Arch Linux

Colson P.

Member

Registered: 2019-09-21

Posts: 8

unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

Hello,

I recently installed Arch (using the archinstall guided installer) with GRUB, but attempted to convert to systemd-boot.  Upon rebooting, though, systemd only displays the "reboot to UEFI" option.  I'm completely lost as to how to make the OS bootable again.

fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 970 EVO 500GB               
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 7DDEAA09-2714-48DB-9F3E-080CF21B0F85

Device            Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme1n1p1     2048   1048575   1046528   511M EFI System
/dev/nvme1n1p2  1050624  41943039  40892416  19.5G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme1n1p3 41943040 976773119 934830080 445.8G Linux filesystem

/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf:

title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root="LABEL=primary" rw

/boot/loader/loader.conf:

default arch
timeout 4
console-mode auto
editor   no

I attempted to go back to grub as well, but that didn't work out too well. 
I'd rather not have to reinstall my OS again. How do I proceed to fix this?

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

Is the ESP mounted to /boot?

Colson P.

Member

Registered: 2019-09-21

Posts: 8

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

is the ESP the EFI drive?  If so, it appears to have a mount point of /mnt/boot

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

It's the EFI System Partition.

It's /mnt/boot on the actual system or when you're setting up to chroot?

Colson P.

Member

Registered: 2019-09-21

Posts: 8

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

on the actual system (as shown in KDE partition manager)

Last edited by Colson P. (2023-05-02 23:31:15)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

That's a problem, then. Your configs and the kernel/initramfs are in /boot on the root partition, which can't be read.

Colson P.

Member

Registered: 2019-09-21

Posts: 8

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

Fortunately my /home partition is separate... I may just need to reinstall then?

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

No, you just need to set things up correctly. You almost never have to reinstall the system.

Simplest would be to clear out the /boot dir, mount the ESP there, reinstall any kernel packages you use and any cpu microcode, then set up the bootloader again.

Edit: and make sure to add it to fstab to prevent future issues.

Last edited by Scimmia (2023-05-02 23:41:38)

Colson P.

Member

Registered: 2019-09-21

Posts: 8

Re: unable to boot after attempting to replace grub with systemd-boot

Sorry, this is still very new to me.  So essentially I want to delete the /boot folder from the root partition, and then while chrooted into the Arch installation, follow this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB ?

Last edited by Colson P. (2023-05-02 23:56:35)