dual boot documentation missing

lazylew

I'd like to get my toes wet and try GhostBSD first by dual booting with Linux Mint Debian Edition 6.
Browsing the documentation about installing [https://ghostbsd-documentation-portal.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/installation-guide/full-disk-installation.html] I find this documentation too brief on the subject.

hank2121

lazylew hi! well, I once wrote a short PDF with screenshots, when GhostBSD was still based on UFS. Shd work the same with ZFS, but I only posted it on Telegram group. If You don t have access to Telegram, give me till tonight, when back from work and I ll try to post it here, copied from my phone. Otherwise search in "Tips & Tricks" or "General" on Telegram shd find a "dualbootxxx.pdf from me with focus on rEFind to install either Win 10 & GhostBSD or Linux as well.

lazylew

hank2121 Thank you! I don't have telegram, so I'll wait for your PDF later on.

hank2121

Hi there, I found it and will try to upload here. it s been written, as said, when UFS was supported, but it works same way with ZFS and if something s unclear, let me know. it s been quite some while... ;-)
d... it: upload is not allowed, @ericbsd: how shall I give plp help, when this comes up all the time? no text files, no PDFs?? @lazylew can You send me an email address to awoellgens@chello.at? would send then as attachment...
Partition type shd be GPT and besides my Windows - or Linux partitions I saved space to create later within installer two partitions, one main, one SWAP, which was autom. chosen by installer... the rest shd work from that step-by-step...

lazylew

hank2121 Thanks, I just sent you a message from my gmail address.

lazylew

All seemed to go well, but after all the procedures of username, password, etcetera, I got a pop up saying: Installation has failed.
I then took a picture of the pc-sysinstall.log, but don't see how I can show it here; 'Add an image' shows this: ![](https://)

hank2121

lazylew I had these erros as well, when I tried persistantly to use UFS instead of ZFS, or when I tried manually to partition in different ways than installer would suggest.... but with two sep. partitions for / and SWAP, it always worked for me. but, if You want, send the sysinstall info as PDF attchment to me...

Robin

Hi @lazylew that's Markup language for a link to animage. If it's hosted on imgur, for example, you put the url in the parentheses (http:/.imgur.com/image-identifier).

lazylew

Robin ![
Thanks Robin!

vimanuelt

lazylew
Read the manual to get context. man gpart.

Make sure to run gpart destroy -F geom before using the gpart add command.
An example, gpart destroy -F da0

Also, avoid installing to a da, use an nd or ad instead to avoid assignment issues.

da devices (typically USB or external drives) can shift around depending on the boot order or how many devices are connected. This makes them unreliable for system installations. In contrast, nd (NVMe) and ad (ATA/SATA) devices have more predictable naming and ordering, which helps avoid boot-time surprises.

lazylew

I realized I made a mistake; I hadn't resized the SDD at all.
Having done that (Gparted), I don't get the error (which was aiming at the USB where GhostBSD-install is on) anymore.

So having freed up some 57 GiB and proceeding, I do see two new partitions that should work (ZFS and swap), but..
for the dual boot with Linux I was advised to pick the option rEFInd boot manager, but that's greyed out!

The two ones left as option are Setup FreeBSD boot manager or FreeBSD UEFI loader only (which was marked by the automated system).

I didn't dare to proceed, because I'm not sure that this option will still let me boot into the Linux OS.
Please enlighten me :-)

vimanuelt

You want to use rEFInd. If it is greyed out, submit a bug report.

lazylew

vimanuelt I've read https://wiki.ghostbsd.org/index.php/How_to_Reports_bugs%3F but don't see where to actually make the software bug report..

vimanuelt

lazylew
We use GitHub (https://github.com/ghostbsd/) for tracking feature requests & bug reports.

Submit a bug report at ghostbsd/issuesissues/new?assignees=&labels=bug&template=bug_report.yaml

Suggest a new feature at ghostbsd/issuesissues/new?assignees=&labels=feature&template=feature_request.yaml

lazylew

vimanuelt Thanks! My first bug report ever ;-)

hank2121

good luck with the bug report, I was always confused, when on way on github... complicated overview etc.
So: it s a bug, when rEFind is greyed out? But then it either came back or is still there, as my fruitless attempts in the past (same problem, when dual boot partitioning) caused me to try Virtualisation instead of dual boot in the 1st place and where I had discussions with Eric about. He told me with GhostBSD 25.01.x and on, it shd be possible w/out probs. That s why I tried on my desktop again - successful - but no chance on my Toshiba Portege..still don t know, what s the reason for the one successful, the other not. same configuration, but either rEFind greyed out, or IF visible, same errors as lazylew...

hank2121

and dont use the FreeBSD UEFI loader only, as I couldn t reach my Windows 10 anymore... the 2nd option (FreeBSD loader) would work, but (only know with Windows), You d have to adjust the boot order somehow manually, otherwise it always boots into BSD as well, ALTHOUGH You have a "choice" via function keys...

vimanuelt

hank2121 Ensure that your BIOS is configured to use EFI (UEFI) mode rather than Legacy mode.

lazylew

hank2121 the 2nd option (FreeBSD loader) would work, but (only know with Windows), You d have to adjust the boot order somehow manually, otherwise it always boots into BSD as well, ALTHOUGH You have a "choice" via function keys...

If someone can confirm that it would work with a Linux dual boot, that'd be good enough for me - I have no reason to insist on using GRUB. Of course I'd have to be really sure..

lazylew

vimanuelt
That is situated in Advanced USB configuration I guess.
I tried all sorts of settings there, including UEFI Setup Only.
That only results in booting into the Linux OS instead of the usb with BSD on it.

hank2121

lazylew well, I can t give total assureness with dual-boot GBSD/Linux, as I always used it with Windows 10 and I never know, as @vimanuelt already pointed out, what a USB drive might do to a dual-boot config unfortunately...