When reinstalling Fedora, should I retain `/boot` and/or `/boot/efi` to ensure that `os-prober` finds additional installed OSes?

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1

Query

However, I want to ensure that I do not re-experience the undermentioned:

Consequently, should I retain /boot and/or /boot/efi from my previous installation in Anaconda? I presume that that would entail the undermentioned configuration:

Screenshot_20250309_133615
Screenshot_20250309_1336151256×579 55.3 KB

If this is obviously an X/Y problem, I’m asking how to ensure that I can still access alternative OSes (especially Windows 11) after re-installation.

Context

I am forced to reinstall Fedora (due to a botched KWin update entirely breaking XOrg 11 and almost entirely breaking Wayland).

3

About Query

When reinstalling Fedora, should I retain /boot and/or /boot/efi to ensure that os-prober finds additional installed OSes?

Leaving them intact did leave the Windows Boot Loader EFI entry intact.

4

About Context

  1. Re-adding RPMFusion during the initial online upgradekilled it again. startplasma-wayland fails to locate KIO symbols.

    I’ll try an offline upgrade, then perform every step of RPMFusion’s instructions offline too, individually, to ascertain which is the culprit.

  2. The cause of that was that I hadn’t upgraded the base packages yet. I should have.

7

@steppybug, how so?

Luckily, I’ve solely one new partition from this process – I was worried that I’d end-up with duplicate bootloader entries, but it seems that I can delete the new partition when I re-install, leaving me with only ever the original two partitions plus a new, deletable-when-reinstalling one. That’s not so bad if it makes life easier.

I’d like to, but until it’s the Fedora default, I can’t be bothered. I’ll attempt to ascertain where to petition Fedora to use SystemD Boot on newer motherboards, though. We can’t stay with GRUB2 forever if its replacement exists.

9

You must not format the ESP partion (mounted at /boot/efi) to keep your windows loader working, but you can recreate /boot without problem. There is nothing that the system won’t set up.

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