[SOLVED] No EFI partition found when installing Slackware14.2-64

Hello all, could you please help me with the following problem?
I have a Thinkpad with a 256GB NVMe which had Win10 pre-installed. Eventually I grew tired of the Windows so I decided to delete it and make a fresh install of Slackware. I did the following:
-Made a bootable ISO with the Slackware ISO
-Disabled secure boot
-Since the laptop uses UEFI and the partition table is GPT I used cgdisk to make my partitions
-I deleted everything including the existing ESP.
-I made an 100 MB ESP (EF00), I have also tried this with 500 MB and 1G,
same result; 2G swap partition (8200); the rest is for the root partition (8300).

Installation appears to have run smoothly except for one problem - the dialog telling me that an ESP is found does not appear at all (as seen here). When the installation is finished and I reboot, Slackware does not boot, it immediately goes to the GNU GRUB screen again, selecting the SSD to boot does nothing.

I have read threads about other problems concerning EFI and SSD but I'm not sure if they are related directly to my problem.

Thank you in advance.

Can you post the output from gdisk?

gdisk -l /dev/sda

Did you format the efi partition as fat32 before running setup?

The genuine Slackware installer for Slackware64-14.2 doesn't support installation on NVMe drives, but I have provided a workaround, see this post.

Originally Posted by jostber Can you post the output from gdisk?

Not sda but nvme0n1, screenshot attached, this is after installation

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 Did you format the efi partition as fat32 before running setup?

I don't think you can format it before setup, at least I haven't found out how.

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier The genuine Slackware installer for Slackware64-14.2 doesn't support installation on NVMe drives, but I have provided a workaround, see this post.

I tried it but the result was the same, sorry.
Ran your installer, which was on the /dev/sdc1 USB, it detected slackware on the other usb (/dev/sdc2)

Originally Posted by glava I tried it but the result was the same, sorry. Ran your installer, which was on the /dev/sdc1 USB, it detected slackware on the other usb (/dev/sdc2)

I don't understand what is this other usb. Is it the Slackware installer with all packages? If yes, please try again, this time wait until the SOURCE step before plugging in the Slackware USB stick. Also, before typing setup please type this command and give us the results:

lsblk -l -o name,type,size,parttype,fstype

Also, I don't understand how my installer can be on /dev/sdc1 and Slackware on /dev/sdc2 as /dev/sdc1 and /dev/sdc2 are two partitions of the same device /dev/sdc.

Last, if you have other drives (as it looks weird to have a device named /sd/sdc without others named /dev/sda and/dev/sdb), please tell us what they are.

Oh and I almost forgot: please check that you have a file or directory named /sys/firmware/efi before running setup. If not, that would mean that the machine booted in Legacy mode, not in EFI mode, in which case the installer doesn't look for an EFI partition.

PS the link you provided in your first post is broken. Could you please fix it?

I don't think you can format it before setup, at least I haven't found out how.

mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1

You need to format your ESP partition. Although you did designate it as type EF00, it still maintains the file system of your old Window 10 install,which is not FAT. The Slackware installer has a bug that does detects the EF00 partition but only checks to see if it is formatted, but does not distinguish which file system it is formatted as. Later on the installer fails to install elilo because the ESP is not formatted as FAT file system. So format the ESP before you run the installer:

mkfs.vfat /dev/nvme0n1p1

then use Didier installer to install Slackware.

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier I don't understand what is this other usb. Is it the Slackware installer with all packages? If yes, please try again, this time wait until the SOURCE step before plugging in the Slackware USB stick. Also, before typing setup please type this command and give us the results: lsblk -l -o name,type,size,parttype,fstype Also, I don't understand how my installer can be on /dev/sdc1 and Slackware on /dev/sdc2 as /dev/sdc1 and /dev/sdc2 are two partitions of the same device /dev/sdc. Last, if you have other drives (as it looks weird to have a device named /sd/sdc without others named /dev/sda and/dev/sdb), please tell us what they are. Oh and I almost forgot: please check that you have a file or directory named /sys/firmware/efi before running setup. If not, that would mean that the machine booted in Legacy mode, not in EFI mode, in which case the installer doesn't look for an EFI partition. PS the link you provided in your first post is broken. Could you please fix it?

There are 2 usb's - the slackware installer and your installer and they are sda and sdc or sdb and sdc, so that was a mistake on my side.

Anyway, I have a sys/firmware/efi folder filled with whatnot, the output from lsblk is in the 1st attachment - sdb is the flash drive with your installer.

I tried installing the way you explained it - with and without formatting the ESP beforehand. Formatting the ESP (mkfs.vfat) changed my disk label to dos - 2nd screenshot. When I started the setup I received this message - 3rd screenshot, so I quit. I changed it back to gpt with parted.

The furthest I've got is when I didn't format the ESP - it asked me to format it before starting the installation - 4th screenshot.

Everything ran smoothly, after installing the packages it asked me if I wanted to make Slackware directly bootable - here I've tried both options - if I refuse then everything is as it was before, nothing happens when I boot the SSD. If I accept - Slackware now appears as a bootable device, but it boots me in console mode (not GUI) - 5th screenshot.

I've fixed the link.

Originally Posted by glava If I accept - Slackware now appears as a bootable device, but it boots me in console mode (not GUI) - 5th screenshot.

That's not an issue. When logged in as root, first create a regular user typing the command adduser and answering questions (when asked, do accept to make this user member of additional groups as proposed to get a functional desktop). Then logout typing exit or pressing Ctrl+d, login as regular user and type startx to start the graphical environment you chose during installation (and that yo can also change typing xwmconfig as regular user).

If you want to boot into gui edit /etc/inittab and change run level from 3 to 4 after adding user and user. It isn't good to login gui as root

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier That's not an issue. When logged in as root, first create a regular user typing the command adduser and answering questions (when asked, do accept to make this user member of additional groups as proposed to get a functional desktop). Then logout typing exit or pressing Ctrl+d, login as regular user and type startx to start the graphical environment you chose during installation (and that yo can also change typing xwmconfig as regular user).

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 If you want to boot into gui edit /etc/inittab and change run level from 3 to 4 after adding user and user. It isn't good to login gui as root

I've now entered the graphical environment!
Thank you for the fast replies and for all your help!

Be sure to mark the thread as "solved," so others who are willing to help don't have to read through it to find out you no longer need any Glad you got her going though.