Move EFI to bigger partition

[rofrol]

Because systemd-boot stores linux kernel and initrd on EFI partition, I am occasionally forced to nix-collect-garbage -d, so sudo nixos-rebuild switch does not output ‘No space left on device’.

There are some ways to deal with fulled EFI partition:

• What to do with a full /boot partition? - #11 by zarel
• What do I risk by using nixos-unstable? - #9 by peterhoeg
• https://github.com/rofrol/nixfiles/blob/3cf568599e3507a66dde972d0cddf5d48ef10c0f/hosts/msi-laptop/configuration.nix
• use grub

But I want to deal with this problem by moving EFI partition to another place on disk where there is more room. I don’t want to enlarge current EFI partition because I don’t want to move Windows partition or MSR.

For that I would use this answer linux - How to enlarge Windows 10 EFI partition - Super User.

I would also need gparted from unstable https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/8a308775674e178495767df90c419425474582a1/pkgs/tools/misc/gparted/default.nix as it has support for mtools and dosfstools.

Though in the above answer, author had issue:

It was working, but since the 100MB old partition was still being recognized as ‘system’ in Windows Disk Manager and using it. Loaded EasyUEFI, chose the Rebuild Windows System partition option, select the boot partition (C: drive) and the system partition (esp), and it will rebuild correctly. Windows was then recognizing the 500MB partition as ESP Boot System and Windows 10 boots up correctly. I was able to delete the 100MB old partition. You might be able to do the same thing without using EasyUEFI via command line, but this was quicker and easier.

Do you know how to make it work without using EasyUEFI or using windows command line?

Or even better using linux tools?

Maybe reusing old UUID is enough like here linux - How to resize the EFI System Partition? - Super User by @matklad.

I have found this answer to recreate EFI with windows tools How to restore windows 10 boot after Microsoft folder has been deleted from the EFI partition? - Super User.

Or maybe just bcdboot C:\Windows is enough like here boot - UEFI not recognising EFI partition: no booting options - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange ?

[matklad]

That SO answer was in the context of me solving exactly the same problem. On my side, I think I’ve just moved windows partitions (including MSR) using gparted, and nothing seems to have been obviously broken

[rofrol]

Thanks. Let me check then.

[TLATER]

@rofrol

Do you know how to make it work without using EasyUEFI or using windows command line?

efibootmgr is the way to do it through Linux. As a word of warning, I’ve semi-fried a buggy motherboard with that command before, though I guess EFI motherboards are more stable nowadays?

[rofrol]

Interesting. Do you have example where someone moves EFI partition?

[TLATER]

No, sadly. There might be something out there, but I stuck to the manual and figuring it out by hand.

It should be fairly straightforward, make a new partition, copy over the contents, set your system to boot from the new one using efibootmgr while being careful to keep the original around so that you can use a rescue disk to set it back to the original partition, and then once you’ve verified it’s all working delete the old partition.

That is the theory I think, the devil is in the details. You’ll likely have to change some of your nixos config for this to work (mainly fstab configuration), and I don’t know enough about windows boot to guarantee this will (still) work there - it might also have state elsewhere that refers to the old partition.

I just know that efibootmgr is how you set efi vars from Linux, and that a few years ago I just about succeeded with this exact problem while making my motherboard unable to change its boot order again

[rofrol]

$ sgdisk -u 1:2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f /dev/nvme0n1p8

***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. 
***************************************************************

Non-GPT disk; not saving changes. Use -g to override.

