EFI System partition

[thusband]

I recently reinstalled Proxmox on an Intel NUC. Today I got a kernel update but got the following at the end. Did I install Proxmox incorrectly?

Setting up proxmox-kernel-6.5 (6.5.11-5) ...
Setting up proxmox-offline-mirror-helper (0.6.3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.142) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.5.11-5-pve
Running hook script 'zz-proxmox-boot'..
Re-executing '/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-proxmox-boot' in new private mount namespace..
No /etc/kernel/proxmox-boot-uuids found, skipping ESP sync.
System booted in EFI-mode but 'grub-efi-amd64' meta-package not installed!
Install 'grub-efi-amd64' to get updates.
Couldn't find EFI system partition. It is recommended to mount it to /boot or /efi.
Alternatively, use --esp-path= to specify path to mount point.

Many thanks.

 

[esi_y]

I recently reinstalled Proxmox on an Intel NUC. Today I got a kernel update but got the following at the end. Did I install Proxmox incorrectly?

Setting up proxmox-kernel-6.5 (6.5.11-5) ...
Setting up proxmox-offline-mirror-helper (0.6.3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.142) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.5.11-5-pve
Running hook script 'zz-proxmox-boot'..
Re-executing '/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-proxmox-boot' in new private mount namespace..
No /etc/kernel/proxmox-boot-uuids found, skipping ESP sync.
System booted in EFI-mode but 'grub-efi-amd64' meta-package not installed!
Install 'grub-efi-amd64' to get updates.
Couldn't find EFI system partition. It is recommended to mount it to /boot or /efi.
Alternatively, use --esp-path= to specify path to mount point.

Many thanks.

Which NUC is that? Is it set to boot UEFI, BIOS or both? Is there anything in /sys/firmware/efi/vars? This happened to me on NUCs with Debian more than once in the past. Is /boot/efi mounted? Did you get grub-pc installed instead? Did you happen to have BIOS BOOT partition created alongside ESP?

 

[thusband]

Which NUC is that? Is it set to boot UEFI, BIOS or both? Is there anything in /sys/firmware/efi/vars? This happened to me on NUCs with Debian more than once in the past. Is /boot/efi mounted? Did you get grub-pc installed instead? Did you happen to have BIOS BOOT partition created alongside ESP?

It's:

Intel NUC NUC7I7BNH​

Intel NUC NUC7I7BNH Mini PC i7 7567U 16GB RAM 500GB NVMe SSD WiFi 4K
Processor
Intel Core i7 7th Gen.
Graphics Processing Type - Integrated/On-Board Graphics
RAM Size - 8 GB
MPN - NUC7i7BNH, NUC7i7BNHXG, i7 mini micro pc
SSD Capacity - 500 GB
GPU - Intel® HD 620 graphics
Processor Speed - 2.40 GHz
Form Factor - Mini Pc
Maximum RAM Capacity - 32 GB
Connectivity - HDMI, USB 2.0, USB-C
Features - Built-in Bluetooth Adapter, Built-in Wi-Fi Adapter
Storage Type - SSD (Solid State Drive)

I don't think it's set to boot UEFI unless I did that when selecting the ISO on the flash drive. There is no /sys/firmware/efi/vars.

/boot.efi appears to be mounted.
I don't think I changed anything when I reinstalled Proxmox. I reinstalled because somehow I lost my home network connection.

 

[fabian]

please post the output of
- pveversion -v
- mount
- lsblk

 

[thusband]

I thought a reinstall Proxmox was in order but I noticed UEFI was the boot configuration. I aborted that and went into the NUC BIOS. In boot priority it was showing UEFI: proxmox: PART 1: OS Bootloader and in Legacy Boot Priority there was Part O: Boot Drive and LAN: IBA CL Slot . Both UEFI and Legacy are ticked.

In the Boot Configuration tab UEFI Boot has Boot Network Devices last ticked, in Boot Devices both USB and Optical are ticked. Nothing in Secure Boot Config.

Should I untick UEFI Boot Priority?

 

[fabian]

please post what I asked for above..

 

[thusband]

Yes, here's
- pveversion -v
- mount
- lsblk

https://imgur.com/a/IFUY0V6

 

[fabian]

so the error is right - you are booting using EFI, but your ESP is not mounted. did you maybe install in legacy mode, but then switch to EFI? in any case, switching back to legacy should work, or you fix up your EFI booting by mounting the ESP and installing the right grub variant.

 

[thusband]

If I installed in legacy mode and then switched to EFI it certainly wasn't on purpose. I don't know enough to do that. I probably know enough to screw things up though.

I'll un-tick UEFI in the BIOS and try it again.

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[esi_y]

so the error is right - you are booting using EFI, but your ESP is not mounted. did you maybe install in legacy mode, but then switch to EFI? in any case, switching back to legacy should work, or you fix up your EFI booting by mounting the ESP and installing the right grub variant.

@fabian I am confused about PVE installer in one thing - even if I install it on BIOS-only system, it gives me GPT partitioning (no problem), but with bios-boot AND esp partition alike (why?). I am not sure off the cuff what plain Debian installer does (I normally do netinstall and manual partitioning). Of course if he disables EFI, problem will be gone, but this should work even he had both enabled. Or the other way around, if he was installing in BIOS mode, why did it put in the ESP at all to confuse his firmware?

