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I installed EndeavourOS (based on arch linux) via live USB following the guide on my /dev/sda partition where I used to have Ubuntu, which worked fine. I also have a separate HDD, my /dev/sdb partition, with Windows 10 installed. Everytime I turn on my PC I get to the grub shell and I can't boot normally into neither of the OS.

This is the output from grub shell:

grub>ls grub>(hd0) (hd1) ... (hd1,gpt2) (hd2,gpt2) (hd1,msdos1)...

The partition I need is (hd1,gpt2) so I do:

grub>set root (hd1,gpt2) grub>linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda2 grub>initrd /boot/initramfs_linux.image grub> boot

and it boots normally into EndeavourOS. Then I try to fix my grub installation:

$ sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg $ sudo grub-install /dev/sda

And I then get this error:

Installing for x86_64-efi platform. grub-install: error: cannot find EFI directory.

I have tried specified the EFI partition following this answer:

$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt $ sudo grub-install --efi-directory=/mnt/EFI

but I get:

Installing for x86_64-efi platform. grub-install: warning: disk does not exist, so falling back to partition device /dev/sda1. grub-install: warning: disk does not exist, so falling back to partition device /dev/sda1. grub-install: warning: disk does not exist, so falling back to partition device /dev/sda1. grub-install: error: disk `hostdisk//dev/sda1' not found.

I checked the /mnt/EFI directory:

$ls /mnt/EFI/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 21 apr 2019 BOOT drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 24 mar 15.22 ubuntu

So I thought maybe the usb live installation didn't format correctly the partions... Is there a way to fix this rather then format everything and start from scratch? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I tried as suggested to refer to /mnt as the efi directory:

$ sudo grub-install --efi-directory=/mnt

and got this error:

Installing for x86_64-efi platform. Could not prepare Boot variable: No space left on device grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error.

Now my /mnt/EFI folder looks like this:

$ ls /mnt/EFI BOOT endeavouros ubuntu $ ls /mnt/EFI/endeavouros grubx64.efi $ ls /mnt/EFI/ubuntu BOOTX64.CSV fw grub.cfg grubx64.efi mmx64.efi shimx64.efi

should I maybe delete the ubuntu folder?

also I have a ton of results running efibootmgr:

BootCurrent: 0000 Timeout: 1 seconds BootOrder: 0000,000C,001A,0012,0007,0009,0011,0013,0014,0015,0017,0018,0019,0001,0002,0003 Boot0000* ubuntu Boot0001* UEFI:CD/DVD Drive Boot0002* UEFI:Removable Device Boot0003* UEFI:Network Device Boot0007 UEFI OS Boot0009 CD/DVD Drive Boot000C* UEFI OS Boot0011 UEFI OS Boot0012* Unknown Device Boot0013 ubuntu Boot0014 ubuntu Boot0015 UEFI OS Boot0017 ubuntu Boot0018 UEFI OS Boot0019 ubuntu Boot001A* UEFI OS

SOLVED: I followed the guide on the wiki, launching the live system in UEFI (otherwise it won't work).

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The efi directory is wrong and should be set to the path where the partition is mounted. Also use sudo for grub-install:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt sudo grub-install --efi-directory=/mnt

Edit:

It looks like your efivars (the EEPROM location, not the partition /dev/sda1) is full and you need to clean up.

Run efibootmgr -v and remove obsolete entries, i.e. if there is an old Ubuntu entry like

Boot0014* ubuntu HD(1,GPT,...)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)

then you may remove it with

sudo efibootmgr -b 0014 -B

Also delete dump-* files in /sys/firmware/efi/efivars, see this answer: Grub installation failed.

Yes, you may also remove the /mnt/EFI/ubuntu directory, but I don't think it's the cause of the error since endeavouros/grubx64.efi was successfully written.

Then try

sudo grub-install --efi-directory=/mnt

again.

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  • I have tried that before, unsure of what the answer I linked meant with [efi dir]. I used to have the same error as I mentioned before, but now I get Installing for x86_64-efi platform. Could not prepare Boot variable: No space left on device grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error. Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 8:16
  • Answer updated. Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 12:37
  • which one should I delete? It's weird is says current boot is ubuntu. I updated the question with the output of efibootmgr Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 13:00
  • I can't seem to be able to delete the entries ... sudo efibootmgr -b 17 -B Could not delete variable: No space left on device Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 13:10
  • The duplicated ubuntu and UEFI OS entries look terribly wrong and I have no idea what UEFI OS or Unknown Device means. It could be that your nvram is corrupted and has gone readonly, but I'm not sure. Are there any /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/dump-* files you can remove? Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 13:42

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