No Bootable Devices Found with /boot/efi/ Missing

[Rainier30]

Hello everyone,

I've tried for almost two months now to install Qubes.  I'm excited to get it working, but I've never gotten past the reboot following installation. I purchased a new Dell computer for this OS specifically, and the internals match HCL requirements.

I've used both a flash drive and a disk to install from, and I have no issues all the way through the installation. Once I reboot, I see "No Bootable Devices Found". Having tried literally over 100 times by now to figure it out, I think I've tried every possible BIOS configuration.

Other users with similar problems seem to have had success by configuring the EFI boot manager. I tried this through a shell in recovery mode, but found that for /boot/efi/ there is "No such file or directory". I downloaded the ISO more than once thinking that I maybe had a partial file or Rufus problem.

Could someone please help me figure out a solution? I would like to use this great OS, because it seems like an important tool. Please keep in mind with your responses that everything I know about computers is something I learned in the last few months. I self-taught myself a little, but this is not my personal area of expertise. Please assume I have no idea how to follow your directions unless you treat me like an idiot. I welcome follow-up questions too!

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[haaber]

Did you follow the UEFI troubleshooting page? I need to do that since
1-2 months with a recent dell laptop. If qubes won't boot, you can do
the trick with any other live-linux (you "only" modify /boot, no need to
do cryptsetup by hand), but then absolute paths are a bit different. See
here

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/uefi-troubleshooting/

good luck, Bernhard

[Rainier30]

Thanks Bernhard, and I did find the Troubleshooting UEFI page. I previously looked at the section "Boot Device Not Recognized After Installing". The first step is to "Copy the /boot/efi/EFI/qubes/ directory to /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/".

When I try to do that, it responds with "Is not a directory". I have to go back as far as /boot/ before it is recognized. If I understood the troubleshooting page correctly, I was supposed to copy /boot/efi/EFI/qubes/. I don't think that is working for me.

Everyone please feel free to explain this all to me. It is not something I understand well, so I maybe am missing something! This is a skill I respect, but don't yet posses.

As for the last message, I didn't understand this part: "you can do the trick with any other live-linux (you "only" modify /boot, no need to do cryptsetup by hand), but then absolute paths are a bit different.". Does this just refer to the Troubleshooting page's instructions?

Thanks everyone!

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[awokd]

'Rainier30' via qubes-users wrote on 2/24/19 6:21 PM:

> Thanks Bernhard, and I did find the Troubleshooting UEFI page. I previously looked at the section "Boot Device Not Recognized After Installing". The first step is to "Copy the /boot/efi/EFI/qubes/ directory to /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/".
>
> When I try to do that, it responds with "Is not a directory". I have to go back as far as /boot/ before it is recognized. If I understood the troubleshooting page correctly, I was supposed to copy /boot/efi/EFI/qubes/. I don't think that is working for me.

If you don't see /boot/efi at all, that means you've booted in legacy
mode and are using GRUB boot instead of EFI. This should work to install
it too, though. Do you have Secure Boot disabled? Do you get the same
behaviour when you install by a legacy booted USB versus a UEFI booted
install?

[Rainier30]

I just went back and checked, and I'm in UEFI mode. Secure boot is also off. I'm running through another installation of it under those conditions right now to have a good control for when I change it up again. I should have tried the other options all before, but best to be methodical about it. I've also tried to boot a live USB, but that fails.

As for results under other settings, it has been the same result. My next step will be to cycle through variations of Legacy and Secure Boot to confirm once more. If any unexpected changes happen with that, I'll post them.

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[Rainier30]

Actually, I may have to sheepishly admit that Legacy was enabled at the same time as UEFI, meaning that it automatically booted into Legacy instead. All previously reported symptoms seem to stem from this.

Bottom line, UEFI isn't working for me period it seems. I end up with a black screen, regardless of whether I select partition one or two on my flash drive (not sure why it displays like that. Perhaps that is indicative of something?).

I'm back to square zero. Any varied options are appreciated.

[awokd]

'Rainier30' via qubes-users:

> Actually, I may have to sheepishly admit that Legacy was enabled at the same time as UEFI, meaning that it automatically booted into Legacy instead. All previously reported symptoms seem to stem from this.
>
> Bottom line, UEFI isn't working for me period it seems. I end up with a black screen, regardless of whether I select partition one or two on my flash drive (not sure why it displays like that. Perhaps that is indicative of something?).
>
> I'm back to square zero. Any varied options are appreciated.
>

I say square one or two at least, now you know!

