[SOLVED] Not booting: Arch install with Systemd bootloader

yoric · 2020-01-06 17:07:20

Installation of Arch Linux :

on a Virtual Machine
with GUID Partition Table (GPT) format
Systemd bootloader
without swap partition (for simplification)

I'm sorry to post yet another post about an Arch install not booting.
I tried like 10 times to install Arch with reading the awesome Arch wiki guide, plus some other guides, and can't figure out what's wrong.

I recorded a video of my installation here.

Here are my step by step installation:

01/ Setting up a VIrtual Machine with 4 GB RAM and 20 GB HD

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02/ Checking the network is working

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ping www.google.com

OK

03/ Partitioning the disk

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fdisk -l
cgdisk /dev/sda

/dev/sda1 with EFI type (ef00), 200M
/dev/sda2 with Linux type (8300), 19 GB

mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

04/ Mounting volumes

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mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

05/ Installing minimal packages

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pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

06- Setting locale and Time

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arch-chroot /mnt

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Paris /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc
pacman -S vim
vim /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen

07- Additional packages

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pacman -S base-devel tree

08- Root Password and new user

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passwd
useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash ym
passwd ym

echo archbox >> /etc/hostname

09/ Installing

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bootctl --path=/boot install

10/ Setting up the /boot volume

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vim /boot/loader/loader.conf

default arch

vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=PARTUUID=
:r !blkid

tree /boot

|-- EFI
| . |-- BOOT
| . | . -- BOOTX64.EFI
|   |-- Linux 
| . |-- systemd
| .     -- systemd-bootx64.efi
|-- initramfs-linux-fallback.img
|-- initramfs-linux.img
|-- loader
| . |-- entries
|   | .  -- arch.conf
| . |-- loader.conf
|   |-- random-seed
|-- vmlinuz-linux

exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

11/ Not Booting :'((

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Last edited by yoric (2020-01-07 00:49:49)

Slithery · 2020-01-06 17:11:53

Which VM solution and host OS are you using?

yoric · 2020-01-06 17:27:28

I'm using Parallel, on MacOS Catalina.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2020-01-06 17:28:07

yoric wrote:

options root=PARTUUID=
:r !blkid

I presume the last line was a command from vim? If so then it would print the entire blkid output, which wouldn't work.

You should post the actual contents of the file (and the output of blkid).

EDIT: OSX? I'm out...

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2020-01-06 17:28:51)

Scimmia · 2020-01-06 17:31:26

yoric wrote:

11/ Not Booting :'((

What does that mean, exactly? There are a lot of points where it could fail, just saying it doesn't boot doesn't tell us anything.

yoric · 2020-01-06 18:36:02

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

I presume the last line was a command from vim?

Yes I run the "blkid" command from vim to get the PARTUUID from sda2, then discard the rest of the content.

Content of loader.conf:

cat /boot/loader/loader.conf

arch

Content of arch.conf:

cat /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=PARTUUID=7abc0ad7-3cb3-445b-976e-bf0923098778 rw

Scimmia wrote:

What does that mean, exactly?

I wish I have more details about what's going wrong during boot time.
I am only getting this line on the screen, and nothing else happens:

Trying to boot from Primary Master IDE drive ...

Last edited by yoric (2020-01-06 19:06:15)

Scimmia · 2020-01-06 19:00:09

That sounds like it's trying to boot BIOS, not UEFI

Slithery · 2020-01-06 20:14:58

Scimmia wrote:

That sounds like it's trying to boot BIOS, not UEFI

Correct. The output of the bootctl install command quite clearly states as much.

@yoric - This is why users are asked to post all commands and their full outputs. By doing so you probably would have noticed the problem yourself.

yoric · 2020-01-07 00:44:14

Slithery wrote:

Scimmia wrote:
That sounds like it's trying to boot BIOS, not UEFI
Correct. The output of the bootctl install command quite clearly states as much.
@yoric - This is why users are asked to post all commands and their full outputs. By doing so you probably would have noticed the problem yourself.

Thanks a Ton, @Scimmia and @Slithery for pointing exactly what was wrong!

Yes, I overlooked the output of the bootctl command, stating: Not booted with EFI, skipping EFI variable setup.

As a newbie I wasn't aware of this possibility to boot the machine either in BIOS, or in EFI mode.
So little I knew that in order to install an EFI system, you have to boot from EFI for installation already.

This thread helped me to understand that, as I faced exactly the same problem.

In the specific case of my VM program (Parallels Desktop), I had to change the settings located in "Hardware --> Boot Order --> Advanced settings --> BIOS --> EFI 64-bit"

https://i.postimg.cc/d1S8zyPL/Screen-Sh … -36-AM.png

I installed all once again,
Now, the bootctl command output this line instead: Created EFI boot entry "Linux Boot Manager"

and... it's booting like magic !

https://i.postimg.cc/5yVzzdzS/Screen-Sh … -02-AM.png

Thank you all for your help, I didn't expect so many answers so fast. it's amazing to have such a wonderful community, I couldn't make it without you!

Mod Edit - Replaced oversized images with links.
CoC - Pasting pictures and code

Last edited by Slithery (2020-01-07 00:51:12)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-01-06 17:07:20