cannot boot in UEFI on USB drive

[o5gmmob8]

I'm trying to bring my systems up-to-date with the latest booting standard and not having much luck.

I can boot an Ubuntu USB drive just fine, but the one I made isn't being recognized at all. This is what I did:

1. create GPT disk label / partition
a. /dev/sdx1 (EXT4), created so I could also do legacy boot?
b. /dev/sdx2 (FAT32, ESP)
c. /dev/sdx3 (LVM)

2. mounted /dev/sdx2 @ /boot
3. copied kernel / init / grub configuration to /boot, /boot/grub/grub.cfg
4. grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot
a. this put files in /boot/EFI/grub

I rebooted and hoped the ESP would be seen, but it wasn't. So, I then tried copying the shim file into /boot/EFI/grub.

That also didn't work, so then I tried copying the entire grub directory to /boot/EFI/Boot. And, that also didn't work. I previously tried copying the kernel and initramfs directly to the ESP under that path and using efibootmgr to configure the kernel command-line options, also to no avail.

My systems are all Dell-based.

Shouldn't UEFI typically be as easy as creating a FAT32 partition anywhere on a disk and copying some files under /EFI/Boot/bootx86_64.efi? What am I missing?


Walter

[dE_logics]

Well, I don't see the point of grub with UEFI. I don't use any bootloader at all; the kernel has a stub EFI loader, I use that.
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[charles17]

[o5gmmob8]

Hi,

The reason I want to use GRUB is because it will simplify the management of the process:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/948814/how-to-boot-load-the-kernel-using-efi-stub-efistub-loader-with-secure-boot#949078


I suppose I can sign my kernels every time I update the system, but I am figuring that I could just use GRUB with SHIM to get me there.

Yes, I believe it has access to efivars, I will reboot and test this.


Walter

[charles17]

For Secure Boot see also https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Sakaki%27s_EFI_Install_Guide/Configuring_Secure_Boot