Arch Linux

Mustang

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 3

[solved] UEFI Install Issues - Dissapearing Boot Partition Filesystem

Hello all, I'm having an issue installing Arch on my machine with UEFI.

For some reason, everytime I create a boot partition for UEFI with an ESP FAT32 filesystem, strange things happen, causing the install to fail.
For example, with parted, I'll:
1. Create a new GPT label
2. Make a boot partition in accordance with the Arch Linux Beginners Guide UEFI/GPT example
3. Make a root partition for the rest of my disk, also in accordance with the example above

Then after a  check with

lsblk -f

, it shows my UEFI boot partition as either ext4 or nothing at all (I think. This is based of of memory. Right now I do not have access to the HDD I'm installing this on)

So I decided to reboot, and retry.

I used

sgdisk --zap /dev/sda -all

to destroy the GPT structures just in case, and then tried again. Same result.

I then tried to use gdisk to partition the disk, using EF00 on the boot partition. After writing, I checked

lsblk -f

again and it seemed to have worked properly, but upon
generating and checking the fstab, the boot partition was missing.

I then attempted to switch from UEFI to Legacy compatability, but unfortunatley, my USB Installation media is unable to boot into anything other than UEFI.

I'm sure I'm doing something incredibly wrong here, and that the mistake is my own, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. I've been trying to solve this problem for a few hours now.
I apologize if my issues are the result of my own obvious errors, and if the many threads and wiki pages I've referenced detail the solution and I've missed it somehow. I have limited experience with UEFI and it's intricacies.

Last edited by Mustang (2015-04-08 13:53:42)

SirMyztiq

Member

Registered: 2015-03-24

Posts: 118

Re: [solved] UEFI Install Issues - Dissapearing Boot Partition Filesystem

Hello all, I'm having an issue installing Arch on my machine with UEFI.

For some reason, everytime I create a boot partition for UEFI with an ESP FAT32 filesystem, strange things happen, causing the install to fail.
For example, with parted, I'll:
1. Create a new GPT label
2. Make a boot partition in accordance with the Arch Linux Beginners Guide UEFI/GPT example
3. Make a root partition for the rest of my disk, also in accordance with the example above

Then after a  check with

lsblk -f

, it shows my UEFI boot partition as either ext4 or nothing at all (I think. This is based of of memory. Right now I do not have access to the HDD I'm installing this on)

So I decided to reboot, and retry.

I used

sgdisk --zap /dev/sda -all

to destroy the GPT structures just in case, and then tried again. Same result.

I then tried to use gdisk to partition the disk, using EF00 on the boot partition. After writing, I checked

lsblk -f

again and it seemed to have worked properly, but upon
generating and checking the fstab, the boot partition was missing.

I then attempted to switch from UEFI to Legacy compatability, but unfortunatley, my USB Installation media is unable to boot into anything other than UEFI.

I'm sure I'm doing something incredibly wrong here, and that the mistake is my own, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. I've been trying to solve this problem for a few hours now.
I apologize if my issues are the result of my own obvious errors, and if the many threads and wiki pages I've referenced detail the solution and I've missed it somehow. I have limited experience with UEFI and it's intricacies.

Do you format your partitions after you create them? Setting the flag when you create the partition sets the partition code for the partition in the partition table. You need to format them as the proper filesystem.

Mustang

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 3

Re: [solved] UEFI Install Issues - Dissapearing Boot Partition Filesystem

I may have neglected to properly format the boot partition. When I'm in front of my machine again later today I'll try that.

Mustang

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 3

Re: [solved] UEFI Install Issues - Dissapearing Boot Partition Filesystem

Thanks Sir Mystic that was the problem. I guess when partitioning I assumed incorrectly that the flags were all I needed. My system is up and running now