Score:0

do-release-upgrade fails for ESP not usable

cn flag

I am trying to upgrade my Ubuntu Server version (Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS) by doing do-release-upgrade.

After running, it fails with:

EFI System Partition (ESP) not usable 

Your EFI System Partition (ESP) is not mounted at /boot/efi. Please 
ensure that it is properly configured and try again. 

This is my /etc/fstab:

# / was on /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv during curtin installation
/dev/disk/by-uuid/fce9091c-1e98-46b8-900c-4ab2c4234600 / ext4 defaults 0 0
# /boot was on /dev/nvme1n1p2 during curtin installation
/dev/disk/by-uuid/14a2bceb-25dc-4da3-bbc8-fbe2f5d7ccdc /boot ext4 defaults 0 0
# /boot/efi was on /dev/nvme1n1p1 during curtin installation
/dev/disk/by-uuid/DC7B-C686 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1
/swap.img       none    swap    sw      0       0
# SSD and HDD
UUID=72e391af-077d-4646-9fa0-82fd665deced    /mnt/ssd   auto    defaults    0    1
# NAS Directories
//<redacted_ip>/Backups /mnt/nas/Backups            cifs credentials=/etc/samba/nas_passwd_file,rw,uid=1000 0 0
//<redacted_ip>/docker /mnt/nas/docker              cifs credentials=/etc/samba/nas_passwd_file,rw,uid=1000 0 0
//<redacted_ip>/Drive /mnt/nas/Drive                cifs credentials=/etc/samba/nas_passwd_file,rw,uid=1000 0 0
//<redacted_ip>/Streaming /mnt/nas/Streaming        cifs credentials=/etc/samba/nas_passwd_file,rw,uid=1000 0 0
//<redacted_ip>/Syncthing /mnt/nas/Syncthing        cifs credentials=/etc/samba/nas_passwd_file,rw,uid=1000 0 0
//<redacted_ip>/Mount/drive-colab /mnt/ssd/docker/jupyter/data/drive   cifs credentials=/etc/samba/nas_passwd_file,rw,uid=1000 0 0

Running sudo mount -a works without errors.

ls /boot returns results, but does not contain /boot/efi and ls /boot/efi fails with ls: cannot access '/boot/efi': No such file or directory

Running sudo mount /boot/efi fails with mount: /boot/efi: mount point does not exist.

This is the output of sudo parted > print all

Model: Linux device-mapper (linear) (dm)
Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv: 254GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End    Size   File system  Flags
 1      0.00B  254GB  254GB  ext4


Model: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End     Size    File system  Flags
 1      0.00B  2000GB  2000GB  ext4


Model: WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-256G-1001 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  538MB   537MB   fat32              boot, esp
 2      538MB   1612MB  1074MB  ext4
 3      1612MB  256GB   254GB

Only odd thing I can see is that boot flag should be on /dev/nvme1n1p2 and it's on /dev/nvme1n1p1.

This is the output of sudo blkid /dev/nvme1n1p1: /dev/nvme1n1p1: UUID="DC7B-C686" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="5ef73bc6-4a1d-45fe-84b4-5466799d68f9"

This is the output of sudo blkid /dev/nvme1n1p2: /dev/nvme1n1p2: UUID="14a2bceb-25dc-4da3-bbc8-fbe2f5d7ccdc" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="1c5014c8-63ed-453b-95e4-394b11bb0ed2"

Any thoughts on how to properly mount ESP (/boot/efi) so I can upgrade my operating system.

Thanks in advance!

PonJar avatar
in flag
`sudo mount /boot/efi` is incorrect. Try `sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1p1 /boot/efi` Also is there an empty directory called efi in /boot to mount to? If not make one.
nitobuendia avatar
cn flag
I think the empty folder did it. `cd /boot && sudo mkdir efi/` + `sudo mount -a` and it seems the upgrade is running now :)
nitobuendia avatar
cn flag
I can 100% confirm now - as basic as it sounds, do you want to make it an answer so I can accept it, @PonJar?
PonJar avatar
in flag
Thanks, Answer below
Score:0
in flag

sudo mount /boot/efi is incorrect.

Try sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1p1 /boot/efi

Also is there an empty directory called efi in /boot to mount to? If not make one.

cd /boot && sudo mkdir efi/ (As per your comment)

nitobuendia avatar
cn flag
The mount on `/etc/fstab` was correct, but the missing folder was the key part. After creating the folder with `cd /boot && sudo mkdir efi/`, the mount command (`sudo mount -a`) worked fine and the upgrade was able to proceed too. Thanks!
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