Bug 1655254

I found a way to boot the system by using a rEFInd image on a USB stick. It loads the vmlinuz and initramfs fc29 images. This shows that the system is fine after upgrading from fedora 28 to 29. It pinpoints to a grub2 issue.
I tried to run `grub2-install -v /dev/sda' and it fails after copying:
/boot/grub2/x86_64-efi/core.efi to /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi with this error:
grub2-install: error: Can't create file: No such file or directory.
Not sure what file that is. I verified that ...core.efi and ...boot.efi do exist and are identical. So, it must be something else but not sure what it is.

Created attachment 1510778 [details]
rEFInd configuration file (refind_linux.conf)

For those who may experience this bug, I am providing the refind configuration file that I used.
This file (refind_linux.conf) needs to be located in the /boot directory.
The refind boot image can be downloaded from the web. It is refind-flashdrive-0.11.4.img at this time.
When booting with the USB stick, select the "EFI Boot", then "Boot vmlinuz-4...).
Hit F2 and move down to the line with options. Hit return to boot.
Hopefully, this is useful.

Reading the grub2 documentation, I realized that grub2-install should not be used on a UEFI system. I was able to fix this failure by booting the system with rEFInd and then doing this as root:
dnf reinstall grub2-efi shim
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
dnf reinstall grub2-efi
The system boots fine now.

(In reply to Jean-Paul Lambrechts from comment #2)
> Created attachment 1510778 [details]
> rEFInd configuration file (refind_linux.conf)
> 
> For those who may experience this bug, I am providing the refind
> configuration file that I used.
> This file (refind_linux.conf) needs to be located in the /boot directory.
> The refind boot image can be downloaded from the web. It is
> refind-flashdrive-0.11.4.img at this time.
> When booting with the USB stick, select the "EFI Boot", then "Boot
> vmlinuz-4...).
> Hit F2 and move down to the line with options. Hit return to boot.
> Hopefully, this is useful.

Hi Jean-Paul,
I'm experiencing same issue and I'm using your suggestion to solve this problem, but I'm not able to boot my fed29.
My question on rEFInd_linux.conf:
- How can I find root UUID?
I tried with the ones I have in the pc grup, even all those gave me from rEFInd parted tool.
I have disk partitioned with 3 parts: boot(fat) efi, and LVM with all the rest inside (home, root etc.).

Thanks in advance.

I used labels. Here is how I did it on a Macboot Air:
Boot with something like SystemRescueCd. Then run "lsblk" to verify what partitions you have.
Then run "blkid" to see if there is a label on your boot partition. If not, do:
- for ext2/3/4 file system: e2label <you_boot_partition> <your_volume_label>
  example: e2label /dev/sda2 macboot                      # this is on a hard disk partition
- for fat/vfat file system: fatlabel /dev/sdb1 bootair    # this is on a USB stick
Run blkid again to verify that the boot partition has a label now.
Then modify your refind.conf to be something like this:

timeout 8
scanfor external,optical,manual
also_scan_dirs +,bootair:EFI/Boot,macboot:EFI/Boot
dont_scan_dirs "Linux HFS+ ESP:/EFI/BOOT","Linux HFS+ ESP:/System"
scan_all_linux_kernels false
menuentry genTOO {
        icon /EFI/refind/icons/os_linux.png
        volume "macboot"
        loader /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
        ostype Linux
} 

You may have to change the paths to match your system configuration.
Good luck!

Fedora 29 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2019-11-26. Fedora 29 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

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