antiX 25 rc1 hard disk install issues

nevj · 2 March 2026 06:45

Tonight I attempted to install of antiX-26-rc1_x64-full.iso on a hard disk partition. My system has several other Linuxes in a multiboot arrangement.

So I made a usb flash drive from the iso file, booted it , and I get first a screen

I choose the first item , and I get the live distro screen

I choose the installer icon, Calamares starts.

I choose a Custom disk layout
sdd5 is /
sdd1 is /boot /efi

I dont allow swap files, and I set it to not install grub anywhere.
My reason for not installing grub is that mine is a multiboot system… I already have grub installed on the sdd disk, and it is controlled by Artix. I dont want grub to be controlled by the experimental antiX25 rc1 release.

Install completes without errors.
I reboot into Artix, do update-grub , then reboot and get the following grub menu

So it has found antiX (26) , but where are the init system options?
I look in Advanced Options

Nothing there, just antiX

So I boot antiX from there and it fails to boot

It cant find the root filesystem ??

OK, I may have made a mistake. … Do it all again… same result
Try a third time, this time choosing the dinit option on the initial screen instead of the first line … same result.

So what is going on. I previously installed antiX23.1 the same way, not writing grub?

I have to ask @ProwlerGr am I doing something stupid, or is there some trick with hard disk installs of the antix25 rc1 release?

The same .iso file installs fine in a VM. The VM is legacy boot. The hard disk install is UEFI boot.

ihasama · 2 March 2026 07:42

Check fstab first. Then on the rescue shell can you find hard disks? I think ls works there but it might show the disks like “hd0,0” Try to find your antix partition and boot with the right partition (hdx,y)

Also, on artix you could use grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg and if os-prober is disabled run os-prober also. Then check the grub.cfg. You should have there the antix boot details with right partition.

nevj · 2 March 2026 08:45

Here is what I have in grub.cfg in Artix

menuentry 'antiX (26) (on /dev/sdd5)' --class antix --class gnu-linux --class gnu --cla
ss os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-937413ff-d124-49e2-ae13-857ea12a66
8d' {
        savedefault
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod ext2
        set root='hd3,gpt5'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,gpt5 --hint-efi=hd3,g
pt5 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,gpt5  937413ff-d124-49e2-ae13-857ea12a668d
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 937413ff-d124-49e2-ae13-857ea12a668d
        fi
        linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.6.119-antix.1-amd64-smp root=/dev/sdd5
        initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.6.119-antix.1-amd64-smp
}

and there is another identical entry for Advanced Options.
So 2 problems

hd3,gpt5 or sdd5 are wrong
there are no grub.cfg entries for the init diversity options

I suspect that not writing grub has interfered with the init diversity setup… there is no grub.cfg in antiX itself on sdd5… maybe I need to get in there and make one so that os-prober in Artix can pick up the details ? Have to boot it to do that , so will try changing sdd5.

ihasama · 2 March 2026 09:23

Do you have /boot in antix? I think you can add there the /grub/grub.cfg.
I assume the /efi is on another partition and artix is handling that one?

There’s nothing wrong to have grub for antix also. You can then use the ESC/F12/TAB during boot to select the grub you like to use. At least for trouble shooting. When you get the antix booting you can copy the menu entry to artix’s grub.cfg and remove the antix grub (the additional /boot partition)

ProwlerGr · 2 March 2026 09:45

I understand you have an UEFI system, so my suggestion is to install antiX grub to ESP & change the boot order afterwards (by booting to bios or using & UEFI management tool)

I believe Artix grub needs to detect grub from antiX in order to detect boot entries correctly. If you don’t install grub for antiX there’s nothing I can really suggest

ProwlerGr · 2 March 2026 09:53

antiX’s grub has been patched to detect the multiple init’s

Artix wouldn’t have these patches included, so there isn’t a way it could detect & boot those inits

https://gitlab.com/init-diversity/general/grub-init-diversity/-/blob/debian/etc/grub.d/10_linux

https://gitlab.com/init-diversity/general/grub-init-diversity/-/blob/debian/etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen

nevj · 2 March 2026 11:00

I did as you said, and changed the linux line in grub.cfg in Artix to

linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.6.119-antix.1-amd64-smp root=UUID=937413ff-d124-49e2-ae13-857ea12a668d

Then Antix would boot

That is exactly right.

