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Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Hi, new to this forum.

I tried to install Devuan, but I've been stuck on this blue screen with a white bar at the bottom with a small black rectangle at the left. I entered my language and country (maybe one or two other related things) and then it stayed on this screen without doing anything else. Is it just taking long to do anything or is something wrong (most likely) and what should I do? Thanks.

rbit

Administrator

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 136  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

My first suspicion would be to verify the download (check the sha256sum).  Secondly, verify that it was written to your boot media without any errors.  Is this a cd, usb stick, virtual machine install, something else ?  Also, which ISO file are you using?
The installer iso should allow you to press alt-F4 to view the latest ouput, there may be some debugging text there that will let you know what it's locked up on, or waiting for, or at least what succeeded last.  alt-F2 and alt-F3 will activate terminals in which you can issue commands, and alt-F1 will go back to the installer.
Another option is to do the "expert install" which will help narrow down on which point it is stuck.

Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

I verified the iso file and everything was good (I did so on Windows 11). I used this mirror (mirror.leaseweb.com/devuan/) to download this iso (devuan_excalibur_6.1.1_amd64_netinstall.iso) on a usb stick.

I'm trying to use those commands you mentioned (alt-F4 et al), now with a re-downloaded iso and a new day/boot, but it won't do anything (it also turned off num lock and won't let me turn it back on for some reason, or at least the light on my keyboard turned off and won't turn back on). I did see it do one to three things real fast (grey box that filled up), but then it stopped after that.

I'll keep it on for a bit to see if maybe it'll continue, but then I'll try expert install like you suggested.

Edit: After some time, now all my lock keys don't work, or at least don't light up.

Last edited by Bobby (2026-07-28 16:13:36)

greenjeans

Member

Registered: 2017-04-07

Posts: 1,722  

Website

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

As rbit asked :

Is this a cd, usb stick, virtual machine install, something else ?

This is pretty important actually, and can easily be a cause for an issue.

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Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

I tested on a virtual machine on a Windows 11 laptop, and everything seems fine there (just quickly went through the install process without really caring about the settings). So I assume it must be a hardware issue, I guess. I'm installing on a newly built PC: AMD CPU and graphics card with an MSI motherboard, and the iso file is on a usb stick. Could that be the problem?

Last edited by Bobby (2026-07-28 20:18:20)

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,957  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

New hardware can be a problem if it's too new for the kernel. Which model cpu, motherboard and graphics card do you have? You might need to use a kernel from excalibur-backports.

Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

CPU: Ryzen 9 9900X
GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
Motherboard: MSI B850 Gaming Plus WiFi

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,710  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

check BIOS to avoid "raid" disk control.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 730  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

if you use windows 11 you can use "rufus" to make a bootable copy of devuan installer onto usb. if you have a dvd drive you could burn the iso onto dvd-(rw), that should function best. if it does not function over dvd, then most certainly a BIOS setting is wrong (can happen out of the gate, like "secure boot is enabled > need to change like if you want it enabled to "custom" instead of "windows uefi") etc.

ovi

Member

Registered: 2026-03-29

Posts: 24  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

You can check this thread. There is a link to an ISO. You can try with that ISO. It worked for me.
https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=7980
And use Balena Etcher for the USB boot media. It works just fine in Linux and Windows. With Rufus didn't worked for me.

Last edited by ovi (Yesterday 13:48:10)

Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

I disabled secure boot and two windows-listed settings in the BIOS, and it now actually continued, but it continued to a "Detect and mount installation media" window:

"Incorrect installation media detected"
"The detected media cannot be used for installation."

"Please provide suitable media to continue with the installation."

Then it went to:
"Installation step failed"
"An installation step failed. You can try to run the failing item again from he menu, or skip it and choose something else. The failing step is detect and mount installation media."

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,957  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Your cpu is not too new for the kernels in excalibur. I couldn't find a clear answer on the graphics card.
Exactly how did you prepare the usb stick?

You could try the iso in the thread that ovi linked or try the desktop-live iso to see if that boots correctly.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 730  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

excalibur is picky, you could try a dvd (burn .netinstall or full-iso to dvd) + be amazed.
it should function.

Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

I've tried using both Rufus and Ventoy on my usb stick to install. With Rufus, I just get a black screen that says "syslinux UEFI bootloader booting devuan." After trying with Ventoy, it's as I stated before: it gets to the install, but then fails.

golinux

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 3,748  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Both of those options can be problematic . . . Maybe search the forum for them to see if someone got them to work . . .

