Hi, I’m pretty new to Manjaro with limited experience with Linux overall. So far, I’m enjoying it but today I’ve run into an issue.
After updating (pamac update in terminal), I appear to have an issue with my kernal and I’m unsure of what to do.
Whenever I boot up, the screen is black with
error: fs/btrfs.c:find_path:1890:file '/@/boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64.img' not found with Press any key to continue... below it at the top of the screen.
After a few seconds, the screen turns blue with a wall of text.
No filesystem could mount root, tried:
fuseblk
and
Kernel Panic- not sycing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on (long series of numbers and letters) or unknown-block (0,0)
CONTEXT& ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Things to Know and things I’ve tried
*The drive does pick up when plugged in AFTER load in with the live usb
*Drive shows up on lsblk
*When trying to Chroot, this happens
manjaro-chroot -a ✔
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
==> ERROR: No Linux partitions detected!
If anyone is able to help me with this it would be greatly appreciated but if not I understand. Hope to anyone reading this that you have a wonderful night and thank you for your time.
EDIT: Added formatting – Community Assistant ilenisaatio
Are you using btrfs as a file system? The automatic option doesn’t work for manjaro-chroot then.
If so..
https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=GRUB/Restore_the_GRUB_Bootloader#Manual_chroot
Just mount it first, in let’s say: /mnt
# Find your btrfs partition
lsblk -f
sudo mount -o subvol=@ /dev/... /mnt
sudo manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
# Inside the chroot, you may need to:
mount /boot/efi
3 Likes
Welcome to the forum. 
I fixed the formatting on your post to be clearer. Please use either the preformatted text button on output (</> on the edit tooldbar after painting over the output). You can also put a backtick ( ` ) at both ends of a single line output, or put three backticks ( ``` ) on a separate line before and after a multiline output. It’s easier to read that way.
Hopefully you get your issue fixed.
2 Likes
Thank you for the reply!
I did find the drive and it turns out it does use btrfs
sda2 btrfs 76b27c65-0414-4152-a0c2-2596bc0c6a08
sdb iso9660 Joliet MANJARO_KDE_25010 2025-10-13-14-44-52-00 0 100% /run/miso/bootmn
Im unsure if this is necessary but in the dolphin file application, you can see the hard drive plugged into the PC, and you can even see that some of the storage has been used and appears as “root” while the live usb I’m using appears as “/”. Also, when I hover over it in dolphin the text labeled below appears.
/mnt(from /dev/sba2)
When right clicking the drive in dolphin, the first option that does appear is to “Unmount” the drive.
Back in Terminal
Upon trying:
sudo mount -o subvol=@ /dev/... /mnt
This happens
sudo mount -o subvol=@ /dev/sda2 /mnt 1 ✘
~ sudo manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash ✔
[manjaro /]# mount /boot/efi
[manjaro /]#
I’m sorry if this seem all over the place but I’m just trying to include everything that might be important to this.
Great! Everything ran successfully.
You have now chroot-ed into your system. This lets you debug and do many things to your actual installation from the live image.
But you mentioned updating, and interrupted updates are the most common issue.
You’ve already done most of the recovery steps, so now just finish the update process.
@Aragorn has a full(er) guide here:
So you have done all the hard work getting into the chroot. Now you just have to finish the update.
As you have done most of that, all is left is to:
[ -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck ] && rm -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
pacman-mirrors -f && pacman -Syyu
mkinitcpio -P
update-grub
exit
Some steps may be optional depending on the issue, but if unsure in the slightest, you can safely run all of them.
1 Like
Sounds good!
I ran the command you put in and this popped up, seems like everything ran fine!
I’ll put it in right here just incase as a redunancy though.
[ -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck ] && rm -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
pacman-mirrors -f && pacman -Syyu
mkinitcpio -P
update-grub
::INFO Downloading mirrors from Manjaro
::INFO => Mirror pool: https://repo.manjaro.org/mirrors.json
::INFO => Mirror status: https://repo.manjaro.org/status.json
::INFO Using default mirror file
::INFO Querying mirrors - This may take some time
0.846 Germany : https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/
0.340 United_States : https://nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.346 United_States : https://volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
1.049 Switzerland : https://ipng.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.234 United_States : https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.250 United_States : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.358 United_States : https://mirror.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.377 United_States : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.398 United_States : https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.912 Germany : https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/
0.708 United_Kingdom : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.131 United_States : https://nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.356 United_States : https://codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.203 Global : https://mirrors.manjaro.org/repo/
0.171 United_States : https://ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.400 United_States : https://ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.688 Global : https://mirrors2.manjaro.org/
0.207 United_States : https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
::INFO Writing mirror list
::United_States : https://nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Global : https://mirrors.manjaro.org/repo/stable
::United_States : https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://mirror.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Global : https://mirrors2.manjaro.org/stable
::United_Kingdom : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Germany : https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/stable
::Germany : https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable
::Switzerland : https://ipng.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::INFO Mirror list generated and saved to: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core 150.5 KiB 959 KiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
extra 8.7 MiB 22.0 MiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
multilib 142.9 KiB 1021 KiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
Packages (1) brave-browser-1.88.134-1
Total Download Size: 175.09 MiB
Total Installed Size: 422.15 MiB
Net Upgrade Size: -0.65 MiB
:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages...
brave-browser-1.88.134-1-x86_64 175.1 MiB 34.7 MiB/s 00:05 [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking keys in keyring [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space [############################################################################] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
** (process:64): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.302: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:64): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.302: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
** (process:64): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.302: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:64): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.302: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
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:83): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.364: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:83): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.364: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
** (process:83): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.366: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:83): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.366: 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:102): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.429: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:102): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.429: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
** (process:102): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.429: tee_jee_file_system_path_combine: assertion 'path1 != NULL' failed
** (process:102): CRITICAL **: 10:51:10.429: tee_jee_file_system_dir_exists: assertion 'dir_path != NULL' failed
Running in chroot, ignoring command 'is-active'
==> grub-btrfsd service is running. Skipping GRUB update to prevent
==> race condition between timeshift-autosnap and grub-btrfsd service
==> Set 'updateGrub=false' in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf or stop grub-btrfsd service.
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) upgrading brave-browser [############################################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/3) Updating icon theme caches...
(3/3) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
==> WARNING: Preset file '/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux612.preset' is empty or does not contain any presets.
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode.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/sdb1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Detecting snapshots ...
Found snapshot: 2026-03-23 16:01:40 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-23_16-01-40/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found snapshot: 2026-03-17 18:03:10 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-17_18-03-10/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found snapshot: 2026-03-10 15:11:35 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-10_15-11-35/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found 3 snapshot(s)
Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.9JGr0kcGfX .. Success
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
[manjaro /]# exit
exit
From here do I just check to see if the drive is mounted and remount?
UPDATE: I put in lsblk -f into terminal to check on the drive and this appeared.
sda
├─sda1 vfat FAT32 8465-A8FE 298.7M 0% /mnt/boot/efi
└─sda2 btrfs 76b27c65-0414-4152-a0c2-2596bc0c6a08 1.6T 10% /mnt
/mnt
sdb iso9660 Joliet Extension MANJARO_KDE_25010 2025-10-13-14-44-52-00 0 100% /run/miso/bootmnt
├─sdb1 iso9660 Joliet Extension MANJARO_KDE_25010 2025-10-13-14-44-52-00
└─sdb2 vfat FAT12 MISO_EFI CA66-EF73
Haven’t done anything else so far.
So everything ran successfully, except..
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
It looks like you might have a misconfigured Timeshift somehow. It is trying to create a file system snapshot before the upgrade.
It does load the Settings screen if you load that GUI app once, and it’s easy to save those settings.
Even though the defaults work for most people.
Let’s work on disabling that upgrade hook first.
First, let’s try the most sane way. Inside the chroot, edit the file:
/etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf
Change this line, from:
skipAutosnap=false
To:
skipAutosnap=true
Then the pacman -Sy(y)u command should hopefully work.
So tried entering Chroot through
manjaro-chroot -a
and this happened
manjaro-chroot -a ✔
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
==> ERROR: No Linux partitions detected!
The automatic option is: manjaro-chroot -a.
So you do these steps instead:
The automatic option is in the works, with working with btrfs.
But for now, you get to learn more. 
Thank you for being patient, I’m in chroot now after I input the commands you listed:
sudo mount -o subvol=@ /dev/sda2 /mnt ✔
~ sudo manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash ✔
[manjaro /]# mount /boot/efi
Do I put something before this or just put it straight into terminal?
I was taking a stab at if you knew how to edit text files on the terminal.
If you are coming from the Windows world, you know might know what Notepad is. It’s like changing a text file, and saving it. (Or Word doc?)
Inside the chroot, open the config file with nano:
nano /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf
Once it opens:
- Use the arrow keys to move around
- Find this line:
skipAutosnap=false
skipAutosnap=true
Then save and exit:
- Press
Ctrl + O (that’s “write Out”) and hit Enter to save
- Press
Ctrl + X to exit nano
After that, try your pacman -Syu command again.
Got it!
before I input anything else, do I need to change the default value to true as well?
# Default value is false.
skipAutosnap=true
I changed the value to true but I just wanna make sure everything is good before I input
[ -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck ] && rm -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
pacman-mirrors -f && pacman -Syyu
mkinitcpio -P
update-grub
exit
Alright, I’ve input the commands and everything seems mostly fine. Here is the entire order of what I’ve done
[manjaro /]# mount /boot/efi
[manjaro /]# nano /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf
[manjaro /]# [ -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck ] && rm -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
[manjaro /]# pacman-mirrors -f && pacman -Syyu
::INFO Downloading mirrors from Manjaro
::INFO => Mirror pool: https://repo.manjaro.org/mirrors.json
::INFO => Mirror status: https://repo.manjaro.org/status.json
::INFO Using default mirror file
::INFO Querying mirrors - This may take some time
1.103 Austria : https://mirror.easyname.at/manjaro/
0.676 United_Kingdom : https://manjaro.mirrors.uk2.net/
0.251 United_States : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.364 United_States : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.854 Germany : https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/
0.846 Germany : https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/
0.234 United_States : https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.362 United_States : https://volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.333 United_States : https://nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.227 Canada : https://mirror.xenyth.net/manjaro/
0.707 United_Kingdom : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
1.212 New_Zealand : https://mirror.2degrees.nz/manjaro/
0.263 United_States : https://coresite.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.349 United_States : https://mirror.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.767 Portugal : https://mirrors.up.pt/pub/manjaro/
0.155 Global : https://mirrors2.manjaro.org/
0.297 United_States : https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/manjaro/
0.921 Belgium : https://mirror.futureweb.be/manjaro/
0.156 Global : https://mirrors.manjaro.org/repo/
0.398 United_States : https://ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.128 United_States : https://nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.280 United_States : https://repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/
0.893 Austria : https://mirror.alwyzon.net/manjaro/
0.348 United_States : https://codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
1.019 France : https://manjaro.ynh.ovh/
0.213 United_States : https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
1.350 Australia : https://gsl-syd.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.170 United_States : https://ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.864 Switzerland : https://mirror.init7.net/manjaro/
1.038 Switzerland : https://ipng.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
0.698 Spain : https://mirror.raiolanetworks.com/manjaro/
..... Netherlands : https://manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top/
::ERROR Connection: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top', port=443): Read timed out. (read timeout=4)
1.605 Japan : https://ftp.tsukuba.wide.ad.jp/Linux/manjaro/
0.955 Germany : https://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/manjaro.org/repos/
0.387 United_States : https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
::INFO Writing mirror list
::United_States : https://nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Global : https://mirrors2.manjaro.org/stable
::Global : https://mirrors.manjaro.org/repo/stable
::United_States : https://ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Canada : https://mirror.xenyth.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://coresite.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://mirror.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States : https://ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_Kingdom : https://manjaro.mirrors.uk2.net/stable
::Spain : https://mirror.raiolanetworks.com/manjaro/stable
::United_Kingdom : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Portugal : https://mirrors.up.pt/pub/manjaro/stable
::Germany : https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable
::Germany : https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/stable
::Switzerland : https://mirror.init7.net/manjaro/stable
::Austria : https://mirror.alwyzon.net/manjaro/stable
::Belgium : https://mirror.futureweb.be/manjaro/stable
::Germany : https://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/manjaro.org/repos/stable
::France : https://manjaro.ynh.ovh/stable
::Switzerland : https://ipng.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Austria : https://mirror.easyname.at/manjaro/stable
::New_Zealand : https://mirror.2degrees.nz/manjaro/stable
::Australia : https://gsl-syd.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::Japan : https://ftp.tsukuba.wide.ad.jp/Linux/manjaro/stable
::INFO Mirror list generated and saved to: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core 150.5 KiB 1045 KiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
extra 8.7 MiB 22.0 MiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
multilib 142.9 KiB 1066 KiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
:: Starting full system upgrade...
there is nothing to do
[manjaro /]# mkinitcpio -P
==> WARNING: Preset file '/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux612.preset' is empty or does not contain any presets.
[manjaro /]# update-grup
bash: update-grup: command not found
[manjaro /]# update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode.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.
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Detecting snapshots ...
Found snapshot: 2026-03-23 16:01:40 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-23_16-01-40/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found snapshot: 2026-03-17 18:03:10 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-17_18-03-10/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found snapshot: 2026-03-10 15:11:35 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-10_15-11-35/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found 3 snapshot(s)
Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.Rln8GeTImA .. Success
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
Two things I noticed that might be an issue:
::ERROR Connection: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top', port=443): Read timed out. (read timeout=4)
manjaro /]# mkinitcpio -P
==> WARNING: Preset file '/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux612.preset' is empty or does not contain any presets.
I have not hit exit yet.
Edit: Actually, I think this is just a left over preset file.
Everything is fine and just that file needs removed, causing that minor error message and nothing else.
(I was rushing to get out the door, now I’m on my phone.)
We may have to (re)install a kernel.
Inside the chroot you can see your installed kernels by:
mhwd-kernel -li
You are welcome to stay on 6.12 LTS if that is what you want. I don’t know how you ended up with 6.12, I thought the current ISOs install 6.18..
If you don’t have linux618, you can install kernel verision 6.18 (LTS) by:
mhwd-kernel -i linux618
Either way..
Then I would remove (or reinstall) this potentially broken 6.12 kernel. (You can have multiple kernels and select which to boot on start up.)
mhwd-kernel -r linux612
# or
mhwd-kernel -i linux612
I can confirm that after putting in the command to check the kernal it is currently 6.12
[manjaro /]# mhwd-kernel -li
Currently running: 6.12.48-1-MANJARO (linux612)
Before I enter
[manjaro /]# mhwd-kernel -i linux618
Do I need to check and make sure its going onto the sdd and not the live usb I’m using?
UPDATE:
SO I pressed enter and this came up. Its detecting something that I know is on the SSD and not the USB so its probably installing on the SSD.
[manjaro /]# mhwd-kernel -i linux618
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra 8.7 MiB 19.4 MiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
multilib is up to date
The following packages are out of date, please update your system first: brave-browser
Do you want to continue anyway? [y/N]
UPDATE:
SO I pressed enter and this came up. Its detecting something that I know is on the SSD and not the USB so its probably installing on the SSD.
[manjaro /]# mhwd-kernel -i linux618
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra 8.7 MiB 19.4 MiB/s 00:00 [############################################################################] 100%
multilib is up to date
The following packages are out of date, please update your system first: brave-browser
Do you want to continue anyway? [y/N]
Do you want to continue anyway? [y/N] y
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
Packages (1) linux618-6.18.18-1
Total Download Size: 144.78 MiB
Total Installed Size: 150.56 MiB
:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n]
Proceeded with the installation.
Do you want to continue anyway? [y/N] y
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
Packages (1) linux618-6.18.18-1
Total Download Size: 144.78 MiB
Total Installed Size: 150.56 MiB
:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages...
linux618-6.18.18-1-x86_64 144.8 MiB 35.4 MiB/s 00:04 [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking keys in keyring [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts [############################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space [############################################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) installing linux618 [############################################################################] 100%
Optional dependencies for linux618
linux-firmware: firmware images needed for some devices [installed]
scx-scheds: to use sched-ext schedulers
wireless-regdb: to set the correct wireless channels of your country [installed]
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/5) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/5) Updating module dependencies...
(3/5) Updating linux initcpios...
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux618.preset: 'default'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
-> -k /boot/vmlinuz-6.18-x86_64 -g /boot/initramfs-6.18-x86_64.img
==> Starting build: '6.18.18-1-MANJARO'
-> Running build hook: [base]
-> Running build hook: [udev]
-> Running build hook: [autodetect]
-> Running build hook: [microcode]
-> Running build hook: [kms]
-> Running build hook: [modconf]
-> Running build hook: [block]
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
-> Running build hook: [keymap]
-> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
-> Running build hook: [plymouth]
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-6.18-x86_64.img'
-> Early uncompressed CPIO image generation successful
==> Initcpio image generation successful
==> Running post hooks
-> Running post hook: [sbctl]
Secureboot key directory doesn't exist, not signing!
==> Post processing done
(4/5) Updating Grub-Bootmenu
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.18-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.18-x86_64.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode.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/sdb1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Detecting snapshots ...
Found snapshot: 2026-03-23 16:01:40 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-23_16-01-40/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found snapshot: 2026-03-17 18:03:10 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-17_18-03-10/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found snapshot: 2026-03-10 15:11:35 | timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2026-03-10_15-11-35/@ | ondemand | {timeshift-autosnap} {created before upgrade} |
Found 3 snapshot(s)
Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.DemuEvzekI .. Success
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
(5/5) Signing EFI binaries...
Generating EFI bundles....
[manjaro /]#
The next step is removing the broken kernal with
and selecting the boot?
Just remove it. The only way to boot that one is through the advanced options in the grub menu on boot.
And it appears to be broken anyway.
Do I exit chroot before doing this?
All these commands have been meant for your chroot, to fix your installation.
Sorry if I haven’t been clear. (I’m multitasking.)
Its all good, I genuinely appreciate the help.
I did enter the remove command and got this though.
[manjaro /]# mhwd-kernel -r linux612
Error: You can't remove your current kernel.
[manjaro /]# ^C
[manjaro /]# mhwd-kernel -i linux612
Error: You can't reinstall your current kernel. Please use 'pacman -Syu' instead to update.
[manjaro /]# ^C
[manjaro /]#
the install for kernel 618 ended with
> Generating EFI bundles…
That’s my bad. So the help for that command is:
$ mhwd-kernel --help
Usage: mhwd-kernel [option]
-h --help Show this help message
-i --install Install a new kernel [kernel(s)] [optional: rmc = remove current kernel]
-l --list List all available kernels
-li --listinstalled List installed kernels
-r --remove Remove a kernel [kernel(s)]
So we need to:
mhwd-kernel -i linux618 rmc
As this command operates when you boot normally, that is needed. So you don’t replace the current running kernel.
As we’re in a chroot prentending, we can do that.