Completion of boot manager installation after EFI configuration failure

[elfring]

The following command can eventually be performed at this point …

It seems that the software installation can succeed with such an additional command on a terminal screen (at first glance).

unknown…:~ # mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi

Would you like to check any further system configuration consequences?

[elfring]

Would you like to add any information to corresponding bug reports?

Example:
Mount “/boot/efi” was missing for a partition variant.

[elfring]

The file system type “vfat” can be better recognised for a fat32 partition (like the EFI system partition).

[elfring]

Efibootmgr is not present on Knoppix 8.6.1 or 8.2.1, but it can be used if network works:

Thanks for your feedback.

…

# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0002
…
Boot0000* opensusetw    HD(1,GPT,5b331d7f-9488-4df5-9eed-c7250696b833,0x800,0xa0000)/File(\EFI\OPENSUSETW\GRUBX64.EFI)
Boot0001* UEFI OS       HD(1,GPT,5b331d7f-9488-4df5-9eed-c7250696b833,0x800,0xa0000)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI)..BO
Boot0002* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 5.00 PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/CDROM(1,0x89d000,0x1e000)..BO
Boot0003* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 5.00, Partition 1    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x12c649b0,0x89d000,0x7800)..BO

• Do you refer to a concrete DVD (as a CD-ROM) for a Knoppix variant here?
• Can ISO files (according to Linux Live systems for example) be specified also by the means of device paths in UEFI environments?
• Would you like to point any auxiliary configuration tools out?

[nrickert]

Can ISO files (according to Linux Live systems for example) be specified also by the means of device paths in UEFI environments?

When using "efibootmgr" you can only reference files in the EFI partition. If you want to use the iso directly, then you will need something like "grub" to handle that.

[elfring]

When using "efibootmgr" you can only reference files in the EFI partition.

I got the impression that bootable files need to be stored in a special data format according to the EFI system partition.

If you want to use the iso directly, then you will need something like "grub" to handle that.

I am curious to clarify further dependencies for selected ISO files here.
It can be challenging to resolve an error message like “file not found” only by the means of the boot manager “GRUB 2.04”.

[nrickert]

I got the impression that bootable files need to be stored in a special data format according to the EFI system partition.

Yes, they need to be EFI executables. The kernel itself is an EFI executable, but it needs to be in the EFI partition to load it that way.

I am curious to clarify further dependencies for selected ISO files here.

To boot an iso with grub, you need to tell grub to loop mount the iso. That allows files in the iso to be accessed.

You can load the kernel and iso that way. But you also need the kernel command line to tell the kernel to loop mount the iso for use within linux. How you do that may depend on the distro you are booting.

I experimented with that at one time, but it was not worth the trouble (in my opinion).

The easy way to boot an iso, is to configure that iso as a virtual DVD for a virtual machine, and then boot the virtual machine. But that's limited in usefulness. When I want to install on a real machine, I write the iso to a USB drive.

[elfring]

To boot an iso with grub, you need to tell grub to loop mount the iso. That allows files in the iso to be accessed.

Are there any chances that a similar data processing interface can be applied within UEFI environments?

But you also need the kernel command line to tell the kernel to loop mount the iso for use within linux. How you do that may depend on the distro you are booting.

Would you like to clarify corresponding system configuration variations any more?

I experimented with that at one time, but it was not worth the trouble (in my opinion).

Can your development interests grow also for this software area under special circumstances?

The easy way to boot an iso, is to configure that iso as a virtual DVD for a virtual machine, and then boot the virtual machine.

How do you think about to make such functionality better usable with any more virtual machine software?

But that's limited in usefulness.

How do you think about to improve the support for experimentation and related software analysis?

[nrickert]

I'm really not sure what you are asking about there.

[elfring]

Would other software users like to discuss mentioned development and system configuration options a bit more?