Install to ext4 partition
Installation is incredibly simple. You just need to create a folder in the ext4 partition, and copy three files, 'vmlinuz', 'initrd' and 'easy.sfs' into that folder. Those files are inside the 'easy-<version>-amd64.img' file.
Which raises the question, how do you open up that image file and extract those files?
If you go to this page, various ways of opening up the image file are explained:
https://easyos.org/user/how-to-update-e ... l_updating
You can do it while running any Linux distribution; however, with EasyOS it is extremely simple, just click on the image file.
So, you might find it will make life easier to write the image file to a USB-stick and boot that. That is also easy, explained here:
https://easyos.org/install/how-to-insta ... w-ssd.html
You have got access to those three files, either by opening up the image-file or by writing the image-file to a USB-stick. The image-file consists of two partitions, like this:
Gap
1MiB
Boot-partition
7miB fat12
Working-partition
816MiB ext4
Here they are, mounted, firstly the vfat partition:
img10
Secondly, the ext4 partition:
img11
To install EasyOS to the ext4 partition on the computer internal drive, copy those three files 'vmlinuz', 'initrd' and 'easy.sfs' across.
In the ext4 partition of the internal drive, create a folder, say "easyos", or, you could go deeper, say "easyos/dunfell", then copy those files into it.
Hey presto, EasyOS is installed!
Yes, that is all there is to it. EasyOS is installed in what we call "frugal mode", which only occupies one folder in the partition. Thus, the rest of the partition is available for anything else.
There is one remaining vital detail, you need to figure out how to boot Easy. This is the tricky part. A bootloader is required, such as GRUB, GRUB4DOS, or Limine. If one of these is already installed, good, you can just add EasyOS to its menu. Otherwise, you will have to install a bootloader.
Firstly, considering the situation where GRUB or GRUB4DOS is already installed...
Add menu entry to GRUB
Firstly considering GRUB4DOS. Where it is installed, you will find a file 'menu.lst'. Insert something like this:
title EasyOS Dunfell (partition sda3 folder easyos)
find --set-root uuid () 054a04b8-0f00-11ed-aeb9-287fcfeb4376
kernel /easyos/vmlinuz rw wkg_uuid=054a04b8-0f00-11ed-aeb9-287fcfeb4376 wkg_dir=easyos
initrd /easyos/initrd
That UUID value can be found by running the 'blkid' utility, for the example of EasyOS installed in partition /dev/sda3, with partition-label "easy2":
# blkid /dev/sda3
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="easy2" UUID="054a04b8-0f00-11ed-aeb9-287fcfeb4376" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a3976784-02"
Considering GRUB2, the Author has no experience; however, gleaned from what others have done, the /etc/grub.d/40_custom file will need something like this inserted:
menuentry "EasyOS Dunfell (partition sda3, folder easyos)" {
insmod ext2
insmod search_fs_uuid
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 054a04b8-0f00-11ed-aeb9-287fcfeb4376
linux /easyos/vmlinuz rw wkg_uuid=054a04b8-0f00-11ed-aeb9-287fcfeb4376 wkg_dir=easyos
initrd /easyos/initrd
}
Apparently, GRUB2 then needs to be updated, like this:
# update-grub
or, depending on your distribution:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
A clarification about those two parameters wkg_uuid and wkg_dir...
Clarification:
wkg_uuid and wkg_dir are not required by GRUB. They are kernel boot parameters and are read by the 'initrd' file, to tell it where EasyOS is installed. That is, they tell the 'initrd' in what partition and what folder 'easy.sfs' is located (and also where 'initrd' and 'vmlinuz' are located). It might seem redundant, since that information is already provided in the GRUB menu entry; however, the 'initrd' has to be told separately.
Something else that is useful to know: instead of wkg_uuid, you could use "wkg_label" or "wkg_dev", which for the above example would be "wkg_label=easy2" or "wkg_dev=sda3". However, you would need to be certain the filesystem label is unique. Also, for wkg_dev, you would need to be certain that the partition device name doesn't change; for removable drives, the device name is likely to change.
There is something to be aware of if using old GRUB bootloaders...
Problem with old GRUB versions:
GRUB v1, GRUB4DOS, and GRUB v2 prior to version 2.0.4 (released 2019), do not recognise an ext4 filesystem if it has modern features such as the "encrypt" feature turned on. You can still use them; however, the feature of EasyOS to encrypt some folders in the working-partition will not be available. Folder encryption is a security protection if someone steals your computer, or whatever media EasyOS is installed on. You will have to forego that extra protection.
What you might want to consider, if you have one of those old GRUB bootloaders installed, to replace with either a modern GRUB v2, or the Limine bootloader.
Limine bootloader is the "official" bootloader for EasyOS, and is available in all releases of Easy from 4.2.2 onward...