Arch Linux

ClayyyTTY

Member

Registered: 2026-07-04

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] Help with Installing systemd-boot

Hello, community—I hope I’m not bothering you. I’m having trouble with the last step of the installation guide; I chose to install systemd-boot. So I ran the “bootcl install” command, but two issues came up.
First, the output tells me that having the EFI files in /boot is not secure; I assume this is normal—I specifically chose this mount point after careful consideration—but please correct me if I’m wrong.
Second, the installer was unable to write to the firmware variables, and I have no idea why. It says "Not booted with EFI or running in a container, skipping EFI variable modifications" (maybe because I've donne "arch-chroot"). This is the main problem.

If it helps, my firmware is UEFI; I followed the installation guide to the letter; the ESP is mounted at /boot; and I want to install systemd-boot.

I’ve done all the research I could—please help, and no hate—I’m not picking on anyone; maybe I didn’t explain myself clearly by not providing enough information or by making a mistake during the installation, but it was definitely not on purpose, and I’m not trying to provoke anyone!

Last edited by ClayyyTTY (2026-07-04 16:13:38)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,186

Re: [SOLVED] Help with Installing systemd-boot

The steps 3.3 (time) to 3.8 (bootloader) of the installation guide are assumed to be executed from the chroot, so that's not it.

Unless you enabled secure boot the first warning is normal and technically correct.

The second message points to the cause of the problem .

Run from the iso

# cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size    
# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

and tell us what they output.
Normally the first command will output a number and the 2nd a long list.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … _boot_mode

To install systemd-boot, first make sure that the system is booted into UEFI mode and UEFI variables are accessible. This can be verified by running efivar --list or, if efivar is not installed, by running ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars (if the directory exists, the system is booted into UEFI mode.)

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

ClayyyTTY

Member

Registered: 2026-07-04

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Help with Installing systemd-boot

Thank you for your answer!

So, the first command outputs “64” (I'm in UEFI mode), and the second one outputs the full list of variables. I am indeed in chroot mode (I ran the command “arch-chroot /mnt”), and since my last message, I've also run this command: “efibootmgr --create --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --loader ‘\EFI\systemd\systemd-bootx64.efi’ --label ”Linux Boot Manager“ --unicode”, as described here. So, everything seemed to be working fine; I checked with efibootmgr, but when I run “bootctl” or even “bootctl status,” I still get the message saying that I booted from a container or without UEFI mode, and that it didn't write the EFI variables. I figure this might be normal, since I did it manually with efibootmgr.

Last edited by ClayyyTTY (2026-07-04 15:11:23)

ClayyyTTY

Member

Registered: 2026-07-04

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Help with Installing systemd-boot

OK, then! I found the solution.

Actually, manual creation isn't the right method (it only works if “bootctl install” doesn't create an entry in NVRAM). What you need to do is exit the chroot with “exit,” then re-enter it with: “arch-chroot -S /mnt,” for systemd mode. Run “bootctl install” again, which will reinstall everything, and “voilà"! This worked perfectly for me—thanks to everyone who helped me. On this wiki page, there’s a note that says: “bootctl refrains from operating on UEFI variables/boot entries when running in the PID namespace, which is the case for arch-chroot(8)’s non-systemd mode. To create the boot entry in the chroot environment, use `arch-chroot -S` instead.” That’s all the proof I need! Also, I deleted the entry I had manually created with `efibootmgr -b XXXX -B`, where “XXXX” is the NVRAM entry number for “Linux Boot Manager,” which you can view with `efibootmgr -v` . This command comes from the efibootmgr man page. Have a great day!

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,186

Re: [SOLVED] Help with Installing systemd-boot

Glad you figured it out.

Next time if no one has replied to one of your posts (especially if the post was made a short time ago) please use the edit button to add to it instead of creating a new post.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky