Wireguard

• ensure Wireguard MTU is something reasonable (from 1280 to 1360) e.g. /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf:

[Interface]
PrivateKey = <PRIVATE_KEY>
Address = <1.2.3.4/32 IP_ASSUMING_NOT_GATEWAY>
MTU = 1360

[Peer]
PublicKey = <PEER_PUBLIC_KEY>
Endpoint = <PEER_IP_OR_FQDN>:<PORT>
AllowedIPs = <0.0.0.0/0 UNLESS_RESTRICTED_PEER_SUBNETS>

• since Wireguard does not start by default
  • create an /etc/init.d/S50wireguard script

#!/bin/sh
case "$1" in
    start)
        echo "Waiting for network connectivity..."

        PEER_IP="<PEER_IP_OR_FQDN>"
        MAX_RETRIES=60
        WAIT_SEC=2
        COUNT=0
        # Loop until we can ping the public internet (8.8.8.8) or our peer
        # -c 1 (one packet), -W 1 (1 second timeout)
        while ! ping -q -c 1 -W 1 "$PEER_IP" >/dev/null 2>&1; do
            if [ $COUNT -ge $MAX_RETRIES ]; then
                echo "Network timeout reached. WireGuard will not start."
                exit 1
            fi
            echo "Network not ready yet... (Attempt $COUNT/$MAX_RETRIES)"
            sleep $WAIT_SEC
            COUNT=$((COUNT + 1))
        done

        echo "Network detected! Starting WireGuard..."
        # Load kernel modules if necessary
        modprobe wireguard
        # Start WireGuard
        wg-quick up wg0
        ;;
    stop)
        echo "Stopping WireGuard..."
        wg-quick down wg0
        ;;
    restart|reload)
        "$0" stop
        "$0" start
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
        exit 1
esac
exit 0

• • make sure it’s executable
    • chmod a+x S50wireguard

Having imaged an old MBR-based partitioned disk to a VHD and back to bare metal on a now UEFI, GPT-based NVME SSD, update-grup was complaining every time:

# update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Generating grub configuration file ...
grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos1).
grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos2).
grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos3).
grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos4).

<above 4 lines repeats 11 times>

/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos1).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos2).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos3).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos4).

<above 4 lines repeats 29 times>

Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.17.0-22-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.17.0-22-generic
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos1).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos2).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos3).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: warning: Discarding improperly nested partition (hostdisk//dev/nvme0n1,gpt2,msdos4).

<above 4 lines repeats 23 times>

And so on… and so forth…

The great, wise ChatGPT was convinced that this was the work of the devil and that the “Microsoft Reserved Partition” partition was without a “soul” (file system) and would need to be “cast out” (excluded) by grub-prober… And then went on to instruct me to “add the file system UUID” to my /etc/default/grub via the GRUB_OS_PROBER_SKIP_LIST="<UUID>@/dev/nvme0n1p2" line… Never mind it just told me there is no file system for the MSR partition (and therefore no file system UUID)…

Continue reading →

In an attempt to get some AMD iGPU accelerated apps to run via Ubuntu LTS on WSL2, I had rebuild my Ubuntu LTS “VM” under WSL2.

• I had to first remove the existing Ubuntu LTS (named “UbuntuLTS”): wsl --unregister UbuntuLTS

WARNING: Although multiple sources state that the source .vhdx file does not get deleted, it actually does get deleted for me! 🙄

• I re-downloaded the .wsl file directly from Ubuntu, then installed the VM manually:

wsl --install --from-file "ubuntu-24.04.4-wsl-amd64.wsl" --name UbuntuLTS --location "D:\WSL\UbuntuLTS" --no-launch

Note that if you have Docker already installed, the default “distro” WSL2 may have been set to Docker’s docker-desktop:

• set the correct default: wsl --set-default UbuntuLTS

• run wsl.exe and it will launch into the newly created distribution, set a new (default) user and password… and ignore the stupid <3>WSL (299 - Relay) ERROR: operator():579: getpwuid(1000) failed error 🙄
  • NOTE: the error will “go away” after a wsl --shutdown and restart…
    
    
    

• turn on the integration in Docker again…  and watch errors pop up…
  An error occurred while running the command. DockerDesktop/Wsl/ExecError: c:\windows\system32\wsl.exe -d -e sh -c cat - > ~/.docker/config.json: exit status 1 (stderr: , wslErrorCode: DockerDesktop/Wsl/ExecError)

Continue reading →

So, another day, another IT f*ck-up…

AMD’s in the crosshairs today. Due to having to muck around with AMD iGPUs in/on a WSL2-hosted Ubuntu LTS VM, I had to install an “older” AMD Radeon 26.2.2 driver…

Now, every time I right-clicked on a drive, a folder or a file in Windows Explorer, the stupid Radeon dashboard launches… and proceeds to “hang” Windows Explorer (with your mouse cursor turning into a spinning cursor) until something times out and hands Windows Explorer back its head…

• No, killing the dashboard immediately does not give Windows Explorer back its head
• No, attempting the registry hacks found across the ‘net did not help
• No, disabling all non-Microsoft “Context Menu” items via ShellExView did not help

What did help was one of the suggestions by Google’s “AI Mode”!

i.e. F*ck Rename C:\Program Files\AMD\CNext\CNext\RadeonSoftware.exe (as an Administrator, of course).