Error trying to restore GPT partition tables on multiple Dell machines

Sebastian Roth · Mar 1, 2019, 8:24 AM

@vanopy said in Error trying to restore GPT partition tables on multiple Dell machines:

root@BGImage winv10.3]# cat d1.fixed_size_partitions
:1:2:4

While it could be a 512/4k block size issue as @Tom-Elliott mentioned I see another problem here, a very obvious one. See above, partitions 1, 2 and 4 are marked as fixed (for whatever reason). This prevents from deploying to a disk being just a little smaller…

vanopy · Mar 1, 2019, 2:27 PM

@Sebastian-Roth Ok, thanks for having a look. I don’t really have an idea why these partitions are fixed.
Is there an easy way for me to undo this, so I could try to capture/deploy this image again?

Tom Elliott · Mar 1, 2019, 8:35 AM

@Sebastian-Roth I would agree here too. Maybe we can modify part 4 to become part 3?

Changing the file names so d1p4 = d1p3, and d1p3 = d1p4.

mv /images/winv10.3/d1p{4,tmp}.img
mv /images/winv10.3/d1p{3,4}.img
mv /images/winv10.3/d1p{tmp,3}.img

Then Adjusting the partitions files:

d1.partitions:

label: gpt
label-id: 2B93DFE7-2C81-4C8A-9000-BEF1E8E64AA3
device: /dev/nvme0n1
unit: sectors
first-lba: 34
last-lba: 1000215182

/dev/nvme0n1p1 : start= 2048, size= 204800, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=1257976B-8CEF-4391-8FD8-815CAC3B26B6, name=“EFI system partition”, attrs=“GUID:63”
/dev/nvme0n1p2 : start= 206848, size= 32768, type=E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE, uuid=D1113659-47AF-43F3-9E7A-BC08C44268CE, name=“Microsoft reserved partition”, attrs=“GUID:63”
/dev/nvme0n1p3 : start= 239616, size= 3665920, type=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC, uuid=295314FF-104B-45AB-A1F1-5CBFDC52CBB8, name=“Basic data partition”, attrs=“RequiredPartition GUID:63”
/dev/nvme0n1p4 : start= 3905536, size= 996288512, type=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7, uuid=EE33BD1E-F4CA-4E1A-91E7-FECA59FA53CA, name=“Basic data partition”

d1.minimum.partitions to:

label: gpt
label-id: 2B93DFE7-2C81-4C8A-9000-BEF1E8E64AA3
device: /dev/nvme0n1
unit: sectors
first-lba: 34
last-lba: 1000215182

/dev/nvme0n1p1 : start= 2048, size= 204800, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=1257976B-8CEF-4391-8FD8-815CAC3B26B6, name=“EFI system partition”, attrs=“GUID:63”
/dev/nvme0n1p2 : start= 206848, size= 32768, type=E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE, uuid=D1113659-47AF-43F3-9E7A-BC08C44268CE, name=“Microsoft reserved partition”, attrs=“GUID:63”
/dev/nvme0n1p3 : start= 239616, size= 3665920, type=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC, uuid=295314FF-104B-45AB-A1F1-5CBFDC52CBB8, name=“Basic data partition”, attrs=“RequiredPartition GUID:63”
/dev/nvme0n1p4 : start= 3905536, size= 59116948, type=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7, uuid=EE33BD1E-F4CA-4E1A-91E7-FECA59FA53CA, name=“Basic data partition”

And finally d1.fixed_size_partitions to:

:1:2:3

vanopy · Mar 1, 2019, 2:33 PM

@Tom-Elliott @Sebastian-Roth Really appreciate the help. Just let me know if you want me to make any change or if you want to test anything.

Tom Elliott · Mar 1, 2019, 2:38 PM

@vanopy Would you be willing to try the things I suggested? I might suggest creating a backup of the current image just so you have the original ready to go.

If you need help just let us know and I’m sure we can help.

I’m not sure if this would work, but theoretically it would as it would place your data partition at the end of the disk and in line based on the sizes used.

vanopy · Mar 1, 2019, 3:09 PM

@Tom-Elliott Just made the changes as requested, but I’m still getting the same GPT error when trying to deploy unfortunately. Any other ideas/suggestions?

