expand /boot partition?

[Leonard Chatagnier]

--- chris <lostpkts at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Leonard Chatagnier
> <lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > I for one would like the write up as I plan to
> resize
> > my primary gutsy partition(has all the unused
> space on
> > my 500 gig drive), sda3, and use the free space to
> > make several smaller drives(extended) in order to
> > install several new Ubuntu versions from live or
> > alternate CD and avoid upgrading to hardy heron. 
> From
> > what I've read on the list, that seems to be the
> most
> > fool proof way to install hardy especially if you
> want
> > to install the x86_64 version.  In my case, I
> would be
> > reducing sda3 primary and using the free space to
> add
> > several 50-100 gigabytes size, ext3, extended
> > partitions to add ubuntu versions from a live or
> > alternate CD.  Although I've resized before but
> > usually lose something so I'm a little afraid to
> > proceed with gparted without knowing more.  Any
> > recommendations or howtos are much welcomed.
> >
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I did and what happened to me.
> 
> First off the setup.
> 
> 160G laptop drive
> 
> /dev/sda
> /dev/sda1 - Windows Vista  (50G)
> /dev/sda2 - /boot ext3 (50M)
> /dev/sda3 - physical in an encrypted lvm2 setup
> (rest o' space).  This
> has / and swap in it.
> 
> The problem:
> 
> /boot is too small.. I can barely hold a kernel
> update.  (2 in there).
>  Removing the old one is problematic due to no space
> after new kernel
> install
> 
> Solution:
> 
> Expand the partition.
> 
> 
> I booted the gparted livecd iso from their site.
> 
> I used it to drop 100M off the Vista and put on the
> backend of that
> partition.  I then told it to take that 100M and put
> on /boot.
> 
> Whole process was about 50 min of chewing on the
> hard drive.
> 
> I was so happy.  Enter the REBOOT
> 
> I use the Windows Vista bootloader.  I also use
> EasyBCD in Vista to
> modify it so that Ubuntu is in the menu, etc. 
> Anyway... back to the
> reboot.
> 
> Menu shows up as normal.  Great.  I select Ubutnu
> like I always do.
> Windows suddenly tells me that it can't do that. 
> WTF!
> 
> I figure the menu just need to be told where grub is
> again.. so I try
> and boot vista to edit the menu again.  Nope...
> windows says it needs
> to be repaired as its winload.exe is borked     Oh
> perfect....
> 
> After digging around work... yes... I didn't do much
> else yesterday...
> I found a vista dvd.  I'm running home premium, but
> any vista dvd
> version will do.  I boot it up and selected REPAIR.
> 
> It did its thing and rebooted.  And great... Windows
> loads now but my
> menu is toast...
> 
> so I go back into EasyBCD and tell i twhere grub is
> at on /boot.
> (grub was installed on sda2 instead of mbr as I was
> using windows
> loader)
> 
> Reboot and select ubuntu again... it attempts to
> load and reboots the
> computer and back I go in this loop. So I figure
> grub is toast... I
> boot Ubuntu LIvecd and attempt to reinstall grub but
> it says nope...
> won't do it.  I was doing the grub-install /dev/sda2
> command.
> 
> Now panic sets in... crap.. I didn't make a backup
> of some files.
> (yeah... I know... )  So googling around I found a
> doc that told me
> how to mount the encrypted partition as at this
> point, I figured I had
> a reinstall coming up.
> 
> This is the commands I ran to mount the encrypted
> part using a the
> Ubuntu 8.04 livecd.
> 
> As Root:
> 
> apt-get install cryptsetup lvm2
> modprobe dm_mod
> modprobe dm_crypt
> modprobe aes (this gave error but this all still
> worked)
> 
> cryptset luksOpen /dev/sda3 external (external is
> anything you want name)
>   enter passwd from hell
> 
> Now the tricky part... there isn't a way to find out
> the VG name in
> the LVM2 setup.. you just have to know it.  Luckly I
> had named my VG
> the same as the computer name.
> 
> vgchange -ay kessel  (it will see the vg on the now
> unencrypted
> section) (kessel was my VG name)
> 
> lvscan (gives you the device names for the mounts)
> 
> mount /dev/kessel/root /mnt/kessel
> 
> Happily copy all data off that you want.
> 
> umount /mnt/kessel
> 
> vgchange -an kessel
> cryptsetup luksClose external
> 
> 
> While it was coping data off I googled around on my
> grub issue... I
> can't be the only person who had this problem/setup.
> 
> Then I found an article on restoring it.
> 
>  After I unmounted the encrypt drive I did the
> following as root
> 
> grub
> grub> root (hd0,1)    (this corresponds to sda2)
> grub> setup (hd0,1)
> grub> quit
> 
> After I did that I rebooted and tried ubuntu from my
> windows menu...
> and viola it booted up and asked me for my crypt
> passwd... and loaded
> fine.  Windows loads fine too.
> 
> And best of all /boot is now 150M.  So I have some
> space now to muck around.
> 
> Hope this helps people out.
> 
> Let me know if you have questions.
> 
> Chris
>Thanks, Chris, very much for the detail and I think
I'm very glad that I don't have any encrypted lvm
drives. I hope and think what I want to do will be
much more simple.


Leonard Chatagnier
lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net