Hi, On Fri, Oct 23, 2026 at 8:46 AM <[email protected]> wrote:
> Thank you for all the replies, > I am a little bit confused. > > I just created a new installation on a Laptop (not arch linux though, > was just for testing), and it said, that I need a efi00 parition, and > but the labels boot and esp on it and also a Bios Protective Area of > type BIOS BOOT ith bios_grub flag. > > I thought I just needed EFI Parition to boot, no? When you install a system, you first have to make a couple of core decisions: 1. Firmware Mode: Choose between UEFI (the modern standard) and Legacy BIOS (the older standard). [1] 2. Partition Table Style: Choose between GPT (GUID Partition Table, modern) and MBR (Master Boot Record, legacy). 3. Partition layout [2] 4. File system 5. Boot loader (eg. GRUB, systemd-boot etc) [3][4] 6. UKI or traditional split layout (kernel, ramdisk) 7. secureboot or not 8. encrypted or not (eg. FDE w/ luks and tpm2 or luks w/ passphrase At the moment focus only on the first 5 points. If you are installing on a modern machine using pure UEFI, you only need an EFI System Partition (ESP) on a GPT disk, a BIOS boot partition (bios_grub) is entirely unnecessary. Because looks like your choice would be GRUB, the wiki GRUB guide [5] splits instructions into two completely separate paths based on your firmware, choose whichever path appropriately and follow it to letter, or one or the other, I recommend UEFI. For UEFI Systems: Requires a GPT disk and a mounted EFI System Partition (ESP) formatted as FAT32. GRUB installs an EFI application binary (.efi) into the ESP and registers a boot entry directly into the motherboard's NVRAM. For BIOS Systems: Typically uses MBR, or a GPT disk paired with a small bios_grub partition (BIOS Boot Area) because BIOS cannot load filesystems directly. GRUB writes its core boot image straight to raw disk sectors rather than using an EFI file. Rule of Thumb: Always pair UEFI + GPT or BIOS + MBR. Avoid mixing them unless forced by legacy quirks. Good luck! [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide#Verify_the_boot_mode [2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide#Partition_the_disks [3] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide#Boot_loader [4] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_boot_process#Boot_loader [5] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB Best, M.
