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Description

This test case ensures dual booting two Fedoras, with btrfs, works as expected

Setup

  1. Install Fedora 33 using Automatic partitioning (uses Btrfs)
  2. Reboot
  3. Finish the Gnome Initial Setup
  4. Backup /boot/loader/entries/ files Ψ
  5. Prepare USB stick media with the desired 2nd installation image ISO

How to test

  1. Boot the second Fedora 33 installer, make sensible choices
  2. In Installation Destination, click Custom under Storage Configuration
  3. Locate the previous Fedora installation, click on it to reveal existing mount points for reuse
  4. Select /boot/efi or BIOS Boot mount point, on the right hand side at the top, find Mount Point field, type in /boot/efi, click Update Settings button.
  5. Select /boot mount point, on the right hand side at the top, find Mount Point field, type in /boot, do not check the Reformat box, click Update Settings button.
  6. Select /home mount point, on the right-hand side at the top, find Mount Point field, type in /home, click Update Settings button.
  7. Click + button to create a new / mount point (NOTE: this is required to be a new subvolume. Reformat will be checked, cannot be unchecked, but the underlying Btrfs is not reformatted. Optional: change the name of the subvolume from root00 to rootkde or rootjam per your preference). Click Update Settings button.
  8. Click Done
  9. Perform the installation and reboot the machine. At initial setup, it's recommended to use all the same settings as for the 1st installation.
  10. After logging in, check that your home directory or /home contains the files you created on your previous system (check their contents as well)
  11. Check /boot/loader/entries/. There should be drop-in snippets with two machine-ids (the long random number at the beginning of the filename). If not, restore the missing snippets from the backup in Setup step 4. Ψ
  12. Reboot, holding the shift key to bring up the GRUB menu. Confirm you can boot both installations at will.

Expected Results

  1. The installation should continue without fail
  2. The /home directory should have your previously-created files
  3. Either Fedora installation can be successfully booted from the GRUB menu

NOTE: This test case assumes both installations are Fedora 33 or greater, and use Btrfs. But it should be adaptable for other storage setups such as LVM thinp+ext4.

Ψ EXPERIMENTAL: It's possible to use Fedora 31 or 32 as the 1st installation. But the 2nd installation must still be Fedora 33. In Setup step 4, also backup the kernelopts line from the following command: sudo grub2-editenv list. Restore it in Actions step 11, e.g. sudo grub2-editenv - set kernelopts="root=UUID=32291cea-4dee-4e0d-bdf3-813314e2ab10 ro rootflags=subvol=root rhgb quiet"