It appears that: b97b423e3f61c80d5877dadc95b3f316cd61788f bootloader: Fix u-boot installation. Breaks using a /dev/disk/by-id/ symlink in the bootloader target field on systems using u-boot with "guix system reconfigure". Frustratingly, It claims to succeed with bootloader installation, but does not actually install u-boot to the device... when updating to the new version of u-boot, I had to manually install the new version. Using a raw device (e.g. /dev/mmcblk1) still works, but those devices are not necessarily enumerated in a consistent order and so cannot be used in a config.scm with guix system reliably. Reverting that patch fixes using the /dev/disk symlink, though probably breaks other use-cases. I'm writing this from memory now, but I can also boot the machines at a later point and get the exact configurations, if needed. live well, vagrant