Win-8 wont boot after installing Fedora-18

[twohot]

The Machine: Dell Inspiron (intel-i7) with 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, GPT-partitioning, and UEFI boot

The Process: I installed Fedora Linux (version 18) from a non-EFI USB-drive hoping to achieve dual-booting between Win-8 and Fedora. I tried to preserve the original partitioning structure by squeezing the installation between the OS partition and the recovery partition. I ended up with the following GPT table:

[EFI system (FAT)]  [Another System Partition (FAT)]  [Microsoft Reserved Partition (Unknown)]  [Recovery Environment (NTFS)]  [Basic Data (actually Windows -- NTFS)]  [BIOS-boot (Unknown)]  [Linux (/home EXT4)]  [Fedora-18 (root  EXT4)]  [Linux (swap EXT4)]  [Windows Recovery Environment (NTFS)]

The result: Windows-8 does not show up on GRUB. The machine is essentially a Linux-only machine which wasn't the intention. However, contents of the above partitions are still intact. Linux boots only on Legacy BIOS mode. Once I set the BIOS to EFI nothing works. The Windows Boot Manager on the BIOS boot menu does nothing

The request: How do I restore Windows Booting without reinstallation on this machine?. I would still like to dual-boot with Fedora-18. *NOTE: I backed up the recovery program from within Windows before embarking on this adventure. The resultant EFI USB from the backup utility doesn't help much to the best of my knowledge.

[eaglelinux]

Hi,

Insert fedora 18 DVD and update your grub.

Bye !

[srs5694]

It's possible that eaglelinux's suggestion will work; however, it's also possible that you'll need to do more to get it to work. If re-installing GRUB doesn't work, please download the Boot Info Script, run it, and post the RESULTS.txt file that it produces, either using code tags or as a link. The RESULTS.txt file will hold assorted technical details about partitions and boot manager placement that will be helpful in doing a proper diagnosis of your system.

[badman911]

hey you had the same issue as me? how crazy?

i have a simple fix though:

Part 1

download super grub 2 disk (google it)

and burn it to cd/dvd using any linux image burning program.

---------- Post added at 07:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:34 PM ----------

Part 2

boot from the burned disk and a simple lightweight grub2 should appear, looking like this:



select 'Detect any operating system' and an option for windows should appear...
mine was 'windows 8 loader (on /dev/sda2)' i think.....

if it does... try booting it.
if it works, then shut the pc down.
boot up without the disk : INTO LINUX WE GO!

download and install grub-customizer

open it and go to preferences.
under 'default entry' ... select predefined and pick your os from the list.
and make sure 'look for other operating systems' is ticked.

close preferences and click save.
once saved reboot pc
and see if it worked.

please post results
thanks. onkar

[twohot]

Made Progress. I uninstalled Fedora (with Legacy BIOS Boot) and installed it with EFI-support. Now Grub lists Windows-8 on the boot menu. The only problem is that the Windows entry throws some errors:

error: can't find command 'drivemap'
error: invalid EFI File path

Press any key to continue ....

That's a pointer, I think. What next?

I also have some partitioning details produced by bootinfoscript (sourceforge):

http://paste.stg.fed...roject.org/3312

[twohot]

MORE PROGRESS:

Both OSes now boot on the machine. Fedora boots fine via GRUB while Windows-8 boots fine via the Windows Boot Manager -- which is accessible by pressing F2 for "boot options" after powering-up. GRUB shows a Windows-8 entry but choosing that option throws the error message mentioned above and, of course, Windows Boot Manager doesnt even think fedora exists on the machine.

The desired behaviour is for both OSes to be booted from the GRUB menu.

Any ideas?

[eaglelinux]

Hi,

I think you need to repair your Windows 8 because of MBR check in.

Bye !

[srs5694]

Eaglelinux, twohot specified in the first post that the computer is booting in EFI mode. Assuming that's correct, MBR issues are irrelevant, since EFI-mode booting doesn't involve code in the MBR; it involves files stored on the EFI System Partition (ESP).

Twohot, the link to your Boot Info Script output doesn't work; however, I was able to regenerate it. I believe it is:

http://paste.stg.fedoraproject.org/3312/

I suspect that this output doesn't show your current setup, though, since I see no evidence of an EFI-mode boot loader for Windows. The output also omits the grub.cfg configuration file, which makes it hard to diagnose what's going on. Posting updated Boot Info Script output would be helpful.

That said, one possible solution is to install my rEFInd boot manager. If you download and install the RPM file, and if all goes well, when you next reboot you'll see the rEFInd menu and be able to boot Windows or Linux directly from that menu, bypassing GRUB. There will also probably be a GRUB entry, which you could remove by deleting the grubx64.efi file from the EFI System Partition once you're satisfied that everything is working; or you could leave it in place if you want to keep it as a backup boot method.

