Arch Linux

amixra

Member

Registered: 2022-01-24

Posts: 103

Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

I had installed it as MBR/BIOS because of lack of awareness and want to move into UEFI/GPT. I don't want to take backups or do the reinstallation.
There are guides like https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GPT_fd … BR_and_GPT . I want something similar so that first I can change the filesystem and then boot into UEFI boot and my system gets identified. May be my understanding of it is highly abstracted but I hope there is a way.

Last edited by amixra (2023-02-11 08:59:12)

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Do experiment at-least.

Head_on_a_Stick

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From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,732

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Re: Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

If you're converting to a UEFI system you will also need an EFI system partition. Check the ArchWiki UEFI page for more details.

Not having backups seems silly though.

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ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,785

Re: Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

I don't want to take backups or do the reinstallation.

Whistling as we walk past the graveyard.

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Trilby

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Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,525

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Re: Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

Edit: oops, I misread, you confirmed it is an MBR partition table.  Yeah, you better have backups.  If all goes smoothly (which would be more likely the case if you already had a separate boot partition) then there should be no need for a reinstall or a use of the backups; but if all does not go smoothly, you'll definitely want those backups.

Last edited by Trilby (2023-02-11 15:45:29)

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amixra

Member

Registered: 2022-01-24

Posts: 103

Re: Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

I don't want to take backups or do the reinstallation.

Whistling as we walk past the graveyard.

I am using it now for more than 1 year and have faced various kind of issues on my laptop from hardware problems to software misconfigurations. Apart from timeshift I don't really do anything for backups which I haven't used till now. But apart from that I want to put emphasis on bios to uefi switch guide. There is one by redhat for redhat distros. I was looking for same for archlinux if exists.

Last edited by amixra (2023-02-14 12:43:18)

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Do experiment at-least.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,718

Re: Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

From a user process perspective it is relatively trivial, but there's a lot of underlying low level stuff that happens that can go hairy for any reason and have catastrophic consequences, which is why there was such an emphasis on backups.

If you think you've been warned enough see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GPT_fd … BR_and_GPT for the conversion, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFI_sy … _partition for how to create an ESP partition, and then your bootloaders documentation for how to install on an EFI system. I strongly suggest you use a Gparted Live disk for the partition/filesystem resizing (not sure whether it has an outright conversion option, but you'd first make enough space at the end of the MBR disk to house the ESP, then convert to GPT, then add the ESP and then configure your bootloader from a (arch-)chroot)

FWIW I looked at the red hat guide, you can basically follow that, then only thing red hat specific in that space are the yum install commands you'd have to adapt to pacman which amounts to

pacman -S efibootmgr gptfdisk grub

This in most part a you thing. Even if you have a guide, since their partition scheme will likely deviate from yours, it's your job to adapt what you read to your situation, your job to select the correct drives and run the correct operations on the right components.

Last edited by V1del (2023-02-14 13:19:19)

Head_on_a_Stick

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From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,732

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Re: Archlinux wiki to convert BIOS(legacy) to UEFI

Looks like Red Hat's GRUB version automatically installs to the fallback EFI loader location, which the Arch version does not do so for Arch use this command:

# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --removable --bootloader-id=Arch

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