Debian 12 Manual Partition Install | MBR & UEFI

[@catsartpics]

Thanks for confirming that all partitions on a uefi machine need to be primary.

[@fossmanmedia]

You're welcome!

[@catsartpics]

My fresh installation of Debian 12 Cinnamon rocks!@@fossmanmedia

[@dark_side-2005]

dammmm, I searched hole the internet for a complete guide about partitioning, none of them are good as this video. thank you so much.

[@wakesiah]

Thank you for this -- very helpful! I too shied away from manual partitioning on the Debian installer, didn't want to take the risk of screwing things up, lol. Now it seems much less intimidating. I've been acclimatising myself to Debian 12 for a few weeks on QEMU/KVM in anticipation of LMDE 6 release (YeeHaaa!!). Subbed & Liked.

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome. Also looking forward to the new release of LMDE. I'm Glad the video was helpful. Thank you.

[@fossmanmedia]

Just tried out the new LMDE 6 and love it. Considering it for my next install.

[@takakazushi6703]

FANTASTIC Video. Finally, someone who answers my questions before I think them up. Like many users.....I just "take it" whatever the default is for install. Your video makes me comfortable doing a manual partition. BTW - Why a SWAP partition instead of a swap file? Thought with 16GB RAM swaps weren't that necessary. PLS consider "pimping out / customizing Debian 12" videos. Everything from customizing / repairing GRUB, dual or more booting in Linux or Linux and Windows,,,anything...Adding a desktop?...Perhaps running VirtualBox and the secrets of loading Guest Addtitions in Debian 12. Thank you.

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome. Glad it was helpful. Yeah, manual partitioning can be intimidating. But after learning what each thing does, it starts to seem obvious. Like anything else I guess. As for the swap partition, it's mostly just out of habit, kind of old-school. Theoretically a bit faster and file corruption is as much of a concern. But not sure if it makes much of a difference on newer hardware. Thank you for the complements and suggestions. Those sounds like some good ideas for future videos.

[@SectorZeroOne]

THANK YOU!!! This helped IMMENSELY!!!

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome! Glad it was useful.

[@Aaahhk]

Thank you so much - you are my hero! 👍🏼

[@nkushgaur]

very very on point video, thank you very much

[@fossmanmedia]

You're very welcome

[@tripcurrent3197]

Thanks for detailed boot flag explanation, uefi-related stuff always gives me trouble. Btw can you give some tips on how to use recovery partition properly? Does it work similar to the one PopOS creates or requires additional tools?

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome. I normally save all of my system snapshots to the recovery partition. Then if disaster strikes, I'll shut down the system, then boot into a live environment. After the live environment is up and running, launch Timeshift and recover from one of the snapshots saved on the recovery partition. This way you won't be using the main drive where the OS is installed, while trying to recover it at the same time. Found this way worked the best through trial and error. Hope it helps.

[@gerald4674]

The default for gnome 40 and above opened up in activities. Never read where anyone liked it. There's an extension for it. "No overview at start-up. Then it will just login to full desktop as normal. Ubuntu at some point started doing legacy boot with one bios boot unformatted 1mb, EFI 538mb fat32, then the balance ext 4 root so it could be partitioned GPT. Manjaro on the other hand is simpler. 8mb unformated partition for bios-grub. Then followed by the balance ext 4 for root. My mb is an Asus Z77 and it has UEFI. But one of the issues with early UEFI boards was messing things up if you switched drives. With legacy boot I can switch cables all days long without issue. UEFI the next drive indicates unbootable, or not detected at all. You have great content. Been going thru your older videos.

[@fossmanmedia]

Hi winnt46, Thank you for the tip on the "No overview at start-up" extension. I'll try that next time I launch the Debian 12 OS. I'll also have to think more about when I switch up my drives too. I also have some older boards that utilize UEFI, but also MBR. These days I find myself just sticking with the good old "Legacy boot" Not sure if it's just in my head, but starting to think the system even runs better. Think I'm starting to show my age here, but just wondering... is "MBR" still available on newer systems? Happy your checking out the old videos. I'll have to apologize for the video and sound quality, but in the process of updating some hardware that should help out a great deal with that. Thanks again for watching. Recently found a great new networking tool that I plan on getting out soon. Hope it's of use. I'll post a video of it when it's done.

[@gerald4674]

@@fossmanmedia I changed my handle to gerald4674. The winnt46 dates back a few years when I was still using windows.

[@fdsaafewr2557]

Maybe a silly question but how would you encrypt the disk with the manual partitioning

[@Melethasgar]

Partition #4 is the extended partition that contains the logical ones.

