General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 00:42:18

I've installed a handful of MBR/BIOS arch-linux machines all without any issues that I couldn't resolve down to a typo or accidently skipped step, but I can't for the life of me untangle the GPT/UEFI install procedure.

Note: I'm trying this on a virtual box machine with the EFI switch enabled.

From what I'm able to glean from the wikis, arch documentation, and other web sources, I'm essentially supposed to:

mklabel gpt
mkpart primary fat32 0MB 512MB set 1 boot on
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1

but then I get to the part where you mount things before arch-chroot'ing

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

I didn't stumble across any explicit arch linux instructions that said this partition needs to be mounted as /boot, but I've seen in places around the web that ESPs should be mounted as there...I think I actually saw that in another thread on this forum.

Those mount commands confuse me though, it looks like I'm mounting sda1 as two different mount points...i'm not sure what advantage that provides.

I'm also not sure about the partition scheme in general, I know if I want a GPT/UEFI setup, I need this ESP partition, but I imagine I have to have my main partition on the same device as well, right?

How did other people set this up?

Scimmia · 2015-04-20 00:53:36

You need two separate partitions. One for / and the ESP at /boot.

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 02:13:22

So noted. A second partition has been added.

My procedure so far is:

parted mklabel gpt
mkpart primary fat32 0MB 512MB
set 1 boot on
mkpart ext4 513MB 8GB
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda1 /boot
mount /dev/sda2 /
*** VM reboot seemed to fix issues with initialization issues with pacman ***
pacman -Syyu

While executing pacman -Syyu, it gets tons of Buffer I/O Errors after doing package retrieval and upgrading those packages, specifically after "running build hook : keyboard" it starts really flipping out and throwing the Buffer I/O Errors

What's going on?

Scimmia · 2015-04-20 02:27:27

What happened to /mnt? When I said / and /boot, I didn't mean within the live system.

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 02:41:40

I'm not sure if I have the mounts right...I'm just shooting in the dark as I couldn't find explicit gpt/uefi mount instructions

I just tried:

parted mklabel gpt
mkpart primary fat32 0MB 512MB
set 1 boot on
mkpart ext4 513MB 8GB
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda1 /boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
pacman -Syyu

I'm mostly confused on how /dec/sda2 should be set up. From the clear MBR/BIOS instructions, there's a /mnt and /mnt/boot, since booting ....I assume...takes place within "/dev/sda1 on /boot" now, i'm guessing /mnt/boot is no longer necessary on what would otherwise be the OS partition, so I've only mounted /mnt from /dev/sda2/

How should mounts be structured here?

Scimmia · 2015-04-20 02:45:03

*sigh* I'm done. Next?

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 02:52:22

There are 5 other threads on "Installation" regarding uefi issues just on page one. I know I'm not the only one having trouble with this. If you want to help, then help, but your last comment was unnecessary.

circleface · 2015-04-20 03:17:37

What guide are you following? The beginner's guide makes it pretty clear how to mount the partitions. Aside from creating the seperate partition for /boot, UEFI installs no differently than MBR.

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 03:55:39

I just re-read the Beginner's Guide from the start, and I'm still getting hung up in the same place.

Copying and pasting mounts from the Guide, I see:

# mount /dev/sdxR /mnt
# mkdir -p /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/sdxB /mnt/boot
# mkdir -p /mnt/home
# mount /dev/sdxH /mnt/home
Once all the remaining partitions, if any, have been mounted, the devices are ready to install Arch.

I'm still at a point where I just want to see it install, so I'm doing the most simple configuration I can.

Of the instructions, I have /mnt mounted and /boot. I am skipping home and swap (for now)

From an earlier post, here's what I've got:

parted mklabel gpt
mkpart primary fat32 0MB 512MB
set 1 boot on
mkpart ext4 513MB 8GB
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda1 /boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

That appears to cover the mounts to me.

Last edited by volumetricsteve (2015-04-20 03:57:03)

Schwertspize · 2015-04-20 05:01:29

It doesn't cover the moints: you have to mount the ext4 partitions (sda2?) to /mit then create an empty directory with mkdir and then mount the boot partition there.

