stuck at "Enter passphrase" before GRUB menu (and LUKS password)

andav · 2025-08-07 12:22:24

i tried to install archlinux into ssd usb drive from within my archlilnux on my pc.
i did a mistake somewhere and now i don't have a grub menu when my PC starts.
i can't get into archlinux again.

this is a dual boot system.
on the same internal ssd i have windows and arch.
i can get into windows just from the bios now.
by pressing F12 when PC boots i get into boot menu (in bios) and then i can choose to get into the windows partition.
of course before the problem started, i got into a grub menu and from there i could choose to get into windows (and arch).

now when i start my pc i get into this prompt immediatelly after bios (no GRUB menu at all)
https://imgur.com/hJ0ud5e
i always entering the wrong password.
of course this is the correct LUKS password because when i boot from live archlinux usb and do:

sudo cryptsetup open /dev/nvme0n1p5 mycryptdrive

i can open it with the same exact password it says is Invalid passphrase.
when all was normal and worked without a problem, i got into grub menu and after chosing archlinux, i got asked for the password.
now, as i said, there is no GRUB menu at all.

i tried to remove all the files from /boot that belongs to linux and just leave alone the windows stuff.
i removed from /boot:
grub initramfs-linux-fallback.img initramfs-linux.img vmlinuz-linux

in /boot/efi i remved all but the "windows" folders a now /boot/efi looks like this:
EFI 'System Volume Information'

and in /boot/efi/EFI
i removed all but the folders: Boot Microsoft

now when i rebooted my pc i didn't get into the "Enter passphrase" thing.
instead, windows was starting up.
which is great because i get rid of the prompt to enter password.

but!
after i chrooted into my arch from live archlinux usb and installed again grub and made the grub.cfg the problem arise again after restart.
i again get into the "Enter passphrase"...

this is my grub installation command:

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

followd by:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
here is `blkid`:
https://pastebin.com/na9QRREk

my LUKS drive is in: /dev/nvme0n1p5
my windows drive is in: /dev/nvme0n1p3
and my efi drive that windows and arch share is in: /dev/nvme0n1p1 (350MB in size)

here you can see the `lsblk` from within chroot:
https://pastebin.com/CLX7n86Y

here is my /etc/fstab (from within chroot):
https://pastebin.com/XRKgASLS

grub.cfg:
https://pastebin.com/ve7mi4Jg

/etc/default/grub:
https://pastebin.com/qgE5zHB0

/etc/mkinitcpio.conf:
https://pastebin.com/0mAn1hh8

if you need me to add anything else please tell me.

Last edited by andav (2025-08-07 12:46:43)

andav · 2025-08-07 21:54:15

update:
i started windows installation (from usb) and there i went to "fix my PC".
from there using command prompt, i deleted the EFI partition and created a new one using `diskpart` utility.
then i used `bcdboot` to restore the Windows bootloader on the new EFI partition.
after reboot windows is starting up (great).
using live usb of Arch i updated the /etc/fstab to the new UUID of the EFI partition (using `blkid`).
then i again grub-install and also made grub.cfg
After all these steps, when i reboot, the system still skips the GRUB menu and goes directly to the "Enter passphrase" prompt...
any suggestion?

Last edited by andav (2025-08-07 21:56:22)

seth · 2025-08-11 06:27:00

of course this is the correct LUKS password because when i boot from live archlinux usb and do:
sudo cryptsetup open /dev/nvme0n1p5 mycryptdrive

You're being asked for hd0,gpt2
If you check "lsblk -fo+PARTUUID" (don't chroot for this), does the UUID actually match anything there? And what?

andav · 2025-08-11 08:58:40

hey, thanks for the comment.
i thought no one will answer after this "long" time so i didn't update from yesterday .
i can't answer your question because in the meantime i wiped out both arch and windows partitions.
then installed windows and then increase the size of the efi partition to 400MB (using gparted etc...) and then installed arch, and again i got the same "error" when rebooted (Enter passphrase...).
i think the problem was (i'm not sure of course) that i installed grub in --efi-directory=/boot/efi one time and in a another attempt i tried --efi-directory=/efi (in those scenraios i also mounted the efi partition into the respectively named directories in /mnt).
in those situations, so i think, i got /boot *directory* with the kernel etc, within the encypted root partition (arch system), so maybe it didn't know how to get the grub.cfg and the kernel.
what i did in the end was to mount /dev/my-efi-partition into /mnt/boot and after chroot i installed grub into --efi-directory=/boot, so now grub.cfg and the kernel are in an unencrypted partition.
in /etc/fstab i also mounted the efi partition to /boot.
after rebooting i again have my beloved grub menu and a functioning PC.

Last edited by andav (2025-08-11 09:19:05)

WorMzy · 2025-08-12 11:23:54

Mod note: moving to NC.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-08-07 12:22:24

stuck at "Enter passphrase" before GRUB menu (and LUKS password)

#2 2025-08-07 21:54:15

Re: stuck at "Enter passphrase" before GRUB menu (and LUKS password)

#3 2025-08-11 06:27:00

Re: stuck at "Enter passphrase" before GRUB menu (and LUKS password)

#4 2025-08-11 08:58:40

Re: stuck at "Enter passphrase" before GRUB menu (and LUKS password)

#5 2025-08-12 11:23:54

Re: stuck at "Enter passphrase" before GRUB menu (and LUKS password)

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