SOLVED grub-install fails after setting up LVM

lenhuppe · 2025-02-23 16:49:34

When using LVM for the first time my custom installer failed at the grub-install step. Before using LVM the process ran without any issues. The error message is "grub-install: /boot doesn't look like an EFI partition."

I have 2 nvme drives and I am trying to setup an LVM mirror for the root filesystem. My partitioning is done as follows:

# disk1
nvme format -f "$disk1" --ses=1
parted --script --align=optimal "$disk1" \
	mklabel gpt \
	mkpart "ESP" fat32 0% 1GiB \
	set 1 boot on \
	mkpart "ROOT1" xfs 1GiB 100%
partprobe -s "$disk1"

# disk2
nvme format -f "$disk2" --ses=1
parted --script --align=optimal "$disk2" \
 	mklabel gpt \
	mkpart "LOG" xfs 0% 1GiB \
	mkpart "ROOT2" xfs 1GiB 100%
partprobe -s "$disk2"

# partition naming
esp="$disk1"p1
root1="$disk1"p2
log="$disk2"p1
root2="$disk2"p2

My ESP partition which has worked until now is is created as follows:

# esp
mkfs.vfat -F32 -n ESP "$esp"
mount -t vfat -m -o discard "$esp" /mnt/boot

Grub is installed via script which runs in chroot during installation. The method I use is standard:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB

LVM is the new addition here and the following runs without any error messages:

# root
pvcreate "$root1" "$root2"
vgcreate vg0 "$root1" "$root2"
lvcreate -n lv0 --type raid1 -m 1 -l 100%FREE vg0
mkfs.xfs -L ROOT /dev/mapper/vg0-lv0 -l logdev="$log"
mount -t xfs -o logdev="$log" /dev/mapper/vg0-lv0 /mnt

I have tried creating the esp partition with and without the fat32 option.
I have tried removing the 'set 1 boot on' option.
I have tried manually creating the /boot directory.
I have tried using /boot/efi instead of just /boot.

I am completely new to LVM so the obvious question is what did I do wrong?

Thanks!

Last edited by lenhuppe (2025-02-24 01:49:19)

jonno2002 · 2025-02-23 18:31:13

did you mount the root first then the efi partition ? otherwise the root will be mounted over the top of the already mounted /mnt/boot

lenhuppe · 2025-02-23 20:26:57

Swapping the mount sequence got me through the grub-install ok.

At boot I am getting:

ERROR: device '/dev/mapper/vg0-lv0' not found.

Last edited by lenhuppe (2025-02-27 14:18:12)

lenhuppe · 2025-02-24 01:48:02

Solution:

I found that adding an external log to xfs caused the boot process to fail.

Last edited by lenhuppe (2025-02-27 14:19:00)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-02-23 16:49:34

SOLVED grub-install fails after setting up LVM

#2 2025-02-23 18:31:13

Re: SOLVED grub-install fails after setting up LVM

#3 2025-02-23 20:26:57

Re: SOLVED grub-install fails after setting up LVM

#4 2025-02-24 01:48:02

Re: SOLVED grub-install fails after setting up LVM

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