I am trying to install Manjaro on my laptop. I have a 500GB SSD (main drive) and an extra 1TB HDD where Windows 10 lives.
Upon Manjaro’s suggestion, I used a GUID Partition Table (GPT) on the SSD, and created a 8MB partition, unformatted, flagged as “bios-grub”.
I then tried two configurations (tried both because the problem I’m describing happens in both):
- 100GiB btrfs for / (flagged as boot) + rest of the drive formatted as btrfs for /home
- 512MiB fat32 for /boot (flagged as boot) + 100GiB btrfs for / + rest of the drive formatted as btrfs for /home.
Both installed OK, but when I restart the computer, GRUB does not show up and the computer goes directly to Windoze 10…
What am I doing wrong and how can I solve the problem?
Here is what I have tried so far in order to solve the problem.
Starting the computer from the live USB, in the current configuration (number 1. above), sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
gives me the following:
Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 860
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0C205B17-C7FF-024B-BDFF-8B4A43E2570C
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 18431 16384 8M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2 18432 209733631 209715200 100G EFI System
/dev/sda3 209733632 976768031 767034400 365.8G Linux filesystem
and sudo parted -l
yields:
Model: ATA Samsung SSD 860 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 9437kB 8389kB bios_grub
2 9437kB 107GB 107GB btrfs boot, esp
3 107GB 500GB 393GB btrfs
Model: ATA HGST HTS541010A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 608MB 607MB primary ntfs boot
2 608MB 50.2GB 49.6GB primary ntfs
3 50.2GB 1000GB 950GB primary ext4
Model: Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 7862MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
2 3843MB 3847MB 4194kB primary esp
The command sudo manjaro-chroot -a
gives the message:
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
==> ERROR: No Linux partitions detected!
I tried a manual chroot:
su -
mount -o subvol=@ /dev/sda2 /mnt
manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
Following the instructions in Manjaro’s Wiki, I tried to reinstall GRUB, assuming my system is EFI, as the outputs above indicate:
pacman -Syu grub
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=manjaro --recheck
I got the error
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of `/boot/efi'.
Actually, the command efibootmgr
gives the message EFI variables are not supported on this system.
So I tried to install GRUB, assuming a BIOS system:
grub-install --force --target=i386-pc --recheck --boot-directory=/boot /dev/sda
The output was
Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
I checked if the GRUB configuration was up-to-date:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
and the output was:
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-5.15-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-5.15-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
Found Windows 10 on /dev/sdb1
Detecting snapshots ...
No snapshots found.
If you think an error has occurred , please file a bug report at " https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs "
Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.muBy12bmsl .. Success
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
done
I restarted the computer, GRUB didn’t show up, and Windoze began to load…
With configuration 2 above, i.e., 8MiB unformatted partition, flagged “bios-grub” + 512MiB fat32 partition flagged “bios” + 100GiB btrfs partition for / + rest of drive btrfs partition for /home, when I restart the computer after the installation of Manjaro, Windows goes to Automatic Repair.
Using Manjaro’s Live USB:
fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 860
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0C205B17-C7FF-024B-BDFF-8B4A43E2570C
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 18431 16384 8M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2 18432 1067007 1048576 512M EFI System
/dev/sda3 1067008 210782207 209715200 100G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4 210782208 976773134 765990927 365.3G Linux filesystem
parted -l
Model: ATA Samsung SSD 860 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 9437kB 8389kB bios_grub
2 9437kB 546MB 537MB fat32 boot, esp
3 546MB 108GB 107GB btrfs
4 108GB 500GB 392GB btrfs
Model: ATA HGST HTS541010A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 608MB 607MB primary ntfs boot
2 608MB 50.2GB 49.6GB primary ntfs
3 50.2GB 1000GB 950GB primary ext4
Model: Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 7862MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
2 3843MB 3847MB 4194kB primary esp
manjaro-chroot -a
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
==> ERROR: No Linux partitions detected!
mount -o subvol=@ /dev/sda3 /mnt
mkdir /boot/efi
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot/efi
manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
pacman -Syu grub
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
First run mode (config file not found)
Selected default snapshot type: BTRFS
Using system disk as snapshot device for creating snapshots in BTRFS mode
** (process:92): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.821: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:92): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.822: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
** (process:92): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.828: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:92): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.828: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
E: Selected snapshot device is not a system disk
E: Select BTRFS system disk with root subvolume (@)
** (process:133): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.963: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:133): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.964: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
** (process:133): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.964: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:133): CRITICAL **: 11:43:55.964: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-5.15-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-5.15-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1. Check your device.map.
