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Is it possible to have an /efi partition and NO /boot partition with grub ?
This is not clear for me of what it's possible to do and not possible with archinstall.
I have tried many times manual partitioning with /efi (in fat32 unencryped of course) partition (and no /boot partition) with btrfs (@ and @home encrypted) with grub as bootloader.
I always end up with issue during grub installation saying I must have "GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y" in /etc/default/grub, what i do in custom commands part of user_configuration.json
"bootloader": "Grub",
"config_version": "2.7.2",
"custom-commands": [
"echo 'GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y' >>/etc/default/grub"
],
Before to go further in the investigation, could you please telle me if this kind of setup is possible ? Many thanks
EDIT : it does not work either with no encryption. I got the following error during grub installation : /efi/grub/grub.cfg : no such file or directory.
grub.cfg should not be there, it should be in the root filesystem /boot/grub/grub.cfg
My partition layout is simple, in manual mode :
- /efi partition with boot and esp flags
- btrfs filesystem with recommanded sub layout
How do you manager that have this setup ?
- /efi partition
- btrfs filesystem with /boot directory
- grub
- luks optionally
Below is my actual json
{
"additional-repositories": [],
"archinstall-language": "English",
"audio_config": {
"audio": "pipewire"
},
"bootloader": "Grub",
"config_version": "2.7.2",
"custom-commands": [
"echo 'GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y' >>/etc/default/grub"
],
"debug": false,
"disk_config": {
"config_type": "manual_partitioning",
"device_modifications": [
{
"device": "/dev/sda",
"partitions": [
{
"btrfs": [],
"dev_path": null,
"flags": [
"Boot",
"ESP"
],
"fs_type": "fat32",
"mount_options": [],
"mountpoint": "/efi",
"obj_id": "ad3ea5b1-a146-40ec-af8a-9370465425d1",
"size": {
"sector_size": {
"unit": "B",
"value": 512
},
"unit": "B",
"value": 499982592
},
"start": {
"sector_size": {
"unit": "B",
"value": 512
},
"unit": "sectors",
"value": 34
},
"status": "create",
"type": "primary"
},
{
"btrfs": [
{
"compress": true,
"mountpoint": "/",
"name": "@",
"nodatacow": false
},
{
"compress": true,
"mountpoint": "/home",
"name": "@home",
"nodatacow": false
}
],
"dev_path": null,
"flags": [],
"fs_type": "btrfs",
"mount_options": [],
"mountpoint": null,
"obj_id": "b7f6d781-bd31-467e-abc4-12a6008df7a2",
"size": {
"sector_size": {
"unit": "B",
"value": 512
},
"unit": "B",
"value": 8711776416
},
"start": {
"sector_size": {
"unit": "B",
"value": 512
},
"unit": "MB",
"value": 501
},
"status": "create",
"type": "primary"
}
],
"wipe": false
}
]
},
"disk_encryption": {
"encryption_type": "luks",
"partitions": []
},
"hostname": "archlinux",
"kernels": [
"linux"
],
"locale_config": {
"kb_layout": "us",
"sys_enc": "UTF-8",
"sys_lang": "en_US"
},
"mirror_config": {
"custom_mirrors": [],
"mirror_regions": {
"Germany": [
"https://pkg.fef.moe/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch"
]
}
},
"network_config": {
"type": "nm"
},
"no_pkg_lookups": false,
"ntp": true,
"offline": false,
"packages": [
"firefox",
"networkmanager",
"btrfs-progs",
"linux-headers",
"e2fsprogs"
],
"parallel downloads": 0,
"profile_config": {
"gfx_driver": "Nvidia (proprietary)",
"greeter": "sddm",
"profile": {
"custom_settings": {
"Kde": {}
},
"details": [
"Kde"
],
"main": "Desktop"
}
},
"script": "guided",
"silent": false,
"skip_ntp": false,
"skip_version_check": false,
"swap": true,
"timezone": "Europe/Paris",
"uki": false,
"version": "2.7.2"
}
EDIT : it does not work either with no encryption. I got the following error during grub installation : /efi/grub/grub.cfg : no such file or directory. grub.cfg should not be there, it should be in the root filesystem /boot/grub/grub.cfg
If you're specifying a boot flag, and an efi partition for grub, like you have done:
"bootloader": "Grub",
"config_version": "2.7.2",
"custom-commands": [
"echo 'GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y' >>/etc/default/grub"
],
"debug": false,
"disk_config": {
"config_type": "manual_partitioning",
"device_modifications": [
{
"device": "/dev/sda",
"partitions": [
{
"btrfs": [],
"dev_path": null,
"flags": [
"Boot",
"ESP"
],
"fs_type": "fat32",
"mount_options": [],
"mountpoint": "/efi",
Then it's going to install grub there.
But your issue is different, you're asking if you can away with the boot partition, which doesn't align with what you're saying:
grub.cfg should not be there, it should be in the root filesystem /boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub.cfg should be in /efi if you want to away with /boot - but it's not recommended this way. /boot is for handling boot related behaviour, not efi entries. I recommend you do basic manual partitioning and then configure the rest from the cli.
Hi @Xeckt
I think there is a confusion. Look, my current system i have (installed years ago)
- ESP partition mounted in
/boot/efi(with both esp and boot flags) because it was recommended in arch wiki - Boot folder within the btrfs filesystem where there is grub, kernel, initram and so on.
i want to keep this kind of setup because with a esp fat32 partition mounted in /boot, it causes problems with btrfs snapshot, kernel and initram are not 'embedded' in a snapshot, so you could have issue when you restore such a snapshot.
Now, in arch wiki, instead of having an esp partition mounted in /boot/efi, they recommend /efi, that is why there is the /efi mountpoint in my json.
What do i have to modify in my json ? Remove the boot flag from the /efi partition ? Or keep having /boot/efi esp partition with both boot and esp flags ?
Thanks
You would just mount the EFI partition and have it marked as an EFI partition with the boot flag, that EFI will point to the grub inside /boot
What you are attempting is not supported by archinstall. See https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues/2428#issuecomment-2044045229
What you are attempting is not supported by archinstall. See #2428 (comment)
I really wonder what is the usefulness of the installer, it should be much more better to have a Calamares installation, instead of this kind of text-mode installation with few possibilities
The official Arch Linux installation image utilizes the Linux console and Calamares does not have support for that, does it?