block device is not a valid root device error

IBelieveInGentooSupremacy · n00b Joined: 13 May 2023 Posts: 5

Hi! So I'm a total Gentoo noob and just wanted to try out the awesomeness of Gentoo without actually installing it on my system. So I decided to go the Live USB route. I followed a guide on YouTube to flash the ISO to SD Card using Etcher to create bootable media (https://youtu.be/dQUuVZOA3AA). I then disabled secure boot, turned on legacy support and set OS Optimized Defaults to Other OS on my Lenovo 81HN (V130-15IKB) Laptop. I then got into the boot menu by pressing the F12 key and selected my SD card and then booted into Gentoo but I ran into "!!Block device is not a valid root device... !!Could not find the root block device Please specify another value or: Press Enter for the same, type "shell" for a shell, or q to skip..." error. No matter what I did I couldn't proceed further. In the YouTube guide I followed there were no further steps and the YouTuber was able to get into the Gentoo desktop environment. I posted the same post to Reddit and peeps over there said that the image might not have the kernel needed to detect the SD card as a block device. I don't have a USB flash drive laying around so re-flashing to USB is not a option. Is there anything I can do to experience Gentoo by booting from this SD card?

pietinger · Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 6:50 pm Post subject:

IBelieveInGentooSupremacy,

Welcome to Gentoo Forums !

Please go into your BIOS and DISABLE legacy support ... you dont want old MBR ;-)

If you want install Gentoo then use modern GPT instead.

Now try to boot again

IBelieveInGentooSupremacy · n00b Joined: 13 May 2023 Posts: 5

Oh my God! Thank you so much! It worked!

pietinger · Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 8:46 pm Post subject: