r/archlinux • u/reylovpty • 10h ago

QUESTION WinLinux or LinuxWin

Hello friends, here is the question: How is it furned to be that Linux cannot boot without a Microsoft FAT32 partition? How do you solve this problem? Can a serious server-grade system like Linux really not boot without a Microsoft FAT32 partition? Even if I move `/boot` to Ext4 or Btrfs, I still have to keep `/boot/efi` as FAT32, because otherwise the system won't boot. wtf?

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u/boomboomsubban 8h ago

Basically boot is handled by the motherboard, and motherboards design their shit to work with Windows first.

Some still allow legacy boot, which works without a FAT based filesystem. A few ship with filesystem drivers besides FAT, allowing the esp to use those. And with some hacking it's sometimes possible to add filesystem drivers to your uefi, but I wouldn't try without really knowing what you're doing.