Once I could boot antiX, I went in there and did

update-grub

and it made a grub.cfg, which contained all the init diversity entries.

That looked promising, so I then went to Artix and did update-grub
and then rebooted and the grub menu contained all the init system options in antiX Advanced Options.

So I booted Antix from that menu, and , yes, it successfully booted antiX/dinit.

Problem solved… but I believe this is a Calamares issue, not an antiX issue…
Why? Because today another forum member @easyt50 had exactly the same problem with an MX25 install. Howard first attempted to install without writing grub, and it failed. Then Howard did an install allowing it to write grub, and it worked.
In my opinion Calamares should allow the install process to make a grub.cfg file, even when grub is not being written.

@ProwlerGr wrote
"antiX’s grub has been patched to detect the multiple init’s

Artix wouldn’t have these patches included, so there isn’t a way it could detect & boot those inits"

Well there is a way, but you have to get into antiX and make a grub.cfg… then Artix can get its info from the antiX grub.cfg… and it all works.

I tried to do a photo of my Artix controlled grub menu, showing the multiple inits, but google photos is so slow you will all have to wait till tomorrow for the picture evidence.

Yes , writing grub is probably the simplest option. That is how Howard solved it with MX26.
I am just very wary of writing grub in a complicated multiboot setup.

And message to @ProwlerGr
You can relax… it is not an antiX problem . Some instructions or warnings with the release might help though.

Thanks to all.. I am going to go and enjoy configuring my new antiX26.

ihasama · 2 March 2026 11:43

Great news! What’s your favorite init on antix?

nevj · 2 March 2026 11:46

Dinit for home use. S6-66 for a big server.

nevj · 3 March 2026 09:53

That missing picture from reply No 7

That is what you see in the grub menu under Advanced Options for antiX26.
Note: my install was antix26/dinit… so dinit is not one of the options, it is the default one at the top of the list.
Note: there is a recovery mode as well as normal options.
Note: there are 2 kernels - 5.10 legacy maintained by antiX and 6.6

On the first menu, without going into Advanced, you only see antiX26 with the default init which is dinit in my case.

I made a suggestion to Calamares , that they should consider always writing the grub.cfg file… see here

ProwlerGr · 3 March 2026 11:09

Just a correction.

Neither antiX or MX use the the calamares installer.

The installer they use is called gazelle-installer which got many bits originally from Mepis, and got advancements by the antiX & MX devs

You can clearly see the credits here:

github.com/gazelle-installer/gazelle-installer

minstall.h

master

/****************************************************************************
 *  Copyright (C) 2003-2010 by Warren Woodford
 *  Heavily edited, with permision, by anticapitalista for antiX 2011-2014.
 *  Heavily revised by dolphin oracle, adrian, and anticaptialista 2018.
 *  Major GUI update and user experience improvements by AK-47 2019.
 *   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 *   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 *   You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *   limitations under the License.
 ****************************************************************************/
#include "ui_meinstall.h"
#include "mprocess.h"
#include "core.h"

This file has been truncated. show original

nevj · 3 March 2026 11:40

Thank you…my mistake. It is Artix that uses Calamares.
Can we ask the gazelle-installer people to consider writing grub.cfg always … regardles of whether the user chooses to write grub.
That simple thing would avoid problems with hard installs… in both MX and antiX

I seem to be increasing my mistake rate

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing”. — George Bernard Shaw

nevj · 3 March 2026 22:15

This is the reply I received from Calamares developers

“This is really a distro issue, not a Calamares issue. Calamares only writes the grub.cfg if that module is explicitly pulled into the config by the distro. If the distro is pulling the grubcfg module into their config but not using grub, that is probably something they should address.”

They do not seem to understand the issue. It is not a distro issue … it is the installers job to choose what to do during an install. It may do it via some distro config but the installer is in charge of operations.

I will leave it be. It was not their installer anyway. Lets see if Gazelle-installer can understand the issue better?