Found Windows 10 on /dev/sdb1
Detecting snapshots ...
No snapshots found.
If you think an error has occurred , please file a bug report at " https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs "
Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.Uce5bOJzWy .. Success
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
done
(2/3) Remove Firefox Distribution Settings
(3/3) Remove Thunderbird Distribution Settings
:: Processing package changes...
(1/5) reinstalling grub [#######################################] 100%
(2/5) upgrading archlinux-appstream-data [#######################################] 100%
(3/5) upgrading firefox [#######################################] 100%
(4/5) upgrading matray [#######################################] 100%
(5/5) upgrading thunderbird [#######################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/8) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/8) Refreshing PackageKit...
Error connecting: Could not connect: No such file or directory
error: command failed to execute correctly
(3/8) Updating the appstream cache...
? Metadata cache was updated successfully.
(4/8) Copy Firefox Distribution Settings
(5/8) Updating icon theme caches...
(6/8) Updating the info directory file...
(7/8) Copy Thunderbird Distribution Settings
(8/8) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
As before, the command efibootmgr
gives the message EFI variables are not supported on this system.
I tried to install GRUB following the steps in the Wiki:
modprobe efivarfs
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=manjaro --recheck
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
EFI variables are not supported on this system.
EFI variables are not supported on this system.
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: No such file or directory.
I then tried to install GRUB assuming a BIOS system:
grub-install --force --target=i386-pc --recheck --boot-directory=/boot /dev/sda
Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
Restarted the computer, but no GRUB and the system loads Windows automatically…
Help.
Extra info that might help:
inxi -Fazy
12System:
12Kernel 5.15.12-1-MANJARO x86_64 12bits 64 12compiler gcc 12v 11.1.0
12parameters BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-x86_64 lang=en_US keytable=us tz=UTC
misobasedir=manjaro misolabel=MANJARO_KDE_2121 quiet systemd.show_status=1
apparmor=1 security=apparmor driver=free nouveau.modeset=1 i915.modeset=1
radeon.modeset=1
12Console N/A 12Distro Manjaro Linux 12base Arch Linux
12Machine:
12Type Laptop 12System LENOVO 12product 4180Q3U 12v ThinkPad T420 12serial <filter>
12Chassis 12type 10 12serial <filter>
12Mobo LENOVO 12model 4180Q3U 12serial <filter> 12UEFI-[Legacy] LENOVO
12v 83ET82WW (1.52 ) 12date 06/04/2018
12Battery:
12ID-1 BAT0 12charge 14.7 Wh (100.0%) 12condition 14.7/56.2 Wh (26.1%) 12volts 12.4
12min 10.8 12model SANYO 45N1001 12type Li-ion 12serial <filter> 12status Full
12CPU:
12Info 12model Intel Core i7-2640M 12bits 64 12type MT MCP 12arch Sandy Bridge
12family 6 12model-id 0x2A (42) 12stepping 7 12microcode 0x2F
12Topology 12cpus 1x 12cores 2 12tpc 2 12threads 4 12smt enabled 12cache 12L1 128 KiB
12desc d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB 12L2 512 KiB 12desc 2x256 KiB 12L3 4 MiB 12desc 1x4 MiB
12Speed (MHz) 12avg 1044 12high 1543 12min/max 800/3500 12base/boost 2800/2800
12scaling 12driver intel_cpufreq 12governor schedutil 12volts 1.2 V
12ext-clock 100 MHz 12cores 121 811 122 1543 123 828 124 997 12bogomips 22337
12Flags avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
12Vulnerabilities
12Type itlb_multihit 12status KVM: VMX unsupported
12Type l1tf 12mitigation PTE Inversion
12Type mds 12mitigation Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
12Type meltdown 12mitigation PTI
12Type spec_store_bypass
12mitigation Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
12Type spectre_v1
12mitigation usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
12Type spectre_v2 12mitigation Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional,
IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
12Type srbds 12status Not affected
12Type tsx_async_abort 12status Not affected
12Graphics:
12Device-1 Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
12vendor Lenovo ThinkPad T420 12driver i915 12v kernel 12bus-ID 00:02.0
12chip-ID 8086:0126 12class-ID 0300
12Device-2 Chicony integrated camera 12type USB 12driver uvcvideo 12bus-ID 1-1.6:6
12chip-ID 04f2:b221 12class-ID 0e02
12Display 12server X.org 1.21.1.2 12compositor kwin_x11 12driver 12loaded i915
12note n/a (using device driver) 12tty 80x40
12Message Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing.
