[SOLVED] Grub-install says "error cannot find EFI directory"

cov · 06-27-2017, 10:44 AM

I was using a working Debian 8 installation but decided to reformat and install Debian 9.

However, after completing the installation, it wouldn't configure Grub(2).

The Partition table is as follows:

Code:

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1            2048   1050623   1048576   512M 83 Linux #ext2 mounted on /boot
/dev/sda2         1050624  55166975  54116352  25.8G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT #Windows partition - empty
/dev/sda3        55169022 976766975 921597954 439.5G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5        55169024 317313023 262144000   125G 83 Linux #installation mounted on /
/dev/sda6       317315072 954238975 636923904 303.7G 83 Linux #home partition mounted on /home
/dev/sda7       954241024 976766975  22525952  10.8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris

On reboot, grub does not appear.

Booting from the installation USB I can drop down to the Grub> command line and can boot up to a working system by entering the grub commands as follows:

Code:

grub> set root=(hd1,5)
grub> linux (hd1,1)/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda5
grub> initrd (hd1,1)/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-3-amd64
grub> boot

However, I cannot install the bootloader.

Code:

dave@Lechuck:~$ sudo grub-install
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: error: cannot find EFI directory.
dave@Lechuck:~$

My /boot directory contains no efi directory:

Code:

dave@Lechuck:~$ ls /boot/
config-4.9.0-3-amd64  grub  initrd.img-4.9.0-3-amd64  lost+found  System.map-4.9.0-3-amd64  vmlinuz-4.9.0-3-amd64
dave@Lechuck:~$

How can I remedy this?

hydrurga · 06-27-2017, 11:55 AM

Are you booting your system as Legacy BIOS or EFI? If the latter, try the former.

cov · 06-27-2017, 12:58 PM

Thanks for the help.

The machine is a Lenovo Ideapad Z570 and apparently it runs EFI:

Code:

dave@Lechuck:~$ [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD" 
EFI boot on HDD
dave@Lechuck:~$

However, it doesn't seem possible to change this in the BIOS.

hydrurga · 06-27-2017, 01:05 PM

First of all, turn off Secure Boot on the security tab. Then see if the Legacy BIOS option appears under Boot mode on the Boot tab (or something like that, I don't have a Lenovo).

cov · 06-27-2017, 01:21 PM

Thanks, I'll look at that.

I've seen this:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

I wish I'd seen it before installing.

cov · 06-29-2017, 03:07 AM

What. A. Mission.

I thought I'd found the solution when I saw the boot-repair bootdisk, but that just trashed my root partition (fortunately the /home partition was untouched). No problem, though: rather than trying to restore my partition table, I booted up from my Debian installation USB and started again.

However, every time it failed right at the end of the installation when it couldn't install Grub.

I had prepared my sda1 partition as 500MB initially formatted as ext2, but it didn't like that. I changed it to EFI, but that still didn't work. I tried FAT32 without success. Even simply deleting the partition didn't work.

Eventually, I started from scratch without the partition, just 500MB freespace. This I specified as EFI and it finally worked.

Incidently, Hydrurga, there was no option in the SECURITY tab for changing to legacy BIOS, just an option for changing the BIOS password, from memory.

Thanks for trying, though.