I am new to Linux in general and CachyOS in particular and wanted to try it out. But every time I tried to install it I encountered an error. I would like to use a dual boot setup with Windows as second operating system and I wanted to install both on the same SSD. I will attach an error message to the end but as far as I unstood it, there is a lack of storage (“write error: No space left on device” is part of the error message in the end). After some Google and some entries in this forum I thought that it might be an issue with the ESP partition size so I moved the surrounding partitions and enlarged it. But still the error occurs. I would be thankful for any help.
Best,
Gnauckator
Here is the complete error message. I hope it helps.
Command <i>mkinitcpio</i> finished with exit code 1.
Output:
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-cachyos.preset: 'default'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
-> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux-cachyos -g /boot/initramfs-linux-cachyos.img
==> Using drop-in configuration file: '10-chwd.conf'
==> Starting build: '6.13.2-2-cachyos'
-> Running build hook: [base]
-> Running build hook: [udev]
-> Running build hook: [autodetect]
-> Running build hook: [microcode]
-> Running build hook: [kms]
-> Running build hook: [modconf]
-> Running build hook: [block]
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
-> Running build hook: [keymap]
-> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
-> Running build hook: [plymouth]
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-linux-cachyos.img'
cat: write error: No space left on device
bsdtar: Write error
bsdtar: Write error
==> ERROR: Early uncompressed CPIO image generation FAILED: 'bsdtar (step 1)' reported an error
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-cachyos.preset: 'fallback'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
-> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux-cachyos -g /boot/initramfs-linux-cachyos-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Using drop-in configuration file: '10-chwd.conf'
==> Starting build: '6.13.2-2-cachyos'
-> Running build hook: [base]
-> Running build hook: [udev]
-> Running build hook: [microcode]
bsdtar: kernel/x86/microcode/GenuineIntel.bin: Not found in archive
bsdtar: Error exit delayed from previous errors.
bsdtar: kernel/x86/microcode/AuthenticAMD.bin: Not found in archive
bsdtar: Error exit delayed from previous errors.
-> Running build hook: [kms]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'ast'
-> Running build hook: [modconf]
-> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'aic94xx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'bfa'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qed'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla1280'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla2xxx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'wd719x'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci_renesas'
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
-> Running build hook: [keymap]
-> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
-> Running build hook: [plymouth]
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-linux-cachyos-fallback.img'
cat: write error: No space left on device
bsdtar: Write error
bsdtar: Write error
==> ERROR: Early uncompressed CPIO image generation FAILED: 'sort' reported an error
Here is the screenshot of my Partitions. The relevant one (in my understanding) is nvme1n1p1. That’s the one whose size I have increased from 100 MiB to 1 GiB. I thought that a 10 times increase in size might suffice. Any further thoughts about the problem? Thanks in advance for your help.
That should be good enough, 1 GB is the recommended std now. As a future note, it’s usually preferred to copy text where possible vs graphic screenshots. It’s more readable and more standard.
Ie, in this case ‘df’ and/or ‘lsblk’ would have been preferable.
Is /boot mounted as your EFI partition? It’s clear that’s what is out of space, now we just have to figure out where it is. It might possibly be (just throwing it out) a memory full condition since the liveboot iso is copied to RAM?
A df from the liveboot environment after a failure would probably help narrow that down.
The message is clear, the /boot partition if full. On my system I have 2G for /boot since on arch it is also used for UEFI. My /boot is only using 300MB actually. Better be on safe side for that partition since it’s what allow you to start linux. In your case It seems to not have enough space to write the fallback initrd only. So just increase /boot size and you should be OK.
My advice is to create another partition for EFI of type FAT32 with at least 3 GB of space, that’s what I usually do whenever I install from scratch.
The error you see, it happened to me when the EFI partition didn’t have enough space (I’ve never understood why this isn’t checked before starting the installation process).
On the other hand, when you install it this way, you will have to copy the Microsoft folder from the other EFI partition and put it in the new EFI partition so that in the Linux boot menu it shows you the Windows option so you can boot from there without having to change the BIOS.
I’m paying attention too, because it seems you should be good (but apparently aren’t).
I expected to see the mounts on your nvme in the df, but I don’t? You’d have to take those readings after a failure.
Yes, it should (at least as I recall) show the mount points it was using on your disk. There is nothing mounted…maybe they changed it to unmount on failure?
It looks like you are not installing on the right disk partition. Can you show a list of your target partition for /boot, /, etc. ??? We don’t see any in the df output and the lsblk doesn’t show anything mounted. Are you sure you are using the correct target mount points for installation ???
This isn’t Fedora, but I do agree from my experience. My current /boot (with two kernels) is 1/2 GB. That doesn’t allow much breathing room…but it would currently do.
Unfortunately, I am still trying to figure out and understand this whole filesystem and mount topic in Linux. Can you provide me a command or an example for this?
No, I’m not. Where can I configure this in the installer? Which partition needs to specified as mount point? When I open the partition manager, shall I select the EFI partition and make it a mount point? What would be the appropriate path? Is it this “/”-thing? Or did I understand the whole concept completely wrong until now?
According to your partition screenshot, your efi parition is nvmen1p1 and the root btrfs partition is nvmen1p6 . You should use the manual partition option during install (expert) and specify that nvmen1p6 is a btrfs partition with the root partition"/" (and that the uefi is nvmen1p1). I have no windows at my place, so I cannot tell much about dual booting. Be sure to read the wiki on filesystem Filesystems (the btrfs part) and the installation on root wiki Installation on root. (including the dual booting section).
Keep trying! I’m sure you will find a way to install
It’s often better to install windows and Linux on 2 separate SSDs as there have been know issues running windows and Linux on the same SSD. You can still dial boot and smaller SSDs are cheaper.
thanks again for all the help you provided. Apparently. I managed to install CachyOS even though I don’t know exactly how…
What happened: I tried it several times (again) to install it and at one instance the installation process completely worked without errors. But afterwards, there was no boot option for CachyOS. And after a little (discouraged) break, I tried installing Ubuntu just to get some more experience with installing and working with a Linux distribution (even if it is no Arch). But after the installation of Ubuntu, suddenly CachyOS was available in the boot loader at the start up of thePC. So I assume (with my very limited understanding) that the installation of this boot loader for startup went wrong (even though all further data has been installed) and the installation of another distribution (namely Ubuntu) fixed this issue.
The topic can be seen as closed even if I can’t provide detailed information on how I exactly solved it…
Thanks again to all the people who tried to help me. You are great!
This is because the Ubuntu osprober recognizes all bootable partitions on the disks. However, this is undesirable in CachyOS.
If you don’t like this, you can change it to your liking.
