I have been trying unsuccessfully for months to install Linux Ubuntu from time to time because I want to move away from Windows completely. However, I keep encountering a series of issues that I ultimately cannot resolve alone, which is, of course, very frustrating.
What are my machine’s specifications?
- Type: DesktopPC
- Name: Fujitsu Celsius M740 Power
- CPU: E5-1650 v4 3,6 GHz
- RAM Memory: 32 GB
- GPU: 2x NVIDIA Quadro M2000
- BIOS: American Megatrends Version 2.17.1249 (Aptio Setup Utility)
What am I trying to achieve?
I want to set up a dual-boot system with Windows 11. I still use Windows a lot because of software like CAD and other programs that are only available on Windows, as well as all the Office-related work.
I bought a new 500 GB SSD (Crucial) to install Linux Ubuntu on it separately.
What steps have I taken:
- Downloaded the iso for ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64 (LTS version) and flashed a stick with balenaEtcher (I also used Rufus).
- Shut down my computer and physically disconnected the SSD with Win 11 all well as all other HDD’s (for the sake of peace of mind)
- Booted from the usb stick and installed Linux Ubuntu. So far so good.
As far as I understand, I am essentially performing a clean new installation. At this point, Linux doesn’t yet know that it should be set up for dual boot with Windows 11. It will only recognize this once I reconnect the Windows drive, reboot, and update GRUB in Linux. However, I never get that far to update GRUB.
What issues have occurred:
The main problem is that I can’t boot Linux on its own without the USB boot stick.
After the installation I’ve restarted my computer. I was told to remove the boot stick and then confirm this with ENTER.
The computer then shut down and went into a boot loop. Each time, Reset System appeared on the black screen.
What have I tried so far:
Disable Fast Startup in Windows
Disable Secure boot
Run boot repair
Looked a bit deeper into NVIDIA drivers, but I am not sure if they are the problem.
The following were installed: (*-generic-hwe-24.04)
- nvidia-driver-535-server
- nvidia-driver-470-server
- nvidia-driver-470
- nvidia-driver-535
Also, what would I need to do in a Linux Live Session to accidentally destroy my Windows 11 boot partition? I’m asking so that I can be cautious about what I try. Even though I have backed up my data.
Boot Repair Summary:
============================= Boot Repair Summary ==============================
modprobe: FATAL: Module efivars not found in directory /lib/modules/6.8.0-41-generic
Recommended repair: ____________________________________________________________
The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility will reinstall the grub-efi of
sda2,
using the following options: sda1/boot/efi
Additional repair will be performed: unhide-bootmenu-10s use-standard-efi-file
/boot/efi added in sda2/fstab
Mount /dev/sda1 on /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi
Unhide GRUB boot menu in sda2/etc/default/grub
===================== Reinstall the grub-efi of /dev/sda2 ======================
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 grub-install --version
grub-install (GRUB) 2.12-1ubuntu7
modprobe: FATAL: Module efivars not found in directory /lib/modules/6.8.0-41-generic
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 modprobe efivars
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 efibootmgr -v (filtered) before grub install
EFI variables are not supported on this system.
error trace:
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 uname -r
6.8.0-41-generic
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --target=x86_64-efi
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: warning: EFI variables cannot be set on this system.
grub-install: warning: You will have to complete the GRUB setup manually.
Installation finished. No error reported.
df /dev/sda1
mv /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bkpbootx64.efi
cp /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/efi/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --target=x86_64-efi
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: warning: EFI variables cannot be set on this system.
grub-install: warning: You will have to complete the GRUB setup manually.
Installation finished. No error reported.
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 efibootmgr -v (filtered) after grub install
EFI variables are not supported on this system.
error trace:
Warning: NVram is locked (Ubuntu not found in efibootmgr).
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-49-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-49-generic
Found memtest86+ 64bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+x64.efi
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Unhide GRUB boot menu in sda2/boot/grub/grub.cfg
Boot successfully repaired.
Locked-NVram detected. Please do not forget to make your UEFI firmware boot on the Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS entry (sda1/efi/ubuntu/grubx64.efi file) !
============================ Boot Info After Repair ============================
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> No known boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: FAT32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /efi/BOOT/bkpbootx64.efi /efi/BOOT/bootx64.efi
/efi/BOOT/fbx64.efi /efi/BOOT/mmx64.efi
/efi/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /efi/ubuntu/mmx64.efi
/efi/ubuntu/shimx64.efi /efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg
sda2: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /etc/default/grub
sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: FAT32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /efi/boot/bootx64.efi
/efi/boot/grubx64.efi /efi/boot/mmx64.efi
================================ 1 OS detected =================================
OS#1 (linux): Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS on sda2
================================ Host/Hardware =================================
CPU architecture: 64-bit
Video: GM206GL [Quadro M2000] GM206GL [Quadro M2000] from NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Corporation
Live-session OS is Ubuntu 64-bit (Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS, noble, x86_64)
===================================== UEFI =====================================
BIOS/UEFI firmware: V5.0.0.11 R1.17.0 for D3348-A2x (1.17) from FUJITSU // American Megatrends Inc.
The firmware is EFI-compatible, and is set in EFI-mode for this live-session.
SecureBoot disabled (confirmed by mokutil).
