SLES 15/16: LVM + XFS Without a Separate /boot Partition

Quick one-liner: Install SLES with the entire disk as LVM — no separate /boot needed. GRUB2 supports it, and here's exactly how to set it up.

🤔 Why This Matters

The SLES installer wants to create a separate /boot partition by default. It's a legacy pattern — GRUB2 can boot from LVM just fine, so there's no need for it anymore.

With GRUB2, you can put everything inside LVM: - /boot as a logical volume - / as a logical volume - swap as a logical volume - Even /home, /var, /tmp — all on LVM

One disk, one partition table, everything on LVM. Cleaner, simpler, easier to resize later.

✅ Prerequisites

• SLES 15 or 16 installation media (DVD or ISO)
• One or more blank disks — this guide uses a single disk
• GPT partition table — required for BIOS boot partition

🚀 How It Works

GRUB2 can read LVM partitions directly. But on BIOS systems (non-UEFI), GRUB needs a small "BIOS boot" partition to store its core image. That's the only special partition you need — about 8 MiB, unformatted, with the BIOS boot flag.

Everything else goes into LVM.

🔧 Step 1: Boot the Installer and Open Expert Partitioner

During installation, when you reach the partitioning screen, choose:

Expert Partitioner → Start with Existing Partitions

Do not use the guided partitioning — it will create a separate /boot for you.

🔧 Step 2: Create a GPT Partition Table

Select your target disk and choose:

Create New Partition Table → GPT

GPT is required because the BIOS boot partition needs a specific partition type GUID that MBR doesn't support.

🔧 Step 3: Create the BIOS Boot Partition

Select Partitions tab → Add Partition:

• Size: Custom → 8 MiB
• Role: Raw Volume (unformatted)
• Partition ID: BIOS Boot

This is the only non-LVM partition on the disk. It holds GRUB's core image so the bootloader can find the LVM metadata and boot from it.

🔧 Step 4: Create the LVM Partition

Add another partition using the remaining disk space:

• Size: All remaining space
• Role: LVM
• Partition ID: Linux LVM (0x8E)

This partition will hold your volume group and all logical volumes.

🔧 Step 5: Set Up the Volume Group and Logical Volumes

Create your volume group — I'll call it system:

Volume Group: system
  Physical Volume: /dev/sda2  (the LVM partition)

Then create your logical volumes:

Here's what it looks like in the installer:

system/boot   →   /boot   (XFS, 1 GiB)
system/swap   →   swap    (swap, 4 GiB)
system/root   →   /       (XFS, remaining space)

You can add more LVs as needed — /home, /var, /tmp, /var/log — whatever your environment needs.

🔧 Step 6: Proceed with Installation

Once your partitioning is set, proceed with the rest of the SLES installation as normal — package selection, network, users, etc.

When installation completes, verify your layout:

$ lsblk
sda
├─sda1    8M  BIOS boot (unformatted)
└─sda2    LVM
  ├─system-boot   1G   /boot   xfs
  ├─system-swap   4G   [SWAP]
  └─system-root  rest  /       xfs

$ pvs
  PV         VG     Fmt  Attr
  /dev/sda2  system lvm2 a--

$ lvs
  LV   VG     Attr   LSize
  boot system -wi-ao 1.00g
  root system -wi-ao <rest>
  swap system -wi-ao 4.00g

🔒 Why This Is Better

The only caveat: if you're using UEFI, you still need an EFI System Partition (ESP) — that's non-negotiable. But the BIOS boot partition approach above works on legacy BIOS systems.