sudo dnf install systemd-boot
sudo bootctl install
sudo dnf install edk2-ext4
sudo mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/systemd/drivers
sudo cp /usr/share/edk2/drivers/ext4x64.efi cp /usr/share/edk2/drivers/ext4x64.efi
sudo reboot
Fedora installs with grub out of the box. However Fedora uses loader files for grub, as it would for systemd-boot.
This is probably also why grub-customizer doesn't work with Fedora (but I have not confirmed this, so it may very well be wrong).
The default installation of Fedora with grub creates a separate /boot partition. It is on this partition that all boot files (except for the EFI stub) are kept.
root@brahe:/boot# ls
config-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64
efi
EFI
grub2
initramfs-0-rescue-fd4a0a17b4024e6cb4139c8b1d44dfe6.img
initramfs-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64.img
loader
lost+found
refind_linux.conf
symvers-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64.xz
System.map-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64
vmlinuz-0-rescue-fd4a0a17b4024e6cb4139c8b1d44dfe6
vmlinuz-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64
The two kernes vmlinuz-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64 and vmlinuz-0-rescue-fd4a0a17b4024e6cb4139c8b1d44dfe6 are there, along with their initrd files, and the loader folder is also there.
Inside the loader folder we have the entries folder and in that we have:
root@brahe:/boot/loader/entries# ls
fd4a0a17b4024e6cb4139c8b1d44dfe6-0-rescue.conf
fd4a0a17b4024e6cb4139c8b1d44dfe6-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64.conf
The two loader config files for each of the two kernels is there:
root@brahe:/boot/loader/entries# cat fd4a0a17b4024e6cb4139c8b1d44dfe6-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64.conf
title Fedora Linux (6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64) 40 (Workstation Edition)
version 6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64
linux /vmlinuz-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64
initrd /initramfs-6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64.img
options root=UUID=81489d94-dba1-4898-926a-a1211da509ca ro rootflags=subvol=root rhgb quiet
grub_users $grub_users
grub_arg --unrestricted
grub_class fedora
All these files (kernel, initrd, loader folder and entry configs), on a default systemd-boot install are located in the EFI partition, inside /boot/efi (if that's the mount point for it, as it is with Fedora, but not with Arch -it's /efi)
systemd-boot cannot read file on partitions outside of its own. So neither the loader files, nor the kernel/initrds will be loaded. It just won't work.
Since systemd-boot 250, it can load EFI drivers so that it can access different partitions with different filesystems to the default FAT32.
This is documented in the systemd-boot github page here.
Fedora uses ext4 for the /boot partition, so this guide is currently limitted to ext4 only.
The EFI driver for the filesystem should be found in EFI/systemd/drivers folder. It will be loaded before the loader entries, and that's a good thing because these too are in the /boot folder.
How dows systemd-boot know where is the /boot partition? It looks for the correct GUID. These are listed at the updated discoverable partitions specification.
The /boot partition is what is known system-wise as XBOOTLDR (from extended boot loader) and has a GUID of bc13c2ff-59e6-4262-a352-b275fd6f7172.
Check your partitions have the correct GUID's. Apparently Fedora has a bug and anacoda, during installation, may not give the correct GUIDs.
root@brahe:~# lsblk -o +parttype
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS PARTTYPE
zram0 252:0 0 8G 0 disk [SWAP]
nvme0n1 259:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 600M 0 part /boot/efi c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 1G 0 part /boot bc13c2ff-59e6-4262-a352-b275fd6f7172
└─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 236.9G 0 part /home 0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4
/
There it is, /dev/nvme0n1p2 in my case. While you're here, check that the GUID for the EFI partition and the rest of data check out. They do.
sudo dnf install systemd-boot-unsigned
This should do it.
On default systemd-boot installations of Fedora, the application sdubby is used as a replacement for grubby. What this does is to place the kernel/initrd and loader files in the correct location for systemd-boot, which is on the EFI partition. Since your EFI partition is rather small, as is the case when you use grub by default, you may want to keep your kernel/initrd and loader files on the /boot partition. *Keeping grubby will do this for you.
If you (have to) remove grubby and install sdubby, after the first kernel upgrade, all files are moved to the EFI partition, so the EFI drivers are no longer needed.