No BootOrder is set; firmware will attempt recovery
07e25dcaf57c776875f78fa36827c58e sda1/BOOT/bkpbootx64.efi
07e25dcaf57c776875f78fa36827c58e sda1/BOOT/bootx64.efi
39bc76ff6662f4fbe9aa116e4c997b41 sda1/BOOT/fbx64.efi
4ba5a5aad43c197e9fb58b76b404d287 sda1/BOOT/mmx64.efi
66f69798ad23240e43b7ba0044a914c4 sda1/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
4ba5a5aad43c197e9fb58b76b404d287 sda1/ubuntu/mmx64.efi
07e25dcaf57c776875f78fa36827c58e sda1/ubuntu/shimx64.efi
============================= Drive/Partition Info =============================
Disks info: ____________________________________________________________________
sda : is-GPT, no-BIOSboot, has---ESP, not-usb, not-mmc, has-os, no-wind, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
Partitions info (1/3): _________________________________________________________
sda1 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, not-far
sda2 : is-os, 64, apt-get, signed grub-efi , grub2, grub-install, grubenv-ok, update-grub, end-after-100GB
Partitions info (2/3): _________________________________________________________
sda1 : is---ESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, vfat
sda2 : isnotESP, fstab-has-bad-efi, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ext4
Partitions info (3/3): _________________________________________________________
sda1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sda
sda2 : not--sepboot, with-boot, fstab-without-boot, not-sep-usr, with--usr, fstab-without-usr, std-grub.d, sda
fdisk -l (filtered): ___________________________________________________________
Disk sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk identifier: D895CE01-8791-46FE-A293-0FFCE7D21D4C
Start End Sectors Size Type
sda1 2048 2203647 2201600 1G EFI System
sda2 2203648 976771071 974567424 464.7G Linux filesystem
Disk sdb: 14.45 GiB, 15518924800 bytes, 30310400 sectors
Disk identifier: 3EE76210-5AFC-4A94-8449-ED9BE8D3405F
Start End Sectors Size Type
sdb1 2048 30310335 30308288 14.5G Microsoft basic data
parted -lm (filtered): _________________________________________________________
sda:500GB:scsi:512:512:gpt:ATA CT500BX500SSD1:;
1:1049kB:1128MB:1127MB:fat32::boot, esp;
2:1128MB:500GB:499GB:ext4::;
sdb:15.5GB:scsi:512:512:gpt:Generic Flash Disk:;
1:1049kB:15.5GB:15.5GB:fat32:Main Data Partition:msftdata;
blkid (filtered): ______________________________________________________________
NAME FSTYPE UUID PARTUUID LABEL PARTLABEL
sda
├─sda1 vfat C90B-1EB1 5697fd16-7e4e-46ff-8ba7-bb33c38c009a
└─sda2 ext4 063d22c9-c578-41db-801a-8a295fd9587e 448083f3-2c28-40cc-99a5-02e5de7317d2
sdb
└─sdb1 vfat 5241-E2D4 36d4eb21-b5ac-4f98-bb50-a6836a8b85c6 UBUNTU 24_0 Main Data Partition
sdc
sdd
sde
sdf
Mount points (filtered): _______________________________________________________
Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 1G 1% /mnt/boot-sav/sda1
/dev/sda2 418.4G 3% /mnt/boot-sav/sda2
/dev/sdb1 8.7G 40% /cdrom
efivarfs 0 99% /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
Mount options (filtered): ______________________________________________________
/dev/sda1 vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro
/dev/sda2 ext4 rw,relatime
/dev/sdb1 vfat ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro
===================== sda1/efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================
search.fs_uuid 063d22c9-c578-41db-801a-8a295fd9587e root hd0,gpt2
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg
====================== sda2/boot/grub/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================
Ubuntu 063d22c9-c578-41db-801a-8a295fd9587e
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
UEFI Firmware Settings uefi-firmware
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
========================== sda2/etc/fstab (filtered) ===========================
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda2 during curtin installation
/dev/disk/by-uuid/063d22c9-c578-41db-801a-8a295fd9587e / ext4 defaults 0 1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during curtin installation
/swap.img none swap sw 0 0
UUID=C90B-1EB1 /boot/efi vfat defaults 0 1
======================= sda2/etc/default/grub (filtered) =======================
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`( . /etc/os-release; echo ${NAME:-Ubuntu} ) 2>/dev/null || echo Ubuntu`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
==================== sda2: Location of files loaded by Grub ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
346.720958710 = 372.288794624 boot/vmlinuz 1
346.720958710 = 372.288794624 boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-49-generic 1
346.720958710 = 372.288794624 boot/vmlinuz.old 1
249.425777435 = 267.818889216 boot/initrd.img 2
249.572319031 = 267.976237056 boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-41-generic 1
249.425777435 = 267.818889216 boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-49-generic 2
249.425777435 = 267.818889216 boot/initrd.img.old 2
===================== sda2: ls -l /etc/grub.d/ (filtered) ======================
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18133 Apr 4 2024 10_linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 43202 Apr 4 2024 10_linux_zfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14513 Apr 4 2024 20_linux_xen
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 786 Apr 4 2024 25_bli
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13120 Apr 4 2024 30_os-prober
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1174 Apr 4 2024 30_uefi-firmware
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 722 Apr 5 2024 35_fwupd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 214 Apr 4 2024 40_custom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 215 Apr 4 2024 41_custom
====================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================
Try or Install Ubuntu
Ubuntu (safe graphics)
Boot from next volume
UEFI Firmware Settings
Test memory
==================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
I have done a bit of research beforehand, and I found that the NVram locked issue was sometimes only resolved through workarounds, or in some cases, it mysteriously fixed itself without any user intervention. However, most users were able to boot on their own, and the message Reset System was never mentioned in this context.
I also looked into the explanations provided by @oldfred, but I wasn’t sure if my issue was identical, as none of the other Boot Repair Summaries contained the error message:
modprobe: FATAL: Module efivars not found in directory /lib/modules/6.8.0-41-generic.
Boot Repair error (NVram is locked)
Nvram locked work around but no Reset System error
Locked NVram in dual booted Ubuntu
My goal is to fully transition to Linux Ubuntu in the long run. However, I can’t afford to buy new hardware just to test it on a different system.
I would really appreciate any help in solving this issue.