Trixie install to NVME

2025-08-08 Motivation

Provide detailed instructions for installing the Trixie image from https://raspi.debian.net/tested-images/ to an NVME SSD without unnecessarily cluttering the instructions for running Debian on the Downstream kernel.

2025-08-08 Overview

Use the Ansible playbooks at https://github.com/HankB/polana-ansible to install and configure a bootable (on a Pi 4B) Trixie system.

2025-08-08 Provisioning

Copy previously downloaded image to the target media and tweak some settings. The SSD in the adapter/enclosure appears as /dev/sdb. This step is performed on an X86_64 host but could also be done on a Raspberry Pi. If done on a CM4 booted from SD and with the NVME SSD in a PCIe adapter, the erase SSD (blkdiscard) step should succeed. With a USB connected SSD it may fail and failure is ignored.

ansible-playbook provision-Debian-lite.yml -b -K --extra-vars "ssd_dev=/dev/sdb \
    os_image=/home/hbarta/Downloads/Pi/Debian/20231111_raspi_4_trixie.img.xz \
    new_host_name=kweli part_prefix=\"\" \
    eth_spoof_mac=dc:a6:32:bf:65:b5 wifi_spoof_mac=dc:a6:32:bf:65:b4"

2025-08-08 First boot

No boot. :-/ Steps requiring a running system are deferred until the upstream kernel is installed and the system boots from the target media on a Pi 5.

2025-08-08 Continue Setup

Identify the IP address or hostname for the Pi 5 and edit inventory accordingly. Confirm that ssh root@[pi 5 host] works.

ansible-playbook first-boot-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root

2025-08-09 second post boot playbook

Put the 2242 NVME SSD in the Pi 5 and booted from an SD card running RpiOS. Edited the config.txt in the SSD to reflect the correct kernel. The host then booted the Debian install on the RpiOS kernel. Next logged in using root@kweli and performed an apt update. The list of updates included a kernel so that was held apt-mark hold .... The subsequent update still overwrote config.txt so that was modified again. Perhaps following the instructions in the file

# If you need to set boot-time parameters, do so via the
# /etc/default/raspi-firmware, /etc/default/raspi-firmware-custom or
# /etc/default/raspi-extra-cmdline files.

Running the second post boot playbook. (By mistake, the one that builds the ZFS modules - it will be interesting to see if that works. It did not) 

ansible-playbook second-boot-bookworm-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root
ansible-playbook second-boot-bookworm-lite-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root

Edit /etc/default/raspi-firmware-custom and fixum config.txt and subsequent boot halts on pinctrl_lookup_state. Added dtparam=pciex1 to config.txt with same result.

2025-08-13 repeat install

To 256GB 2242 NVME in USB enclosure on olive

ansible-playbook provision-Debian-lite.yml -v -b -K --extra-vars "ssd_dev=/dev/sdb \
    os_image=/home/hbarta/Downloads/Pi/Debian/20231111_raspi_4_trixie.img.xz \
    new_host_name=kweli part_prefix=\"\" \
    eth_spoof_mac=dc:a6:32:bf:65:b5 wifi_spoof_mac=dc:a6:32:bf:65:b4"

Remove from enclosure and install in CM4 for first boot. Boot fails on NVME Timeout. Back in the USB enclosure and boot in Pi 4B. Rin first boot playbook.

ansible-playbook first-boot-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root

Second boot (lite) playbook. (No ZFS modules.) Ran the regular playbook by mistake which failed when tryint to import the (non-existent) pool. Ran the regular playbook to complete setup.

ansible-playbook second-boot-bookworm-lite-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root

Login to Pi 4B and update/upgrade to Sid. 107 packages to upgrade. But first purge zfs-dkms and zfsutils-linux`.

apt purge zfs-dkms zfsutils-linux
apt autoremove
apt upgrade

Host boots. Switch back to Debian on downstream kernel.

2025-10-19 repeat install

Repeating the install apparently on the same NVME SSD (2242, SK Hynix) and choosing boson for the host name.

ansible-playbook provision-Debian-lite.yml -b -K --extra-vars "ssd_dev=/dev/sdb \
    os_image=/home/hbarta/Downloads/Pi/Debian/20231111_raspi_4_trixie.img.xz \
    new_host_name=boson part_prefix=\"\" \
    eth_spoof_mac=dc:a6:32:bf:65:b5 wifi_spoof_mac=dc:a6:32:bf:65:b4"

Still no boot on CM4/NVME. Back to the USB adapter and boot from that. Or not. Pi 4B/4GB boots from USB/NVME. SSH in as root to fix the "The authenticity of host 'boson (10.10.5.111)' can't be established." issue, put boson in the inventory and run

ansible-playbook first-boot-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root
ansible-playbook second-boot-bookworm-lite-Debian.yml -i inventory -u root

Done and back to Copy to target media