How to remove usb pendrive from boot requirements?

SdW · July 19, 2024, 5:58pm

Hi all,

I recently installed EOS on a Lenovo laptop, and had to get my wifi password from an encrypted pendrive. Then I ran Calamares and installed EOS on my internal SSD. Now, with everything installed, bootup demands the pendrive and waits 1.5 minutes before timing out and booting normally. The uuid of the pendrive does not appear in my /etc/fstab, nor in my grub.cfg. Somehow systemd has the pendrive on its list of required volumes anyway, waits for it, and throws an error. How could I remove the pendrive from its list?

Thanks in advance.

eso · July 20, 2024, 9:51am

Hi @SdW,
What does
efibootmgr
show?

SdW · July 20, 2024, 1:04pm

Hi @eso

Well, it’s messier than I realized, with leftover items from uninstalled OSs like Windows and Manjaro, but the pendrive’s uuid isn’t there. Those old OSs didn’t require the pendrive to boot.

BootCurrent: 0013
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0001,0014,0017,0015,0016,0013,0000,0018
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,aeaeb4b7-9922-40bb-96ca-bb83b3be2662,0x800,0x82000)/\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000000000100000010000000040000007fff0400
Boot0001* Manjaro	HD(1,GPT,4ab59c0b-5b2e-4c4a-94d2-012f6b957ec1,0x22,0x1007de)/\EFI\Manjaro\grubx64.efi
Boot0002* endeavouros	HD(2,GPT,544c3b67-8eb3-421f-8611-5148f71e8f9d,0x22,0x1007de)/\EFI\endeavouros\grubx64.efi
Boot0010  Setup	FvFile(721c8b66-426c-4e86-8e99-3457c46ab0b9)
Boot0011  Boot Menu	FvFile(86488440-41bb-42c7-93ac-450fbf7766bf)
Boot0012  Diagnostic Splash	FvFile(a7d8d9a6-6ab0-4aeb-ad9d-163e59a7a380)
Boot0013* NVMe: UMIS RPJTJ128MEE1MWX                   	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x13,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,04-4A-50-01-B1-40-15-48){99191c00-d932-4e4c-ae9a-a0b6e98eb8a4}
Boot0014* eMMC Card:	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,63a04a38d7705b4888c69653c982e114)
Boot0015* USB HDD:	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,33e821aaaf33bc4789bd419f88c50803)
Boot0016* USB FDD:	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49)
Boot0017* USB CD:	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55)
Boot0018* USB LAN:	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,e854bca4cae7704ca322b00da0376322)

I vaguely remember this same issue when I started using Manjaro, that if a pendrive was plugged in while running Calamares, it was required forevermore. A bug in Calamares, if you ask me, since it doesn’t show the pendrive on required drive lists.

At the time, all I knew to try was to reinstall without the pendrive, and that was successful just now with one of my two EOS installs.

[EDIT] I removed Windows and Manjaro, but the boot problem persists.

Other suggestions?

Thanks!

pebcak · July 20, 2024, 1:50pm

Run systemctl --all | grep mount and see if there is a mount unit you could identify as that of your usb stick.

SdW · July 20, 2024, 2:01pm

@pebcak
It did show the failure of the mount, yes, formatting is lousy. All the appearances of the drive:

systemctl --all | grep 61592b70
  dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device                                                                           loaded    inactive dead      /dev/disk/by-uuid/61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374
● run-credentials-systemd\x2dcryptsetup\x40luks\x5cx2d61592b70\x5cx2d44d4\x5cx2d4726\x5cx2d81ce\x5cx2d1608f562b374.service.mount                        not-found inactive dead      run-credentials-systemd\x2dcryptsetup\x40luks\x5cx2d61592b70\x5cx2d44d4\x5cx2d4726\x5cx2d81ce\x5cx2d1608f562b374.service.mount
  systemd-cryptsetup@luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.service                                                                   loaded    inactive dead      Cryptography Setup for luks-61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374
  blockdev@dev-mapper-luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.target                                                                   loaded    inactive dead      Block Device Preparation for /dev/mapper/luks-61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374

It doesn’t add much diagnostic info that I can understand, just that it failed.

pebcak · July 20, 2024, 2:14pm

Look into the journal for the current boot and see if you will find some more relevant info:

journalctl -x -b 0

Also have a look into /etc/crypttab.

SdW · July 20, 2024, 2:40pm

The drive’s id first appears during “set up automount” and of course systemd goes on in parallel with the other drives and then continues with other tasks for another 20 seconds or so. Then, a gap of 1.5 minutes occurs and this immediately follows:

Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device: Job dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device/start timed out.
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: Timed out waiting for device /dev/disk/by-uuid/61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 174 and the job result is timeout.
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: Dependency failed for Cryptography Setup for luks-61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit systemd-cryptsetup@luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit systemd-cryptsetup@luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.service has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 171 and the job result is dependency.
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: Dependency failed for Local Encrypted Volumes.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit cryptsetup.target has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit cryptsetup.target has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 170 and the job result is dependency.
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: cryptsetup.target: Job cryptsetup.target/start failed with result 'dependency'.
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: systemd-cryptsetup@luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.service: Job systemd-cryptsetup@luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.service/start failed with result 'depen>
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device: Job dev-disk-by\x2duuid-61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.device/start failed with result 'timeout'.
Jul 20 15:29:36 harpo systemd[1]: Reached target Block Device Preparation for /dev/mapper/luks-61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit blockdev@dev-mapper-luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.target has finished successfully
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit blockdev@dev-mapper-luks\x2d61592b70\x2d44d4\x2d4726\x2d81ce\x2d1608f562b374.target has finished successfully.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 175.

After that, the system goes to System Initialization.

Somehow, the pendrive is on an automount list. The pendrive does appear, along with encrypted /home, in /etc/crypttab. If I delete it there, will that eliminate the bottleneck?

Thanks!

pebcak · July 20, 2024, 2:41pm

Could you post

cat /etc/crypttab

?

SdW · July 20, 2024, 2:45pm

/etc/crypttab:

#
# Each mapped device will be created in /dev/mapper, so your /etc/fstab
# should use the /dev/mapper/<name> paths for encrypted devices.
#
# See crypttab(5) for the supported syntax.
#
# NOTE: You need not list your root (/) partition here, but it must be set up
#       beforehand by the initramfs (/etc/mkinitcpio.conf). The same applies
#       to encrypted swap, which should be set up with mkinitcpio-openswap
#       for resume support.
#
# <name>               <device>                         <password> <options>
luks-d15ad2f0-b1f4-499b-ae00-f03aed305815 UUID=d15ad2f0-b1f4-499b-ae00-f03aed305815     none 
luks-61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374 UUID=61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374     none

The last line is the drive in question.

pebcak · July 20, 2024, 2:48pm

You could try editing the file and commenting out the line for the usb stick by putting a # before it:

# luks-61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374 UUID=61592b70-44d4-4726-81ce-1608f562b374     none

Make sure you have your EnOS’ live usb at hand in case there is a need to boot into it and fix things if they go sideways.

pebcak · July 20, 2024, 3:06pm

So editing the /etc/crypttab solved your issue?

In that case, pleas mark as solution the relevant post giving the solution. Thanks!

SdW · July 21, 2024, 11:33am

Yes it did. Thanks! I marked it and then you changed it a bit…

system · July 23, 2024, 11:34am

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