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I have followed this guide on how to setup Arch Linux dual-boot. However, only get "macOS" option when booting and when it is chosen the following error shows up:

Error loading \System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi: Unsupported
Failed to execute macOS (\System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi): Unsupported

After another retry macOS boots, but I never get to see the Arch Linux boot option. My boot.efi is:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt5' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt5 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt5  a4d89761-6298-4e27-99c9-0d86bb1c8aa2
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4d89761-6298-4e27-99c9-0d86bb1c8aa2
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

And my partitions:

Device Size Type
/dev/sda1 200M EFI System
/dev/sda2 116.8G Apple APFS
/dev/sda3 128M Apple HFS/HFS+
/dev/sda4 256M Linux Filesystem (Boot)
/dev/sda5 116.4G Linux Filesystem (Root)

Any ideas why Arch boot option does not show up?

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+100

It looks like you missed a step or somehow misunderstood a step.

You have posted a text file in your question claiming it is your boot.efi. But that file should be a binary. What you have posted looks like a grub menu configuration file.

According to the tutorial you linked this file should be generated with this:

grub-mkconfig -o boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-mkstandalone -o boot.efi -d usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi -O x86_64-efi -C xz boot/grub/grub.cfg

Here the second step grub-mkstandalone -o boot.efi ... should generate the binary to put in your EFI directory. This shouldn't be a text file.

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It sounds like the problem is your Mac isn't recognizing your bootloader files. The guide you linked is from 2013 so it's a bit outdated- there's really no need for a seperate /boot partition, so you should delete /dev/sda4 and mount the Mac's EFI as /boot instead when installing with

mkdir /mnt/boot && mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Also, instead of using GRUB, you can use the native Apple EFI bootloader with systemd-boot, since it's binary is installed to the local EFI system partition (/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI) by default. After installing normally, install systemd-boot with

bootctl --path=/boot install

and reboot.

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  • You've misunderstood the purpose of the boot partition! Mac's firmware does not use a canonical layout for EFI. The "boot" partition mentioned in this question and the article isn't /boot but the functional equivalent of a second EFI partiton. I suspect the article is suggesting this because boot.efi is placed in one specific directory and doesn't appear to have alternative directories available. – Philip Couling Feb 6 at 23:04
  • Note that on a mac the EFI partition is often pretty much empty. It exists, but isnt actually used for EFI. – Philip Couling Feb 6 at 23:07
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If you want to install arch go to https://archlinux.org/ you will find updated information and more then need. However, you should have installed "hfsprogs" before "mkinitcpio -p linux"[1]

1- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mac

2- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBookPro7,1

If you are able to login to your mac, install rEFInd and let it search on the installed OS's.

3- https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/installing.html

Make sure to backup your data.

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