Arch Linux

FabianM

Member

Registered: 2023-08-03

Posts: 5

loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

Hi,

I am currently trying to find a practical solution for having loader entries of 2 installations of Linux on separate drives.
both are arch on btrfs, both are using systemd-boot, with the following layout:

nvme1n1     259:0    0 465,8G  0 disk 
├─nvme1n1p1 259:1    0  1000M  0 part 
├─nvme1n1p2 259:2    0 447,7G  0 part 
└─nvme1n1p3 259:3    0  17,1G  0 part 
nvme0n1     259:4    0 465,8G  0 disk 
├─nvme0n1p1 259:5    0  1000M  0 part /efi
├─nvme0n1p2 259:6    0 447,7G  0 part /var/log
│                                     /home
│                                     /var/cache
│                                     /
└─nvme0n1p3 259:7    0  17,1G  0 part [SWAP]

I have it completely separate since I am playing around with the beta build of EndeavourOS on nvme1, and don't want to mess with my installation on nvme0.

I thought I can copy the entry from my second drive to the first one, so I can boot the second installation without going into the bios, but noticed that it's not that easy, since it does not know about the other efi.

[fabian@eosdesk entries]$ sudo bootctl list
/efi/loader/loader.conf:5: Unknown line 'reboot-for-bitlocker', ignoring.
         type: Boot Loader Specification Type #1 (.conf)
        title: EndeavourOS (6.6.3-arch1-1) (not reported/new)
           id: eos2.conf
       source: /efi//loader/entries/eos2.conf
     sort-key: endeavouros-6.6.3-arch1-1
      version: 6.6.3-arch1-1
   machine-id: 6ddff8eb95ea47c3aaed35dab30ede0e
        linux: /efi//6ddff8eb95ea47c3aaed35dab30ede0e/6.6.3-arch1-1/linux (No such file or directory)
       initrd: /efi//6ddff8eb95ea47c3aaed35dab30ede0e/6.6.3-arch1-1/initrd (No such file or directory)
      options: nvme_load=YES nowatchdog rw rootflags=subvol=/@ root=UUID=6705965d-fbb2-434e-b89c-f5cded5a5e45 resume=UUID=aec35e17-9179-47c9-ac0e-1bfd74a09982 nvi>

Reading the wiki, I am not sure if this can be done or if it is the right way, since there is an issue and discussion if systemd-boot should detect entries of other esp's on other discs, this seems to be a common problem.
So what is the right way to do it? Should I switch to grub, use just one partition for the EFI or are there other solutions I have not found so far?

Help is appreciated,
Best
Fabian

mcloaked

Member

From: Yorkshire, UK

Registered: 2012-02-02

Posts: 1,360

Re: loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

The Arch Wiki at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-boot has section 4.2.2 Boot from another disk which may suggest a possible way to do this?

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Mike C

FabianM

Member

Registered: 2023-08-03

Posts: 5

Re: loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

The Arch Wiki at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-boot has section 4.2.2 Boot from another disk, which may suggest a possible way to do this?

I read that and was not sure if this "the way to go" and a bit uncertain if I should consider a different disk layout altogether.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

The standard recommendation is to share a single ESP between all the operating systems. Bit tricky with two Arch installs though because their kernel & initramfs images will have the same names. GRUB does offer more flexibility in this respect.

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

FabianM

Member

Registered: 2023-08-03

Posts: 5

Re: loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

The standard recommendation is to share a single ESP between all the operating systems. Bit tricky with two Arch installs though because their kernel & initramfs images will have the same names. GRUB does offer more flexibility in this respect.

This would mean that all operating systems are on one disk but on different partitions, right?
I also thought the id should be different, and the UUIDs are different too, so the naming should not be an issue.

I used systemd-boot since it is the default recommendation on a lot of OS's, and have not thought that my use case is so uncommon.

So to recap, my options are:

1. Use the method described on the arch wiki 4.2.2
2. switch to grub
3. Move the second operating system to the first nvme.

Or have I forgotten something? If not, I close the topic.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

A single ESP doesn't mean the OS has to be on any specific drive

FabianM

Member

Registered: 2023-08-03

Posts: 5

Re: loader entries for 2 arch installs on seperate drive systemd-boot

A single ESP doesn't mean the OS has to be on any specific drive

I feel like I have some missing knowledge regarding the proper setup of multiple installations, disks and systemd-boot.

Thank you all for the help, I think it's back to square one for me and do some research and read the wiki.
This thread can be closed.

Best
Fabian

Last edited by FabianM (2023-12-19 21:53:55)