diff --git a/extensions/grub-riscv64.sh b/extensions/grub-riscv64.sh
index b2a87466eb..f09609d2c6 100644
--- a/extensions/grub-riscv64.sh
+++ b/extensions/grub-riscv64.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,12 @@
 function extension_prepare_config__prepare_grub-riscv64() {
 	display_alert "Prepare config" "${EXTENSION}" "info"
 	# Extension configuration defaults.
-	export DISTRO_GENERIC_KERNEL=${DISTRO_GENERIC_KERNEL:-no}                    # if yes, does not build our own kernel, instead, uses generic one from distro
-	export UEFI_GRUB_TERMINAL="${UEFI_GRUB_TERMINAL:-serial console}"            # 'serial' forces grub menu on serial console. empty to not include
-	export UEFI_GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER="${UEFI_GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER:-}"        # 'true' will disable os-probing, useful for SD cards.
-	export UEFI_GRUB_DISTRO_NAME="${UEFI_GRUB_DISTRO_NAME:-Armbian}"             # Will be used on grub menu display
-	export UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT=${UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT:-0}                             # Small timeout by default
-	export UEFI_ENABLE_BIOS_AMD64="${UEFI_ENABLE_BIOS_AMD64:-no}"               # Enable BIOS too if target is amd64
-	export UEFI_EXPORT_KERNEL_INITRD="${UEFI_EXPORT_KERNEL_INITRD:-no}"          # Export kernel and initrd for direct kernel boot "kexec"
+	export DISTRO_GENERIC_KERNEL=${DISTRO_GENERIC_KERNEL:-no}             # if yes, does not build our own kernel, instead, uses generic one from distro
+	export UEFI_GRUB_TERMINAL="${UEFI_GRUB_TERMINAL:-serial console}"     # 'serial' forces grub menu on serial console. empty to not include
+	export UEFI_GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER="${UEFI_GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER:-}" # 'true' will disable os-probing, useful for SD cards.
+	export UEFI_GRUB_DISTRO_NAME="${UEFI_GRUB_DISTRO_NAME:-Armbian}"      # Will be used on grub menu display
+	export UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT=${UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT:-0}                      # Small timeout by default
+	export GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="${GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:-""}" # Cmdline by default
 	# User config overrides.
 	export BOOTCONFIG="none"                                                     # To try and convince lib/ to not build or install u-boot.
 	unset BOOTSOURCE                                                             # To try and convince lib/ to not build or install u-boot.
@@ -18,60 +17,58 @@ function extension_prepare_config__prepare_grub-riscv64() {
 	export BOOTSIZE=0                                                            # No separate /boot when using UEFI.
 	export CLOUD_INIT_CONFIG_LOCATION="${CLOUD_INIT_CONFIG_LOCATION:-/boot/efi}" # use /boot/efi for cloud-init as default when using Grub.
 	export EXTRA_BSP_NAME="${EXTRA_BSP_NAME}-grub"                               # Unique bsp name.
-	export UEFI_GRUB_TARGET_BIOS=""                                              # Target for BIOS GRUB install, set to i386-pc when UEFI_ENABLE_BIOS_AMD64=yes and target is amd64
 	export UEFI_GRUB_TARGET="riscv64-efi"                                        # Default for x86_64
 
-	if [[ "${DISTRIBUTION}" == "Ubuntu" ]]; then
-	display_alert "Prepare config Ubuntu" "${EXTENSION}" "info"
-
-	local uefi_packages="efibootmgr efivar cloud-initramfs-growroot os-prober grub-efi-${ARCH}-bin grub-efi-${ARCH}"
-
-	elif [[ "${DISTRIBUTION}" == "Debian" && "${KERNEL_ONLY}" == "no" ]]; then
-
+	if [[ "${DISTRIBUTION}" != "Ubuntu" && "${KERNEL_ONLY}" == "no" ]]; then
 		exit_with_error "${DISTRIBUTION} is not supported yet"
-
 	fi
 
-	DISTRO_KERNEL_PACKAGES=""
-	DISTRO_FIRMWARE_PACKAGES=""
+	add_packages_to_image efibootmgr efivar cloud-initramfs-growroot os-prober "grub-efi-${ARCH}-bin" "grub-efi-${ARCH}"
 
-	# @TODO: use actual arrays. Yeah...
-	# shellcheck disable=SC2086
-	add_packages_to_image ${DISTRO_FIRMWARE_PACKAGES} ${DISTRO_KERNEL_PACKAGES} ${uefi_packages}
-
-	display_alert "Activating" "GRUB with SERIALCON=${SERIALCON}; timeout ${UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT}; BIOS=${UEFI_GRUB_TARGET_BIOS}" ""
+	display_alert "Activating" "GRUB with SERIALCON=${SERIALCON}; timeout ${UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT}; target=${UEFI_GRUB_TARGET}" ""
 }
 
 pre_umount_final_image__install_grub() {
 
-	if [[ "${DISTRIBUTION}" == "Ubuntu" ]]; then
-
 	configure_grub
-	local chroot_target=$MOUNT
+	local chroot_target="${MOUNT}"
 	display_alert "Installing bootloader" "GRUB" "info"
 
-	# getting rid of the dtb package, if installed, is hard. for now just zap it, otherwise update-grub goes bananas
-	mkdir -p "$MOUNT"/boot/efi/dtb
-	cp -r "$MOUNT"/boot/dtb/* "$MOUNT"/boot/efi/dtb/
+	# RiscV64 specific: actually copy the DTBs to the ESP
+	display_alert "Copying DTBs to ESP" "${EXTENSION}" "info"
+	run_host_command_logged mkdir -pv "${chroot_target}"/boot/efi/dtb
+	run_host_command_logged cp -rpv "${chroot_target}"/boot/dtb/* "${chroot_target}"/boot/efi/dtb/
+	# RiscV64 specific: @TODO ??? what is this ??
+	sed -i 's,devicetree,echo,g' "${chroot_target}"/etc/grub.d/10_linux
 
