Installing_Templates_Qubes_4.1.md

Installing Templates in Qubes 4.1

Problem

Qubes 4.1 has limited the size of dom0 to 20G by default.
This means that when installing some templates, the install will fail with the message error an extra X required.
The problem is that when installing a template from an rpm package, the template is first unpacked in parts in /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/TEMPLATE_NAME, and then rebuilt from those parts.

There are 2 solutions, depending on whether you want to permanently increase the size of dom0.

1. Resize dom0 permanently

sudo lvresize --size 40G /dev/qubes_dom0/root
sudo resize2fs /dev/mapper/qubes_dom0-root

2. Add more space to dom0 temporarily

The process here is to create a new thin_pool, and mount it in dom0 where the package will be unpacked.

For example, if you want to install a large Parrot template, the package will be unpacked in /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/parrot.

Create a new logical volume you can use - for example, one called extra_space. We'll make it 20G in size.

sudo lvcreate -n extra_space -V 20G --thinpool vm-pool qubes_dom0

Format the volume:
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/qubes_dom0/extra_space
Mount it where needed, and make sure permissions are correct:

sudo mount /dev/qubes_dom0/extra_space /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/parrot
sudo chown -R /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/parrot

When you have finished the install you can unmount the volume.
You can leave the volume there, and mount it again if you need it for another template.