Arch Linux

tporg

Member

Registered: 2019-11-26

Posts: 44

Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

I am unable to boot the system with the below error:

Loading Linux linux
error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found.
Loading inital ramdisk ...
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

I have this error again after fixing it the last time in https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=304921.
But the fix in that forum post is not solving the issue this time.

And I have tried so many different things to no cigars.
I have both linux and linux-lts installed.
Can someone help me figure it out?

The fix I tried is from the above mentioned forum post. More precisely - https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 5#p2237045
Thanks a lot in advance

Information:

lsblk -f

ls /boot

ls /boot/EFI

https://postimg.cc/sQ1cmnq9

journalctl -b -1 | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

https://textb.org/t/jj96vgjsj9/

Edit: Forgot to mention earlier
The only thing different I forgot to mention is that when running grub-mkconfig, I am getting this error even though it is susccessful:

 $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg 

error:

grub-probe: error: cannot find a grub drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map

Last edited by tporg (2025-09-06 16:23:50)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

Please share the content of /boot/grub/grub.cfg and the output of

efibootmgr -u

^ That command can be run from a graphical live environment to ease posting but if you load up a Debian-based image add the -v flag as well. Thanks.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

tporg

Member

Registered: 2019-11-26

Posts: 44

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

Please share the content of /boot/grub/grub.cfg and the output of

efibootmgr -u

^ That command can be run from a graphical live environment to ease posting but if you load up a Debian-based image add the -v flag as well. Thanks.

Thanks for the response. Please find the details in the below links:

efibootmgr -u

http://0x0.st/K8AE.txt

cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

http://0x0.st/K8AI.txt

cat /etc/default/grub

http://0x0.st/K8m-.txt

Edit: Sorry. Typo in the url has been fixed.

Last edited by tporg (2025-09-06 15:49:25)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

That doesn't seem to have worked. Do you have a graphical live ISO image you could boot up? That way you could copy&paste here directly without using 0x0.st.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

tporg

Member

Registered: 2019-11-26

Posts: 44

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

That doesn't seem to have worked. Do you have a graphical live ISO image you could boot up? That way you could copy&paste here directly without using 0x0.st.

Sorry. There was a typo in the url. It is fixed. Can you have a look again?

Edit: The only thing different I forgot to mention earlier is that when running grub-mkconfig, I am getting this error even though it is susccessful:

 $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg 

error:

grub-probe: error: cannot find a grub drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map

Last edited by tporg (2025-09-06 16:22:02)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

The only GRUB-related NVRAM boot entry present in your system is from Ubuntu's shim. Looks like rEFInd is being attempted first, then Ubuntu.

What is your actual intended configuration? Which system has installed the bootloader to the disk?

What actually happens when you boot the machine up? What do you actually do to provoke the error message shared in the OP?

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

tporg

Member

Registered: 2019-11-26

Posts: 44

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

The only GRUB-related NVRAM boot entry present in your system is from Ubuntu's shim. Looks like rEFInd is being attempted first, then Ubuntu.

What is your actual intended configuration? Which system has installed the bootloader to the disk?

I have 3 installations in the system. 1 arch linux, 1 Linux Mint and Ubuntu (ubuntu is unused).
Arch is the system which has the bootloader installed.

What actually happens when you boot the machine up? What do you actually do to provoke the error message shared in the OP?

rEfind opens up, when I select Arch, it shows linux and linux-lts in grub.
And if I select the other bootloader, it shows linux mint and ubuntu in grub.
Hope this answers your question.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

rEfind opens up, when I select Arch, it shows linux and linux-lts in grub

Why is rEFInd chainloading GRUB? I think you should share your configuration in full.

Although you claimed to have solved the problem in your last, linked thread, there is no NVRAM boot entry for Arch's GRUB and your posted "solution" used /boot/EFI/ as the --efi-directory, which should have failed with an error because that's not where you mounted the ESP

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

tporg

Member

Registered: 2019-11-26

Posts: 44

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

rEfind opens up, when I select Arch, it shows linux and linux-lts in grub
Why is rEFInd chainloading GRUB? I think you should share your configuration in full.

Can you clarify what configuration is to be shared exactly? Unfortunately, I am not sure.

Although you claimed to have solved the problem in your last, linked thread, there is no NVRAM boot entry for Arch's GRUB and your posted "solution" used /boot/EFI/ as the --efi-directory, which should have failed with an error because that's not where you mounted the ESP

OK. Any pointers on what I can do to fix it? Do you mean the /boot partition I am using is wrong?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

Can you clarify what configuration is to be shared exactly?

Not really. What were the exact steps you used to install & configure rEFInd?

Which bootloader do you want to use?

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

tporg

Member

Registered: 2019-11-26

Posts: 44

Re: Again unable to boot - error: file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux' not found

Can you clarify what configuration is to be shared exactly?

Not really. What were the exact steps you used to install & configure rEFInd?

Which bootloader do you want to use?

Sorry for the delay in response. I didn't get it to work still.
I was hoping to use GRUB and I installed rEFInd as per https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/REFInd
Anyways, I have decided to reinstall arch using arch-installer. It's been 5+ years and I think it is a good time to reinstall.

Thanks for your help Head_on_a_Stick. \m/

Last edited by tporg (2025-09-13 12:11:08)