I have a UEFI PC, its an HP desktop so a lot of advanced bios options aren't there - but I've made sure UEFI is enabled and I set the boot order to USB first. I made a Unraid USB using the creator tool in Windows. The PC will not boot from it. In the boot menu it doesn't list the USB under UEFI sources.

I then tried the 'make_bootable.bat' batch file in Windows, and told it to make it UEFI bootable, no difference.

I've tried this on 2 different USB flash drives now both of which work otherwise.

Try every USB port on the system, including USB 3 ports. You can also try making a USB drive for something else like Debian to try. This is usually an individual machine/BIOS issue, recognizing UEFI bootable USB drives, rather than an Unraid issue, IMO.

 

I have a couple of newer systems that have that kind of issue. A few reboots and moving a USB drive around usually gets it going. Once it starts recognizing a USB drive on a particular port, it'll keep doing so after reboots and power down/up. Weird, but I've already exhausted all my patience on trying to figure out the whys of stuff like that.

Edited September 29, 20241 yr by Espressomatic

23 minutes ago, Espressomatic said:

Try every USB port on the system, including USB 3 ports. You can also try making a USB drive for something else like Debian to try. This is usually an individual machine/BIOS issue, recognizing UEFI bootable USB drives, rather than an Unraid issue, IMO.

 

I have a couple of newer systems that have that kind of issue. A few reboots and moving a USB drive around usually gets it going. Once it starts recognizing a USB drive on a particular port, it'll keep doing so after reboots and power down/up. Weird, but I've already exhausted all my patience on trying to figure out the whys of stuff like that.

 

thanks, yes I'm 100% sure its not an Unraid issue but there are many experts here so can't hurt to ask. Fwiw the same USB drive/port worked with a Linux live iso, so I thought Unraid would work too, I know its Slackware but still. 

 

I will try other ports, its a pain powering up and down esp on this stupid PC where the bios doesn't even come up reliably and I'm mashing f2/esc like an idiot (sorry for the rant). When you say try for Debian, did you mean try under Debian? there's no target OS in the creator. I don't have a spare Linux PC though I could install a VM in my windows PC if really needed.

Edited September 29, 20241 yr by MrCrispy

It may be that your UEFI Bios is brand new and it blacklists older boot loaders still signed with the "soon-to-run-out" Microsoft Signature.

Some PCs have not enough space to hold old and new signatures and they may refuse to boot anything "old" (including Windows DVDs/Sticks).

Its a great mess currently done by Microsoft (yeah I know, you want Linux, but the bootloaders still need to be signed by microsoft).

Windows' Users usually do not notice it because Microsofts ships the Updates with their normal updates, reflashing parts of the bios without notice. But Linux does not come with this, you need manual Bios updates usually supplied by your MoBo´s manuafacturers (and yes HP is not known for being the most fastest one in this respect)

 

The only current way to "fix it" would be to turn off "safe boot" in the UEFI (Which is usually not desireable). Try it.

 

Also watch out for possible Bios Updates, during the next months they may happen very frequent.

 

(for details about the bootloader problem read an article in the german magazine c`t. But beware it is hard cryptographics stuff not suitable for the simple user!)

 

Edited September 29, 20241 yr by MAM59

10 hours ago, MrCrispy said:

When you say try for Debian, did you mean

 

No, I just meant that as an example of a USB-based installer.

16 hours ago, MAM59 said:

It may be that your UEFI Bios is brand new and it blacklists older boot loaders still signed with the "soon-to-run-out" Microsoft Signature.

Some PCs have not enough space to hold old and new signatures and they may refuse to boot anything "old" (including Windows DVDs/Sticks).

Its a great mess currently done by Microsoft (yeah I know, you want Linux, but the bootloaders still need to be signed by microsoft).

Windows' Users usually do not notice it because Microsofts ships the Updates with their normal updates, reflashing parts of the bios without notice. But Linux does not come with this, you need manual Bios updates usually supplied by your MoBo´s manuafacturers (and yes HP is not known for being the most fastest one in this respect)

 

The only current way to "fix it" would be to turn off "safe boot" in the UEFI (Which is usually not desireable). Try it.

 

Also watch out for possible Bios Updates, during the next months they may happen very frequent.

 

(for details about the bootloader problem read an article in the german magazine c`t. But beware it is hard cryptographics stuff not suitable for the simple user!)

 

 

I actually have safe boot disabled, as I had some issues booting a Linux live iso with it on. I tried the recommended steps to register the iso's key with the pc etc but that didn't work.

6 hours ago, MrCrispy said:

I actually have safe boot disabled, as I had some issues booting a Linux live iso with it on.

Aha? then you did not try to boot UEFI at all!

Depending on the BIOS, it MAY boot "oldstyle" again (turn on  the emulation option), but according to Microsoft the oldstyle will be totally forbidden soon and deleted from the BIOSes.

So, try it NOW and if it works, forget BIOS updates for a looong time.

 

1 minute ago, MAM59 said:

Aha? then you did not try to boot UEFI at all!

Depending on the BIOS, it MAY boot "oldstyle" again (turn on  the emulation option), but according to Microsoft the oldstyle will be totally forbidden soon and deleted from the BIOSes.

So, try it NOW and if it works, forget BIOS updates for a looong time.

 

I'm confused. are you saying safe boot == UEFI? I have safe boot off, the boot menu lists 'UEFI boot devices' and only shows my ssd with windows partition.

Looks like you have an "inbetween" BIOS. On the way to disable normale boots at all.

Try:

* Enable Safe Boot

* OS Type: Other OS (not Windows!!!)

 

Also try to put the stick in a different USB Port (try all of them one by one). Some Bioses now limit Boot Devices to certain ports.

 

(other option would be turn off safe boot + enable CSM if still possible)

 

(You've said it is a HP computer... Maybe you should take a look inside? at least their servers offer a dedicated internal USB port for booting... Dunno about the desktop but a little search cannot harm)

Edited September 30, 20241 yr by MAM59

Did you try enabling legacy mode, renaming the EFI folder and booting legacy instead of UEFI?

 

Some BIOSes do not like drives having both a UEFI boot partition and a legacy boot sector, which is what you end up with when you run make_bootable.