Failed to open \EFI\com.solus-project - Not Found

brent

WetGeek That could be causing EFI not to be found, but it's usually fixable. Please tell us more about your installation process. Other folks here can probably think of even more potential causes that haven't occurred to me. @brent, especially, is very experienced with solving these boot issues.

I am hit and miss but win some sometimes! but nice of you all the same, good sir!

a question for anyone---the .IMG probably comes with solus installer ( @BuzzPCSOS --note to self--have to get that great tool poweriso. Note to Buzz: you find the coolest sh**.)

traditionally the IMG is for grub install only? is that correct? that's the red-herring question.

maybe the/efi gets downloaded in the install?

BuzzPCSOS , but could the EFI directory be a historic requirement for early Legacy/UEFI machines.
ahhhhhhh. would maybe explain some things...but after install there'd be mountable boot drive anyway...but if BIOS is looking for it...then that's another story you are correct

CRAZY ALERT: I'm hypotheticalizing, follow me. what if you created the sda1 at 1GB, set flags, then chrooted into it from solus live. You could use the boot rescue page, mount the sda1 and install the boot & directory that way.

my only question with that method is does Solus require you to have /root (sda2) mounted as well? because at this hypothetical stage, you ain't got one. edit: this is a weird way to go about and the installer would have to like your work🙂
Sounds like one of those goofball things I would try and accidentally succeed at...

I agree with you that Solus belongs on that laptop and it will happen someday!

BuzzPCSOS

brent that surely is something. Not so sure I would be up to some of that stuff on my current skill-set but hey-ho I came here to learn....

BuzzPCSOS

WetGeek I probably mentioned this further up but there is a lot of information here now.
Install is Solus Plasma 4.6 onto a fully wiped (delete partition info) SSD, also tried hard drive. No other OS in sight.
Failed to open \EFI\BOOT\ -Not Found message flashes up on screen when booting Solus iso from UEFI boot selection when iso is loaded from DVD, Ventoy or Etcher.
After install Failed to open \EFI\com.solus-project -Not Found message flashes up during boot.
In both cases the OS boots into a NON-UEFI system. Everything works but I am unable to access any hard drive that has GPT format which is a feature I often use.
I can boot from Spiral OS iso straight into UEFI and when I install it is able to access GPT format hard drives. Spiral uses the same Calamares installer as Solus.
I had trouble finding out what.efi file Solus looks for when loading the iso but wondered if the message Failed to open \EFI\BOOT\ -Not Found might be a clue seeing as that directory did not seem to exist.
I have also used the same Solus iso on the same media to install Solus onto a more modern computer and achieved UEFI boot without any issues. From that I feel that I have proved my install media has been proven to work perfectly.
Additionally I can load a different distro onto my problem PC and achieve UEFI.
Perhaps all UEFI boots are not made equal, TBH I don't know. Currently my laptop is running fine in Legacy with a GRUB loader but the engineer in me still wants to know why won't it do what I tell it to?

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS I probably mentioned this further up but there is a lot of information here now.

Thanks for providing that. My knee-jerk reaction is to suspect the BIOS on this older computer. Perhaps a setting needs to be changed to allow this all to work right. That it's installed correctly and is working right on a newer computer seems to me to support that idea. (By the way, you're using the best DE that Solus supports - just my opinion, based on having used them all.)

If you take a look at your disk in KDE's Partition Manager, how does it look there? Something like this, from my Plasma laptop? Is anything missing there? This disk was automatically installed with Calameres, selecting the setting that erases the disk and creates a swap partition that supports hibernation. (That affects the size of the swap you need.)

BuzzPCSOS

WetGeek I have another modern laptop with Solus Plasma booting as UEFI. One of the first things I did was to compare the two. Very interesting as they were both pretty much identical and had been both installed using the erase disc button in the installer but despite the fat32 formatted EFI directory being written to both only the more modern one actually had a GPT formatted drive.
Tried all of the obvious BIOS settings. Secure boot is not supported so it's not that. Fast boot is set to thorough which is as close as it gets to disabled.
The rest of the bios is pretty much unfiddled with.
Maybe I should try manually setting the partition to GPT, set EFI, BOOT, HOME and SWAP and then use the use one partition option in the installer and see how that works out.
I will obviously be backing up my data again and trying some more options soon.

Axios

To me it seems a little pointless to worry about the Solus install at this point
when we know the live isnt booting properly.

I would be inclined to try making a live iso with dd or any dd based program

Note: Your burned live Solus has the (efi/boot dir)

So is this a bios error or other

Axios

Axios To add to my post the (efi/boot/bootx64.efi)
has the efi file to boot.

BuzzPCSOS

Axios Can't boot Solus as UEFI, can boot Spiral as UEFI so it seems to me that there is a different implementation of UEFI between the two OSs.
Just kicking around ideas as to what that might be.
No changes to BIOS but get different results.
This is not an attempt to dis Solus. To be fair Spiral was the only distro that I tried that would run and install as UEFI on my laptop. My motivation came when I thought wouldn't it be great if Solus could do that too.
The 'failed' message for the live and the installed versions of Solus are on screen for only a moment. Because the operating system does not actually fail to load but enters a compatibility mode where GPT is not supported it could be that many other users have the same issue but just haven't noticed.

