Install/Scraps

   Note

This page contains scraps that were removed from the Install Guide to preserve the Install Guide's simplicity. We need to find new ways to integrate this content. Or in some cases, this is just random stuff I removed that can be thrown away.

If you have a system with UEFI, you will want to use this documentation along with the UEFI Install Guide, which will augment these instructions and explain how to get your system to boot. You may need to change your PC BIOS settings to enable or disable UEFI booting. The UEFI Install Guide has more information on this, and steps on how to determine if your system supports UEFI.

We also offer a ZFS Install Guide, which augment the instructions on this page for those who want to install Funtoo Linux on ZFS. I

New F2FS Install Guide is in progress which will augment the instructions on this page for those who want to install Funtoo Linux on F2FS.

Partitions

Funtoo Linux fully supports traditional MBR partitions, as well as newer GPT/GUID partition formats. See below to determine which partitioning scheme to use:

MBR Partitions

• Recommended if your system disk is <=2TB in size
• Legacy, DOS partitioning scheme
• Only 4 primary partitions per disk; after that, you must use "logical" partitions
• Does not support 2 TB+ disks for booting
• Compatible with certain problematic systems (such as the HP ProBook 4520)
• Dual-boot with Windows for BIOS systems (Windows handle GPT only on true EFI systems, whatever version it is)
• Multiple boot loader options, e.g. GRUB 2, GRUB Legacy, lilo

   Note

Due to the fact that it is more widely supported on PC hardware, it is best to use MBR partitions if possible.

GPT Partitions

• Recommended if your disk is >2TB in size
• Newer format for Linux systems
• Supports 2 TB+ hard drives for booting
• Supports hundreds of partitions per disk of any size
• Requires legacy BIOS boot partition (~32 MB) to be created if system does not use EFI
• Requires bootloader with support for GPT such as GRUB 2, EXTLINUX, or a patched version of GRUB Legacy

   Important

If you have a system disk that is 2TB or greater and want to use the space beyond 2TB, you must partition using the GPT/GUID format. Otherwise, MBR is recommended as the most reliable boot method.

For a generation 2 Hyper-V system, the Ubuntu desktop install DVD as of version 14.04.1 works well enough. Gentoo CDs don't support EFI boot, and the System Rescue CD lacks appropriate graphics support for Hyper-V as of version 4.4.0.

It is also possible to install Funtoo Linux using many other Linux-based live CDs. Generally, any modern bootable Linux live CD or live USB media will work. See requirements for an overview of what the Live Media must provide to allow a problem-free install of Funtoo Linux.

To begin a Funtoo Linux installation, download System Rescue CD from:

Or, use your preferred live media. Insert it into your disc drive, and boot from it. I

Filesystem Resources

Advanced users may be interested in the following topics:

• GUID Booting Guide
• LVM Install Guide
• Rootfs over encrypted lvm
• Rootfs over encrypted lvm over raid-1 on GPT
• NEW! ZFS Install Guide (Also contains instructions for Rootfs over Encrypted ZFS!)

Partitioning Recommendations

Below are our partitioning recommendations in table form. For MBR-based partitions, use the MBR Block Device and MBR code columns with fdisk. For GPT-based partitions, use the GPT Block Device and GPT Code columns with gdisk:

Partition	Size	MBR Block Device (fdisk)	GPT Block Device (gdisk)	Filesystem	MBR Code	GPT Code
/boot	512 MB	/dev/sda1	/dev/sda1	ext2	83	8300
swap	2x RAM for low-memory systems and production servers; otherwise 2GB.	/dev/sda2	/dev/sda3	swap (default)	82	8200
/ (root)	Rest of the disk, minimum of 10GB. Note: to compile the debian-sources kernel, as described later on this page, requires a minimum of 14GB free space in /tmp; consider a minimum of 20GB in this case.	/dev/sda3	/dev/sda4	XFS recommended, alternatively ext4	83	8300
/home (optional)	User storage and media. Typically most of the disk.	/dev/sda4 (if created)	/dev/sda5 (if created)	XFS recommended, alternatively ext4	83	8300
LVM (optional)	If you want to create an LVM volume.	/dev/sda4 (PV, if created)	/dev/sda5 (PV, if created)	LVM PV	8E	8E00

   Note

These install instructions assume you are installing Funtoo Linux to an hard disk using Master Boot Record partition tables (MBR). If you are installing Funtoo Linux on a machine where another OS is installed, there is an existing Linux distribution on your system that you want to keep or any other scenario (such as differing swap size requirements), then you will need to adapt these instructions to suit your needs.

Partitioning Using fdisk (MBR)

   Important

If you need to create a GPT partition table, see Partitioning using gdisk or Partitioning using parted.

fdisk is the tool used to create an MBR partition table. MBR is well-supported on PCs and is recommended if your system disk is 2TB or smaller.

Partitioning Using gdisk

Notes Before We Begin

These install instructions assume you are installing Funtoo Linux to an empty hard disk using GUID partition tables (GPT). If you are installing Funtoo Linux on a machine where another OS is installed, or there is an existing Linux distribution on your system that you want to keep, then you will need to adapt these instructions to suit your needs.

If you are going to create a legacy MBR partition table instead of GUID/GPT, you will use the fdisk command instead of gdisk, and you will not need to create the GRUB boot loader partition. See the table under Partitioning Recommendations, in particular the MBR Block Device (fdisk) and MBR Code columns. fdisk works just like gdisk, but creates legacy MBR partition tables instead of the newer GPT/GUID partition tables.

Advanced users may be interested in the following topics:

• GUID Booting Guide
• Rootfs over encrypted lvm
• Rootfs over encrypted lvm over raid-1 on GPT
• NEW! ZFS Install Guide (Also contains instructions for Rootfs over Encrypted ZFS!)

Using gdisk

The first step after booting SystemRescueCd is to use gdisk to create GPT (also known as GUID) partitions, specifying the disk you want to use, which is typically /dev/sda, the first disk in the system:

root # gdisk /dev/sda

You should find gdisk very similar to fdisk. Here is the partition table we want to end up with:

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 234441648 sectors, 111.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): A4E5208A-CED3-4263-BB25-7147DC426931
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 234441614
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048          206847   500.0 MiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   2          206848          272383   32.0 MiB    EF02  BIOS boot partition
   3          272384         8660991   4.0 GiB     8200  Linux swap
   4         8660992       234441614   107.7 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem

Command (? for help): 

Above, you'll see that we have a 500 MiB boot partition, a 32 MiB "BIOS boot partition" (also known as the GRUB boot loader partition), 4 GiB of swap, and the remaining disk used by a 107.7 GiB root partition.

   Note

An alternate boot loader called extlinux can be used instead of GRUB if you desire. See the extlinux Guide for information on how to do this.