There are no initramfs-6.15-x86_64.img files in the ISO image after assembly

[LinuxShef]

When I compiled the ISO image and booted from it, I discovered that in the folder in /boot inside the ISO image there are no files initramfs-6.15-x86_64-fallback.img and initramfs-6.15-x86_64.img because of this it is impossible to install the system from the ISO image, how to fix this?

This in Buildiso process

boot ➤ ls
amd-ucode.img  intel-ucode.img  linux615-x86_64.kver  memtest86+  vmlinuz-6.15-x86_64
boot ➤ pwd
/var/cache/manjaro-tools/buildiso/gnome/x86_64/rootfs/boot
boot ➤

This in ISO

->  /boot ->  pwd                                                                 
/boot
 -> /boot ->  ls                                                                   
amd-ucode.img  intel-ucode.img  linux615-x86_64.kver  memtest86+  vmlinuz-6.15-x86_64
->  /boot

I don’t understand why after May 31 ISO images stopped building normally and are now building without initramfs files

[linux-aarhus]

On my system they build correct…

08:28:42 ○ [fh@tiger] .../iso/boot
 $ pwd
/a/projects/builddir/root/buildiso/bobs.rescue/iso/boot

08:29:36 ○ [fh@tiger] .../iso/boot
 $ ls -l
total 159024
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    153600 16 jul 08:25 amd_ucode.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      3758 16 jul 08:25 amd_ucode.LICENSE
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root      4096 16 jul 14:42 grub
-rw------- 1 root root 133419504 16 jul 08:25 initramfs-x86_64.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  13286400 16 jul 08:25 intel_ucode.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      1677 16 jul 08:25 intel_ucode.LICENSE
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    155992 16 jul 08:25 memtest
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15794688 16 jul 08:25 vmlinuz-x86_64

[LinuxShef]

Do you have another system than Manjaro? Why is the initramfs.img name different?

How to make the same name initramfs-x86_64.img ?
Maybe this is the problem, you have some special settings for initamfs that I don’t know about

[Aragorn]

@LinuxShef

How to make the same name initramfs-x86_64.img ?

That is the default name for the initramfs in Manjaro. In addition to that, there may also be a fallback image.

[linux-aarhus]

@LinuxShef

Do you have another system than Manjaro?

No - running Manjaro on unstable branch

 $ inxi -S
System:
  Host: tiger Kernel: 6.15.6-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.4.3 Distro: Manjaro Linux

@LinuxShef

Maybe this is the problem, you have some special settings for initamfs that I don’t know about

Nope - my workstation is straight forward Manjaro Plasma and grub as boot loader.

 $ ls -l /boot
total 346464
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    153600 10 jul 21:23 amd-ucode.img
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root      4096  7 aug  2024 efi
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root      4096 16 jul 11:07 grub
-rw------- 1 root root 123306769 16 jul 11:07 initramfs-6.12-x86_64-fallback.img
-rw------- 1 root root  38586876 16 jul 11:07 initramfs-6.12-x86_64.img
-rw------- 1 root root 123665338 16 jul 11:07 initramfs-6.15-x86_64-fallback.img
-rw------- 1 root root  39333403 16 jul 11:07 initramfs-6.15-x86_64.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root        22 14 jul 17:37 linux612-x86_64.kver
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root        21 10 jul 17:38 linux615-x86_64.kver
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root      4096 28 dec  2024 memtest86+
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  13896312 16 jul 11:07 vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15796856 12 jul 10:14 vmlinuz-6.15-x86_64

I think you are confusing the ISO’s boot folder with the target system’s boot folder.

I checked with the gitlab repo and there has been no changes relating to the naming of files on the ISO.

The initrd is generated at install time by Calamares using mkinitcpio.

