[SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

Virgileo · 2019-08-17 22:52:54

Hello,

I have had an Arch installation on the IdeaPad S100-14IBR laptop (UEFI), and needed to make another installation on the SD card on the same laptop. What I did, is installed Arch on SD card partitioned into boot, swap and system partitions and installed grub (a second one, as one is also installed on the eMMC memory of the laptop with the main Arch installation. After reboot, it only loads SD card's Grub (if SD card is disconnected nothing boots). In the SD Arch I update grub.cfg with os-prober, it finds the main OS, but after rebooting and choosing this new entry the following message pops up and OS doesn't boot.

error: file `/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found.
error: you need to lead the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

The grub installation was done this way:

# pacman -S grub efibootmgr
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
# pacman -S os-prober
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

I thought I could get into the main OS and update Grub there to make it the one, that boots by default and also works when SD card is out, but it seems I made a mistake. My thoughts are maybe to try and chroot into my main OS from live CD and reinstall Grub there, having no SD card connected, but not sure if it is even possible, or right action to take. Having read wiki entries didn't give me much understanding sadly.

Here is the disk setup I have:

sda 119.3G (SD Card)
- sda1 600M    /boot (SD OS)
- sda2 2G      swap  (SD OS)
- sda3 116.7G  /     (SD OS)

mmcblk0 29.1G (Internal eMMC memory)
- mmcblk0p1 300M   /boot (Main OS)
- mmcblk0p2 2G     swap  (Main OS)
- mmcblk0p3 26.8G  /     (Main OS)

mmcblk0boot0 4M
mmcblk0boot1 4M

My question is what was my mistake and how do I restore bootability to my main OS and setup dual boot for the SD card one.

P.S. SD card is not in the built-in card reader (which seems to be faulty), but in the card reader connected via USB, if this is of any importance.

Last edited by Virgileo (2019-08-19 15:33:55)

Virgileo · 2019-08-18 10:53:40

Tired chrooting into my main OS and making grub config while SD card was disconnected. Here is what the output was:

Generating grub configuration file...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.

Still couldn't boot, so decided to reinstall grub. Chrooted into main OS from live environment again and ran:

# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Grub was fixed and I could successfully boot into the system. I then plugged-in SD card, mounted sda3 / and sda1 /boot to /mnt and /mnt/boot correspondingly and ran grub-mkconfig:

$ sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
$ sudo umount -R /mnt
$ reboot

It found the SD OS, but now the opposite problem arose, SD card OS wouldn't boot with the same message:

error: file `/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found.
error: you need to lead the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

I feel like I stepped on the same rake twice now, what am I doing wrong?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2019-08-18 17:09:17

Virgileo wrote:

After reboot, it only loads SD card's Grub (if SD card is disconnected nothing boots).

Do you see two separate boot entries for the two Arch systems listed in the output of the efibootmgr command?

It's probably better to have just a single GRUB bootloader installed on the hard drive, that should be able to boot the second system on the SD card.

Virgileo wrote:

what am I doing wrong?

You haven't posted the full output of the grub-mkconfig command (or the content of the "active" grub,cfg) so that we can see where it's going wrong.

Virgileo · 2019-08-18 17:38:30

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Do you see two separate boot entries for the two Arch systems listed in the output of the efibootmgr command?

The output of efibootmgr while on main OS:

$ efibootmgr --verbose
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0013,0014,0016,0001,0012,0017,0015
Boot0000* GRUB  HD(1,GPT,a9e31ddb-ec85-44ec-b59e-5916fa30d6fe,0x800,0x96000)/File(\EFI\GRUB\grubx64.efi)
Boot0001* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,a9e31ddb-ec85-44ec-b59e-5916fa30d6fe,0x800,0x96000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0010  Setup FvFile(721c8b66-426c-4e86-8e99-3457c46ab0b9)
Boot0011  Boot Menu     FvFile(86488440-41bb-42c7-93ac-450fbf7766bf)
Boot0012* ATA HDD:      VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,91af625956449f41a7b91f4f892ab0f600)
Boot0013* eMMC Disk:  SanDisk iNAND 32GB        PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x10,0x0)/Ctrl(0x0)..]3.K.L......2.
Boot0014* USB HDD:      VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,33e821aaaf33bc4789bd419f88c50803)
Boot0015* PCI LAN:      VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,78a84aaf2b2afc4ea79cf5cc8f3d3803)
Boot0016* USB FDD:      VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49)
Boot0017* USB CD:       VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55)

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

the content of the "active" grub,cfg

/boot/grub/grub.cfg, main OS:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
 
