directory.
The partition table will now be written to disk and <tt>gdisk</tt> will close.


== QEMU script ==
Now, your GPT/GUID partitions have been created, and will show up as the following ''block devices'' under Linux:


Now, we'll create the following script to start our virtual machine and begin Windows 7 installation. Note that this script assumes that the two ISO files downloaded earlier were placed in the user's <tt>Downloads</tt> directory. Adjust paths as necessary if that is not the case. Also be sure to adjust the following parts of the script:
* <tt>/dev/sda1</tt>, which will be used to hold the <tt>/boot</tt> filesystem,
* <tt>/dev/sda2</tt>, which will be used for swap space, and  
* <tt>/dev/sda3</tt>, which will hold your root filesystem.


* Adjust the name of <tt>VIRTIMG</tt> to match the exact name of the VirtIO ISO image you downloaded earlier
==== Creating filesystems ====
* Adjust the <tt>smp</tt> option to use the number of CPU cores and threads (if your system has hyperthreading) of your Linux system's CPU.


Use your favorite text editor to create the following script. Name it something like <tt>vm.sh</tt>:
{{Note|This section covers both BIOS ''and'' UEFI installs. Don't skip it!}}


<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
Before your newly-created partitions can be used, the block devices need to be initialized with filesystem ''metadata''. This process is known as ''creating a filesystem'' on the block devices. After filesystems are created on the block devices, they can be mounted and used to store files.
#!/bin/sh
 
export QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=alsa
Let's keep this simple. Are you using old-school MBR partitions? If so, let's create an ext2 filesystem on /dev/sda1:
DISKIMG=~/win7.img
 
WIN7IMG=~/Downloads/X15-65804.iso
<console>
VIRTIMG=~/Downloads/virtio-win-0.1-74.iso
# ##i##mkfs.ext2 /dev/sda1
qemu-system-x86_64 --enable-kvm -drive file=${DISKIMG},if=virtio -m 2048 \
</console>
-net nic,model=virtio -net user -cdrom ${WIN7IMG} \
-drive file=${VIRTIMG},index=3,media=cdrom \
-rtc base=localtime,clock=host -smp cores=2,threads=4 \
-usbdevice tablet -soundhw ac97 -cpu host -vga vmware
</syntaxhighlight>


Now, make the script executable:
If you're using new-school GPT partitions for UEFI, you'll want to create a vfat filesystem on /dev/sda1, because this is what UEFI is able to read:


<console>
<console>
$ ##i##chmod +x vm.sh
# ##i##mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1
</console>
</console>


Here is a brief summary of what the script does. It starts the <tt>qemu-kvm</tt> program and instructs it to use KVM to accelerate virtualization. The display will be shown locally, in a window. If you are using the SPICE method, described later in this document, no window will appear, and you will be able to connect remotely to your running virtual machine.
Now, let's create a swap partition. This partition will be used as disk-based virtual memory for your Funtoo Linux system.


The system disk is the 30GB raw image you created, and we tell QEMU to use "virtio" mode for this disk, as well as "virtio" for network access. This will require that we install special drivers during installation to access the disk and enable networking, but will give us better performance.
You will not create a filesystem on your swap partition, since it is not used to store files. But it is necessary to initialize it using the <code>mkswap</code> command. Then we'll run the <code>swapon</code> command to make your newly-initialized swap space immediately active within the live CD environment, in case it is needed during the rest of the install process:


To assist us in installing the VirtIO drivers, we have configured the system with two DVD drives -- the first holds the Windows 7 installation media, and the second contains the VirtIO driver ISO that we will need to access during Windows 7 installation.
<console>
# ##i##mkswap /dev/sda2
# ##i##swapon /dev/sda2
</console>


The <tt>-usbdevice tablet</tt> option will cause our mouse and keyboard interaction with our virtual environment to be intuitive and easy to use.
Now, we need to create a root filesystem. This is where Funtoo Linux will live. We generally recommend ext4 or XFS root filesystems. If you're not sure, choose ext4. Here's how to create a root ext4 filesystem:


{{fancyimportant|1=
<console>
For optimal performance, adjust the script so that the <tt>-smp</tt> option specifies the exact number of cores and threads on your system -- on non-HyperThreading systems (AMD and some Intel), simply remove the <tt>,threads=X</tt> option entirely and just specify cores. Also ensure that the <tt>-m</tt> option provides enough RAM for Windows 7, without eating up all your system's RAM. On a 4GB Linux system, use <tt>1536</tt>. For an 8GB system, <tt>2048</tt> is safe.}}
# ##i##mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3
</console>