Since UEFI boot's working, proceed with trying some of the related
troubleshooting steps. Start with
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/uefi-troubleshooting/#installation-freezes-before-getting-to-anaconda-qubes-40.
How far into the boot process does the black screen show up, immediately
after selecting the partition?

[Rainier30]

"I say square one or two at least, now you know!

Since UEFI boot's working, proceed with trying some of the related

troubleshooting steps. Start with

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/uefi-troubleshooting/#installation-freezes-before-getting-to-anaconda-qubes-40.

How far into the boot process does the black screen show up, immediately

after selecting the partition?"

So, the black screen isn't instantaneous. There is a little text that shows up for a second or two before it goes black. I changed the boot order setting so that only UEFI showed up. When I selected "UEFI: SanDisk", the following is the what appears:

Xen 4.8.4 (c/s) EFI loader

Using configuration file 'BOOTX64.cfg'

vmlinuz: 0x0000000041103000-0x00000000416e2b20

initrd.img: 0x000000003fdad000-0x0000000041102168

0x0000:0x00:0x1f.0x6: ROM 0x10400 bytes at 0x5044f018

Also, I went back and allowed legacy boot devices alongside UEFI, and that expanded my UEFI options to "UEFI: SanDisk" and "UEFI: SanDisk, Partition 2". When I selected either of those two options, I got the slightly different result of:

Xen 4.8.4 (c/s) EFI loader

Using configuration file 'BOOTX64.cfg'

vmlinuz: 0x0000000041103000-0x00000000416e2b20

initrd.img: 0x000000003fdad000-0x0000000041102168

0x0000:0x00:0x02.0x0: ROM 0x10000 bytes at 0x503f7018

0x0000:0x00:0x1f.0x6: ROM 0x10400 bytes at 0x50397018

So, that's where I'm at with the UEFI options so far. I read through the "Installation freezes before getting to Anaconda" troubleshooting page, but I'm afraid I don't understand what the directions are talking about. On that page, step one reads:

     "Follow the steps above to edit the [qubes-verbose] section of your installer’s          xen.cfg. You want to comment out the mapbs and noexitboot lines. The end result should look like this:

[qubes-verbose]
options=console=vga efi=attr=uc
# noexitboot=1
# mapbs=1
kernel=vmlinuz inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=Qubes-R4.0-x86_64 i915.alpha_support=1
ramdisk=initrd.img"

Sadly, I don't understand that. I'm also a little confused about where to make

these alterations. I understand how to get to a shell in Troubleshooting mode

in the installer, but I could only get there in Legacy boot. Is this for

somewhere else?

Thanks again

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‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

[awokd]

'Rainier30' via qubes-users:

>
> So, the black screen isn't instantaneous. There is a little text that shows up for a second or two before it goes black. I changed the boot order setting so that only UEFI showed up. When I selected "UEFI: SanDisk", the following is the what appears:
>
> Xen 4.8.4 (c/s) EFI loader
> Using configuration file 'BOOTX64.cfg'
> vmlinuz: 0x0000000041103000-0x00000000416e2b20
> initrd.img: 0x000000003fdad000-0x0000000041102168
> 0x0000:0x00:0x1f.0x6: ROM 0x10400 bytes at 0x5044f018

OK

> [qubes-verbose]
> options=console=vga efi=attr=uc
> # noexitboot=1
> # mapbs=1
> kernel=vmlinuz inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=Qubes-R4.0-x86_64 i915.alpha_support=1
> ramdisk=initrd.img"
>
> Sadly, I don't understand that. I'm also a little confused about where to make
>
> these alterations. I understand how to get to a shell in Troubleshooting mode
>
> in the installer, but I could only get there in Legacy boot. Is this for
>
> somewhere else?

Yes, I guess these steps aren't very detailed:

"Attach the usb disk, mount the EFI partition (second partition
available on the disk)
Edit your xen config (xen.cfg/BOOTX64.cfg) changing the kernel key to
add your kernel parameters on the boot entry of your choice"

You want to edit the xen.cfg file directly on your Qubes install USB
drive. You might be able to do it from Troubleshooting mode, but it
could be easier if you had access to another computer running some type
of GNU/Linux live boot/rescue and could edit it from there.