What to do if my EFI folder is empty?

[javierdl]

Inside the boot folder I have 2 subfolders: grub, and efi.
However, the efi dir is empty! I suppose this is a problem.
Then, am I to create the missing ubuntu dir and the shimx64.efi file inside it?
If so, how?

I came to realize this while doing the usual bcdediting in Windows 10 to reconnect with the shimx64.efi file after using the Boot Repair Disk. Except bcdedit is failing to find such .efi file.

[ubfan1]

Is your efi partition mounted at /boot/efi? If not, then empty is what's expected.

[yancek]

EFI is on a separate partition of it's own and you should be able to determine which it is by running gparted (if installed) or with sudo parted -l. THis partition is where you would see the various efi files.

[oldfred]

Post this:
cat /etc/fstab

If the ESP - efi system partition is mounted with umask=0077, then it is hidden.
I think they changed from defaults for security reasons, but I change mine and Boot-Repair auto changes it to defaults so it can edit the ESP.

[javierdl]

Right, I think I found it. It's a FAT32 partition, flagged "boot, esp", right? It's on sdb1.
And yes, there I found the missing shimx64.efi file.

[javierdl]

oldfred,
This is what I've got with your command:


aufs / aufs re 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0

[oldfred]

That must be from live installer, not from your system.
You then need to mount your / partition whether sda1 or sdb1 or whatever partition it is

sudo parted -l
sudo mount /dev/sdXY/mnt
Where X is drive like a in sda and Y is partition like 2 in sda2

then
cat /mnt/etc/fstab

[javierdl]

ubuntu@ubuntu:/mnt/sdb1$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA Patriot Torch LE (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 120GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 473MB 472MB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, diag
2 473MB 578MB 105MB fat32 EFI system partition boot, esp
3 578MB 595MB 16.8MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
4 595MB 120GB 119GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata


Model: ATA WDC WD10EZEX-21M (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 538MB 537MB fat32 EF boot, esp
2 538MB 301GB 300GB ext4 Steam
3 301GB 615GB 315GB ext4 msftdata
4 615GB 992GB 377GB ext4
5 992GB 1000GB 8523MB linux-swap(v1) diag


Model: TOSHIBA External USB 3.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 106MB 2000GB 2000GB primary ntfs


Model: Lexar USB Flash Drive (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Flags
1 0.00B 32.0GB 32.0GB fat32




But this is what I am getting trying to mount sdb1:



ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1/mnt
mount: can't find /dev/sdb1/mnt in /etc/fstab

[yancek]

Put a space after sdb1: sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt (the -t vfat is the filesystem type which you probably don't need).

[hgfischer]

I'm having the same problem from the subject of this topic, but in a different context.

I have a working PXE setup for Ubuntu with BIOS/legacy mode, and now I need to make it work with EFI, because of big partitions.

I added some changes to the preseed file, to create the free 1MB, then the EFI partition, etc. The installation works, and I can check the partitioning made by the setup and confirm that it looks perfect. However, after installation has finished, there is nothing inside /boot/efi, and the system does not boot up. I always end up in a EFI shell during the restart, and from checking there I also can confirm that the EFI partition is empty.

Does anyone have any clue why this happens? I haven't found any documentation about this.