Failed to install bootloader from graphical installer

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1

Hi all,

I am trying to install NixOs from USB drive via the graphical installer. It seem to install fine, but fails only when it comes to the bootloader. Here is what I have done so far:

  • I checked that system is using UEFI
  • I disabled Secure boot state in UEFI settings
  • I disabled CSM in UEFI settings
  • I checked if there are other boot partitions present. There are none.
  • I looked inside the desired boot partition and there is are 1. EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI 2. EFI/Linux/ which is empty and 3. EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi
  • Here are the logs.

I also did some variations with the CSM / secure boot settings without success. As far as I see NixOs is build and ready, because the installation is failing fast. Only the boot loader cannot be installed. My mainboard is a ASUS Z97-AR.

Any help is very welcome.

2

Here is the relevant error in that log:

Failed to write 'LoaderSystemToken' EFI variable: Invalid argument"

That’s rather surprising, and indicates buggy firmware. Regardless, you can fix this by setting boot.loader.systemd-boot.graceful = true; to make the error non-fatal, or by setting boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = false; to avoid it altogether. Though disabling canToucheEfiVariables will prevent adding NixOS to the UEFI boot order, relying on the firmware to boot the fallback $ESP/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI loader that NixOS will try to manage, and some firmwares won’t do this if there’s any other OS to boot.

3 Likes
3

Thank you for your explanation and suggestions. I try to flash my firmware to the most current version that hopefully is less buggy.

A more basic question arises from this: How do I add this lines as I use the graphical installer via USB till now. Where do the configuration files live (USB/RAM/…) and how do I start the rebuild with them. I am only used to nixos-rebuild switch after the installation was successful and the system is ready for tweaking. I searched a little bit and found some instruction via chroot. It’s not clear to me how this works and if it is necessary.

Thanks for guidance in advance.