[@Melethasgar]

Also 2:08 - "Advanced install options" was staring at you the whole time.

[@fossmanmedia]

Noted. Thank you.

[@Lars-pi4vx]

For virt-machines maybe large files instead of standard for usage?

[@DiegoAzuaga]

Hello, when I create a new partition it does not allow me to select whether it will be primary or logical. Go directly to the location section (at the beginning or at the end). Is there a problem with this?

[@fossmanmedia]

Nothing to be concerned about. But I can't remember why it does that sometimes. It was bothering me too, so I did some searching and haven't yet found a solution. I'll have to spin up a virtual machine and do some troubleshooting. Remember thinking it was something small and not a problem. I'll post another comment when I get it figured out.

[@thepathnotfound]

Hey, thank you for this. Question? I don't see the format option per partition on my end. I am installing Bookworm. Thx

[@thepathnotfound]

I found the option for format the partition, thx.

[@fossmanmedia]

No problem, sorry for the late reply. Glad it worked out.

[@Chiramisudo]

Are the `virt-machines` and `recovery` partitions necessary? Why not just put those in root to maximize available space for your VMs and Snapshots?

[@fossmanmedia]

I wouldn't say they are necessary. I just like to have my virtual machines in their own partition so they can be preserved after a reinstall of the OS. As for the Snapshots, it's just nice to have them separated from the rest of the system so I don't have to worry about them being corrupted in some way.

[@Chiramisudo]

@@fossmanmedia Fair enough. I opted to put it all in root to maximize the space I have available for my VMs, which of course I'll put in a dedicated directory to accomplish a similar effect.

[@BartFlossom]

Did I miss something? When did you select your DE? Does the new installer default to gnome?

[@fossmanmedia]

The only installer that I know of which will allow you to select your desktop environment is the "net install". This would be the default ISO image provided from the download link on the main page of the website. If you want a DE specific version you'll have to hunt around a bit on their website. This is the route that I took, due to the fact my internet connection wasn't the greatest as the "net install" pulls most of its files through the internet and not locally from the ISO itself.

[@1ku0k]

Which version of Debian 12 live did you use? Guessing it was not the net install version which is only 600+ kb, which seems to be the default that Debian keeps pushing me to. Would be great if you can include the links to the ISOs you used

[@fossmanmedia]

I just looked and it's no longer there. Your right though... it wasn't the net install, but rather the full Gnome ISO image. But it's bugging me now. I'll have to look deeper. You used to be able to just search for "Full Debian ISO Image" but like you mentioned I also just end up on a page with only net installs. Can't even find them in the archives. If I find them, I'll make sure to respond to this comment again with a link. Weird.

[@1ku0k]

@@fossmanmedia I think now you have to search for the specific Debian 12 desktop you want eg Debian xfce iso

[@toddpark2893]

Thank you 🙂

[@fossmanmedia]

Your Welcome!

[@wellnesspathforme6236]

(Edit - I was in UEFI mode) My partition setup would not all either boot or root to be bootable. Currently searching to find out why this is a problem.

[@fossmanmedia]

Interesting... Did you by any chance make both 'root' and 'boot' bootable? Only one of these partitions can be bootable. If using "UEFI" the boot(EFI) partition would have the bootable flag as 'on' and the bootable flag turned 'off' for 'root' MBR: bootable flag goes to 'root' UEFI: bootable flag goes to 'boot(EFI)' If the installer didn't let you select the radio button to enable the bootable flag... my only other guess would be that it may have already been enabled on the other partition. Good luck. Please let me know how this turns out.

[@wellnesspathforme6236]

@@fossmanmedia I didn't see any flag. I backed out and did it without UEFI. I strongly suspect that the UEFI option sets the option automatically and doesn't let the user impact it at all. It is possible I missed something, too.

[@mestrebimbashouse]

Video summary!! (I still recommend watching the whole video): for a desktop, the partitions i use are 1.0 gb for the boot/efi partition; 15 gb minimum (20gb recommended) of space for the root, which should have boot flag enabled, note that this partition NEEDS to be primary and not logical; and the swap partition, which should be the same size as your ram. Note that if your system has 2.0 of ram, you should double the swap to 4 gb

[@fossmanmedia]

I agree. Think convention is to use double the amount of available RAM for the Swap partition on systems with limited RAM. Depends on who you ask I guess. I've just been using 24GB for the Swap, regardless of how much RAM is available and haven't had any issues. Always thought the main goal was to use a configuration that resulted in the system using as little Swap as possible, but beginning to find out that Swap can be quite useful.

