How to boot from an EUFI original or clone Linux partition

[Brian K]

Bruce,

I'll hold off in replying to your points.

A new BIU has been released. ver 1.06. It "almost" eliminates issues with copying Linux OS partitions.

Install it and see if it gets rid of your UEFI error.

[brucebne]

Brian K wrote:
> Bruce,
>
> I'll hold off in replying to your points.
>
> A new BIU has been released. ver 1.06. It "almost" eliminates
> issues with copying Linux OS partitions.
>
> Install it and see if it gets rid of your UEFI error.


Cool..... Thanks for the heads up. Will get that now.

I was almost going to do away with BIU as a boot manager and skill up on rEFInd which a Linux mate has moved to.
He also thinks grub is a PITA, and uses LiLo.

[Brian K]

The issue with resizing Linux OS partitions smaller has been fixed.

[Brian K]

When you copy a Linux OS partition choose these Options...

Change GUID
Change Volume SN

The uuid in fstab and grub/grub.cfg will be new. You just have to edit grub.cfg in ubuntu.xxx.

[Brian K]

brucebne wrote:

>
> Something else that happens in BIU is, after doing any work with partitions (slide,
> resize, new part, delete part), and I exit "work with partitions", and try
> to do something else (say imaging, boot menu edit), I get an error message
> "unable to load boot.dat" and BIU freezes.

I get exactly the same if I don't restart after the procedure.

[brucebne]

Brian K wrote:
> When you copy a Linux OS partition choose these Options...
>
> Change GUID
> Change Volume SN
>
> The uuid in fstab and grub/grub.cfg will be new. You just have to edit
> grub.cfg in ubuntu.xxx.


Thanks. where do the upgraded versions have their changes listed....can't find them on the website.

OK, so after a few false starts, I got 1.06 installed
- the default usb disk format doesn't permit make a disk. had to manually change to Fat32.
- needed to uninstall the previous version...doh...which the error message might have suggesed!

So I haven't been able to ascertain the changes.

I got caught up in experimenting with rEFInd. I tried this a few weeks ago, but I don't have lots of hours to sit and methodically skill up on these things. My approach is, when I get a block of 1-3 hours, to get stuck into it based on previous experience with Boot It products.....reading manuals is a weekend thing.

So what I've discovered from messing with refind is

- it automatically searches /EFI/ AND all OS partitions for not just *.efi boot loader files, BUT also other files that can apparently boot a system such as OSpart/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic
It then makes boot menu items for these.

- whereas from what I can fathom, BIU only permits the creation of boot menu items using *.efi files.... from both /EFI/ and OS partitions.

This was quite revelatory for me.....because when I think about it, most of my boot issues have been related to bootloader folders (with an appropriate *.efi file) not being named or created appropriately in /EFI/

A boot menu would be much simpler to create if a boot menu item could refer to an always present never changing bootloader file on each OS partition, and avoid all the grub issues creating /ubuntu.00x/ folders on /EFI/.

-----------------------

In one experiment I was able to create a successful BIU boot menu item using the following:

Boot Partition Mint OSx
Boot File /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/core.efi (or grub.efi in the same folder)

This is just so much easier than using /EFI/ubuntu.00x/*.efi files....and avoids a lot of the trouble grub creates when doing multiboot system experiments.

-----------------------

I understand that Linux OSs can boot directly from a bootloader on their partition.
They don't need a bootloader on ESP.
Whereas Microsoft Windows does need its bootloader on ESP.

[brucebne]

Brian K wrote:
> When you copy a Linux OS partition choose these Options...
>
> Change GUID
> Change Volume SN
>
> The uuid in fstab and grub/grub.cfg will be new. You just have to edit
> grub.cfg in ubuntu.xxx.

thanks. that's great to know.

and now that i know I can create boot menu items using *.efi files from an OS partition /boot/ folder, I think I'll be able to avoid all the hassles I've written about over the last 1-2 weeks.

And from what I understand, if I make the boot menu item from OS partition bootloader i.e. /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/core.efi
then there should be no need to edit grub.cfg because I understand grub is not involved in booting the OS.

Brian, I'd be interested in your experience with this.

And btw, I still get the warning notice talked of earlier when booting Linux OSs from BIU. but not with rEFInd or otherwise bypassing BIU.

[brucebne]

Brian K wrote:
> When you copy a Linux OS partition choose these Options...
>
> Change GUID
> Change Volume SN
>
> The uuid in fstab and grub/grub.cfg will be new. You just have to edit
> grub.cfg in ubuntu.xxx.


Just tried a partition copy.
I don't see these two options anywhere in 1.06 (trial version).

[brucebne]

And the Dell Latitude 5289 is still unacceptably slow in doing partition work - copy, slide, resize.
A 25GB Mint partition looked as if it would take at least 45 minutes to do a copy. I stopped watching after 90 seconds, and the graphical copy bar had not moved 1%.

Fortunately I found out how good Gparted, which runs normally on the Dell = under 25 seconds to copy a 25GB OS partition.
It also has an option to change UUID to random number, and has the convenience of being able to edit fstab and grub.cfg from within Linux....so all changes can be made without only one reboot after one is finished.

FYI, the Dell's ssd is
PM961 NVMe
https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/ssd/client-ssd/

and I didn't see anything in BIOS that could compromise copy speed.

[brucebne]

OK..... I just cloned a 12/25GB Mint partition.

Steps

- used Gparted in an installed Mint partition....not the one being cloned. It took 25 seconds
- I did not resize

- right click the clone partition (graphic or row entry), select New UUID, accept.
- copy the UUID

- right click again and select "name partition', then name the clone something different to the original
- right click again and select "label file system", and same as above. (I use the same name for label and partition name, which is generally the partition number. This helps when booting multiple versions of the same OS).

- now mount the clone, either using 'disks' program, or command line
sudo udisksctl mount -b /dev/*

- then at command line
sudo nemo (or whatever your file manager is...this will give you root access to all partitions (and make visible /EFI/ in addition to the clone)

- open /cloneOS /boot/grub/grub.cfg
do a search and replace all operation - for old UUID with new.
(in Nemo, click search on the top menu bar, then slide down to 'replace'.)

- open /cloneOS/etc/fstab
paste new UUID over old UUID for the partition entry associated with /root

- now reboot into BIU
make a new boot menu item for the clone partition

I now prefer not to use the /ubuntu.00*/ folders on ESP, but rather the bootloader files on the OS partition
what I discovered in this process is you need to select
boot : clone partition
boot file : /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/grub.efi

I thought I could also use
/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/core.efi
but this appears unreliable, as for me it booted the original partition, not the clone.

I suppose using core.efi might bypass using the updated grub.cfg file ( /cloneOS /boot/grub/grub.cfg)
Keep in mind this is the bootloader file on the clone partition, that you changed the UUID in.
It is not on ESP under a /ubuntu.00x folder.

That's it... you now have a new boot menu item that should get you into the clone partition.


-------------------------------------


now if you are intent on using a bootloader file on ESP, I suppose you could make copy a current /ubuntu.00x/ folder, change its number, and copy the grub.efi file from the clone partition to the copied and renamed /ubuntu.00x folder......and select that as the boot file in the new boot menu item.
Though I haven't tried that.