Tom Elliott · Mar 1, 2019, 3:15 PM

@vanopy I imagine the GPT Error is due to the d1.mbr file. We may have to manually run the process to get the image to push onto the machine.

Can you redo the tasking into a debug mode again? (Goto create new tasking and just before confirming there will be a checkbox to “Schedule as debug”. Check this box)

Then boot the machine you want to deploy too.

My editing of the files doesn’t change the MBR file which I believe is where you’re seeing the error.\

@Sebastian-Roth Theoretically, at least for the case of GPT, we shouldn’t need to apply the MBR file in order to build the partition data, correct? I know we’ve talked about this in the past and I really don’t know what we need the MBR for when we have the exact partition layout information in the d1.partitions and d1.minimum.partitions files. I’d think we could apply the minimum and do our adjustment calculations based of the new table.

I’m sure there’s a reason we’ve kept mbr applying though I can’t see why at the moment.

vanopy · Mar 1, 2019, 4:11 PM

@Tom-Elliott I’m out of the office now. Will be able to test again on Tuesday and will let you know the outcome

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 1:53 AM

This post is deleted!

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 7:59 AM

@Tom-Elliott @Sebastian-Roth Getting the following error when I ran through debug mode again:

Tom Elliott · Mar 5, 2019, 7:29 AM

@vanopy I might suggest clearing all partition tables using sgdisk -Z /dev/sda

Then try:
(using the d1.minimum.partitions as I requested to be modified.)
sfdisk /dev/sda < /images/winv10.3/d1.minimum.partitions

From there can you get us the screenshot?

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 1:34 PM

@Tom-Elliott Ok, so this is what I’ve done and got:

Want me to try to deploy again now?

Tom Elliott · Mar 5, 2019, 2:00 PM

@vanopy don’t try to deploy yet as it will still error out the same way.

What’s output when you run:
partprobe /dev/sda; fdisk -l /dev/sda

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 2:02 PM

@Tom-Elliott This is the output I’m getting:

Tom Elliott · Mar 5, 2019, 2:52 PM

@vanopy Is this what your d1.minimum.partitions file looks like?

label: gpt
label-id: 2B93DFE7-2C81-4C8A-9000-BEF1E8E64AA3
device: /dev/nvme0n1
unit: sectors
first-lba: 34
last-lba: 1000215182

/dev/nvme0n1p1 : start= 2048, size= 204800, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=1257976B-8CEF-4391-8FD8-815CAC3B26B6, name="EFI system partition", attrs="GUID:63"
/dev/nvme0n1p2 : start= 206848, size= 32768, type=E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE, uuid=D1113659-47AF-43F3-9E7A-BC08C44268CE, name="Microsoft reserved partition", attrs="GUID:63"
/dev/nvme0n1p3 : start= 239616, size= 3665920, type=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC, uuid=295314FF-104B-45AB-A1F1-5CBFDC52CBB8, name="Basic data partition", attrs="RequiredPartition GUID:63"
/dev/nvme0n1p4 : start= 3905536, size= 59116948, type=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7, uuid=EE33BD1E-F4CA-4E1A-91E7-FECA59FA53CA, name="Basic data partition"

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 3:14 PM

@Tom-Elliott I believe so, this is how it looks:

Tom Elliott · Mar 5, 2019, 3:55 PM

@vanopy Why are all the quotes listed as .?

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 3:57 PM

@Tom-Elliott Good question, I just copy/pasted them from what you gave me, just noticed myself.
I’ll edit those and see if that changes anything.

vanopy · Mar 5, 2019, 4:14 PM

@Tom-Elliott Ok, so I’ve replaced the . by ", but it doesn’t really change anything, I’m still getting exactly the same error when I run the commands.

Tom Elliott · Mar 5, 2019, 5:36 PM

Can you paste the contents of your d1.minimum.partitions here?

There may appear to be an error, but that’s not a bad thing in and of itself. The reason it failed to create any other partitions was because line 8 (the first partition) had met symbols that didn’t make sense (the .)

Replacing all of the . with " should allow the partitions to at least get created.

Error trying to restore GPT partition tables on multiple Dell machines

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