Setting up 24.04

[Don]

I have a new 2Tb M2 drive on which I am going to install Kubuntu 24.04.1, but I have a couple of questions.

The first choice it gives me is MBR or GPT. I think MBR is what I'm used to, but is GPT is better?

Should I continue with ext4 format or switch to btrfs? I'm not sure it would give me any advantage for my predominantly text use, but I have heard and read that it's somehow better..

I am going to use (in fact have already tried) manual partitioning, because I want /home on a separate partition from /root. The installation disk did tell me that if I am going to use GPT, I need an unformatted 8Mb partition at the beginning. So here's how I tried to set up my partitions:

8 Mb unformatted

400 Mb /boot/efi (fat32)

40 Gb / (ext4)

1.77 Tb /home (ext4)

remainder /swap

I've entered all that, but when I've finished, the button to go forward is grayed out; hence, I have left something out. But what? It's not giving me any message at all; it just offers Go Back and Cancel.

Many thanks.

[Qqmike]

If your PC is using an M.2, then it is fairly new, modern. So its BIOS is actually UEFI-BIOS, not 'MBR with GRUB Legacy.'
So you want to use GPT, not MBR.
As for btrfs, that's a religious question. I would not muddy the waters at this point, Stick with trusty ext4.
As for Manual partitioning option during installation, that's OK, BUT ...
a lot of people here -- including myslelf -- would prefer FIRST to do the partitioning using GParted. Then run the installer using Manual.
You can use GParted from your live Kubuntu USB ("Try Kubuntu" -- install it with Discover during the live session).
Create your ESP (550 MiB, FAT32, set the boot flag on it.) Then make your partitions (as you did). You do not need any 8 MB unformatted partition, just root (/), /home. and swap (swap can be 2x your RAM -- it's an old standard).
I just did this in my recent how-to, but I have other how-to's that record the process, too.
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...-esp-or-2-esps
or, there are how-to's listed here,
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...-fixing-things

[Virginio Miranda]

I have a new 2Tb M2 drive on which I am going to install Kubuntu 24.04.1, but I have a couple of questions.

The first choice it gives me is MBR or GPT. I think MBR is what I'm used to, but is GPT is better?

Should I continue with ext4 format or switch to btrfs? I'm not sure it would give me any advantage for my predominantly text use, but I have heard and read that it's somehow better..

I am going to use (in fact have already tried) manual partitioning, because I want /home on a separate partition from /root. The installation disk did tell me that if I am going to use GPT, I need an unformatted 8Mb partition at the beginning. So here's how I tried to set up my partitions:

8 Mb unformatted

400 Mb /boot/efi (fat32)

40 Gb / (ext4)

1.77 Tb /home (ext4)

remainder /swap

I've entered all that, but when I've finished, the button to go forward is grayed out; hence, I have left something out. But what? It's not giving me any message at all; it just offers Go Back and Cancel.

Many thanks.

With MBR you are going to be limited with four primary partitions. For a disk with up to 2 TB you can use MBR. No problem at all. But for for modern systems its better to use GPT.

About ext4 or btfrs is a question of personal opinion. I use and prefer ext4, due to learning curve on btrfs file system and ext4 is a liitle faster compared to btrfs file system in my opinion. Overall i think ext4 is more mature.

About swap, i use swap file and not swap partition and only 512 MB with swappiness= 5. I have 32 GB of memory ram and do not use to do video or photo edition. I prefer swap file because there are some flexibility using it, but to tell you the truth it does not matter in the end of the day, because my system rarely use swap.

I have 3 operational system ( Windows, Kubuntu and Ubuntu Studio ) each one in a separate drive ( SSD ), so i use the entire space in the SSD for / only, but i symlink most of the folders on /home to separate Hard disk Drives. Most of the time Kubuntu run 24/7. My /tmp is tmpfs with 8 GB of ram memory and its more than enough for my usage, so i dont know if 40 GB on / is a good number for you.

I use MBR for my 3 operational system in each separate SSD disk.

Thats all.

[Don]

This is terrific, and I thank you both.

[Don]

Murphy lives! Just after I finished using GParted to set up the partitions, and the system was rebooting, the power went out. I can understand that; it's a spectacularly beautiful day, no clouds, no wind, and temperature about 65F. Of course the power went out. Anyway, the installation now is running. Next step is how to use libvirt, which I've made part of the installation, but that's in a different part of the forum.

[Qqmike]

Thumbs up!!

[Don]

Still in trouble! I can create all the partitions, but my EFI partition doesn't register as one. I've not been able to find a step-by-step guide online, because what's there seems to credit the reader with more knowledge than I have. Here's what I have been doing:
1. Create a 550Mb partition at the beginning of the drive.
2. Format the partition FAT32
3. Free space preceding automatically sets to 1Mb
4. I assume that free space following is everything that remains after creating the partition
5. Then it asks me for the Partition Name and the Label. There is no drop down list for either. I assume "Label" is for my convenience, but "Partition Name" may require some particular designation that I don't know.
After I create the new partition, the option to "Manage Flags" is grayed out. I know I'm supposed to set the esp flag, but I cannot get to it.