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ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,710  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Is the Ventoy partition on the USB an exfat filesystem with label "Ventoy"?

That is (or used to be) the requirement for a Ventoy based Devuan installation.

Bobby

Member

Registered: 2026-07-28

Posts: 7  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Yes, the usb with Ventoy is formatted with exfat and is labeled "Ventoy"

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,710  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Hmm. the ventoy handling used to work by setting up a loop device for the ISO and then registering something within the unpacked installer initrd so as too include loop devices in the media search.... maybe @rbit has an idea of possible hands-on.

Note that the installation is in a state where you can use Alt-F2 to enter a shell within the installer's unpacked filesystem, and it may be possible to perform a rescue action there. For example, you could go there and review /sys/class/block to confirm that a loop device has been set up for the media.

Then my memory fades about what the installer needs so as to scan for the media among loop devices... again perhaps @rbit will be around for guidance and ideas.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 730  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

as handy as rufus can be , it has issues with linux.iso sometimes, no doubt (if you have set to "MBR" > you need to make afterwards to boot from "UEFI" , someimes it nned to load to download from internet addtiional syslinux etc); ventoy should format for you the usb-stick, no questions asked, but if you have a strange usb-stick, you could always prepare it first via (diskpart > list disk > select disk > clean) just to make sure that ventoy has no trouble formatting;
but if you dont have a DVD drive  ad your disposal (which would be a pity for a new computer, of course), you could also use "rpi-imager" or balena etcher, as suggested, and it should get you there. rpi-imager has helped me out where others (also baledna) have failed.
if you have the proper BIOS setting in place, a DVD is the best bet, period. it is slower, takes sometimes long to load, but is quite impeccable for desired usecase.

edit> since have similar similar mainboard (b450m, msi-click-bios) took the freedom to lookup the setting (have windows 11, devuan 6, [ubuntu+] installed) Z here under Windoes OS Configuration ~ {UEFI} ~ {SecureBoot}[Enabled] ~ {SecureBootMode}[Custom]

Last edited by kapqa (Today 09:56:04)

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,478  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

Basically you have the latest generation of AMD board, CPU and GPU. It is very much possible that your HW is too new for the kernel on the Excalibur netinstall. That works fine on Ventoy now. But my HW is about 6 years old by now.

Is there a working Freia netinstall available? On the internet I see a version dated June 30th? Is that good? Haven't tested it yet. Then I would try "Testing".

rbit

Administrator

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 136  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

You seem to have a few options at this point.  It's up to you which to choose (in no particular order):
1) try an experiemental excalibur netinstall iso at https://files.devuan.org/user/tempforever/
2) try excalibur desktop-live iso
3) try freia netinstall iso (freia is in "testing" but it should mostly work)
4) continue trying the released excalibur netinstall iso

(FYI, I've been unable to get #1 and #3 to boot properly from ventoy, at least in efi mode.  But you're welcome to test, of course.)

If you choose #4 above, it would be helpful to know the debugging output text on tty4 after it fails to detect installation media.
For reference, the output on my test system (with ventoy) says:

cdrom-detect: Searching for Debian installation media...
cdrom-detect: Devices: '/dev/sr0'
cdrom-detect: CD-ROM mount succeeded: device=/dev/sr0 fstype=iso9660
cdrom-detect: Detected CD 'Devuan GNU/Linux 6.1.1 excalibur amd64 - netinstall 20260425'
kernel: ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
kernel: ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
cdrom-detect: Detected CD with 'stable' (excalibur) distribution
anna-install: Queueing udeb eject-udeb for later installation

What happens if you try to run, in tty2:

mkdir -p /cdrom ; mount -t iso9660 /dev/sr0 /cdrom

Also the output of this might be helpful:

ls /sys/class/block

(you can press alt + left-or-right arrow to switch between tty windows)

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,957  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

5) Here's an excalibur desktop-live iso with the backports kernel (7.1.3)
https://get.refracta.org/files/experime … 8_2304.iso

sha256sum
https://get.refracta.org/files/experime … iso.sha256

3eee6699e8a6c4e5cd1209376b7943678bf973cea571732ac96c7ed3d50f18ec  excalibur_nonfree_bpo_7.1.3-20260728_2304.iso

rbit

Administrator

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 136  

Re: Installation Problem after selecting Language and Country

6) re-write the excalibur netinstall iso to usb stick using a different writing program (or: burn to cd/dvd media)
There's probably a 7), 8), 9), and 10) that I haven't thought of yet, also.