[rofrol]

I have successfuly (I hope) changed PARTUUID with gdisk based on this boot - How to change PARTUUID? - Ask Ubuntu but now I cannot set UUID:

$ gdisk /dev/nvme0n1
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.7

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): ?
b	back up GPT data to a file
c	change a partition's name
d	delete a partition
i	show detailed information on a partition
l	list known partition types
n	add a new partition
o	create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
p	print the partition table
q	quit without saving changes
r	recovery and transformation options (experts only)
s	sort partitions
t	change a partition's type code
v	verify disk
w	write table to disk and exit
x	extra functionality (experts only)
?	print this menu

Command (? for help): x

Expert command (? for help): ?
a	set attributes
c	change partition GUID
d	display the sector alignment value
e	relocate backup data structures to the end of the disk
f	randomize disk and partition unique GUIDs
g	change disk GUID
h	recompute CHS values in protective/hybrid MBR
i	show detailed information on a partition
j	move the main partition table
l	set the sector alignment value
m	return to main menu
n	create a new protective MBR
o	print protective MBR data
p	print the partition table
q	quit without saving changes
r	recovery and transformation options (experts only)
s	resize partition table
t	transpose two partition table entries
u	replicate partition table on new device
v	verify disk
w	write table to disk and exit
z	zap (destroy) GPT data structures and exit
?	print this menu

Expert command (? for help): c
Partition number (1-8): 8
Enter the partition's new unique GUID ('R' to randomize): 2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f
New GUID is 2B95E4AA-736E-45A8-B654-9330261C002F

Expert command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 2000409264 sectors, 953.9 GiB
Model: Lexar 1TB SSD                           
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): DE6B70B1-1E09-4975-8BBA-495DE4091F63
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 2000409230
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 6091373 sectors (2.9 GiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048          616447   300.0 MiB   0700  Basic data partition
   2          616448          821247   100.0 MiB   0700  EFI System Partition
   3          821248         1083391   128.0 MiB   0C01  Microsoft reserved ...
   4         1083392       254789631   121.0 GiB   0700  Basic data partition
   5       254789632      1795608575   734.7 GiB   0700  Basic data partition
   6      1795608576      1949990911   73.6 GiB    8300  
   7      1949990912      1990223871   19.2 GiB    8300  
   8      1996312576      2000408575   2.0 GiB     0700  

Expert command (? for help): w

Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/nvme0n1.
Warning: The kernel is still using the old partition table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you
run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
The operation has completed successfully.

$ partprobe

$ blkid 
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: UUID="1563-4529" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

$ mkfs.fat -i DCF7-772A -F32 /dev/nvme0n1p8
mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
Volume ID must be a hexadecimal number

[rofrol]

Removing dash worked:

$ mkdosfs -i DCF7772A /dev/nvme0n1p8
mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

[rofrol]

now label based on partition - How can I change the volume name of a FAT32 filesystem? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

$ fatlabel /dev/nvme0n1p8 SYSTEM

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

[rofrol]

parted worked based on this Is it safe to change the name of a partition in a gpt table using parted? - Server Fault and this Parted - ArchWiki

$ parted /dev/nvme0n1p8 name "EFI System Partition"
Error: loop disk labels do not support partition name.
                                                                          
$ parted
GNU Parted 3.4
Using /dev/nvme0n1
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print                                                            
Model: Lexar 1TB SSD (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 1024GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name                          Flags
 1      1049kB  316MB   315MB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 2      316MB   420MB   105MB   fat32        EFI System Partition          msftdata
 3      420MB   555MB   134MB                Microsoft reserved partition  msftres
 4      555MB   130GB   130GB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 5      130GB   919GB   789GB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 6      919GB   998GB   79,0GB  ext4
 7      998GB   1019GB  20,6GB  ext4
 8      1022GB  1024GB  2097MB  fat32        EFI System Partition          msftdata

(parted) name 8 "EFI System Partition"                                    
(parted) quit                                                             

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

[rofrol]

Final time. I have changed flags for new partition to boot and esp in gparted.

$ mkdir /boot-old
$ mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /boot-old
$ mount /dev/nvme0n1p8 /boot
$ ls /boot-old/
 Boot   bootmgr   BOOTNXT   EFI   loader   mach_kernel   System  'System Volume Information'

$ cp -r /boot-old/. /boot/
$ ls /boot/
 Boot   bootmgr   BOOTNXT   EFI   loader   mach_kernel   System  'System Volume Information'

[rofrol]

Now I will reboot. Wish me luck:

$ fatlabel /dev/nvme0n1p2 SYSTEMOLD
0x41: Dirty bit is set. Fs was not properly unmounted and some data may be corrupt.
 Automatically removing dirty bit.