I'm clearly leaving something out. I'm confused as between EFI and esp. If I can get that one partition set up properly, everything else should flow. (I did install 22.04, and without a safety net. It works well.)

But I need to move up, not least because I've been using VMware Workstation, and it does not play well with 24.04, so I need to move to libvirt. (I have already converted my existing VM into a qcow file, but I'm obviously way short of being even close to using it.)

Thanks for the help and especially for the patience.

[Qqmike]

Your PC's "BIOS" (= the new "UEFI-BIOS" firmware, or just "UEFI" firmware settings):

In your UEFI-BIOS firmware (of your PC), make sure it is set to boot UEFI/EFI, NOT CSM or legacy GRUB, or anything.
If you are not using Windows, you can turn OFF Secure Boot.

GParted:
(It doesn't hurt anything, but you don't need the 1MB preceding.)
550 MiB, FAT32 -- OK.
Right NOW, in GParted, as you create the ESP, you need to set the boot flag. Yes, that is under "Manage Flags."
You can not do this later when you are booted into the OS. It has to be unmounted. And the installer needs to know about the ESP.
You can ignore "Name" if you wish.
As for "Label," it is optional, but useful to give it a label you will recognize later for troubleshooting or for booting etc.
I usually set some Label like ESP-sda1-K2404. Something descriptive that makes sense to you.

Otherwise, you should not have any problem. GParted should set this up.

During Manual installation, when you are setting the partitions to use, you should see the partitions you set up.
You should see the ESP (which may be sda1, or sda2, for example, mounted at /boot/efi.)
The installer will see the ESP, too. When I did this recently, the Installer put the ESP at the top of the screen (I think with a drop-down list, can't recall exactly).

Now, at the partitioning step (of the Manual install), you are to highlight each partition and tell the installer how to use it.
So, highlight a partition, click Edit, then fill in the options. You do NOT need to re-format any partition you formatted in GParted, but, in theory, it should not hurt to do so ...
Like "mount as" ... root (/), /home, swap, or ESP (boot - esp - /boot/efi, whatever looks familiar).

The ESP = EFI System Partition. In the UEFI system, the ESP is where all the bootloaders go.
ESP is mounted (in your Kubuntu OS) at /boot/efi, a folder.
The top directory of that folder is /EFI, so: /boot/efi/EFI will hold all bootloaders (for your PC), including your GRUB boot loader.

[Don]

Thanks, Mike. I shall try again as soon as I get back from hurting myself at the HoP (House of Pain = gym. At my age, I have no business doing this!)

[Don]

O.K., I'm hopeless. I followed Mike's instructions in the 12:21 post.

550 MiB, FAT32 -- OK.

I set up the new partition with the 550 MiB FAT32. There is nothing on that configuration pop-up that lets me set a flag. When I click on "Add," the partition appears, but Manage Flags is still grayed out. Then I figured out that I need to have GParted execute that change first. Then I was able to get into Manage Flags. Then I created the rest of the partitions.

But then I rebooted from my USB 24.04 installation and went to "Install Kubuntu." I did the preliminary stuff, but when I got to install I got an error message, which I annex. I also annex my partition set up as it was at the end of using GParted.

The picture of the error message is too big, so I will try to reproduce it here:
An EFI system partition is necessary to start Kubuntu.
To configure an EFI system partition, go back and select or create a suitable filesystem.
The filesystem must be mounted on /boot/eft.
The filesystem must be at least 300 MiB in size.
The Filesystem must have type FAT32.
The filesystem must have flag boot set.

You can continue without setting up an EFI system partition but your system may fail to start.


I'm tempted to cry, but then my face would rust, and it gives people enough problems as it is.

[Qqmike]

First, the screenshot you attached:
That looks like KDE Partition Manager, not GParted.
In your screen shot, there is a column headed mount point. So you could set /boot/efi as the mount point when you created that FAT32 partition.
(Aside: I always used GParted, which you have to install using Discover. GParted has a "Manage Flags" function. However, KDE Partition Manager should work, I'm just not that familiar with it.)

That error message just tells you to go back one screen and double check that you marked the FAT32 partition as "boot" or as mounted at "/boot/efi" or as ESP (esp).
On my screen, the place to set the ESP was at the top of my Partition screen (in the installer).
Highlight your FAT32 partition. Then click "Edit," then go through it's questions, especially flagging it as boot or mounting it at /boot/efi.

If you do that and still get that error screen, you might try ignoring that error and just click Next.

[Don]

Well, I tried installing through the USB installer rather than with GParted, and that seems to have gone well. I'm now installing some of the other stuff that I use.

I think the moral of this story is that even a blind monkey finds a banana once in a while. Mike, I can't thank you enough.

[Qqmike]

Well, that's great news, Don. Good luck with your configuring things. Carry on!