How to install UmbrelOS on old x86 non-UEFI boot computer and make it bootable

Guides
1
  1. Download the latest UmbrelOS USB installer on your computer (umbrelos-amd64-usb-installer.iso).
  2. Download the Super Grub2 Disk classic CD-ROM bootable image (supergrub2-classic-2.06s4-multiarch-CD.iso).
  3. Create Ventoy bootable USB flash drive.
  4. Copy both downloaded iso images on created USB flash drive.
  5. Boot target computer from created USB flash drive.
  6. Select “umbrelos-amd64-usb-installer.iso” from list, then select “Boot in grub2 mode”.
  7. Started UmbrelOS installer. Follow Step 3 of the official guide.
  8. Boot target computer from created USB flash drive again.
  9. Select “supergrub2-classic-2.06s4-multiarch-CD.iso” from list, then select “Boot in normal mode”.
  10. Started Super Grub2 Disk. Select “Boot manually…”, then “Linux from /boot partition”, then first “- /vmlinuz-X.X.X-X-amd64 (hd1,gpt1)”.
  11. Started UmbrelOS. Log in locally or over SSH. Login: umbrel, password: umbrel.
  12. Making the system disk bootable. Execute the following commands in sequence:
    sudo apt install grub-pc grub2-common
    sudo grub-install /dev/sda --force
    sudo update-grub
  13. Remove USB flash and reboot. The system should boot successfully.
2 Likes
2

Thank you for this. I was able to get umbrel setup on my non-UEFI system. However, I’m having trouble getting the 1.4.2 update to install. The first time I followed your steps it completed fine. I did the initial user and password setup but the upgrade to 1.4.2 failed. The system became unbootable and wouldn’t get past grub loader and just said “GRUB” in the upper left corner on a blank screen. I repeated the entire process from scratch again. Now when I try to run the 1.4.2 upgrade it finishes and reboots but doesnt update. still on 1.4 and its prompting to upgrade to 1.4.2

Any ideas?