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEMOLD" LABEL="SYSTEMOLD" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

$ parted
GNU Parted 3.4
Using /dev/nvme0n1
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) name 2 "EFI System Partition OLD"
(parted) quit                                                             

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEMOLD" LABEL="SYSTEMOLD" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition OLD" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

$ gdisk /dev/nvme0n1
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.7

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): x

Expert command (? for help): c
Partition number (1-8): 2
Enter the partition's new unique GUID ('R' to randomize): R
New GUID is 4F264EA1-25E5-4309-98D9-79FF1DBE046D

Expert command (? for help): w

Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/nvme0n1.
Warning: The kernel is still using the old partition table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you
run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
The operation has completed successfully.

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEMOLD" LABEL="SYSTEMOLD" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition OLD" PARTUUID="4f264ea1-25e5-4309-98d9-79ff1dbe046d"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

$ umount /dev/nvme0n1p2

$ mkdosfs -i DCF7772B /dev/nvme0n1p2
mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)

$ blkid 
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="DCF7-772B" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition OLD" PARTUUID="4f264ea1-25e5-4309-98d9-79ff1dbe046d"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

in hardware-configuraiton.nix I have this:

  fileSystems."/boot" =
    { device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/DCF7-772A";
      fsType = "vfat";
    };

so it should work.

[rofrol]

Ups. Windows cleared old efi partition and on new efi partition there is only Windows.

$ mkdir /boot-old

$ mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /boot-old/

$ ls /boot-old/
'$RECYCLE.BIN'  'System Volume Information'

$ blkid 
/dev/sda1: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="1980-01-01-00-00-00-00" LABEL="nixos-gnome-21.05-x86_64" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="9fb6382f" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="9fb6382f-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL_FATBOOT="EFIBOOT" LABEL="EFIBOOT" UUID="1234-5678" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="9fb6382f-02"
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="DCF7-772B" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition OLD" PARTUUID="4f264ea1-25e5-4309-98d9-79ff1dbe046d"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"

$ efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0002,0001
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager	HD(8,GPT,2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f,0x76fd5000,0x3e8000)/File(\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0001  UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/CDROM(1,0x307c,0x2c000)..BO
Boot0002* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07, Partition 2	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/HD(2,MBR,0x9fb6382f,0x307c,0xb000)..BO

$ mount | grep efivars
efivarfs on /sys/firmware/efi/efivars type efivarfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)

$ mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt

[nix-shell:~]# mount /dev/disk/by-uuid/
1234-5678                             381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b  4E98FE2698FE0C69                      CC242F3B242F2842                      DCF7-772B                             
1980-01-01-00-00-00-00                3C7CF7997CF74C60                      a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a  DCF7-772A                             

$ mount /dev/disk/by-uuid/DCF7-772A /mnt/boot

$ ls /mnt/boot
 Boot   bootmgr   BOOTNXT   EFI   loader   mach_kernel   System  'System Volume Information'

$ cp -r /mnt/boot /mnt/boot-backup 

$ ls /boot-old/
'$RECYCLE.BIN'  'System Volume Information'

$ blkid 
/dev/sda1: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="1980-01-01-00-00-00-00" LABEL="nixos-gnome-21.05-x86_64" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="9fb6382f" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="9fb6382f-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL_FATBOOT="EFIBOOT" LABEL="EFIBOOT" UUID="1234-5678" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="9fb6382f-02"
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="DCF7-772B" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition OLD" PARTUUID="4f264ea1-25e5-4309-98d9-79ff1dbe046d"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

$ ls /boot-old/System\ Volume\ Information/
IndexerVolumeGuid  WPSettings.dat

$ ls /mnt/boot/
Boot/                      bootmgr                    BOOTNXT                    EFI/                       loader/                    mach_kernel                System/                    System Volume Information/