 $ pwd
/a/projects/builddir/root/buildiso/bobs.plasma/x86_64/rootfs/boot

 $ ls -l
total 28564
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   153600 10 jul 21:23 amd-ucode.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13286400 12 maj 19:56 intel-ucode.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       21 10 jul 17:38 linux615-x86_64.kver
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 16 jul 08:24 memtest86+
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15794688 16 jul 08:24 vmlinuz-6.15-x86_64

[LinuxShef]

What mode of operation of Calamares do you use, the usual unpacking from an ISO image?

This my calamares settings.conf

I had to comment out -initcpiocfg otherwise I would get an error in the install process

This is the error with -initcpiocfg

If you use the regular calamares package and disable -initcpiocfg , you get this error during installation

Error without -initcpiocfg

I tried the calamares-git package and disabled -initcpiocfg , in this case the installation is successful but the installed system does not start and gives this error

Error: premature end of file

And I don't understand what to do, what exactly is the problem. When I last built the iso image of manjaro on May 31, 2025, on kernel 6.14, there were no such problems, now I build the iso image with exactly the same settings as on May 31, and these problems with calamares arise. I don't understand if this is a problem at the iso image build stage or if this is a bad calamares package. -

My system branch is stable .
My calamares packages version:

~ ➤ pacman -Ss calamares
extra/calamares 3.3.14-9
extra/calamares-git 3.3.14.r12339.0a7988520f-1

[andreas85]

@LinuxShef

And I don’t understand what to do, what exactly is the problem. When I last built the iso image of manjaro on May 31, 2025, on kernel 6.14, there were no such problems, now I build the iso image with exactly the same settings as on May 31, and these problems with calamares arise.

Wild guess:

Try creating the ISO with 6.12 instead.
Some users recently had problems creating an initramdisk, resulting in an error message similar to yours.

[LinuxShef]

I created an iso image with kernel 6.12, the result is the same as with kernel 6.15

[linux-aarhus]

@LinuxShef

I created an iso image with kernel 6.12, the result is the same as with kernel 6.15

There is a known issue with the installation when you select btrfs as the target filesystem ( as noted above by @andreas85 )…

For the time being - avoid btrfs as the target filesystem…

[philm]

Dont use btrfs and kernel higher than 612 for isos.

See also:

Update file main.py (3ed072ce) · Commits · Applications / calamares · GitLab

[postcfg] add workaround for BTRFS bug (870b137b) · Commits · Applications /...

[initcpiocfg] Remove crc32c_intel which is no longer needed

Automatic installation partition Btrfs fails after restarting

Next time report the errors or search if they are known. Especially when you try custom ISOs on your own.

[philm]

[postcfg] add workaround for bug 2440 (ddb09918) · Commits · Applications /...

[LinuxShef]

Thank you, as I understand it, this is in the calamares package in the unstable update branch? I will definitely try this. It is of course sad that such a situation with btrfs, I hope that it will be possible to make it so that automatic installation works with btrfs, because in my iso image everything is purely tailored for btrfs, mount parameters, modules in mkinitcpio and system snapshots, so I really don’t want to give up btrfs

[andreas85]

If I understand correctly,

the problem lies in the creation of the initram disk.

During creation, something ends before the initrd is completely written. The result is an initram disk without the last part of the file.

It seems that the process that creates the initrd is executed in parallel, so to speak. Instead of waiting for this process to end, it may decide at some point to close (maybe unmount) the file system. This either leaves the btrfs cache unwritten, or closes the file system without all write processes being completed.

Therefore, this can possibly also affect other files (like the kernel). The workaround is then a large band-aid, so to speak, but it only works for the initram disk.

[philm]

Here is a testing ISO with all fixes so far. Get the 6.15 ISO to test it …

Release 202507200352 · manjaro-plasma/download

[linux-aarhus]

I just tested a custom ISO built using unstable branch and a custom profile.

buildiso -p bobs.plasma -b unstable -k linux615 -n

Installing into a vm using btrfs as target file system - the workaround - does what it is expected to… ensuring the target is restarting as expected…