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SOLVED: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Hi everyone,

I'm a new Artix user and have been really enjoying the distribution. I successfully installed Artix LXQt (Dinit) on my laptop with LUKS encryption, and everything is working great. Now, I’m trying to install the base Dinit image on a PC with LUKS, but I’ve run into issues.

My Setup:
Installation Image: Artix base (Dinit)
Encryption: LUKS
Boot Mode: UEFI with GPT
No Desktop Environment (manual install, no Calamares)
Bootloader: GRUB
The Problem:
I’ve attempted the installation four times using multiple guides, but after rebooting, GRUB never finds the partitions, and I’m dropped into a rescue prompt. It feels like I’m missing something specific to Dinit that I should be doing but am not.

Resources I've Followed:
Artix Installation Guide
Artix Full Disk Encryption Guide
Arch Dm-crypt Guide

Any advice on what I might be missing or what I should check?

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #1 –
Hello and welcome!

I am not a great grub expert.

I think you followed these recommendations:
https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Installation#Partition_your_disk
https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Installation#Boot_Loader

I've read that when dealing with problems due to messed up EFI firmware, some people have had more success with refind:
https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/REFInd

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #2 –
Quote
Any advice on what I might be missing or what I should check?
Please chroot into your system and post your current /etc/default/grub + the output of the lsblk command, this will make it easier for us to diagnose what's going on.

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #3 –
Thanks for the feedback. I will go through the installation again and post the output if it fails again.

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #4 –
I decided rather than wait for failure, ask questions I have along the way!

I may be getting hung up with the configuration to /etc/default/grub. Here is what I have so far:

Code: [Select]
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet cryptdevice=UUID=443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0:sda2.luks root=/dev/mapper/sda2.luks"

# Uncomment to enable booting from LUKS encrypted devices
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

Am I properly updating this line with the output shown below? Should there be anything listed for swapfile or boot which is in the encrypted / partition.

Code: [Select]
lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL        UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0
     squash
sda
|-sda1
|    vfat                      9B43-8B9D                               511M     0% /boot/efi
`-sda2
  |  crypto                    443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0
  `-sda2.luks
     ext4                      f9b89582-6d03-4cd1-913b-4bb1ce4dd544    7.9G    42% 

swapon --show
NAME      TYPE SIZE USED PRIO
/swapfile file   4G 110M   -2/


Also, am I pointing to the correct path for grub-mkconfig based off of my partitioning?

Code: [Select]
 grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=grub  
 grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Last, I am using dinit init system. Do I need to enable any additional services to start for the system to boot?

Code: [Select]
ls /etc/dinit.d/
NetworkManager  config  dbus-pre  logind  tty2  tty4  tty6
boot.d          dbus    elogind   tty1    tty3  tty5

ls /etc/dinit.d/boot.d/
logind

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #5 –
Quote
Am I properly updating this line with the output shown below? Should there be anything listed for swapfile or boot which is in the encrypted / partition.
Although your GRUB config should work in theory, from personal experience I really recommend replacing root= with its UUID in order to avoid issues in the future. So, change the line to this (based from your lsblk -f output):
Code: [Select]
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet cryptdevice=UUID=443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0:sda2.luks root=UUID=f9b89582-6d03-4cd1-913b-4bb1ce4dd544"
Also, I can't help but notice that your root partition is 7.9G in size? How much space does your laptop's whole drive have?

Quote
Also, am I pointing to the correct path for grub-mkconfig based off of my partitioning?
Yes, it looks correct

Quote
Last, I am using dinit init system. Do I need to enable any additional services to start for the system to boot?
From the FDE guide, you must have the device-mapper and dmcrypt services in order to boot (dmeventd and cryptsetup are the equivalent in dinit). It looks like you're not using lvm so no need for that service.
So, you should have the device-mapper, device-mapper-dinit, cryptsetup and cryptsetup-dinit packages.
Then, enable the services:
Code: [Select]
dinitctl enable dmeventd
dinitctl enable cryptsetup

Now you should be able to boot. If not, removing the quiet  parameter from GRUB's CMDLINE should give a more verbose description of the problem and we'll see how it goes from there.

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #6 –
Thanks for the advice, going to try now!

The little drive should be 16G. I noticed interesting output when I execute commands. Maybe when executing with the -f option it's showing the available space? I do have my 4G swapfile on /.

edit: I am now seeing the column name FSAVAIL, I guess that is what is available.

