Arch Linux

testware

Member

Registered: 2024-01-25

Posts: 31

[SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

Hello, my English is not the Best I try to compensate it with transelater...

I have a Archlinux on the SSD on my leptop.
A arch iso in Ventor.
And try to install over the Ventor Arch ISO to install a Arch on a external USB.

So follow the Arch Install Guide:
$mount --mkdir /dev/sda /mnt/efi
$pacman -S linux...
$grub-install ....esp=/efi.....
$grub-mkconfig ....

but when I rebooted I no longer saw the Archlinux from the laptop's SSD.
Even when I unplugged the USB stick after turning it off and then plugged it back in, I couldn't see the USB arch.

When i looked with:
xxd -l 512 /dev/sda
xxd -l 512 /dev/nvme0n1

The the grun code was gone

My question is what happen?
Second how I can fix it?

Last edited by testware (2024-07-20 19:57:20)

kermit63

Member

Registered: 2018-07-04

Posts: 225

Re: [SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

You need to pass "--removable" parameter in your grub-install command.

testware

Member

Registered: 2024-01-25

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

Can you explain why my laptop hard drive is no longer shown in the EFI MENU if I run grub-install without -- removable and grub-config on my USB with Arch beforehand?
if i run `xxd -l 512 /dev/"device"` the mbr code is 00000 but the partition code is anyways there.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: Belsize Park

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,245

Website

Re: [SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

The laptop Arch's boot entry probably gets over-written by the USB system's entry, perhaps because they both load grubx64.efi from the same path.

UEFI implementations can be very buggy. Lots of laptops easily "forget" boot entries for various reasons.

Note that the first 512 bytes of a GPT disk contain a so-called "protective" MBR region, which renders the disk safe in the event of writing by non-GPT-aware software. More on this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Part … 28LBA_0.29

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"The nation-state domesticates the society in the name of capitalism and alienates the community from its natural foundations."
— Democratic Confederalism, Abdullah Öcalan.

testware

Member

Registered: 2024-01-25

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

But the grubx64.efi from the USB is in another partition then the grubx64.efi from the Laptop.
It is also not a Hardlink.
How can it be overwritten?

Last edited by testware (2024-07-21 09:46:20)

kermit63

Member

Registered: 2018-07-04

Posts: 225

Re: [SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

Like Head_on_a_Stick said in the 2nd paragraph, the UEFI standard is implemented in different ways by motherboard manufacturers. A lot of them are very buggy. Most of them probably just test if their UEFI implementation will work on a single OS Windows machine and probably not dual-boot systems and certainly not on linux.

Unless you chance upon someone who uses the exact same motherboard, no one here will be able to give you an exact answer.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: Belsize Park

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,245

Website

Re: [SOLVED] EFI menu don't show device after: plug out USB. Grub-install.

the grubx64.efi from the USB is in another partition then the grubx64.efi from the Laptop

The UEFI firmware only reads paths relative to the EFI system partition and from that perspective the paths are identical. I have seen this before in other threads.

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"The nation-state domesticates the society in the name of capitalism and alienates the community from its natural foundations."
— Democratic Confederalism, Abdullah Öcalan.