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Your problem is that you have to think the bigger partition as new "root" and moubt any other partitions relative to this partition (/mnt) the home partition would be mounted to /mnt/home... Don't forget to create that empty folder there

c3kay · 2015-04-20 06:57:46

volumetricsteve wrote:

I just re-read the Beginner's Guide from the start, and I'm still getting hung up in the same place.
Copying and pasting mounts from the Guide, I see:
# mount /dev/sdxR /mnt
# mkdir -p /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/sdxB /mnt/boot
# mkdir -p /mnt/home
# mount /dev/sdxH /mnt/home
Once all the remaining partitions, if any, have been mounted, the devices are ready to install Arch.
I'm still at a point where I just want to see it install, so I'm doing the most simple configuration I can.
Of the instructions, I have /mnt mounted and /boot. I am skipping home and swap (for now)
From an earlier post, here's what I've got:
parted mklabel gpt
mkpart primary fat32 0MB 512MB
set 1 boot on
mkpart ext4 513MB 8GB
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda1 /boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
That appears to cover the mounts to me.

Imagine that you are creating a whole new filesystem (/) under /mnt on the USB. Because that's what you're doing. Everything that takes places under /mnt is going to affect what's taking place on the install you're creating.

When you're mounting /dev/sda1 to /mnt, you're creating the root filesystem for your arch install, (/) which you then chroot into in the next step.

If you then mount /dev/sda2 to /boot, you're mounting it to /boot on your live medium, not the filesystem you're creating. So you need to mount it to /mnt/boot - which would be /boot on the filesystem you're creating. The correct commands are above. You should not be writing to the live USB filesystem, except under /mnt. Because you're mapping your hard drive to /mnt.

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 12:19:58

Thank you all for the helpful feedback!

To clarify, I'm trying this out on a virtual machine (VirutalBox) and there's no "usb" in my current setup.

The weird thing is, the last thing I did before I went to sleep last night, I tried exactly what both of you suggested.

I got:

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

I'm starting to think this isn't a mount point issue....but short of something wrong with VirtualBox itself, I'm not sure what else would be throwing Buffer I/O Errors.

SirMyztiq · 2015-04-20 16:11:35

volumetricsteve wrote:

Thank you all for the helpful feedback!
To clarify, I'm trying this out on a virtual machine (VirutalBox) and there's no "usb" in my current setup.
The weird thing is, the last thing I did before I went to sleep last night, I tried exactly what both of you suggested.
I got:
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
I'm starting to think this isn't a mount point issue....but short of something wrong with VirtualBox itself, I'm not sure what else would be throwing Buffer I/O Errors.

Hello,

Could you post the error messages you get?

Just looking back, when you create the ESP partition you stated that you do:

mkpart primary fat32 0MB 512MB

I believe this creates just a primary partition which really doesn't mean much for this install like the instructions say.

HOWEVER, for the EFI System Partition, the correct way to create it is using

mkpart ESP fat32 0MB 512MB

Which creates a EFI partition type. This might be part of the problem.

Last edited by SirMyztiq (2015-04-20 16:14:27)

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-20 16:16:31

I would love to, but...it's tricky with the VM, I might have to post a screenshot. The screen floods with Buffer I/O errors.

I forgot to mention I also altered my ESP partition process to account for what you pointed out.

I believe the instructions on the arch linux page go as far as:

mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 513MiB

If I'm able, i'm going to try to install arch on my target machine (a supermicro server as opposed to virtualbox) with these methods to see if I get the same errors.

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-25 18:36:32

I finally got some time to test with my target hardware and now I'm getting errors before I can even get to the first prompt:

:: Mounting '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201504' to '/run/archiso/bootmt'
Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201504 ...
ERROR: '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201504' device did not show up after 30 seconds...
Falling back to interactive prompt
You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finished
sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
[rootfs /]#

As far as I know, I'm using the latest ISO file and it passes checksum tests...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-04-25 19:03:22

volumetricsteve wrote:

I finally got some time to test with my target hardware and now I'm getting errors before I can even get to the first prompt:
:: Mounting '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201504' to '/run/archiso/bootmt'
Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201504 ...
ERROR: '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201504' device did not show up after 30 seconds...
Falling back to interactive prompt
You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finished
sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
[rootfs /]#
As far as I know, I'm using the latest ISO file and it passes checksum tests...

Try it a few more times -- I have had intermittent failures of that sort a few times when booting the Arch live ISO from a USB stick.

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-25 23:05:28

HAH, ok, I think you're right but instead of retrying multiple times, I swapped out my cd/dvd rom drive with a much, much nicer one. Now it boots....still not sure about the rest of the mess, but going from a no-name generic dvd-rom drive to a lite-on multi-dvd writer with all the bells and whistles seems to have fixed at least getting me to the first prompt.