 

[esi_y]

If I installed in legacy mode and then switched to EFI it certainly wasn't on purpose. I don't know enough to do that. I probably know enough to screw things up though.

I'll un-tick UEFI in the BIOS and try it again.

Thanks a lot for your help!

@thusband Did you have by any chance Secure Boot enabled in firmware when you first ran the installer, then went on to disable it? Do you remember with which tool you had created the bootable ISO media?

 

[thusband]

@thusband Did you have by any chance Secure Boot enabled in firmware when you first ran the installer, then went on to disable it? Do you remember with which tool you had created the bootable ISO media?

I'm pretty sure secure boot wasn't enabled previously. I've gone through so many iterations of this I've lost track. I've used Etcher to create the bootable USB drive. I also tried Ventoy this last time but couldn't get it to boot correctly.

I've decided to put the whole thing away and look for something besides a NUC to use. Maybe Beelink.

 

[fabian]

@fabian I am confused about PVE installer in one thing - even if I install it on BIOS-only system, it gives me GPT partitioning (no problem), but with bios-boot AND esp partition alike (why?). I am not sure off the cuff what plain Debian installer does (I normally do netinstall and manual partitioning). Of course if he disables EFI, problem will be gone, but this should work even he had both enabled. Or the other way around, if he was installing in BIOS mode, why did it put in the ESP at all to confuse his firmware?

we install the other variant as a fallback to allow switching.

 

[esi_y]

I'm pretty sure secure boot wasn't enabled previously. I've gone through so many iterations of this I've lost track.

I can imagine, I just wondered if e.g. Secure Boot is enabled at first (during install) and that makes the Legacy Mode fallback kick in and install the rest in BIOS mode, then upon disabling it you may as well boot through EFI. I have a NUC8 here I could test with later. The other thing is how does the installer present itself in the menu, if it does not get to offer both at the same time.

I've used Etcher to create the bootable USB drive. I also tried Ventoy this last time but couldn't get it to boot correctly.

Not tested these, but some ISO creation tools make the result bootable only in e.g. BIOS mode despite the ISO supported both.

I've decided to put the whole thing away and look for something besides a NUC to use. Maybe Beelink.

Why would you do that? I have had PVE tested on NUC Celerons, 8s, 11s, 13s now just fine. Up to 8 you can have both BIOS and UEFI boot - which is not possible anymore in e.g. 11 (which makes one happy when in need to update Samsung's NVMe firmware with their own BIOS only ISO).

So all I would do in your case is completely disable the BIOS boot (Legacy) support. If you turn on Modern Standby it basically has to be UEFI only I think. Then install fresh (if you find it easier than swapping grubs)... No issue with NUCs and PVE, perfect for testing and non-critical use!

 

[esi_y]

we install the other variant as a fallback to allow switching.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but switching as in putting the drive into completely different (but otherwise compatible) system? Isn't that a bit of a stretch? I can imagine the BIOS boot partition on GPT will fool more than one EFI out there. It's alright to start at 2048 with ESP, the first 1M being empty. But why put it there at all on EFI install?

 

[fabian]

no, switching between EFI and legacy boot (or broken BIOS implementations doing that for you randomly). booting but a bit confused (like the system in this thread) is better than not booting at all.

 

[spetrillo]

Hello all,

I am in the midst of a new PVE build and I would like to drop some EFI tools in the EFI partition. Is there a clean way to do this? I show that /boot/efi is a 1 gig partition, that is mounted. I also have another partition called /sys/firmware/edi/efivars, that looks to be about 320K in size. I would assume that /boot/efi is the true EFI partition. Is it as simple as cd /boot/efi and then copy the tools I want over? There seems to be an EFI directory there. Just cd to EFI and copy over the tools?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[fabian]

the ESP is either not mounted (if there are multiple and keeping them in sync is handled by proxmox-boot-tool), or it is mounted at /boot/efi (if there is only one that is directly written to by various system packages). /sys/firmware/edi/efivars is how the kernel exposes EFI variables, it's not a place where you can store anything other than variable values

 

[spetrillo]

the ESP is either not mounted (if there are multiple and keeping them in sync is handled by proxmox-boot-tool), or it is mounted at /boot/efi (if there is only one that is directly written to by various system packages). /sys/firmware/edi/efivars is how the kernel exposes EFI variables, it's not a place where you can store anything other than variable values

@fabian thanks for this. So I only have one and it looks to be mounted at /boot/efi. Now there is a directory called EFI under it. Do I drop my EFI tools there or should it just be in the root of /boot/efi?

Lastly are you the Fabian from OPNsense?

 

[fabian]

it depends what those tools are and how they work I'd say, but yes, the EFI dir on the ESP is where efi binaries are put (usually in a subdir). for example, you should see a proxmox subdir containing our bootloader files.

no, I am not involved with OPNsense at all (other than as a user) - Fabian is a fairly common German/Austrian first name (Top 30 in Austria for the past 35 years )