You could technically install Fedora, install systemd-boot and replace grubby with sdubby, do a dnf update to install the new kernel, and completely save yourself from all this process mentioned here.
In any event, that's how it's done, just understand the difference.
sudo dnf remove grubby
sudo dnf install sdubby
To install the boot loader, do:
sudo bootctl install
This will place the EFI stub in the EFI partition:
root@brahe:/boot/efi/EFI# ls systemd/
systemd-bootx64.efi
This has also created a boot option in your bios named Linux Boot Manager.
Now, if you reboot at this point, and select Linux Boot Manager, depending on your bios, you will see either:
- A menu with the only option to enter the uefi menu (the bios)
- Nothing, the system will just proceed to the next working boot option, probably adding a delay to your boot process
The reason for that is that systemd-boot cannot see the loader files.
First make the folder for the drivers
sudo mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/systemd/drivers
There are 3 different drivers I've tried:
- EFIFS
- rEFInd
- EDK2
EFIFs provides a comprehensive list of drivers for many filesystems. You can install it with sudo dnf install efifs and it will place an efifs folder in /boot/efi/EFI.
root@brahe:/boot/efi/EFI# ls efifs/
affs.efi cbfs.efi ext2.efi hfsplus.efi minix2.efi minix.efi odc.efi sfs.efi ufs1_be.efi zfs.efi
afs.efi cpio_be.efi f2fs.efi iso9660.efi minix3_be.efi newc.efi procfs.efi squash4.efi ufs1.efi
bfs.efi cpio.efi fat.efi jfs.efi minix3.efi nilfs2.efi reiserfs.efi tar.efi ufs2.efi
btrfs.efi exfat.efi hfs.efi minix2_be.efi minix_be.efi ntfs.efi romfs.efi udf.efi xfs.efi
However, I have not managed to get systemd-boot to use these drivers. Obviously you need to copy those you need to your systemd/drivers folder.
But still, systemd-boot will not (pre)load them.
I can manually load the ext2.efi driver from my HP crappy (boot to efi file) bios, or using UEFI utilities (not covered here). Once the driver is loaded, I can load systemd-boot and it will immediately see the loader files and produce a menu to boot Fedora from.
So the system works, but systemd-boot will not load the EFIFS driver.
You can install rEFInd with sudo dnf install rEFInd and then install the bootmanager with sudo refind-install.
This will place all files in the EFI partition.
root@brahe:/boot/efi/EFI# ls -R refind
refind:
BOOT.CSV drivers_x64 icons keys refind.conf refind_x64.efi vars
refind/drivers_x64:
ext4_x64.efi
[... more files follow ... truncated]
This will also create a new boot option in your bios, named rEFInd Boot Manager. But that's not what you're here for, althoug rEFInd is a great boot manager.
Refind also placed an ext4 driver, but sadly it doesn't work. It won't load automatically by systmed-boot and even if I load it, systemd-boot won't see the loaders or the /boot partition.
I will revisit this later, as I may have missed something.
There is more to EDK2 than its ext4 driver. You also get the uefi shell tools with it. Not required here but I mention it anyway.
Install with:
sudo dnf install edk2-ext4
The driver is placed in /usr/share/edk2/drivers/.
So:
sudo cp /usr/share/edk2/drivers/ext4x64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/systemd/drivers/
You only need ext4x64.efi as the other two are for other architectures.
You can also copy the shell tool to have access to it from systemd-boot menu:
sudo cp /usr/share/edk2/ovmf/Shell.efi /boot/efi/shellx64.efi
Note it's copied in the /boot/efi folder, not /boot/efi/EFI. The name change is required.
That's it. If you reboot now, systemd-boot will preload the driver, see the loader config files and boot the kernel from /boot. Success.
Note, if you only need to install Shell.efi, you can just do:
sudo dnf install edk2-ovmf-20240524-3.fc39.noarch
And you can find it in /usr/share/edk2/ovmf.
The arch wiki (point 3.2 here) suggests this:
As of version 250, systemd ships with systemd-boot-update.service. Enabling this service will update the bootloader upon the next boot.
I haven't looked into what this does, but I will soon.