Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

vohof · 2015-04-18 15:40:16

Hello,

It is my first time installing into a UEFI system. I have been following the Begginer's Guide but I skipped the partitioning part since it's already partitioned. On a BIOS system, all I have to do is to grub-mkconfig to generate the boot options. However on UEFI, it looks like a have to create a filesystem for the EFI System Partition? Here is the output of lsblk -f

NAME            FSTYPE   LABEL       UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                                       
├─sda1          ntfs     WINRE_DRV   A8502DC7502D9D56                     
├─sda2          vfat     SYSTEM_DRV  EE30-32AB                            
├─sda3          vfat     LRS_ESP     EA34-C8BC                            
├─sda4                                                                    
├─sda5          ntfs                 8A6066056065F7F9                     
├─sda6          ext4                 e70208e2-7ee1-4ead-bc31-e024a21d415d /mnt
├─sda7          ntfs     LENOVO      7EF4DECCF4DE85B5                     
└─sda8          ntfs     PBR_DRV     A2363C89363C6109                     
sdb                                                                       
└─sdb1          vfat     ARCH_201504 3C30-FEB9                            /run/archiso/bootmnt
sr0                                                                       
loop0           squashfs                                                  /run/archiso/sfs/airootfs
loop1           ext4                 ec4cf3cd-d72d-4988-a2ce-421f45d52824 
└─arch_airootfs ext4                 ec4cf3cd-d72d-4988-a2ce-421f45d52824 /
loop2           ext4                 ec4cf3cd-d72d-4988-a2ce-421f45d52824 
└─arch_airootfs ext4                 ec4cf3cd-d72d-4988-a2ce-421f45d52824 /

How can I reformat the EFI partition with the proper filesystem? When I issue the command (arch-chrooted and /dev/sda3 mounted to /boot)

gummiboot --path=/boot install

I get the error: File system /boot is not a FAT EFI System Partition (ESP) file system.

Thanks.

vohof · 2015-04-18 15:46:15

Hello,

Arch-chrooted I just tried

mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda3
mount /dev/sda3 /boot
gummiboot --path /boot install

but I still get the error above.

Thank you.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-04-18 15:55:45

I think gummiboot may be attempting to read the GUID partition code to determine the partition type.

What is the output of:

# gdisk -l /dev/sda

You will also need to copy over your kernel image & initramfs to the ESP and change /etc/fstab to ensure it is mounted at /boot (you can just re-install the linux package to generate these if the ESP is already mounted at /boot).

beta990 · 2015-04-18 20:03:35

Why are there so many partitions? Is that needed?
Also see comment above, code needs to be: ef00

Try grub or refind if the error keep coming back.

man date · 2015-04-18 20:29:47

Why mounting the efi partition on /boot ?

/boot is where the kernel and initramfs-image reside.
The efi partition is where your bootloader resides, so it should be mounted on /boot/efi , I guess.

However, to get things work, the efi partition should be readable from your mainboard's firmware. And because of this, it's usually a fat32 fs - I'm not shure if there is any mainboard's firmware out there which can access ext2/3/4 or btrfs by default.

So far, as you don't wanna run the kernel from a fat32 fs, you need seperate fs (which basically means seperate partitions) for the kernel and efi.

Last edited by man date (2015-04-18 20:33:08)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-04-18 20:53:31

man date wrote:

Why mounting the efi partition on /boot ?
/boot is where the kernel and initramfs-image reside.
The efi partition is where your bootloader resides, so it should be mounted on /boot/efi , I guess.
However, to get things work, the efi partition should be readable from your mainboard's firmware. And because of this, it's usually a fat32 fs - I'm not shure if there is any mainboard's firmware out there which can access ext2/3/4 or btrfs by default.
So far, as you don't wanna run the kernel from a fat32 fs, you need seperate fs (which basically means seperate partitions) for the kernel and efi.

It is standard Arch practice to mount /boot to the ESP as this allows the use of gummiboot and direct EFISTUB loading of the kernel image without further work-arounds.

There is absolutely no problem using a FAT filesystem to house the kernel image -- if there is any corruption, you just re-install the linux package to regenerate the kernel image & initramfs.

No motherboards can read ext or BTRFS; the UEFI standard defines FAT as the ESP filesystem.

man date · 2015-04-18 21:13:47

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

It is standard Arch practice to mount /boot to the ESP as this allows the use of gummiboot and direct EFISTUB loading of the kernel image without further work-arounds.
There is absolutely no problem using a FAT filesystem to house the kernel image -- if there is any corruption, you just re-install the linux package to regenerate the kernel image & initramfs.
No motherboards can read ext or BTRFS; the UEFI standard defines FAT as the ESP filesystem.

OK, didn't know that, thanks!

WorMzy · 2015-04-18 21:17:34

vohof wrote:

Hello,
Arch-chrooted I just tried
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda3
mount /dev/sda3 /boot
gummiboot --path /boot install
but I still get the error above.
Thank you.

Did mkfs.vfat complain that ou would overwrite the existing partition? If it didn't, or it did and you chose to overwrite it anyway, you just reformatted your ESP.. That means your Windows boot manager has been destroyed. I'd reinstall that before you try to do anything else, unless you have no interest in booting Windows. I suspect that Windows' boot recovery will reformat the ESP too.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-04-18 15:40:16

Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#2 2015-04-18 15:46:15

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#3 2015-04-18 15:55:45

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#4 2015-04-18 20:03:35

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#5 2015-04-18 20:29:47

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#6 2015-04-18 20:53:31

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#7 2015-04-18 21:13:47

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

#8 2015-04-18 21:17:34

Re: Forgot to mount EFI Partition as /boot

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