[@ShuAbLe]

which of this partitions are strictly necessary and which optional? The necessary would be boot and root, of just root with bootable flag? If someone can point me to a read where I understand better what's happening beyound just following the steps I would love it.

[@wahyusatriyaputra9417]

can u guys help me my debian after update it stuck in login screen simple desktop manager,my debian only using kde and shift alt f3 and i can event use my user password,then how i access terminal?

[@farshadshiri1600]

Hi, i want to install debian just for computing softwars. Is it ok to only have a root partition and a swap area? If yes they should be on by bootable option?

[@fossmanmedia]

Yup, should be okay. If you have to assign a boot flag, I would go with root. Sorry, can't say for sure, been a while since I've set up a system like. Think that is the default option though if you just go with the "guided" partitioning scheme.

[@immortallman3482]

Hi! I want to install Debian 12 along the WIndows 11. Fisrt time it worked fine for me. But later i haven't boot manager. Maybe you can tell how to use EFI (UEFI) to have over there boot option for Debian??

[@fossmanmedia]

Just wondering... When you booted into the install from the BIOS, did you choose the UEFI option? Also, don't forget to install GRUB at the end of the installation.

[@randy527]

i can install without internet?

[@fossmanmedia]

Yup. You'll just need to grab the full ISO. Not the net-install. Haven't tried it with the newer versions, but should still be okay.

[@timbly-wx2ft]

Where is the stuff on EFI ??

[@fossmanmedia]

Tried to explain both the same video. Main differences are where to put the bootable flag and which partitions are made either primary or logical. If you are using UEFI, the bootable flag goes to the boot(EFI) partition and all partitions are made "Primary"

[@mestrebimbashouse]

Please note that if you want a clean install, set all of the system partitions to be formatted, as /boot automatically is set to skip formatting, unlike the others. This was useful for me since i also use windows, and it wasnt in the grub menu Cheers!!

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome. Thank you.

[@draganmihai4897]

Thanks very much !

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome. Hope it was helpful.

[@mike78678]

no lvm? no encrypt ?

[@fossmanmedia]

Nope, no encryption. Not really worried about someone getting a hold of my machine. Found the system ran smoother without it. With the added bonus of not having to memorize an additional password.

[@ChandrashekarCN]

💖💖💖💖

[@fossmanmedia]

Thank you!

[@marksulloway5669]

Thank you.

[@fossmanmedia]

You're welcome!

[@jiunsa9918]

i have no ssd detected - please help me

[@fossmanmedia]

No problem. If you run 'lsblk' in the terminal (live mode) can you see it there? If not, I'm guessing you may need to have a look around in your BIOS. Are you booting into the installer using MBR or UEFI? I'd try UEFI if you are using MBR and visa-versa.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

Liked and subscribed.

[@fossmanmedia]

Thankyou!

[@SanjayWale]

Thank you. The manual partitioning is explained beautifully. Initial partition setup for MBR vs UEFI was brilliant starting point. As far as swap partition is concerned, it’s much less of an issue with modern distributions & hardware. I’d keep swap partition at the end, which provides more flexibility. One question. Does this method directly applicable for dual boot with Windows boot on the first partition?

[@fossmanmedia]

Your welcome. To be honest, I'm not sure. Haven't tried. Typically whenever I've set up a dual boot, I installed the other system on a different drive with it's own partition table. Then boot into it through the BIOS.

[@jockfaire]

Was this manual partioning done on a HDD or SSD? Or does this even matter?

[@fossmanmedia]

This example was using an HDD, but nope I don't think it makes a difference. I typically put my 'boot' and 'root' partitions on an SSD and everything else on the HDD. The main reason is just to save excess read and write cycles to the SSD.

[@jockfaire]

@fossmanmedia interesting. I would love to see a video done on this kind of setup.

[@husaynarif]

Wrong information at 6:47

[@fossmanmedia]

Your right... Sorry about that. "EFI System Partition" is in "Use as:" and not "Mount point"

[@75hilmar]

​@@fossmanmediaAnd then the EFI partition will automatically be bootable and the root won't

[@patrickprucha5522]

Curious. I noticed you put the boot flag on /. I don't usually because i thought grub would handle it. So do we need to put the "boot" flag on root?

[@fossmanmedia]

If using 'mbr' I always put the "boot" flag on root and EFI if using 'uefi'. Not sure why to be honest, just found this was the most reliable way through trial and error. Have had 3 machines running in this configuration for over 3 years now without any issues, so I now just always put the "boot" flag on root when using 'mbr'.

[@youtube1987pl]

UEFI GPT: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o36lZ4OBh7ulfsk