== SPICE (Accelerated Remote Connection) ==
...and here's how to create an XFS root filesystem, if you choose to use XFS:
SPICE is a new technology that has been incorporated into QEMU, which allows the virtual machine to run on one system, and allows you to use <code>spicec</code>, the SPICE client, to connect to your remote virtual machine. In real-world use, you can run a SPICE server (via QEMU) and client on the same machine if you like, or have them on the same local area network, or have server and client connect over an Internet connection. Here are some important facts about SPICE:
* SPICE provides accelerated, optimized video updates over the network, similar to VNC
* QEMU can be configured to run a SPICE server, which you can connect to via <code>spicec</code>, the SPICE client. The SPICE client renders to a local window on your system.
* SPICE allows easy copying and pasting across operating systems -- for example, you can copy something in GNOME, paste it into the <code>spicec</code> window and have it appear on your Windows 7 system.


=== SPICE Setup ===
To set up SPICE, you need to perform the following changes to the "standard" steps described in this document:
# Emerge QEMU with the <code>spice</code> USE variable on the system that will be running the Windows 7 virtual machine.
# Emerge <code>spice</code> on the system that you will be using to connect to your remote Windows 7 virtual machine.
# In the <code>vm.sh</code> script, remove the existing <code>-vga vmware</code> <code>qemu-kvm</code> option, and add these options: <code>-vga qxl -device virtio-serial-pci -spice port=5900,password=mypass -device virtserialport,chardev=spicechannel0,name=com.redhat.spice.0 -chardev spicevmc,id=spicechannel0,name=vdagent</code>
# Run <code>vm.sh</code> as described in the next section on your remote server (your Windows 7 system will now boot, but you can't see the virtual machine display) and then connect to it by running the following command on your local system:
<console>
<console>
# ##i##spicec -h remotehost -p 5900 -w mypass
# ##i##mkfs.xfs /dev/sda3
</console>
</console>
The SPICE client window will appear locally and allow you to interact with your Windows 7 system.


== Starting Windows 7 Installation ==
Your filesystems (and swap) have all now been initialized, so that that can be mounted (attached to your existing directory heirarchy) and used to store files. We are ready to begin installing Funtoo Linux on these brand-new filesystems.


Now, it's time to start Windows 7 installation. Run <tt>vm.sh</tt> as follows:
{{fancywarning|1=
When deploying an OpenVZ host, please use ext4 exclusively. The Parallels development team tests extensively with ext4, and modern versions of <code>openvz-rhel6-stable</code> are '''not''' compatible with XFS, and you may experience kernel bugs.
}}
 
==== Mounting filesystems ====
 
Mount the newly-created filesystems as follows, creating <code>/mnt/funtoo</code> as the installation mount point:


<console>
<console>
$ ##i##./vm.sh
# ##i##mkdir /mnt/funtoo
# ##i##mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/funtoo
# ##i##mkdir /mnt/funtoo/boot
# ##i##mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/funtoo/boot
</console>
</console>


Windows 7 installation will begin. During the installation process, you will need to enter a valid license key, and also load ''both'' VirtIO drivers from Red Hat when prompted (Browse to the second DVD, then win7 directory, then x86).
Optionally, if you have a separate filesystem for <code>/home</code> or anything else:


After some time, Windows 7 installation will complete. You will be able to perform Windows Update, as by default, you will have network access if your host Linux system has network access.
<console>
# ##i##mkdir /mnt/funtoo/home
# ##i##mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/funtoo/home
</console>


Enjoy your virtualized Windows 7 system!
If you have <code>/tmp</code> or <code>/var/tmp</code> on a separate filesystem, be sure to change the permissions of the mount point to be globally-writeable after mounting, as follows:


[[Category:Tutorial]]
<console>
[[Category:First Steps]]
# ##i##chmod 1777 /mnt/funtoo/tmp
[[Category:Virtualization]]
</console>
[[Category:KVM]]
[[Category:Official Documentation]]
[[Category:Articles]]
{{ArticleFooter}}

Revision as of 13:31, January 5, 2015


   Note

This is a template that is used as part of the Installation instructions which covers: процесс разбиения диска и создания файловых систем. Templates are being used to allow multiple variant install guides that use most of the same re-usable parts.


Подготовка жесткого диска

В этой части мы научимся различным способам установки Funtoo Linux -- и загрузки с -- жесткий диск.

Введение

В прежние времена существовал лишь один способ загрузить PC-совместимый компьютер. Все наши дектопы и сервера имели стандартный PC BIOS, все наши харды использовали MBR и были разбиты используя схему разбивки MBR. Вот как это все было и нам это нравилось!

