Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

redshoe · 2021-10-02 22:46:14

I am trying to install a booting partition on USB stick, and I followed the instructions in https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFISTU … I_directly like below

# efibootmgr --disk /dev/sde --part 1 --create --label "Arch Linux" --loader /vmlinuz-linux --unicode 'root=PARTUUID=F9DB-7326 rw initrd=\initramfs-linux.img' --verbose

And, my system is not picking up anything from what I did. It acts as if there is nothing in the USB drive. My efibootmgr output is like the following

BootOrder: 0000,0006,0001,0005,0003,0002
Boot0000* Arch Linux	HD(1,MBR,0x0,0x800,0x729b800)/File(\vmlinuz-linux)r.o.o.t.=.P.A.R.T.U.U.I.D.=.F.9.D.B.-.7.3.2.6. .r.w. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=.\.i.n.i.t.r.a.m.f.s.-.l.i.n.u.x...i.m.g.
Boot0001* UEFI: PXE IPv4 Marvell AQtion 10Gbit Network Adapter	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(e04f43e671e5,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0)..BO
Boot0002* Generic Usb Device	VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0003* CD/DVD Device	VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0005* UEFI: PXE IPv6 Marvell AQtion 10Gbit Network Adapter	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(e04f43e671e5,0)/IPv6([::]:<->[::]:,0,0)..BO
Boot0006* UEFI: Generic Flash Disk 8.07, Partition 1	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Pci(0x8,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x1)/USB(2,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x68e60b70,0x800,0x3b5800)..BO

What am I doing wrong here?

Scimmia · 2021-10-02 23:13:34

You're trying to boot from an MBR disk? I think that's allowable on USB, but UEFI implementations vary so much, I wouldn't trust it to work. That root entry also looks wrong, that UUID format is mostly used for things like FAT filesystems, which you can't install Arch on.

Personally, I would use something like systemd-boot or refind in the default loader location on USB.

Last edited by Scimmia (2021-10-02 23:15:05)

redshoe · 2021-10-02 23:21:10

I didn't install Arch on USB stick. Here is what I am trying to do

/dev/some_drive_with_ext4_format : /mnt
/dev/usb_stick_with_fat32_format : /mnt/boot

I am just trying to boot the system from the USB.

I formatted the USB stick as FAT32, which is said to be the requirement for the EFISTUB in the wiki page (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_b … oot_loader).

Scimmia · 2021-10-02 23:23:27

The root entry needs to point to the root, which is where Arch is installed.

That doesn't change the fact that the stick is MBR, who knows if that will work without a default loader; or at all, really.

redshoe · 2021-10-03 00:20:56

Oh dang. I was using USB UUID instead of root.

Well,,, changing that did not work...

Trikenstein · 2021-10-05 02:44:08

redshoe wrote:

What am I doing wrong here?

Could that be the USB drive is not UEFI bootable? Can you try to prepare the USB drive again with the instructions from this article: Creating a Bootable Ubuntu UEFI USB Drive

V1del · 2021-10-05 07:35:11

Even if you correctly format the stick as GPT, chances that your UEFI implementation actually retains the entry when removing the stick are low. You need to populate the fall back path and afaik you can't really define parameters for that so you will want to use an additional bootloader: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Unifie … nced_drive

Arch Linux

#1 2021-10-02 22:46:14

Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

#2 2021-10-02 23:13:34

Re: Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

#3 2021-10-02 23:21:10

Re: Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

#4 2021-10-02 23:23:27

Re: Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

#5 2021-10-03 00:20:56

Re: Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

#6 2021-10-05 02:44:08

Re: Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

#7 2021-10-05 07:35:11

Re: Using USB for boot entry with efibootmgr

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