Workaround for DELL Debian UEFI install that does not boot

DELL Debian UEFI Install.md

Description

In most older (maybe also newer?) DELL workstations and thin clients, for example: DELL Precision T5810 and DELL Wyse 3040, Debian is not able to boot after installation is completed. This is because your workstation expects to boot from /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI and it cannot find it. There is a way to manually configure this in Setup page and point to the correct grubx64.efi location, but for some reason it keeps trying to load from /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI. The workaround provided here is basically renaming the grubx64.efi into BOOTX64.EFI and put it exactly where your workstation is expecting it.

Installation Example on DELL Wyse 3040

Let's say the Debian installation disk has the following structure:

/dev/sda1 EFI partition
/dev/sda2 /
/dev/sda3 swap

Method #1

After netinst is done, it does not boot. Start the debian netinst again, and press c to enter grub command line:

grub > set root=(hd1,gpt2)
grub > linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-18-amd64 root=/dev/sda2
grub > initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-18-amd64
grub > boot

Adjust vmlinuz-6.1.0-18-amd64 with your kernel version. Adjust initrd.img-6.1.0-18-amd64 with your initrd version. Adjust root with the type of drive: mmcblkX (eMMC), sdX (SATA).

Once successfully booted into Debian, put the grub workaround:

cp -R /boot/grub /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
cp /boot/efi/EFI/debian/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
systemctl reboot

By now, your Debian should be able to boot normally.

Method #2

During netinst, when it asks to reboot, DO NOT reboot! Go Back, select Execute a shell, and run the following:

cp -R /target/boot/grub /target/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
cp /target/boot/efi/EFI/debian/grubx64.efi /target/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
exit

Finish the installation, Reboot, Continue

I had the same problem with my Dell precision tower 5810 not detecting a boot drive. These steps didn't work for me, but I found another solution that did and may for others too.

Boot into the netinst and go through the expert installation. In the installing grub section, you need to check "Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable media path" as yes. After you reboot, grub should be loaded onto your system.