Arch Linux

alexv

Member

Registered: 2022-01-23

Posts: 8

"error: you need to load the kernel first" after migrating to new disk

I migrated my system from old 1TB NVME to a new 2TB NVME and getting strange behavior during the boot:
1. Grub menus is shown as expected and I am able to pick an entry
2. Screen clears for moment and Grub menu is shown again
3. Once I pick an entry in the menu I am getting the following:

********************************
Loading Linux linux-lts ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...
error: you need to load the kernel first

Press any key to continue
********************************

4. After which system is frozen and can only be revived using reset button.

The OS is residing on a btrfs root volume on both old and new disks.
I copied the data from old disk to new disk using rsync.
There is one difference between the 2 disks - old one is msdos partitioned and new one GPR partitioned.
I am using UEFI boot method.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: "error: you need to load the kernel first" after migrating to new disk

You need todo/regenerate your bootloader config to point to where the kernel and initramfs really are and where the root drive is now.