Removing GRUB

Removing GRUB on Boot

This guide does not remove the GRUB package, its files, or touch anything that could brick your system through deletion. Instead, this will help you create a new boot entry that boots directly, cleanly — without GRUB and without all the annoying text logs.

Just like resizing partitions, messing with EFI entries and bootloaders can break things.

That said — I personally followed all of these steps and had zero issues. My system booted clean, without GRUB, and straight into EndeavourOS.

If something does go wrong (e.g. black screen, no boot), you’ll likely have to:

• Boot from a live USB
• Reinstall GRUB or systemd-boot
• Tweak the EFI entries manually Proceed carefully, and always back things up.

Let’s get into it.

Create a New Boot Entry

1. Install the systemd-boot setup:

sudo bootctl install

This will create the necessary directories and files for a new boot entry. Pay attention to the output — you’ll need to know where these files live.

Example output:

Created "/boot/efi/EFI/systemd".
Created "/boot/efi/loader".
Created "/boot/efi/loader/keys".
Created "/boot/efi/loader/entries".
Created "/boot/efi/EFI/Linux".
Copied "/usr/lib/systemd/boot/efi/systemd-bootx64.efi" to "/boot/efi/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi".
Copied "/usr/lib/systemd/boot/efi/systemd-bootx64.efi" to "/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI".
Random seed file /boot/efi/loader/random-seed successfully written (32 bytes).
Successfully initialized system token in EFI variable with 32 bytes.
Created EFI boot entry "Linux Boot Manager".

Since bootctl install created the boot structure in /boot/efi/, we need to copy the necessary files there for systemd-boot to work properly.

2. Check Kernel and Initramfs files

These files usually live in the /boot/ directory. Check it:

sudo ls -l /boot/

You should see something like:

drwxr-x--- 5 root root - Dec 31  1969 efi
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root - Jun  4 14:10 grub
-rw------- 1 root root - Jun  6 13:57 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rw------- 1 root root - Jun  6 13:57 initramfs-linux.img
-rw------- 1 root root - Jun  6 13:56 initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
-rw------- 1 root root - Jun  6 13:56 initramfs-linux-lts.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root - Jun  6 13:56 vmlinuz-linux
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root - Jun  6 13:56 vmlinuz-linux-lts

3. Copy the Kernel and Initramfs

sudo cp /boot/vmlinuz-linux /boot/efi/
sudo cp /boot/initramfs-linux.img /boot/efi/
sudo cp /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img /boot/efi/

4. Create a boot entry file:

sudo nano /boot/efi/loader/entries/endeavouros.conf

Paste this into the file:

title   EndeavourOS
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
options root=UUID=<your-root-partition-uuid> rw loglevel=3 nowatchdog

Replace <your-root-partition-uuid> with your actual root partition UUID. To get it:

lsblk -f

Create a Pacman Hook to Auto-Copy on Kernel Updates

As you notice our new Entry live on /boot/efi/ but the system manages it from /boot/ so our new entry will always be out of sync because is not auto-updated by the system, we need a Pacman hook to keep them in sync.

1. Create a hook:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/pacman.d/hooks
sudo nano /etc/pacman.d/hooks/90-systemd-boot-copy.hook

2. Paste this in:

[Trigger]
Type = Package
Operation = Install
Operation = Upgrade
Operation = Remove
Target = dracut
Target = linux
Target = linux-lts
Target = amd-ucode
Target = intel-ucode
Target = systemd

[Trigger]
Type = Path
Operation = Install
Operation = Upgrade
Target = usr/lib/modules/*/vmlinuz
Target = usr/lib/dracut/*
Target = usr/lib/firmware/*
Target = usr/src/*/dkms.conf

[Action]
Description = Copy kernel and initramfs to EFI system partition entry...
When = PostTransaction
Exec = /usr/bin/bash -c 'cp -v /boot/vmlinuz-linux /boot/initramfs-linux*.img /boot/efi/'

This will ensure you’re always booting from the latest kernel and initramfs.

[!WARNING] This hook assumes you’re using the default kernel packages (linux, linux-lts) provided by Arch/EndeavourOS. If you’re using a custom kernel like linux-zen, linux-hardened, or linux-xanmod, you’ll need to add those to the hook with additional Target = lines. Otherwise, the hook won’t run when those kernels are updated, and your EFI files could become out of sync. You can check your installed kernels with:

pacman -Q | grep linux

Making an Splash Animation (Optional)

To get a good-looking boot animation, I recommend installing Plymouth:

sudo pacman -S plymouth

[!WARNING] Arch-based systems like EndeavourOS support two initramfs generators: mkinitcpio and dracut. This guide assumes you’re using the latest EndeavourOS, which defaults to dracut. If you’re still using mkinitcpio, skip this section. This method is a minimal setup specifically for dracut users.

Normally, configuring Plymouth with dracut requires creating a config file that manually adds the plymouth module. But in recent versions, simply installing the plymouth package automatically enables the module in dracut. We’ll take advantage of that and regenerate the initramfs directly.

[!TIP] If you’re a KDE user like me, I recommend installing these extra tools for better integration:

• breeze-plymouth – a splash theme that matches KDE’s style
• plymouth-kcm – a GUI tool to manage Plymouth themes

sudo pacman -S breeze-plymouth plymouth-kcm

Edit the systemd-boot Entry

1. Open your bootloader entry file:

sudo nano /boot/efi/loader/entries/endeavouros.conf

2. Edit or add the options line to include quiet splash for a cleaner boot:

efi /EFI/Linux/endeavouros.efi
options root=UUID=... rw quiet splash loglevel=3 nowatchdog

3. Regenerate Initramfs (via Dracut)

Now, simply reinstall dracut to trigger the regeneration of the initramfs and let the hook copy it to the EFI partition:

sudo pacman -S dracut

Look for this in the output:

(5/6) Copy kernel and initramfs to EFI system partition...
'/boot/vmlinuz-linux' -> '/boot/efi/vmlinuz-linux'
'/boot/initramfs-linux.img' -> '/boot/efi/initramfs-linux.img'
'/boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img' -> '/boot/efi/initramfs-linux-fallback.img'
...

4. Confirm new settings:

bootctl list

Remove or Reorder Unwanted Boot Entries

List your current boot entries:

sudo efibootmgr

You’ll see something like:

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002
Boot0000* Linux Boot Manager
Boot0001* Windows Boot Manager
Boot0002* endeavouros

To remove an entry:

sudo efibootmgr -b 0001 -B

Repeat for any entries you don’t want.

[!NOTE] In my case:

• Boot0000 is the new systemd boot entry (✅ keep)
• Boot0001 was a leftover Windows entry (❌ removed)
• Boot0002 is the EndeavourOS GRUB entry (✅ keep)

If you don’t want to delete GRUB, you can just reorder boot priorities:

sudo efibootmgr -o 0000

Clean Up the EFI Directory

Check what’s there:

sudo ls /boot/efi/EFI/

Expected output:

Boot/
Linux/
Microsoft/
systemd/
endeavouros/

To remove Windows leftovers:

sudo rm -r /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft

[!WARNING] You could also delete the GRUB folder here (endeavouros/), but I don’t recommend doing this unless you’re 100% sure. If something breaks, you may need to boot from live USB and fix it manually. Do your research.

Done!

On your next reboot, you should boot straight into EndeavourOS — no GRUB, no boot menu, no verbose text logs. Just clean and simple.