$ ls /mnt/boot/loader/
entries/     loader.conf  random-seed  

$ nixos-rebuild --install-bootloader switch
building Nix...
building the system configuration...
these derivations will be built:
  /nix/store/8d5hjcf83ljyvifav5ranj0z6f1iwl1l-nixos-21.05.4044.e74894146a4.drv
  /nix/store/c2b2sm2qq8320w3nq75liyml13mrwy16-configuration.nix.drv
  /nix/store/9g2l7jcr31751c4v9x6scdxhpbjarc5q-local-cmds.drv
  /nix/store/3nkys7y1y3wkmc1d3wz0azsdk1g0k5vw-stage-2-init.sh.drv
  /nix/store/kyvmvv4rpgknwh3bf2cp3qnijfjj4z21-nixos-system-nixos-21.05.4044.e74894146a4.drv
building '/nix/store/c2b2sm2qq8320w3nq75liyml13mrwy16-configuration.nix.drv'...
building '/nix/store/8d5hjcf83ljyvifav5ranj0z6f1iwl1l-nixos-21.05.4044.e74894146a4.drv'...
building '/nix/store/9g2l7jcr31751c4v9x6scdxhpbjarc5q-local-cmds.drv'...
building '/nix/store/3nkys7y1y3wkmc1d3wz0azsdk1g0k5vw-stage-2-init.sh.drv'...
building '/nix/store/kyvmvv4rpgknwh3bf2cp3qnijfjj4z21-nixos-system-nixos-21.05.4044.e74894146a4.drv'...
Warning: do not know how to make this configuration bootable; please enable a boot loader.
activating the configuration...
setting up /etc...
reloading user units for nixos...
setting up tmpfiles

$ reboot

[rofrol]

Once again. Trying this https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Bootloader:

$ efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0002,0001
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager	HD(8,GPT,2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f,0x76fd5000,0x3e8000)/File(\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0001  UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/CDROM(1,0x307c,0x2c000)..BO
Boot0002* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07, Partition 2	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/HD(2,MBR,0x9fb6382f,0x307c,0xb000)..BO

$ mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt

$ mount /dev/disk/by- /mnt/boot
by-id/        by-label/     by-partlabel/ by-partuuid/  by-path/      by-uuid/      

$ mount /dev/disk/by-uuid/DCF7-772A /mnt/boot

$ ls /mnt/boot
 Boot   bootmgr   BOOTNXT   EFI   loader   mach_kernel   System  'System Volume Information'

$ vim foo.sh

$ bash foo.sh
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
	LANGUAGE = (unset),
	LC_ALL = (unset),
	LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").
Copied "/nix/store/9sl5iy49gm5wyhn60c1bi7xq2ngxw195-systemd-247.6/lib/systemd/boot/efi/systemd-bootx64.efi" to "/boot/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi".
Copied "/nix/store/9sl5iy49gm5wyhn60c1bi7xq2ngxw195-systemd-247.6/lib/systemd/boot/efi/systemd-bootx64.efi" to "/boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI".
Random seed file /boot/loader/random-seed successfully written (512 bytes).
Created EFI boot entry "Linux Boot Manager".

[rofrol]

Restore nixos as default:

$ efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0003,0002,0001
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager	HD(8,GPT,2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f,0x76fd5000,0x3e8000)/File(\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0001  UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/CDROM(1,0x307c,0x2c000)..BO
Boot0002* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07, Partition 2	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(3,0)/HD(2,MBR,0x9fb6382f,0x307c,0xb000)..BO
Boot0003* Linux Boot Manager	HD(8,GPT,2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f,0x76fd5000,0x3e8000)/File(\EFI\SYSTEMD\SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI)

$ sudo efibootmgr -o 3
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0003
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager
Boot0001  UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07
Boot0002* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 8.07, Partition 2
Boot0003* Linux Boot Manager

[rofrol]

$ df -h /boot
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/nvme0n1p8  2,0G   68M  1,9G   4% /boot

@matklad So I have moved to EFI but it was a bumpy road.