Затем появились EFI и UEFI, встроенные программы нового образца наряду со схемой разбивки GPT, поддерживающая диски размером более 2.2TБ. Неожиданно, нам стали доступны различные способы установки и загрузки Линукс систем . То, что было единым методом, стало чем-то более сложным.

Let's take a moment to review the options available to you for configuring a hard drive to boot Funtoo Linux. This Install Guide uses, and recommends, the old-school method of BIOS booting and using an MBR. It works and (except for rare cases) is universally supported. There's nothing wrong with it. If your system disk is 2TB or smaller in size, it won't prevent you from using all of your disk's capacity, either.

But, there are some situations where the old-school method isn't optimal. If you have a system disk >2TB in size, then MBR partitions won't allow you to access all your storage. So that's one reason. Another reason is that there are some so-called "PC" systems out there that don't support BIOS booting anymore, and force you to use UEFI to boot. So, out of compassion for people who fall into this predicament, this Install Guide documents UEFI booting too.

Our recommendation is still to go old-school unless you have reason not to. The boot loader we will be using to load the Linux kernel in this guide is called GRUB, so we call this method the BIOS + GRUB (MBR) method. It's the traditional method of setting up a PC-compatible system to boot Linux.

If you need to use UEFI to boot, we recommend not using the MBR at all for booting, as some systems support this, but others don't. Instead, we recommend using UEFI to boot GRUB, which in turn will load Linux. We refer to this method as the UEFI + GRUB (GPT) method.

And yes, there are even more methods, some of which are documented on the Boot Methods page. We used to recommend a BIOS + GRUB (GPT) method but it is not consistently supported across a wide variety of hardware.

The big question is -- which boot method should you use? Here's how to tell.

Principle 1 - Old School
If you can reliably boot System Rescue CD and it shows you an initial light blue menu, you are booting the CD using the BIOS, and it's likely that you can thus boot Funtoo Linux using the BIOS. So, go old-school and use BIOS booting, unless you have some reason to use UEFI, such as having a >2.2TB system disk. In that case, see Principle 2, as your system may also support UEFI booting.
Principle 2 - New School
If you can reliably boot System Rescue CD and it shows you an initial black and white menu -- congratulations, your system is configured to support UEFI booting. This means that you are ready to install Funtoo Linux to boot via UEFI. Your system may still support BIOS booting, but just be trying UEFI first. You can poke around in your BIOS boot configuration and play with this.
What's the Big Difference between Old School and New School?
Here's the deal. If you go with old-school MBR partitions, your /boot partition will be an ext2 filesystem, and you'll use fdisk to create your MBR partitions. If you go with new-school GPT partitions and UEFI booting, your /boot partition will be a vfat filesystem, because this is what UEFI is able to read, and you will use gdisk to create your GPT partitions. And you'll install GRUB a bit differently. That's about all it comes down to, in case you were curious.
Also Note
To install Funtoo Linux to boot via the New School UEFI method, you must boot System Rescue CD using UEFI -- and see an initial black and white screen. Otherwise, UEFI will not be active and you will not be able to set it up!
   Note

Some motherboards may appear to support UEFI, but don't. Do your research. For example, the Award BIOS in my Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 rev 1.1 has an option to enable UEFI boot for CD/DVD. This is not sufficient for enabling UEFI boot for hard drives and installing Funtoo Linux. UEFI must be supported for both removable media (so you can boot System Rescue CD using UEFI) as well as fixed media (so you can boot your new Funtoo Linux installation.) It turns out that later revisions of this board (rev 3.0) have a new BIOS that fully supports UEFI boot. This may point to a third principle -- know thy hardware.

Old-School (BIOS/MBR) Method

   Note

Use this method if you are booting using your BIOS, and if your System Rescue CD initial boot menu was light blue. If you're going to use the new-school method, click here to jump down to UEFI/GPT.

Preparation

First, it's a good idea to make sure that you've found the correct hard disk to partition. Try this command and verify that /dev/sda is the disk that you want to partition:

root # fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes, 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: gpt


root #         Start          End    Size  Type            Name
 1         2048   1250263694  596.2G  Linux filesyste Linux filesystem

Now, it's recommended that you erase any existing MBR or GPT partition tables on the disk, which could confuse the system's BIOS at boot time. We do this using sgdisk:

   Warning

This will make any existing partitions inaccessible! You are strongly cautioned and advised to backup any critical data before proceeding.

root # sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda

Creating new GPT entries.
GPT data structures destroyed! You may now partition the disk using fdisk or
other utilities.

