Boot from USB fails on Asus VivoPC

[seagreen]

Following the guide[1] I tried to install the current suggested NixOS[2] onto an Asus VivoPC desktop using a USB stick.

Through the GUI I disabled fast boot and secure boot, then chose to boot from the USB drive.

I then selected "NixOS LiveCD" and NixOS tried to boot, but after printing dozens of messages of this form:

.File descriptor 3 (/nix/store/h2p [...] b1g-initrd-fsinfo) leaked on lvm invocation. Parent PID 1: /nix/store/gfm [...] az4
    No volume groups found

it crashed with this message:

mounting /dev/root on /...
mount: mounting /dev/root on /mnt-root/ failed: No such file or directory

An error occured in stage 1 of the boot process, which must mount the root filesystem on `/mnt-root' and then start stage 2. Press one of the following keys:

    r) to reboot immediately
    *) to ignore the error and continue

(I transcribed this carefully by hand but there may be errors.)

[1] Installing NixOS from a USB stick

[2] nixos-graphical-14.04.376.f6ad69a-x86_64-linux.iso

[cillianderoiste]

Hi,

On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 5:10 AM, Ian Jeffries notifications@github.com
wrote:

Following the guide[1] I tried to install the current suggested NixOS[2]
onto an Asus VivoPC desktop using a USB stick.

Through the GUI I disabled fast boot and secure boot, then chose to boot
from the USB drive.

Can it be that it is still using UEFI? In which case, be sure to follow the
UEFI section in the manual.

Perhaps it's best to pop onto IRC to debug this:
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=nixos

Cheers,
Cillian

I then selected "NixOS LiveCD" and NixOS tried to boot, but after printing
dozens of messages of this form:

.File descriptor 3 (/nix/store/h2p [...] b1g-initrd-fsinfo) leaked on lvm invocation. Parent PID 1: /nix/store/gfm [...] az4
No volume groups found

it crashed with this message:

mounting /dev/root on /...
mount: mounting /dev/root on /mnt-root/ failed: No such file or directory

An error occured in stage 1 of the boot process, which must mount the root filesystem on `/mnt-root' and then start stage 2. Press one of the following keys:

r) to reboot immediately
*) to ignore the error and continue

(I transcribed this carefully by hand but there may be errors.)

[1] Installing NixOS from a USB stick
https://nixos.org/w/index.php?title=Installing_NixOS_from_a_USB_stick&oldid=22883#Using_Unetbootin

[2] nixos-graphical-14.04.376.f6ad69a-x86_64-linux.iso

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[seagreen]

It says "UEFI / Legacy BIOS", but I'm suspicious you're right and that's the problem.

I added a reference in the Wiki guide pointing to the relevant part of the manual. Feel free to close this issue.

[seagreen]

Finally found the correct button to hit in the GUI so as not to use UEFI.

Thanks!

[seagreen]

Specifically, there were multiple Sandisk Cruzers listed for my flash drive after I plugged it in, and I had to chose the one without UEFI.

[ozanmakes]

I had this exact problem on my desktop PC, unfortunately I couldn't get past stage 1 using a USB stick no matter what I tried. Fortunately installing it using a DVD (EFI mode) worked without a hitch!

[arno01]

@seagreen the issue you were getting mount: mounting /dev/root on /mnt-root/ failed: No such file or directory it's because when your ISO was generated, it accuired some Volume Id that isn't equal to the root=LABEL=NIXOS_ISO. It should be generated with the proper volume ID -V NIXOS_ISO (for mkisofs) OR you can check what is your LABEL with file -s nixos.iso and set it on boot.

Then, at least in my case, I forgot to specify "-R" (rock) flag to mkisofs, and it went into a dead-loop onwaiting for device /mnt-root/iso/nix-store.squashfs to appear....
It was because nix-store.squashfs received a shorter (13 characters length) name like so /mnt-root/iso/nix-store.squ.

Hope someone will find it useful :)