[archinstall] No such file or directory: '/mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-lts.preset'

[tur1ngb0x]

Which ISO version are you using?

archinstall 4.1

The installation log

https://pastebin.com/mDApABNi

describe the problem

Description

I was installing Arch Linux on my external SSD (/dev/sda) via archinstall while booted into EndeavourOS on my laptop, it crashed while installing systemd-boot

terminal log : https://pastebin.com/F8U5bemr

install log : https://pastebin.com/mDApABNi

Details

Zram compression algorithm: zstd
Enabling service systemd-zram-setup@zram0.service
Adding bootloader Systemd-boot to /dev/sda1
[Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-lts.preset'
[!] A log file has been created here: /var/log/archinstall/install.log
Please submit this issue (and file) to https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues

[2026-04-03 07:13:45] - INFO - Setting up swap on zram
[2026-04-03 07:13:45] - INFO - Installing packages: ['zram-generator']
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - INFO - Zram compression algorithm: zstd
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - INFO - Enabling service systemd-zram-setup@zram0.service
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - INFO - Adding bootloader Systemd-boot to /dev/sda1
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - DEBUG - Identifying root partition by PARTUUID: a9eccf4f-cda5-451c-9acd-27cb15a985f0
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - DEBUG - kernel parameters: root=PARTUUID=a9eccf4f-cda5-451c-9acd-27cb15a985f0 zswap.enabled=0 rw rootfstype=ext4
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - ERROR - [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/mnt/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-lts.preset'
[2026-04-03 07:13:46] - ERROR - Traceback (most recent call last):

Information

$ pacman -Qii archinstall
Name            : archinstall
Version         : 4.1-1
Description     : Just another guided/automated Arch Linux installer with a twist
Architecture    : any
URL             : https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall
Licenses        : GPL-3.0-only
Groups          : None
Provides        : python-archinstall
Depends On      : arch-install-scripts  btrfs-progs  coreutils  cryptsetup  dosfstools  e2fsprogs  glibc  kbd  libcrypt.so  libxcrypt  pciutils
procps-ng  python  python-cryptography  python-pydantic  python-pyparted  python-textual  python-markdown-it-py
python-linkify-it-py  systemd  util-linux  xfsprogs  lvm2  f2fs-tools  libfido2
Optional Deps   : python-systemd: for systemd-journald support
Required By     : None
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : None
Installed Size  : 7.29 MiB
Packager        : Anton Hvornum <torxed@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Wed 01 Apr 2026 02:38:07 AM IST
Install Date    : Fri 03 Apr 2026 12:30:39 PM IST
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature
Backup Files    : None
Extended Data   : pkgtype=pkg

$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="EndeavourOS"
PRETTY_NAME="EndeavourOS"
ID="endeavouros"
ID_LIKE="arch"
BUILD_ID=rolling
ANSI_COLOR="38;2;23;147;209"
HOME_URL="https://endeavouros.com"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://discovery.endeavouros.com"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forum.endeavouros.com"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://forum.endeavouros.com/c/general-system/endeavouros-installation"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://endeavouros.com/privacy-policy-2"
LOGO="endeavouros"

[Torxed]

Never tried installing from Endeavour OS but you don't happen to have the stack trace too? You cut the log off right at the juicy bit ^^ (edit: blindly I didn't see the pastebin)

Looks like a simple fix on:

archinstall/archinstall/lib/installer.py

Lines 1774 to 1776 in 5a4b613

	for kernel in self.kernels:
	preset = self.target / 'etc/mkinitcpio.d' / (kernel + '.preset')
	config = preset.read_text().splitlines(True)

To account for it not existing, which is kinda weird tho.

[codefiles]

dracut is being installed instead of mkinitcpio:

Enter a number (default=1):
:: There are 4 providers available for initramfs:
:: Repository endeavouros
1) dracut
:: Repository core
2) mkinitcpio
:: Repository extra
3) booster  4) dracut
 
Enter a number (default=1):
looking for conflicting packages...

_config_uki() expects mkinitcpio to be installed.

This can be resolved by adding the following to that function:

self.pacman.strap('mkinitcpio')

[codefiles]

Please hold off on merging, the methods minimal_installation() and mkinitcpio() need to be considered too:

archinstall/archinstall/lib/installer.py

Lines 956 to 957 in 41858db

	if mkinitcpio and not self.mkinitcpio(['-P']):
	error('Error generating initramfs (continuing anyway)')

The fix might be a little more complicated.

[h8d13]

Or we should specify when building from a non-ISO envir to run something like:

. ./PKGBUILD && pacman -Qu "${depends[@]}"
# report missing libs

[codefiles]

What? I think you should elaborate because that does not make sense to me.

[h8d13]

I think it should be stated in our dependencies ;) #2406 (Where the optdepends went a little too far lol)

[codefiles]

mkinitcpio is not being called from the host, so it is not a dependency. 😉

#2406 (comment)

[h8d13]

Oops, fair my bad I thought first call was host sided

[Softer]

Opened #4484 - might be the right shape, would appreciate a sanity check from @codefiles / @Torxed / @h8d13.

Took @codefiles' hold-off advice into account: pacman.strap('mkinitcpio') inside _config_uki() looked too late since minimal_installation() already calls self.mkinitcpio(['-P']) at line 961. The PR instead adds mkinitcpio to __packages__ so pacstrap installs it explicitly, which I think covers all three call sites at once (mkinitcpio(), minimal_installation(), _config_uki()).

I'm not 100% sure this is the cleanest scope - there might be a reason to keep mkinitcpio as an implicit dep of linux that I'm missing. If pacstrap explicit marking causes any issue I haven't thought of, happy to switch to a more localized fix.

[codefiles]

I considered adding mkinitcpio to __packages__. That works but I was pondering on changes that would make Installer less reliant on mkinitcpio.

[Softer]

I considered adding mkinitcpio to __packages__. That works but I was pondering on changes that would make Installer less reliant on mkinitcpio.

Makes sense - decoupling Installer from mkinitcpio specifically would be the cleaner long-term shape (dracut, booster, mkinitcpio all valid initramfs generators). That's a larger refactor though: minimal_installation(), mkinitcpio(), _config_uki(), plus probably a new abstraction over the generator choice. Happy to look at it as a follow-up if you'd like, but #4484 is intentionally a minimal fix to unblock the immediate crash for users running from non-Arch hosts.