 	# add config to disable os-prober, otherwise image will have the host's other OSes boot entries.
-	cat <<- grubCfgFragHostSide >> "${MOUNT}"/etc/default/grub.d/99-armbian-host-side.cfg
+	cat <<- grubCfgFragHostSide >> "${chroot_target}"/etc/default/grub.d/99-armbian-host-side.cfg
 		GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true
 	grubCfgFragHostSide
 
 	# copy Armbian GRUB wallpaper
-	mkdir -p "${MOUNT}"/usr/share/images/grub/
-	cp "${SRC}"/packages/blobs/splash/grub.png "${MOUNT}"/usr/share/images/grub/wallpaper.png
+	run_host_command_logged mkdir -pv "${chroot_target}"/usr/share/images/grub/
+	run_host_command_logged cp -pv "${SRC}"/packages/blobs/splash/grub.png "${chroot_target}"/usr/share/images/grub/wallpaper.png
 
 	# Mount the chroot...
-	mount_chroot "$chroot_target/" # this already handles /boot/efi which is required for it to work.
+	mount_chroot "${chroot_target}/" # this already handles /boot/efi which is required for it to work.
 
-	sed -i 's,devicetree,echo,g' "$MOUNT"/etc/grub.d/10_linux >>"${DEST}"/"${LOG_SUBPATH}"/grub-n.log 2>&1
-	#cp -r $SRC/packages/blobs/jetson/boot.png "$MOUNT"/boot/grub
+	# update-grub is secretly `grub-mkconfig` under wraps, but the actual work is done by /etc/grub.d/10-linux
+	# that decides based on 'test -e "/dev/disk/by-uuid/${GRUB_DEVICE_UUID}"' so that _must_ exist.
+	# If it does NOT exist, then a reference to a /dev/devYpX is used, and will fail to boot.
+	# Irony: let's use grub-probe to find out the UUID of the root partition, and then create a symlink to it.
+	# Another: on some systems (eg, not Docker) the thing might already exist due to udev actually working.
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # some wierd escaping going on there.
+	chroot_custom "$chroot_target" mkdir -pv '/dev/disk/by-uuid/"$(grub-probe --target=fs_uuid /)"' "||" true
 
-	local install_grub_cmdline="sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub; update-grub && grub-install --verbose --target=${UEFI_GRUB_TARGET} --no-nvram --removable"
-	display_alert "Installing GRUB EFI..." "${UEFI_GRUB_TARGET}" ""
-	chroot "$chroot_target" /bin/bash -c "$install_grub_cmdline" >>"$DEST"/"${LOG_SUBPATH}"/install.log 2>&1 || {
+	display_alert "Creating GRUB config..." "${EXTENSION}: grub-mkconfig / update-grub"
+	chroot_custom "$chroot_target" update-grub || {
+		exit_with_error "update-grub failed!"
+	}
+
+	local install_grub_cmdline="grub-install --target=${UEFI_GRUB_TARGET} --no-nvram --removable" # nvram is global to the host, even across chroot. take care.
+	display_alert "Installing GRUB EFI..." "${EXTENSION}: ${UEFI_GRUB_TARGET}"
+	chroot_custom "$chroot_target" "$install_grub_cmdline" || {
 		exit_with_error "${install_grub_cmdline} failed!"
 	}
 
@@ -102,23 +99,8 @@ pre_umount_final_image__install_grub() {
 	# Remove host-side config.
 	rm -f "${MOUNT}"/etc/default/grub.d/99-armbian-host-side.cfg
 
-	local root_uuid
-	root_uuid=$(blkid -s UUID -o value "${LOOP}p2") # get the uuid of the root partition, this has been transposed
-
 	umount_chroot "$chroot_target/"
 
-fi
-
-}
-
-pre_umount_final_image__900_export_kernel_and_initramfs() {
-	if [[ "${UEFI_EXPORT_KERNEL_INITRD}" == "yes" ]]; then
-		display_alert "Exporting Kernel and Initrd for" "kexec" "info"
-		# this writes to ${DESTIMG} directly, since debootstrap.sh will move them later.
-		# capture the $MOUNT/boot/vmlinuz and initrd and send it out ${DESTIMG}
-		cp "$MOUNT"/boot/vmlinuz-* "${DESTIMG}/${version}.kernel"
-		cp "$MOUNT"/boot/initrd.img-* "${DESTIMG}/${version}.initrd"
-	fi
 }
 
 configure_grub() {
@@ -137,9 +119,10 @@ configure_grub() {
 			COLOR_NORMAL=white/black
 			COLOR_HIGHLIGHT=black/white
 		grubWallpaper
+		run_host_command_logged chmod -v +x "${MOUNT}"/usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh
 	fi
 
-	display_alert "GRUB EFI kernel cmdline" "${GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT} distro=${UEFI_GRUB_DISTRO_NAME} timeout=${UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT}" ""
+	display_alert "GRUB EFI kernel cmdline" "'${GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT}' distro=${UEFI_GRUB_DISTRO_NAME} timeout=${UEFI_GRUB_TIMEOUT}" ""
 	cat <<- grubCfgFrag >> "${MOUNT}"/etc/default/grub.d/98-armbian.cfg
 		GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="${GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT}"
 		GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu                                  # Show the menu with Kernel options (Armbian or -generic)...