Selecting bootloader for new installation

[Ivan Dimitrov]

Hello, I am trying a new test installation of proxmox and I would like use systemd-boot with ext4 or xfs partition. According to the documentation the bootloader is selected automatically based on the selected file system.
Is there a config/flag/hack with which I can force the installation to use systemd-boot with ext4/xfs?
The system is running in UEFI mode bit this doesn't seem to have an effect. I have seen some forums threads for how to migrate from grub to systemd but this seems to much effort.

P.S.
I just don't like grub No other issues.

 

[Stoiko Ivanov]

Just to have said it explicitly - make sure you have a working and well-tested backup!
(always a necessity when working with the disk-layout of your system)

In general switching a system installed with grub over to using proxmox-boot-tool is straight-forward.
I tested this quickly in a VM with a single disk - installed with the pve 8.0 ISO - so make sure you have your disk-names correct.
* Assume the system is installed on /dev/sda
* /dev/sda2 is the ESP, which is mounted on /boot/efi in a regular grub setup
The following steps should be enough to switch to proxmox-boot-tool and systemd-boot (if the system is booted in uefi mode:
* remove the `/boot/efi` entry in /etc/fstab (else your system won't come up due to the missing mount)

umount /boot/efi
proxmox-boot-tool format /dev/sda2 --force
proxmox-boot-tool init /dev/sda2
proxmox-boot-tool refresh

then reboot

I hope this helps!

 

[Ivan Dimitrov]

Thanks, worked like a charm.

Just a minor suggestion - put the " remove the `/boot/efi` entry in /etc/fstab" in the code part as some hasty people my might miss it and need to fire up recovery iso

 

[Stoiko Ivanov]

Just a minor suggestion - put the " remove the `/boot/efi` entry in /etc/fstab" in the code part as some hasty people my might miss it and need to fire up recovery iso

hm - not really sure about this one - the changing over to proxmox-boot-tool is really not the main focus or proxmox-boot-tool - and messing around with /etc/fstab by a tool is nothing I'd like any piece of software to do ...

one thing that might make sense is to look for `/boot/efi` in /etc/fstab upon `init` and print a warning in case it occurs...

 

[Ivan Dimitrov]

hm - not really sure about this one - the changing over to proxmox-boot-tool is really not the main focus or proxmox-boot-tool - and messing around with /etc/fstab by a tool is nothing I'd like any piece of software to do ...

one thing that might make sense is to look for `/boot/efi` in /etc/fstab upon `init` and print a warning in case it occurs...

My point to add in the code snipe above - NOT to make this default functionality. Maybe I wasn't clear.