Code: [Select]
[artix-live /]# lsblk
NAME          MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0           7:0    0 782.2M  1 loop
sda             8:0    0    16G  0 disk
|-sda1          8:1    0   512M  0 part  /boot/efi
`-sda2          8:2    0  15.5G  0 part
  `-sda2.luks 254:0    0  15.5G  0 crypt /

lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL        UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0
     squash
sda
|-sda1
|    vfat                      9B43-8B9D                               511M     0% /boot/efi
`-sda2
  |  crypto                    443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0
  `-sda2.luks
     ext4                      f9b89582-6d03-4cd1-913b-4bb1ce4dd544    7.9G    42% /

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #7 –
Quote
edit: I am now seeing the column name FSAVAIL, I guess that is what is available.
Oh, right, it is the available space. You're correct.

But if you don't mind sharing, why is your drive's capacity so small? Is it a USB stick? 16G is enough for a base Artix install, but it probably won't be comfortable. Storage is pretty cheap nowadays, why not get something bigger? Just curious.

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #8 –
I am closer however at boot I am getting a luks passphrase prompt as expected but it isn't accepting my passphrase:

Code: [Select]
Enter passphrase for hd0,gpt2 (443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0):
Invalid passphrase.
Enter passphrase for hd0,gpt2 (443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0):
Invalid passphrase.
Enter passphrase for hd0,gpt2 (443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0):
error: Invalid passphrase.
error: disk 'cryptouuid/443f158f8728434b98a1bcc0e9d3e1a0'
Entering rescue mode ...

artix-live:[root]:~# lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE      FSVER LABEL        UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0  squashfs                                                                  0   100% /run/artix/sfs/rootfs
sda
├─sda1 vfat                           9B43-8B9D
└─sda2 crypto_LUKS                    443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0
sr0    iso9660           ARTIX_202408 2024-08-22-22-42-13-00                     0   100% /run/artix/bootmnt
artix-live:[root]:~# cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 sda2.luks
Enter passphrase for /dev/sda2:
artix-live:[root]:~# lsblk -f
NAME          FSTYPE      FSVER LABEL        UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0         squashfs                                                                  0   100% /run/artix/sfs/rootfs
sda
├─sda1        vfat                           9B43-8B9D
└─sda2        crypto_LUKS                    443f158f-8728-434b-98a1-bcc0e9d3e1a0
  └─sda2.luks ext4                           f9b89582-6d03-4cd1-913b-4bb1ce4dd544
sr0           iso9660           ARTIX_202408 2024-08-22-22-42-13-00                     0   100% /run/artix/bootmnt

I am able to boot back into the live disk and execute the cryptsetup open command with the expected passphrase.


edit: Yes you are correct it's on a little SSD card. This is more of a learning experiment than something I will be using for everyday use. I really appreciate your help. I do have another device where I installed Artix via calamares that is working. Very nice of you to take the time.

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #9 –
Quote
but it isn't accepting my passphrase
Post the HOOKS line from your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
Also, are you 100% sure that the password you're entering is correct? Did you use characters from a non-english layout in it?

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #10 –
MaxLPM, thanks for your perseverance and kindness! Yes it seems like the passphrase is correct. I am able to boot from the live Artix image, and cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 sda2.luks without issue. Very simple password only using ASCII letters and numbers. Really strange issue.

Here is the output from /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:

Code: [Select]
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont block encrypt filesystems fsck)

Re: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #11 –
Solved! I thought you would like to know the solution since you have been with me throughout this journey. I typed the issue into ChatGPT.

Grub didn't support my Luks key type. I added another key specifically PBKDF:      pbkdf2, and now it accepts my passphrase and the system is up! Thanks for all of your help. I am enjoying Artix and the community is really helpful.

Code: [Select]
Keyslots:
  0: luks2
      Key:        512 bits
      Priority:   normal
      Cipher:     aes-xts-plain64
      PBKDF:      argon2id
      Iterations: 100000
      Salt:       <hex>
  1: luks2
      Key:        512 bits
      Priority:   normal
      Cipher:     aes-xts-plain64
      PBKDF:      pbkdf2
      Iterations: 1000000
      Salt:       <hex>

Re: SOLVED: Issue Installing Artix Base (Dinit) with LUKS on a PC – Grub Rescue

Reply #12 –
Thank you again for your advice and help. Building Artix from the command line really helped me understand how grub and initamfs function better.
 
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