This output is also nothing to worry about, as the command still succeded:

***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. 
***************************************************************
Partitioning

Now we will use fdisk to create the MBR partition table and partitions:

root # fdisk /dev/sda

Within fdisk, follow these steps:

Empty the partition table:

Command (m for help): o ↵

Create Partition 1 (boot):

Command (m for help): n ↵
Partition type (default p): 
Partition number (1-4, default 1): 
First sector: 
Last sector: +128M ↵

Create Partition 2 (swap):

Command (m for help): n ↵
Partition type (default p): 
Partition number (2-4, default 2): 
First sector: 
Last sector: +2G ↵
Command (m for help): t ↵ 
Partition number (1,2, default 2): 
Hex code (type L to list all codes): 82 ↵

Create the root partition:

Command (m for help): n ↵
Partition type (default p): 
Partition number (3,4, default 3): 
First sector: 
Last sector: 

Verify the partition table:

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x82abc9a6

Device    Boot     Start       End    Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1           2048    264191    131072  83 Linux
/dev/sda2         264192   4458495   2097152  82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3        4458496 625142447 310341976  83 Linux

Write the parition table to disk:

Command (m for help): w

Your new MBR partition table will now be written to your system disk.

   Note

You're done with partitioning! Now, jump over to Creating filesystems.

New-School (UEFI/GPT) Method

   Note

Use this method if you are booting using UEFI, and if your System Rescue CD initial boot menu was black and white. If it was light blue, this method will not work.

The gdisk commands to create a GPT partition table are as follows. Adapt sizes as necessary, although these defaults will work for most users. Start gdisk:

root # gdisk

Within gdisk, follow these steps:

Create a new empty partition table (This will erase all data on the disk when saved):

Command: o ↵
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): y ↵

Create Partition 1 (boot):

Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 1 ↵
First sector: 
Last sector: +500M ↵
Hex Code: 

Create Partition 2 (swap):

Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 2 ↵
First sector: 
Last sector: +4G ↵
Hex Code: 8200 ↵

Create Partition 3 (root):

Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 3 ↵
First sector: 
Last sector:  (for rest of disk)
Hex Code: 

Along the way, you can type "p" and hit Enter to view your current partition table. If you make a mistake, you can type "d" to delete an existing partition that you created. When you are satisfied with your partition setup, type "w" to write your configuration to disk:

Write Partition Table To Disk:

Command: w ↵
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y ↵

The partition table will now be written to disk and gdisk will close.

Now, your GPT/GUID partitions have been created, and will show up as the following block devices under Linux:

  • /dev/sda1, which will be used to hold the /boot filesystem,
  • /dev/sda2, which will be used for swap space, and
  • /dev/sda3, which will hold your root filesystem.

Creating filesystems

   Note

This section covers both BIOS and UEFI installs. Don't skip it!

Before your newly-created partitions can be used, the block devices need to be initialized with filesystem metadata. This process is known as creating a filesystem on the block devices. After filesystems are created on the block devices, they can be mounted and used to store files.

Let's keep this simple. Are you using old-school MBR partitions? If so, let's create an ext2 filesystem on /dev/sda1:

root # mkfs.ext2 /dev/sda1

If you're using new-school GPT partitions for UEFI, you'll want to create a vfat filesystem on /dev/sda1, because this is what UEFI is able to read:

root # mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

Now, let's create a swap partition. This partition will be used as disk-based virtual memory for your Funtoo Linux system.

You will not create a filesystem on your swap partition, since it is not used to store files. But it is necessary to initialize it using the mkswap command. Then we'll run the swapon command to make your newly-initialized swap space immediately active within the live CD environment, in case it is needed during the rest of the install process:

root # mkswap /dev/sda2
root # swapon /dev/sda2

Now, we need to create a root filesystem. This is where Funtoo Linux will live. We generally recommend ext4 or XFS root filesystems. If you're not sure, choose ext4. Here's how to create a root ext4 filesystem:

root # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

...and here's how to create an XFS root filesystem, if you choose to use XFS:

root # mkfs.xfs /dev/sda3

Your filesystems (and swap) have all now been initialized, so that that can be mounted (attached to your existing directory heirarchy) and used to store files. We are ready to begin installing Funtoo Linux on these brand-new filesystems.

   Warning

When deploying an OpenVZ host, please use ext4 exclusively. The Parallels development team tests extensively with ext4, and modern versions of openvz-rhel6-stable are not compatible with XFS, and you may experience kernel bugs.

Mounting filesystems

Mount the newly-created filesystems as follows, creating /mnt/funtoo as the installation mount point:

root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo
root # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/funtoo
root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo/boot
root # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/funtoo/boot

Optionally, if you have a separate filesystem for /home or anything else:

root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo/home
root # mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/funtoo/home

If you have /tmp or /var/tmp on a separate filesystem, be sure to change the permissions of the mount point to be globally-writeable after mounting, as follows:

root # chmod 1777 /mnt/funtoo/tmp