Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

nemo76 · 2019-07-13 15:56:43

Hi All,
I have installed Devuan ASCII version in a unique encrypted partition (containing "/boot")
on an UEFI system.

On ASCII, to boot the system the utility "grubx64.efi" is used after a modification which
insert in the executable the grub command "cryptodisk uuid" with the UUID of the
crypted disk.

In Beowulf, however the file "grub.cfg" is used. The file contains the commands to start
the system with "grubx64.efi". The commands inside the file
"grub.cfg" are correct (I have painfully passed them in the grub shell and
the system has started), but since the file "grub.cfg" is not found the system
can not be started easily.

I have first noticed this problem on a real machine but I was able
to reproduce it in VirtualBox (with UEFI Bios).

Do you have an idea of a solution?

Best regards,

fsmithred · 2019-07-13 16:26:32

Is grub-efi-amd64-signed installed? If so, replace it wtih grub-efi-amd64 unless you need secure-boot. (There's a different fix for that.)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2019-07-13 17:03:00

nemo76 wrote:

In Beowulf, however the file "grub.cfg" is used. The file contains the commands to start
the system with "grubx64.efi". The commands inside the file
"grub.cfg" are correct (I have painfully passed them in the grub shell and
the system has started), but since the file "grub.cfg" is not found the system
can not be started easily.

As fsmithred notes this is probably caused by grub-efi-amd64-signed, it sets $prefix to the EFI system partition instead of the partition holding grub.cfg. You can confirm this by checking the output of set from the GRUB command line.

nemo76 · 2019-07-13 17:09:46

Hi,
Thanks for the tip. the packages "grub-efi-amd64" and "grub-efi-amd64-signed" were installed. After the
following manipulations, the system boots again:
1) apt remove --purge grub-efi-amd64-signed
2) rm -rf /boot/efi/EFI/devuan
3) grub-install /dev/sda

By the way, I have used the ISO Super Grub Disk (https://www.supergrubdisk.org) to boot more easily
my system. With this ISO, it was possible to unlock the encrypted disk and then
to find the file "grub.cfg" inside the crypted file system without having
to type the very long UUID (which should be first copied on a sheet of paper
with a pen).

Thanks for your help.

Best regards.

pega · 2019-07-15 16:00:14

Hello,

New user here. Just migrated from ASCII to Beowulf doing a happyish dist-upgrade and stumbled upon this issue.

While the steps given by nemo76 (thanks for the hints!), there's a minor error in Head_on_a_Stick's diagnostic:

Echoing $prefix from the grub console, it says that the prefix points to /boot/efi/EFI/debian. Of course, debian doesn't exist. I found no way to connect the inconsistency, so I ended removing grub-efi-amd64-signed and now the system boots smoothly.

Thank you.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2019-07-15 20:07:44

pega wrote:

Echoing $prefix from the grub console, it says that the prefix points to /boot/efi/EFI/debian

I'm pretty sure the Devuan installer mounts /boot/efi to the EFI system partition. Check with findmnt.

fsmithred · 2019-07-15 23:31:57

Yes, devuan mounts the efi partition at /boot/efi. The problem is that grub is looking for efi/EFI/debian but efi/EFI/devuan was created. If someone wants to keep the -signed package, they need to run grub-install --bootloader-id=debian in chroot or with whatever option grub uses now to point to another target. (--boot-directory or --root-directory?)

And you don't need to specify /dev/sda when running grub-install on uefi. It knows to put the bootloader in the efi partition.

Also, someone is working on a fix for this in devuan.

MiyoLinux · 2019-07-16 06:34:29

I have a question since I don't have much experience with actual UEFI computers. I'm doing an UEFI beowulf install in Virtualbox via debootstrap. When removing the grub-efi-amd64-signed package, it lists several other packages that can be removed with an apt autoremove.

Is it safe to remove them?

If a list of the packages is needed, just let me know. I was hoping someone who has already done this will have the answer.

EDITED TO ADD: Here are the packages that it says can be removed with an apt autoremove...

mokutil shim-helpers-amd64-signed shim-signed shim-signed-common shim-unsigned

Last edited by MiyoLinux (2019-07-16 08:06:54)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2019-07-17 18:21:25

MiyoLinux wrote:

IHere are the packages that it says can be removed with an apt autoremove...
mokutil shim-helpers-amd64-signed shim-signed shim-signed-common shim-unsigned

Those packages are needed for Secure Boot support and manipulation of the machine owner keys (MOK).

MiyoLinux · 2019-07-17 21:21:04

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

MiyoLinux wrote:
IHere are the packages that it says can be removed with an apt autoremove...
mokutil shim-helpers-amd64-signed shim-signed shim-signed-common shim-unsigned
Those packages are needed for Secure Boot support and manipulation of the machine owner keys (MOK).

Thank you HoaS.

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#1 2019-07-13 15:56:43

Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#2 2019-07-13 16:26:32

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#3 2019-07-13 17:03:00

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#4 2019-07-13 17:09:46

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#5 2019-07-15 16:00:14

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#6 2019-07-15 20:07:44

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#7 2019-07-15 23:31:57

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#8 2019-07-16 06:34:29

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#9 2019-07-17 18:21:25

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

#10 2019-07-17 21:21:04

Re: Grub.cfg not recognised in Beowulf

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