Preseed Debian for Intel NUC not working on UP Squared

bmiramont

Hi,
I have a debian stretch install usb stick with a preseed.cfg file for unattended setup.
This key works in an Intel NUC but the preseed is not taken into account with an up2 board.

Has someone used a preseed config file with an up2 board ?

Edit by admin: updated Title to reflect the correct problem

eduncan911

@bmiramont said:
Hi,
I have a debian stretch install usb stick with a preseed.cfg file for unattended setup.
This key works in an Intel NUC but the preseed is not taken into account with an up2 board.

Has someone used a preseed config file with an up2 board ?

Hello and welcome to the forums!

I have used preseed, kickstart and even scripted Arch on multiple installs. Though I haven't done it for the UP Boards yet (well, I script my Arch Linux installs), there should not be any issue in creating a new preseed for it.

I'm guessing your existing Preseed for the Intel NUC has one of the following configurations:

1. It uses Legacy/MBR on the Intel NUC.
2. It uses UEFI, but emulates the storage device under a different name than it uses for the Intel eMMC 5.0 chipset.

Best practices is to create a Preseed/Kickstart per motherboard, per device - and usually tied to the same BIOS version across those devices. While some preseeds will work fine across multiple devices, that usually only works for MBR/Legacy installations - if the HDD numbers align properly.

However when you preseed for UEFI installs, you do not want to share the same automation across devices as the drives can be emulated under a different name, per device and sometimes per BIOS version.

The easiest solution is to build a new Preseed/Kickstart file for your UP devices that use UEFI and the latest Debian version (don't use old Debian) - as all UP devices are UEFI only and do not support MBR/Legacy BIOS booting. Also, upgrade to the latest UEFI BIOS to ensure all future preseeds use the same BIOS.

Option 1. New Preseed for MBR -> UEFI

If you previously using MBR (1. above), you will need to read up on the new UEFI requirements while building your new Preseed.
The partitioning process, the boot partition type and format, as well as using EFI-GRUB/Systemd-boot all needs to change for UEFI. UEFI uses completely different partition types and sizes than MBR fdisk partitioning.

UP devices are UEFI only, so you will need to build a new one that uses UEFI.

Option 2. Tweak your existing UEFI Preseed to use the proper device emulation name

If you were previously using UEFI on the Intel NUC (2. above), then you most likely only need to change what the storage device name is that is emulated by your kernel. To find that out, boot with the latest Debian Live ISO and run lsblk to see what the name is. You might get away with just changing the storage name that is being partitioned for UEFI in the preseed/kickstart. For example, under Arch Linux, the Linux kernel emulates the Intel eMMC 5.0 controller as /dev/mmcblk0. However, don't trust that dev name - as it may be different under your Live ISO test of lsblk.

My last advice is to use the latest Debian version, not an older version. I think the latest Debian uses a newer Linux kernel that might support the Intel eMMC 5.0 - I have not verified this nor has UP said they support it. You can verify this by downloading a Debian Live ISO, booting it up and running lsblk to see if it sees the eMMC device and what it is being emulated for.

Either way.. You most likely will want to build a new Preseed for your new devices for UEFI and the latest Debian version - don't reuse preseeds across devices.