Issues with GRUB

rguinness · 2018-04-18 18:47:35

Hi,

I'm new to Arch Linux. I am trying to configure my laptop as a dual-boot machine. I followed the instructions for GRUB on the wiki as best I could. However, strangely the GRUB startup screen, I can only see one option (Microsoft 10 UEFI/GPT) and not the option to boot to Arch Linux! The Windows boot option was added via /etc/grub.d/40_custom.

Here is a copy of /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt6'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt6' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt6 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt6 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt6  a9bfba29-dc0d-424b-8830-245b531be2cd
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a9bfba29-dc0d-424b-8830-245b531be2cd
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
play 480 440 1
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
if [ "${grub_platform}" == "efi" ]; then
	menuentry "Microsoft 10 UEFI/GPT" {
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod fat
		insmod search_fs_uuid
		insmod chain
		search --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1 8842-0286
		chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
	}
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-04-18 19:01:56

rguinness wrote:

I followed the instructions for GRUB on the wiki as best I could.

^ We are going to need (much) more detail than that — the actual commands used (and the order in which they were issued) will let us see where you went wrong.

rguinness · 2018-04-18 19:30:04

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

rguinness wrote:
I followed the instructions for GRUB on the wiki as best I could.
^ We are going to need (much) more detail than that — the actual commands used (and the order in which they were issued) will let us see where you went wrong.

Ok. I will try my best. I was following the instructions on this page: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#UEFI_systems

I first confirmed the partition scheme using:

parted /dev/sda print

I mounted the partitions where the EFI System Partition and Arch Linux are located:

mount /dev/sda1 /boot

mount /dev/sda6 /mnt

I then ran:

arch-chroot /mnt

I installed the grub and efibootmgr packages.

Then I ran:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=arch_grub

I determined the $hints_string and $fs_uuid for the Windows partition using:

grub-probe --target=hints_string /boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

grub-probe --target=fs_uuid /boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

Then, I edited /etc/grub.d/40_custom, where I added the following lines:

if [ "${grub_platform}" == "efi" ]; then
	menuentry "Microsoft 10 UEFI/GPT" {
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod fat
		insmod search_fs_uuid
		insmod chain
		search --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1 8842-0286
		chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
	}
fi

Then, I ran:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Finally, I exited chroot and rebooted.

rguinness · 2018-04-18 19:43:07

I discovered what went wrong. Posting now the error and solution, in case it helps someone else.

After some head-scratching, I realized that there are actually two grub.cfg, which I was confusing, one on /dev/sda1 (mounted to /boot) and the other on /dev/sda6 (mounted to /mnt). To add the Arch Linux menuentry, you have to run grub-mkconfig outside of chroot. This will make the necessary changes to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and NOT /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg, which has no actual effect on grub!

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-04-18 20:36:43

rguinness wrote:

I mounted the partitions where the EFI System Partition and Arch Linux are located:
mount /dev/sda1 /boot
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt

^ That was your error.

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … le_systems

Arch Linux

#1 2018-04-18 18:47:35

Issues with GRUB

#2 2018-04-18 19:01:56

Re: Issues with GRUB

#3 2018-04-18 19:30:04

Re: Issues with GRUB

#4 2018-04-18 19:43:07

Re: Issues with GRUB

#5 2018-04-18 20:36:43

Re: Issues with GRUB

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