12Audio:
12Device-1 Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
12vendor Lenovo 12driver snd_hda_intel 12v kernel 12bus-ID 00:1b.0 12chip-ID 8086:1c20
12class-ID 0403
12Sound Server-1 ALSA 12v k5.15.12-1-MANJARO 12running yes
12Sound Server-2 JACK 12v 1.9.19 12running no
12Sound Server-3 PulseAudio 12v 15.0 12running yes
12Sound Server-4 PipeWire 12v 0.3.42 12running yes
12Network:
12Device-1 Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network 12vendor Lenovo ThinkPad T520
12driver e1000e 12v kernel 12port 5080 12bus-ID 00:19.0 12chip-ID 8086:1502
12class-ID 0200
12IF enp0s25 12state up 12speed 1000 Mbps 12duplex full 12mac <filter>
12Device-2 Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] 12driver iwlwifi
12v kernel 12bus-ID 03:00.0 12chip-ID 8086:0085 12class-ID 0280
12IF wlp3s0 12state down 12mac <filter>
12IF-ID-1 wwp0s29u1u4i6 12state down 12mac <filter>
12Bluetooth:
12Device-1 Broadcom BCM2045B (BDC-2.1) 12type USB 12driver btusb 12v 0.8
12bus-ID 1-1.4:4 12chip-ID 0a5c:217f 12class-ID fe01 12serial <filter>
12Report rfkill 12ID hci0 12rfk-id 2 12state up 12address see --recommends
12Drives:
12Local Storage 12total 1.37 TiB 12used 8.26 GiB (0.6%)
12ID-1 /dev/sda 12maj-min 8:0 12vendor Samsung 12model SSD 860 EVO 500GB
12family based SSDs 12size 465.76 GiB 12block-size 12physical 512 B 12logical 512 B
12sata 3.2 12speed 6.0 Gb/s 12type SSD 12serial <filter> 12rev 3B6Q 12temp 28 C
12SMART yes 12state enabled 12health PASSED 12on 1y 31d 4h 12cycles 1926
12written 9.94 TiB
12ID-2 /dev/sdb 12maj-min 8:16 12vendor HGST (Hitachi) 12model HTS541010A9E680
12family Travelstar 5K1000 12size 931.51 GiB 12block-size 12physical 4096 B
12logical 512 B 12sata 3.0 12speed 6.0 Gb/s 12type HDD 12rpm 5400 12serial <filter>
12rev A7G0 12temp 27 C
12SMART yes 12state enabled 12health PASSED 12on 1y 33d 11h 12cycles 2192 12Old-Age
12g-sense error rate 589
12ID-3 /dev/sdc 12maj-min 8:32 12type USB 12vendor Kingston 12model DataTraveler 2.0
12size 7.32 GiB 12block-size 12physical 512 B 12logical 512 B 12type N/A
12serial <filter> 12rev PMAP
12SMART Message Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
12Partition:
12ID-1 / 12raw-size 100 GiB 12size 100 GiB (100.00%) 12used 8.19 GiB (8.2%) 12fs btrfs
12block-size 4096 B 12dev /dev/sda3 12maj-min 8:3
12ID-2 /boot/efi 12raw-size 512 MiB 12size 511 MiB (99.80%)
12used 69.9 MiB (13.7%) 12fs vfat 12block-size 512 B 12dev /dev/sda2 12maj-min 8:2
12Swap:
12Alert No swap data was found.
12Sensors:
12System Temperatures 12cpu 48.0 C 12mobo N/A
12Fan Speeds (RPM) 12cpu 1969
12Info:
12Processes 233 12Uptime 19m 12wakeups 2 12Memory 15.41 GiB 12used 2.8 GiB (18.2%)
12Init systemd 12v 250 12tool systemctl 12Compilers 12gcc N/A 12Packages 12pacman 1192
12lib 329 12flatpak 0 12Client Unknown Client: systemd 12inxi 3.3.11
lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0
loop1
loop2
loop3
sda
|-sda1
|-sda2 441.1M 14% /boot/efi
|-sda3 90.3G 8% /
`-sda4
sdb
|-sdb1
|-sdb2
`-sdb3
sdc
|-sdc1
`-sdc2
test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo efi || echo bios
bios
Apparently, my system is definitely BIOS, not EFI.