One Last Hurdle in Linux Mint 21.1 Install - EFI issue

[YoungBlade]

I've got Linux Mint installed and working on my laptop (HP Probook 6470b) however, it will not boot without using the boot options menu from the UEFI BIOS every time. If I don't select anything, it boot loops.

 

The boot options menu gives me 3 options - OS Boot Manager (default), Boot from EFI File, and ubuntu. The correct choice is either "ubuntu" or going into "Boot from EFI File" and navigating to acpi>EFI>ubuntu>shimx64.efi (the other options of grubx64.efi and mmx64.efi cause it to boot loop)

 

How do I get the EFI system to actually use the "ubuntu" option or the "shimx64.efi" by default on boot.

 

When I run the efibootmgr command, it shows only:

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000
Boot0000* ubuntu

 

So apparently the EFI system in Mint had the correct one as the only option. I tried creating a new boot option (that I called "secure" as it uses the shimx64.efi file) but while it now also shows up in the boot options for the laptop, and it also works, it doesn't make the system boot properly by default.

 

I feel like I'm missing a step here, to have the UEFI properly hand off to the EFI file?

[YoungBlade]

Alright, after a few hours of faffing about, I managed to figure this issue out. There's some more discussion on what happened over on the r/LinuxMint subreddit

 

Long story short: I needed to use the "Custom" boot menu option and put in the magic text "\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi" into the empty text field there and set that as the first option. A quick change to Grub settings to make the Grub menu not stay there for 30 seconds and bippity boppity, I had solved it.

 

So for future reference, to anyone who has an HP Probook or similar system from this era, that is what you need to do to get EFI boot working correctly: give the "Customized Boot" option the path to the EFI file as specified with "efibootmgr -v" at the end of the desired EFI option.

Also, I'll post the relevant images from the reddit post here as well for easy access if you want to see the sort of menus I was working with.

Spoiler