Windows somehow discovered that EFI is in new place and cleared other entries. Or maybe it was UEFI?

[rofrol]

This is how to name partition using command mode. If you have spaces in name, you need to enclose them with single quote.
Without single quotes, help was printed, and parittion name was changed to first word.

$ parted /dev/nvme0n1 -- name 2 "To delete"
Usage: parted [OPTION]... [DEVICE [COMMAND [PARAMETERS]...]...]
Apply COMMANDs with PARAMETERS to DEVICE.  If no COMMAND(s) are given, run in
interactive mode.
...

$  parted -sm /dev/nvme0n1 print
BYT;
/dev/nvme0n1:1024GB:nvme:512:512:gpt:Lexar 1TB SSD:;
1:1049kB:316MB:315MB:ntfs:Basic data partition:msftdata;
2:316MB:420MB:105MB:fat16:To:msftdata;
...

$ parted -s /dev/nvme0n1 -- name 2 "'To delete'"

$ blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL="Windows RE tools" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C7CF7997CF74C60" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="593e6f89-fa68-472f-85d7-b6fe1dbb2e56"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="DCF7-772B" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="To delete" PARTUUID="4f264ea1-25e5-4309-98d9-79ff1dbe046d"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="4E98FE2698FE0C69" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="916bd45a-eaf0-4a13-83a6-054828309907"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Dane" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="CC242F3B242F2842" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="97257a5d-c2b0-48c7-a3f3-c1aa0da7076a"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: LABEL="nixos" UUID="a86a408b-2039-4002-bb13-ae15ae3d6d1a" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a529a036-1e3c-4f5f-af32-6702890eb8b4"
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="debian" UUID="381b1f3e-67b9-46af-8ad9-dace488e197b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a141548b-5cb7-43e8-ac0a-08c149f18a10"
/dev/nvme0n1p8: LABEL_FATBOOT="SYSTEM" LABEL="SYSTEM" UUID="DCF7-772A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="2b95e4aa-736e-45a8-b654-9330261c002f"
/dev/sda1: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="1980-01-01-00-00-00-00" LABEL="nixos-gnome-21.05-x86_64" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="9fb6382f" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="9fb6382f-01"
/dev/sda2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL_FATBOOT="EFIBOOT" LABEL="EFIBOOT" UUID="1234-5678" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="9fb6382f-02"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="5d833726-0e87-430b-b015-dd511b387b19"

$ parted -sm /dev/nvme0n1 print
BYT;
/dev/nvme0n1:1024GB:nvme:512:512:gpt:Lexar 1TB SSD:;
1:1049kB:316MB:315MB:ntfs:Basic data partition:msftdata;
2:316MB:420MB:105MB:fat16:To delete:msftdata;
3:420MB:555MB:134MB::Microsoft reserved partition:msftres;
4:555MB:130GB:130GB:ntfs:Basic data partition:msftdata;
5:130GB:919GB:789GB:ntfs:Basic data partition:msftdata;
6:919GB:998GB:79,0GB:ext4::;
7:998GB:1019GB:20,6GB:ext4::;
8:1022GB:1024GB:2097MB:fat32:EFI System Partition:boot, esp;

Thanks to this partitioning - How to use parted in a script, and get a blank PARTLABEL? - Ask Ubuntu

More on parted:

• linux - Scripteable GPT partitions using parted - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
• linux - how to achieve optimal alignment for emmc partition? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

[TLATER]

@rofrol

Windows somehow discovered that EFI is in new place and cleared other entries. Or maybe it was UEFI?

That’s a nice observation! I’ve seen similar behavior before, I suspect Windows ran through its bootloader installation because something was a bit off, and proceeded to wipe grub in the process. Re-installing windows will do much the same to a multiboot system.