Arch Linux

ce1984

Member

Registered: 2014-01-24

Posts: 41

UEFI boot issues during installation

Hi all, I'm (trying) to switch to arch but I'm running into a few snags during installation. I have a UEFI capable motherboard (MSI P67A-GD65) and I'm doing the installation from a usb key. I'm following the beginners' guide.

To create the UEFI-bootable USB drive I followed the directions here with the command

# dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx && sync

In the initial boot media menu, there are two options for the usb key I'm using, "UEFI : CENTON" and  "CENTON". At first, when I would select the UEFI option I would get a "failed to install override security policy." error. I found the post here that says the solution is to copy EFI/BOOT/loader.efi to EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi on the USB drive. I've done that, and I no longer get the error. Booting presents me with a menu with 3 options something like  "Arch Linux archiso", "UEFI shell v1", "UEFI shell v2" . I thought I'd fixed the problem, but when I select the first option, the system reboots and I eventually get the arch terminal. However, running

# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# efivar -l

reveals that I'm not in UEFI mode.

I'm hoping that I'm just missing something simple. Thanks. Also, a motherboard upgrade is on the horizon, so if that's an issue I might just wait it out.

Last edited by ce1984 (2014-01-24 22:51:40)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: UEFI boot issues during installation

If you made it to the boot menu that has those options (archiso, UEFI Shell v2, and UEFI Shell v1) then you definitely are booted via UEFI.  That menu you described is gummiboot, which only works as a UEFI boot manager.  It can also only launch other EFI applications.  So once you've gotten that far, there is no switching back to bios booting without a reboot.

ce1984

Member

Registered: 2014-01-24

Posts: 41

Re: UEFI boot issues during installation

Thanks for the quick reply. The thing is, at the (gummiboot) menu, selecting archiso appears to cause a reboot. I get the graphics card info etc. and then I'm right back at the menu with the arch logo and options like "Boot Arch Linux x86_64" and "Boot existing OS". What's supposed to appear after the gummiboot menu? Is it supposed to go straight to the arch prompt?

Thanks

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: UEFI boot issues during installation

The gummiboot menu should just launch the kernel directly.  The kernel has something that allows it to act as its own EFI bootloader.  So it is able to launch itself.  So it will load itself and then the intiramfs, and boot like normal.

Mentioning the fact that it was rebooting was something you should have done initially.  But in any case, it sounds like you do in fact see and ultimately use the syslinux boot menu to get archiso up and running.  But you don't actually have to be booted via UEFI to set it up.  You have to be booted with UEFI to write firmware entries (efibootmgr commands), but you can just use the 'default' ESP spot to get it up and running.  This is /EFI/boot/bootx64.efi and if there is no firmware entry and you select the disk to boot from in UEFI mode, it will fall back to whatever is in that spot. 

UEFI and bios bootlaoders can also coexist.  So you can set things up with legacy bios like normal, and then revisit the UEFI setup later in order to really wrap your head around it.  Just make sure that you make an ESP (or at least leave space for it) so that you don't ahve to move things around later.