Arch Linux

veist

Member

Registered: 2024-07-17

Posts: 17

[SOLVED] bootctl install - Couldn't find EFI system partition

This is my first time installing Arch and I have tried a few times now but have been getting stuck at the bootloader.  I am trying to use systemd-boot and I have followed the official installation guide.

[root@archiso /]# bootctl install

gives the error "Couldn't find EFI system partition.  It is recommended to mount it to /boot or /efi."

[root@archiso /]# bootctl --path=/boot install

gives the error "File system "/boot" is not a FAT EFI System Partition (ESP) file system."

root@archiso ~ # cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

returns 64.

[root@archiso /]# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

produces output with the variables.

I am using the following partitions:
nvme0n1p1 (boot, 1G) = vfat/FAT32, EFI file system, mounted to /mnt
nvme0n1p2 (swap, 32G) = swap, linux filesystem, [swap]
nvme0n1p3 (root/home, remainder) = ext4, linux filesystem, mounted to /mnt/boot
nvme1n1p1 (storage, entire ssd) = ext4, linux filesystem, mounted to /mnt

fdisk was used to partition and format.  As root@archiso ~, these file types are confirmed using lsblk -f.  Mount points are confirmed with lsblk.  After chrooting to /mnt, as [root@archiso /], lsblk now shows that nvme0n1p1 (boot) is mounted to /, while nvme0n1p3 and nvme1n1p1 show no mount points.

Pictures of lsblk output: https://postimg.cc/gallery/PPvZkzY

The mounting process was:

# mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/nvme1n1p1 /mnt
# swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2

Mounting was done after partitioning and formatting, and before pacstrap/genfstab and chrooting.

Packages installed with pacman are base, linux, linux-firmware, intel-ucode, vim, iwd, dosfstools, sudo, efibootmgr, nvidia, and nvidia-utils.

root@archiso ~ # grep /boot /proc/mounts

outputs

/dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot vfat rw, relatime, fmask=0022, dmask=0022, codepage=437, iocharset=ascii, shortname=mixed, utf8, errors=remount-ro 0 0

Please let me know if there is anything you can see.  Thanks.

Last edited by veist (2024-07-19 14:48:53)

dakota

Member

Registered: 2016-05-20

Posts: 362

Re: [SOLVED] bootctl install - Couldn't find EFI system partition

I am using the following partitions:
nvme0n1p1 (boot, 1G) = vfat/FAT32, EFI file system, mounted to /mnt
nvme0n1p2 (swap, 32G) = swap, linux filesystem, [swap]
nvme0n1p3 (root/home, remainder) = ext4, linux filesystem, mounted to /mnt/boot
nvme1n1p1 (storage, entire ssd) = ext4, linux filesystem, mounted to /mnt

This doesn't look right to me.

Shouldn't it be...?
nvme0n1p1 ==> /mnt/boot
nvme0n1p3 ==> /mnt
nvme1n1p1 ==> /mnt/<some-subdirectory>

# mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/nvme1n1p1 /mnt
# swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2

Please confirm which of these is right.

In any event, you mounted /dev/nvme0n1p3... then mkdir... then mounted /dev/nvme0n1p1. Good.

But then you mounted /dev/nvme1n1p1 right on top of your already-mounted partition (including the boot partition).

Mount  /dev/nvme1n1p1 somewhere else. Or, if it's really just a data disc, you could leave it unmounted (it doesn't need to be mounted when installing the bootloader).

Cheers,

Last edited by dakota (2024-07-19 15:03:08)

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"Before Enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment chop wood, carry water." -- Zen proverb

veist

Member

Registered: 2024-07-17

Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] bootctl install - Couldn't find EFI system partition

Thank you so much for the help!  I am still new at Linux in general and I am trying to learn the hard way...

I left the second SSD unmounted for now and the command created the EFI boot entry.