Extroot on Partitioned Drive

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

I’ve followed Pedro’s guide here but was hoping there was a way to extroot a 3GB partition of a much larger drive.

I tried specifying the partition rather than the root device but both partitions were claimed, though I don’t understand why (clearly I’m a noob)

Is this an easy thing to achieve?

TIA

2

That guide explains how to use extroot on a partition of a large drive… not sure what issues you are experiencing.

1 Like
3

the second partition was an overlay partition as well

4

Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? You should only have a single overlay.

What is the output of:

ubus call system board
mount
df -h
1 Like
6

It appears you are using firmware that is not from the official OpenWrt project.

When using forks/offshoots/vendor-specific builds that are "based on OpenWrt", there may be many differences compared to the official versions (hosted by OpenWrt.org). Some of these customizations may fundamentally change the way that OpenWrt works. You might need help from people with specific/specialized knowledge about the firmware you are using, so it is possible that advice you get here may not be useful.

You may find that the best options are:

  1. Install an official version of OpenWrt, if your device is supported (see https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org).
  2. Ask for help from the maintainer(s) or user community of the specific firmware that you are using.
  3. Provide the source code for the firmware so that users on this forum can understand how your firmware works (OpenWrt forum users are volunteers, so somebody might look at the code if they have time and are interested in your issue).

If you believe that this specific issue is common to generic/official OpenWrt and/or the maintainers of your build have indicated as such, please feel free to clarify.

1 Like
7

I had the same result with owrt proper

8

In that case, please install official OpenWrt and try again with the extroot process so we can see what happens.

Please be sure to show us the complete set of commands and output from your extroot process (on official OpenWrt).

9

My method of learning is to establish the departure point with least overall friction. OpenWRT requires config of the cellular modem at the outset. There are a couple of forks that do not require my configuring the modem to use and therefore speed the trial and error process.

I understand you can simplify your work by excluding support for folks running a fork. Ok, I guess I have to wear it.

Switching back to owrt for me to then have to nut out modem config takes me offline.

Thanks for your time anyway.

10

This forum does not support 3rd party forks. Full stop. We have no way to know what changes have been made to a given fork, and in some cases those changes may be numerous and can materially change the fundamental workings of the system including syntax and so many other things.

It is the responsibility of the vendor/maintainer of those forks to provide support for their users.

We do, of course, happily support official OpenWrt.

FWIW, you can build a custom image of official OpenWrt that contains the necessary packages for extroot so you don't have to worry about configuring your cellular modem prior to perform the extroot process.

1 Like
11

Thanks, I’m still offline throughout. Cellular is my only line

12

Right, but my point is that you can build the image so that everything that you need is ready to go on your device -- no chicken or egg situation to get online. Do this on the firmware selector.

13

The owrt image i was using was the stable aw1000 image from the firmware selector, the modem still required config

14

Ok... well, it's up to you.

  1. Install official OpenWrt and try the extroot process (we can help if you run into issues; and yes, you'll need to configure your modem)

or

  1. Continue using the fork and reach out to the maintainer of that fork.
1 Like
15

If the fork is somewhat close to Openwrt you could at least copy the relevant part(s) of the config file(s) and (try to) reuse them, in this case the config of the modem.

One would have expected most people to have phones with internet sharing features in 2026, but I guess it's still not the case.

16

I’ve found the backup via archive feature unhelpful (always get an archive is not readable error).

If the archive feature was usable things would be a lot easier.

i get very limited calls/text/data included. More than enough for me but not enough for the kind of scenario you have in mind

17

where ?

I assume you've got more data on your AW1000 SIM, swap them for a while ?

18

In the flash operations tab after upload

19

you got two places where this can be applied.
after exporting and trying to read the file on the computer, or when trying to import it into openwrt.

no one said you should try to import the config as it is, only (manually) copy the relevant parts across using ssh+vi.

20

While this is fine as a method it’s a not insubstantial complication given the other things I’m trying to work out (much of the labour involved would also be solved here too with a working backup feature).

I’ll come back to vanilla owrt at some point but right now I think a firmware that connects from go with a clean install’s greater utility for me

21

No Openwrt router will "ever" have the modem configured and ready to go OOTB.

With that said, a simple forum search will give you Arcadyan aw1000 telstra 5g firmware - #6 by bjdag1234.

Same as linked to from the official wiki page, https://openwrt.org/toh/arcadyan/astoria/aw1000#modem_configuration.