Arch Linux

JaydenDev

Member

Registered: 2022-07-11

Posts: 172

How to move EFI to beginning of the drive.

I am using the 'archinstall' command from the latest (2023.6.1) ISO. I have a home partition that I would like to reuse. Problem is, how do I move the EFI partition to the beginning of my disk? If I have the EFI partition come after my home partition, it won't boot properly. How do I move it?

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System Specs:
Intel Core i5-2400 Nvidia GTX 1050ti Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury (Mouse) BestBuy Essentials USB Keyboard
Software Specifications:
Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma Window Manager: KWin Operating System: Arch Linux (btw)

ua4000

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 487

Re: How to move EFI to beginning of the drive.

Hi, the EFI partition usually must not be at the beginning of the disk.
Exception could be a faulty UEFI implementation of your hardware, or this limitation:
"the ESP MUST reside in the first 2.2 Terabytes of the disk."
Can you rule out both ?

And can you please explain your problem "it won't boot properly" more in detail, with some logs ?

JaydenDev

Member

Registered: 2022-07-11

Posts: 172

Re: How to move EFI to beginning of the drive.

Hi, the EFI partition usually must not be at the beginning of the disk.
Exception could be a faulty UEFI implementation of your hardware, or this limitation:
"the ESP MUST reside in the first 2.2 Terabytes of the disk."
Can you rule out both ?

And can you please explain your problem "it won't boot properly" more in detail, with some logs ?

I haven't even installed the system. I wanted to make sure I found a solution before installing. I thought the EFI partition had to be the first partition on the drive? I want to make the EFI partition the first partition, meaning I have to move the home partition.

Last edited by JaydenDev (2023-06-05 19:44:56)

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System Specs:
Intel Core i5-2400 Nvidia GTX 1050ti Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury (Mouse) BestBuy Essentials USB Keyboard
Software Specifications:
Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma Window Manager: KWin Operating System: Arch Linux (btw)

ua4000

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 487

Re: How to move EFI to beginning of the drive.

Have a look at
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFI_system_partition

So if you don't have a huge disk (>2TB) and not a rare hardware, put the EFI partition at any free position.

If you insist on re-partition: this is risky, only proceed, if you have enough backups :-)