Now..back to the grind stone on the other stuff....

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-26 00:19:33

I finally got secure boot on my platform disabled and now the arch cd boots and gets me to the install prompt.
After following the steps below, I got a bit further before than I had previously before the Buffer I/O errors struck again.

parted /dev/sda
mklabel gpt
mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 513MiB
set 1 boot on
mkpart primary ext4 513MiB 100%
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
pacman -Syyu

Unlike all other times, Pacman -Syyu actually ran to completion before it flipped out this time. Now it just sits at the prompt and periodically floods the screen with things like "EXT4-fs (dm-0): This should not happen!! Data will be lost"

Buddlespit · 2015-04-26 05:15:42

Why are you running pacman so soon? You're just trying to sync and upgrade what's loaded into memory from the live iso? Did I miss a quote somewhere showing you've already run pacstrap and chrooted into /mnt?

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-26 11:55:10

You didn't miss a quote where I've already run those things, but I did. I have amended my process as follows:

parted /dev/sda
mklabel gpt
mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 513MiB
set 1 boot on
mkpart primary ext4 513MiB 100%
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel
genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

This may have resolved my issue...Buddlespit with the assist!

Edit:
and so it did, I no longer get buffer i/o errors, now I'm just working out the bootloader

Last edited by volumetricsteve (2015-04-26 12:03:24)

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-26 12:40:10

Ok, I've been able to work out a ton of things once I got pacstrap and chroot in the right stage of my process, now I'm up to the end parts of the bootloader:

parted /dev/sda
mklabel gpt
mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 513MiB
set 1 boot on
mkpart primary ext4 513MiB 100%
quit
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel
genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
nano /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
pacman -Syyu
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
hwclock --systohc --utc
echo UEFItest > /etc/hostname
echo UEFItest > /etc/hosts
systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp0s3.service
passwd
pacman -S grub os-prober efibootmgr

As I follow the guide made for the motherboard I'm using (ASUS M5A97 R2.0)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … ples#M5A97

Upon executing:

cp ~/Shell2/UefiShellX64.efi /mnt/boot/efi/shellx64.efi

I get:
"cp: cannot stat '/root/Shell2/UefiShellX64.efi' : No such file or directory"

This time I've been careful to follow the instructions to the letter...not sure what is supposed to move UefiShellX64.efi into that location, but it's not there, /root/Shell2/ doesn't even exist.

Mercader1902 · 2015-04-26 12:46:48

You have to download it before -> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17629062/Shell2.zip

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-04-26 12:46:58

volumetricsteve wrote:

/root/Shell2/ doesn't even exist.

I found it!

EDIT: Too slow...

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-04-26 12:47:19)

volumetricsteve · 2015-04-26 13:06:19

Whoa...what? the instructions didn't say anything about downloading a 3rd party package

Looking back, I guess it's implied by the file link in the title of that section but they offered no instruction for this.

I'm guessing there's some licensing reason it can't be built into the base packages?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-04-26 13:07:31

volumetricsteve wrote:

I'm guessing there's some licensing reason it can't be built into the base packages?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The_Arch_Way

Arch Linux

#1 2015-04-20 00:42:18

General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#2 2015-04-20 00:53:36

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#3 2015-04-20 02:13:22

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#4 2015-04-20 02:27:27

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#5 2015-04-20 02:41:40

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#6 2015-04-20 02:45:03

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#7 2015-04-20 02:52:22

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#8 2015-04-20 03:17:37

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#9 2015-04-20 03:55:39

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#10 2015-04-20 05:01:29

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#11 2015-04-20 06:57:46

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#12 2015-04-20 12:19:58

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#13 2015-04-20 16:11:35

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#14 2015-04-20 16:16:31

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#15 2015-04-25 18:36:32

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#16 2015-04-25 19:03:22

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#17 2015-04-25 23:05:28

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#18 2015-04-26 00:19:33

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#19 2015-04-26 05:15:42

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#20 2015-04-26 11:55:10

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#21 2015-04-26 12:40:10

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#22 2015-04-26 12:46:48

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#23 2015-04-26 12:46:58

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#24 2015-04-26 13:06:19

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

#25 2015-04-26 13:07:31

Re: General procedure issue with GPT/UEFI install

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