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi
 
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi
 
export menuentry_id_option
 
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi
 
function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}
 
function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}
 
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
 
if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
 
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615' {
    load_video
    set gfxpayload=keep
    insmod gzio
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod fat
    if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  2D6C-A073
    else
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 2D6C-A073
    fi
    echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
    linux   /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615 rw  loglevel=3 quiet
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Arch Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615' {
    menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-advanced-ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615' {
        load_video
        set gfxpayload=keep
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  2D6C-A073
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 2D6C-A073
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615 rw  loglevel=3 quiet
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
    }
    menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux (fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-fallback-ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615' {
        load_video
        set gfxpayload=keep
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  2D6C-A073
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 2D6C-A073
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615 rw  loglevel=3 quiet
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
    }
}
 
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
 
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
 
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux (on /dev/sda3)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7' {
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod ext2
    set root='hd0,gpt3'
    if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt3' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt3 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt3 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt3  3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
    else
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
    fi
    linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3
    initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Arch Linux (on /dev/sda3)' $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-advanced-3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7' {
    menuentry 'Arch Linux (on /dev/sda3)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-/boot/vmlinuz-linux--3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7' {
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod ext2
        set root='hd0,gpt3'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt3' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt3 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt3 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt3  3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
        fi
        linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3
        initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
    }
}
 
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
 
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
 
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

It's probably better to have just a single GRUB bootloader installed on the hard drive, that should be able to boot the second system on the SD card.

That is what I want, but the main Grub though detecting the SD card OS fails to boot it...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2019-08-18 19:00:23

Virgileo wrote:

menuentry 'Arch Linux (on /dev/sda3)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7' {
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod ext2
    set root='hd0,gpt3'
    if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt3' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt3 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt3 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt3  3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
    else
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
    fi
    linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3
    initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
}

That stanza is looking for the kernel image on /dev/sda3 but it is actually on /dev/sda1 (according to your OP).

Try creating a file at /boot/grub/custom.cfg with this content:

menuentry 'Arch (SD card)' {
   set root='hd0,gpt1'
   linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3 rw quiet
   initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
}

You may have to replace the set root line with

   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root $uuid

and replace $uuid with the actual UUID of the /boot partition on your SD card.

And just to confirm: both /dev/sda1 and /dev/mmcblk0p1 are FAT-formatted EFI system partitions, right?

Virgileo · 2019-08-18 23:43:43

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

And just to confirm: both /dev/sda1 and /dev/mmcblk0p1 are FAT-formatted EFI system partitions, right?

Yes, here is how it looks:

$ lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1 vfat E3EB-4D1E
├─sda2 swap 58d062ca-fea3-48b4-932e-202bdf8a54ef
└─sda3 ext4 3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7
mmcblk0
├─mmcblk0p1 vfat 2D6C-A073 242.7M 19% /boot
├─mmcblk0p2 swap b6dd8c55-60da-4af5-9785-40ee86e36d6a [SWAP]
└─mmcblk0p3 ext4 ea27bf7c-c174-4ec2-aa2d-5b81e59b1615 4.4G 78% /
mmcblk0boot0
mmcblk0boot1

Created /boot/grub/custom.cfg:

menuentry 'Arch (SD card)' {
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root E3EB-4D1E
   linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3 rw quiet
   initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
}

Booting from this entry lead to the same error as before so I looked at the entry for the main OS that boots and noticed that there it sets root to boot partition and then calls the image from / rather than from /boot. I then changed custom.cfg like so:

menuentry 'Arch (SD card)' {
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root E3EB-4D1E
   linux /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=3a9c373a-3dad-41e0-8f5d-efe5b3fefaa7 rw quiet
   initrd /initramfs-linux.img
}

That did the trick and now I can boot into SD card OS just fine, thanks for help. How should have I done this installation cleanly though? When installing second system just completely ignoring the Grub installation part? Would Grub on main drive after grub-mkconfig just pick up the system and system will boot fine? Essentially what was the cause of this problem? I'm still not sure why grub-mkconfig created faulty entry...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2019-08-19 15:08:10

Virgileo wrote:

Booting from this entry lead to the same error as before so I looked at the entry for the main OS that boots and noticed that there it sets root to boot partition and then calls the image from / rather than from /boot.

Ah yes, well done for spotting my, er, deliberate mistake

Virgileo wrote:

Essentially what was the cause of this problem? I'm still not sure why grub-mkconfig created faulty entry...

Me neither

Your installation process looks fine to me and both systems are now working so you can just un-install the os-prober package, regenerate /boot/grub/grub.cfg and rely on custom.cfg to provide the entry for the SD card system.

If you want to use the SD card in different (UEFI) machines then you could run grub-install from that system and add the --removable option to get it to boot even if there are no NVRAM entries: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … _boot_path

Virgileo · 2019-08-19 15:32:24

Alright, got it. Thanks for all the help and advice!

Arch Linux

#1 2019-08-17 22:52:54

[SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#2 2019-08-18 10:53:40

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#3 2019-08-18 17:09:17

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#4 2019-08-18 17:38:30

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#5 2019-08-18 19:00:23

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#6 2019-08-18 23:43:43

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#7 2019-08-19 15:08:10

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

#8 2019-08-19 15:32:24

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot two Arch Grub doesn't boot into main installation

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