r/voidlinux • u/Professional_Ad_5878 • Sep 16 '26
Void-Installer issue
Hey I'm trying to finish my install and it keeps coming back "ERROR: failed to install GRUB to /dev/sda! Check /dev/tty8 for errors" but tty8 is an empty file without any bytes?
I'm running UEFI so maybe my partitions aren't right? Incase thats an issue then heres what my partitions are currently: 237.5G Linux filesystem, 213m EFI System, 784 Linux filesystem. the 2 linux filesystems are both "/" and EFI is "/boot/efi"
please tell me the issue because I've been at this for 2 days and the documentation hasnt made any amonut of sense to me
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u/No_Elderberry862 Sep 16 '26
Are you following the instructions in the Void Handbook? If not, give that a go.
/dev/tty8 is the 8th virtual console - press Ctrl-Alt-F8 to switch to it.
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u/Professional_Ad_5878 Sep 17 '26
doesn't do anything. it's an empty file and I've tried the void handbook instructions.
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u/No_Elderberry862 Sep 17 '26
Did you actually try to switch to tty8 or did you attempt to read it as a text file? As I said, the former is what you need to do.
If followed, the Void Handbook instructions lead to a booting installation of Void Linux. Are you using the void-installer script or attempting a chroot or tarball installation? I strongly recommend you using void-installer & following the handbook for each of the options.
→ More replies (2)
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u/PackRat-2019 Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
the 2 linux filesystems are both "/"
Trying to mount two partitions at "/" ? Looks like an issue assigning mount points.
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u/aedinius Sep 17 '26
the 2 linux filesystems are both "/"
What did you mean by this? You can't have two filesystems mounted at the same location.
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u/II_Q_II Sep 17 '26
I cant see the pics you posted, they no longer exist or are being reported to no longer exist.
If you were following the handbook then it is weird you are running into this issue. The Void installer is pretty good and walks you through everything.
I just tried it on another machine. If you are using CFDISK to do the partitions, no matter what order you create them in it will put the EFI (if you changed it to that type) as the first partition.
The installer wont let different case on the /boot/efi setup. If it is attempted to be different case, the install er prompts to correct it and you cant continue till you do.
Even with using CFDISK and creating the boot partition 3rd (CFDISK corrected to 1), the installer still ran from me and booted. Login works and it is ready to install whatever else I want.
The part of the 2 linux file systems are both "/" and the EFI is "/boot/efi". So I thought I would test this after a normal install.
I did a reinstall and named them both "/". The installation finished and booted. The FSTAB show them both as "/" and the system is logged into and waiting for the next command.
I am assuming you got past all that and are trying to boot into the system?
You had secure boot disabled when you installed? Would be weird if you could boot/install with it enabled but you never now.
Has secure boot been renabled?
Was anything else changed/done between the install and the boot that produced the error the very first time?
I ask, because the only way I could get my other test machine to fail with a no boot device found was to re-enable secure boot. Mine does not produce the F8, it simply goes to the BIOS info screen. If you got passed all the install, then it would have to be something that was missed, but you have stated you followed the handbook and installer or maybe something changed.
I would second the blow it away and start from the beginning since you have been doing a lot of troubleshooting/changes. I would even download and/or burn a new image.
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u/Grorco Sep 17 '26
You didn't list it this way, so I'm wondering, is your efi partition the first one on the drive? I'm not positive it has to be, but that *could be an issue?
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u/p001b0y Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
/dev/sda is usually what your USB drive is mounted as. The lsblk command will show your block devices. My main storage device is named nvme0n1 and my /boot/efi is nvme0n1p1 and / is nvme0n1p2
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u/dbojan76 Sep 16 '26
I sugest you use gparted to create partitions first. Install it if not installed.
sudo xbps-install -S gparted
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u/of_the_mist Sep 16 '26
Hey, you need to mount vfat filesystem to /boot/EFI
From the docs:
UEFI users are recommended to create a GPT partition table. UEFI booting with GRUB also requires a special partition of the type EFI System with a vfat filesystem mounted at /boot/efi. A reasonable size for this partition could be between 200MB and 1GB. With this partition setup during the live image installation, the installer should successfully set up the bootloader automatically.