BuzzPCSOS

WetGeek I need to make an apology. I thought that I reinstalled from scratch when 4.6 came along but I must have only updated and split one partition into /root and /home. I certainly remembered booting into 4.6 and changing stuff.
A while back when I was on 4.5 I had a UEFI install of Solus. At some point I noticed that I was getting a Failed to open \EFI\com.solus-project - Not Found warning during boot. Everything else worked and updates continued to work so I did not worry too much. However I could no longer mount GPT formatted hard drives from an external USB device which was a nuisance.
Trying to install from Solus 4.6 iso onto a clean disc will only allow me Legacy (BIOS and GPT) and I get GRUB loader when I boot. If I override the installer and force an install onto a hard drive set up for EFI my system is unable to find the boot path when rebooted. My current install boots onto a GPT formatted drive but I still cannot mount any external GPT drives.
For me the original Failed to open \EFI\com.solus-project - Not Found was when I lost the ability to boot as UEFI with Solus. However I can still achieve UEFI boot and install when I use Spiral Linux.

Axios it seems a little pointless to worry about the Solus install at this point
when we know the live isnt booting properly.

You have summed up the whole thing right there. If my BIOS is wrong why does Spiral work the way I want.

Solus - No EFI GPT option

Spiral - With EFI and GPT

Computer boot screen showing option for legacy or UEFI

EDIT: Yes the hard drives in the pictures are different, that was because I had put my SSD back in before I realised that a picture of the Spiral setup screen would be needed.

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS Maybe I should try manually setting the partition to GPT

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS Maybe I should try manually setting the partition to GPT

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it has to be GPT, and I could be wrong, but I don't think you can edit that property for an existing partition. I think it needs to be selected when the partition is created. I'd be really surprised to find that Calameres installer from Solus created a partition that's not GPT.

BuzzPCSOS

WetGeek Strange but true. I was pretty blown away by it too especially since the installer identified the install method as UEFI and GPT.
I'm not sure if there is a way to check if the disc is MBR or GPT from KDE Partition Manager which was why I devised the test of mounting a GPT format USB drive to prove Legacy or UEFI system.
When the efi partition was not found the ability to access a GPT drive was taken away meaning that my OS would fail to load. This did not happen. I could boot live and access the root partition from a legacy boot option.

All true, and I am a little confused. Please disregard the path length theory as it is pretty much disproved.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS I understand fully
My point was If the live does not boot into efi not sure the installation will be proper
and thats what appears to be happening.

I think if solus was booting proper it all would work.

Thats whats going through my mind about as far as I have got

Got try understand boot sequence better and whats maybe producing that error.

brent

BuzzPCSOS could it be as easy as CSM on or off? I needed it on the get solus on the toshiba from ventoy. but once I gave the bios a password it open up secret settings that weren't there before that I had to activate. I always thought it was strange that some bios come with hidden layers

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS I was pretty blown away by it too especially since the installer identified the install method as UEFI and GPT.

I'm totally out of ideas. If this were happening to me, we're at the the point where I would install from the Solus .ISO file one more time, being very careful to make every Calameres setting very carefully. I know for sure that your system requires a GPT partition table. Is this older computer one that you can do that?

BuzzPCSOS

brent Thanks for the suggestion.
As far as I can see Compatibility Support Module (CSM) is enabled by default because of the age of the laptop.
I can switch between UEFI and Legacy modes from within the BIOS.

BuzzPCSOS

WetGeek Thanks for your suggestions anyway. They certainly have given me some ideas to try in the near future.
My next plan is to remove my SSD and fit a hard drive.
Run the Solus in UEFI mode and take some screenshots of relevant places during install.
Use GPT formatted USB to test if Solus Live is in UEFI or Legacy
Try to mount the installed partition from within the Live environment.
If the install proves to be MBR then use KDE Partition Manager to wipe the drive, set GPT partition table and build EFI, Root, and Swap partitions to copy layout made by "erase disc" feature used above.
Re-enter the installer and try to use the "Replace a single partition" option to install Solus to Root.
Success to this point will depend on the installer having the same powers as Partition Manager to write to a GPT environment from within an MBR setup.
If everything spans out - Reboot, cross fingers and see what I get.

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS write to a GPT environment from within an MBR setup.

The part that I'm missing is, "why is this an MBR setup? Does your computer require that for some reason? If your purpose is to install Solus on a computer, what does MBR have to do with it? Solus' requirement is GPT.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS
Its not showing Uefi because of the efi/boot error.

Read back some if your using ventoy I would prob just burn iso direct and see what happens.

Why is it showing legacy Hdd you got Solus on it now?
When you have spiral installed does it show under Uefi boot.

brent

Axios Read back some if your using ventoy I would prob just burn iso direct and see what happens.

if he did not do that in this thread (forgot) I would recommend this too since a real usb iso behaves so much different than ventoy. I will remind you all of my track record: Ventoy laucn ISO/install bare metal iso= 50% success. Burned ISO than you can try distro and bare metal distro: 100% success. the mediums could be a variable. solus always successful on ventoy for me so now I am going backwards.

Axios (UEFI firmware fails to perform directory scan) so you get the (efi/boot) error
Why I have no idea at the moment
Note and since it cant find eufi it drops to bios which is what its suppose to do

some distros (arch) call it /boot/efi...who knows what installer is looking for.what is BIOS showing it?

@BuzzPCSOS leave target drive gpt but make no partitions and leave it all unallocated free space? that's worked for me.
when I ran into Satellite trouble I saw many people say make target drive brtfs...I did not.
your 'alongside options look weird. for solus pick NO Swap then make swap later that's the only way I got arch next to solus--don't ask.

the likely problem areas:
solus live
calmares in general
bios
destination drive
installation medium (ventoy or dedicated usb)

why haven't we ruled one of these out yet? if we rule one of these out the answer will fall like dominos methinks
sleepy brain cant move past that🙂 right now

Axios

I think at the moment this is what I think
(UEFI firmware fails to perform directory scan) so you get the (efi/boot) error
Why I have no idea at the moment
Note and since it cant find eufi it drops to bios which is what its suppose to do.

Seem like I went full circle..lol But after research understand better
Note am just talking about solus live.

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