Manjaro installation with ZFS

Hi All,

i try to install manjaro (gnome version via CLI installer) with ZFS since several days without success.
I got mkinitcpio not found or re-run mkinitcpio ==> ERROR Hook ‘zfs’ cannot be found.

For me it’s looks like ZFS at all is not well implemented in manjaro. Unfortunatly i found how to or any information about the install process of manjaro with ZFS.

Have you some links for me how to install manjaro with ZFS?

Cinux

1 Like

@mbod can get you tips for that

Should not be that painful but you need to know your kernel version.

  1. Install Manjaro
  2. Install zfs support for your kernel (for instance when using the 5.8 kernel)
pamac install linux58-zfs
  1. create and set the pool, datasets, file system and bootloader as described in the archwiki

@dalto is the one who wrote zfs support for manjaro-architect, so he has the best grasp on how it works. @mbod should also know his way around zfs installation as well.

2 Likes

I did an installation on zfs with manjaro-architect a while ago. It was working at the end. I could boot and everything. But I would not recommend to anybody to do that actually. I was running into issues with my root-on-zfs installation immediately with the next kernel upgrade. Dont ask me why, but it was not booting anymore. And there is no Manjaro ISO image which is coming with zfs modules. So desaster recovery is a real concern for me. see also my comments here:

If that is not discouraging you, I suggest you start to look at manjaro-architect

https://manjaro.org/download/

Can you provide a little more background here?

  • Are you using architect, the manual CLI method or the graphical installer?
  • Are you trying to add zfs support or install root on zfs?
  • Which ISO are you using to install?
  • At what point in the process are you getting that error?

Thanks for that hint.
At all the Manjaro-Gnome Iso in Version 20.1.1 brings the zfs modules out of the box. In all other ISOs it’s need to be installed afterwards. But in some versions ZFS is not available for the booted kernel. :-/

Are you using architect, the manual CLI method or the graphical installer?

As i wrote CLI

Are you trying to add zfs support or install root on zfs?

Try to install root on ZFS

Which ISO are you using to install?

Gnome 20.1.1 (only ISO with ZFS support)

At what point in the process are you getting that error?

Face that issues at this Point:

├── Install Desktop System
│ ├── Install Manjaro Desktop

Beforehand i execute:

├── Prepare Installation
| ├── Partition Disk
| ├── ZFS
| ├── Mount Partitions

Well, that is confusing because what you are showing below looks like Manjaro Architect, not a CLI install. For the record, doing it by CLI means you are entering all the commands in at a terminal manually. :wink:

For you to get that hook error probably means zfs-utils isn’t getting installed which is probably caused by the module detection failing to identify you need zfs.

As a workaround, you could add the needed zfs module package when it asks you if you want to install additional packages.

1 Like

Hehe, ok in the first post i wrote “CLI installer”. In the first comment I wrote “CLI installer” and meant the Manjaro Architect because it runs in the CLI. But however. I used the manjaro-architect :smiley:
(Communication is not easy :wink: )

I try your workaround and it works fine now. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself, probably because I already had too much tunnel vision.

So thanks this works fine :slight_smile:

For the record, i installed:

  • manjarozfs
  • zfs-utils
  • ZFS module for selected kernel.
1 Like

Hello,
I’m trying to install manjaro gnome with zfs on root myself too…
I have three blank SSD.
So if I want to use all of them as a RAID0 (Striped Vdev).
Should I partition them in a particular way before using the ZFS option?
Currently since they are blank, I go direct on ZFS and try to create the pool but I’m unable to do that.
Do you have any link or guide to follow (for installing Manjaro)?

A bit of context here on that thread How to install Manjaro on AMD raid (or mdadm)

Thank you very much.

@ mbod, that is very simple to explain…
Even linux-lts kernel is just one day older than latest one.
ZFS-dkms or ZFS-utils come out a couple of weeks later.
Just stop upgrade of relevant packages in /etc/pacman.conf, that’s the solution