[twohot]

Twohot, the link to your Boot Info Script output doesn't work; however, I was able to regenerate it. I believe it is:

http://paste.stg.fedoraproject.org/3312/

Yeah, that's right

I suspect that this output doesn't show your current setup, though, since I see no evidence of an EFI-mode boot loader for Windows. The output also omits the grub.cfg configuration file, which makes it hard to diagnose what's going on. Posting updated Boot Info Script output would be helpful.

Recent Boot Info Script Output = http://paste.stg.fedoraproject.org/3324
the /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg Output = http://paste.stg.fedoraproject.org/3323/

That said, one possible solution is to install my rEFInd boot manager. If you download and install the RPM file, and if all goes well, when you next reboot you'll see the rEFInd menu and be able to boot Windows or Linux directly from that menu, bypassing GRUB. There will also probably be a GRUB entry, which you could remove by deleting the grubx64.efi file from the EFI System Partition once you're satisfied that everything is working; or you could leave it in place if you want to keep it as a backup boot method.

I would like to see this working with GRUB2 that ships with Fedora first of all

[srs5694]

The only EFI boot loader evident in your latest Boot Info Script output is efi/Boot/bootx64.efi on /dev/sda1. Given the way your system is working, my guess is that this is a Windows boot loader. It's normally installed at EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi, but Microsoft also places a copy in EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi (note that VFAT is case-insensitive), so it's possible that the Windows boot loader got backed up and the original was deleted somewhere along the line. In any event, this is the only way I can think of that you'd be able to boot Windows from your GPT disk.

There's no evidence of an EFI-mode GRUB installation, but a BIOS-mode GRUB installation is present on the disk. Thus, I suspect that Linux is booting in BIOS mode. This fact also dooms your Windows boots from GRUB to failure, since a BIOS-mode GRUB can't launch an EFI-based Windows installation.

You can verify Linux's boot mode (BIOS vs. EFI) by looking for a directory called /sys/firmware/efi. If it's present, you've booted in EFI mode. If it's absent, you've probably booted in BIOS mode. If it's absent, you can try typing "modprobe efivars" as root and check again; if it's still absent, you've almost certainly booted in BIOS mode.

The path forward is to install an EFI-mode boot loader. Unfortunately, with Linux booted in BIOS mode, this is a bit trickier than it should be, and is a bit tedious to explain. The easiest path forward, given your preference for using GRUB, is likely to be:

1. Download the CD or USB flash drive image of rEFInd from its download page.
2. Prepare a CD or USB flash drive from the rEFInd image file you downloaded.
3. Insert the rEFInd CD or USB flash drive and reboot.
4. Hit F2, F8, or whatever key you need to press to get your firmware's own boot manager. Select the rEFInd medium. If there are two entries for it, select the one that includes "EFI" or "UEFI" in its description.
5. When rEFInd comes up, you should see one or more options for Linux kernels (vmlinuz-{whatever}). Use the arrow keys to select one of them and press Insert or F2 twice. This will enable you to edit your kernel boot options. Add "ro root=/dev/sda11" to the boot options and press Enter to boot. This should boot you up into EFI mode. Check for the presence of /sys/firmware/efi to be sure.
6. Install the grub-efi package. This will replace the BIOS-mode GRUB, and if you do it while booted in BIOS mode, it will likely render Fedora unbootable. Thus, you want to be sure you're doing this in EFI mode.
7. Type "efibootmgr -v" as root and look for a line that references grubx64.efi in the output. If it's present, you're done. (I'm not sure if installing the GRUB package installs GRUB to the ESP.)
8. If you saw no evidence of GRUB in the previous step, install it. I believe that typing "grub-install" as root should be sufficient for this, but I'm not 100% positive of that -- it might require some parameters or another step or two. You might need to add "--efi-directory=/boot/efi" to the command, for instance.

At this point, when you reboot you should see a GRUB menu and be able to boot Linux. If you boot straight into Windows, though, you'll have more repair work to do. (This can happen if your firmware is buggy, which unfortunately is far too common.) You should be able to use your rEFInd CD or USB drive to boot Linux, though. Post back for more help if you need it.

[twohot]

We can't be discussing BIOS mode booting here when BIOS is set to EFI. This whole thing runs in EFI mode.

[srs5694]

EFI firmware user interfaces are incredibly variable and some of them are downright deceptive. Thus, I put very little stock in your claim that the firmware is running entirely in EFI mode -- not because I doubt your word, but because I doubt the clarity of the user interface on this score and because the evidence from the Boot Info Script makes no sense if you're booting both OSes in EFI mode.

This is easily tested: Boot Linux and look for a directory called /sys/firmware/efi. If it's present, Linux has booted in EFI mode. If not, Linux has probably booted in BIOS mode.

If I'm wrong, then there's something fishy about your Boot Info Script output -- perhaps you posted the wrong file, or maybe there's a bug in the script, or possibly there's something extraordinarily weird about your configuration. You could begin resolving this dilemma by posting the complete file contents ("ls -R") of both /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda8 -- the latter is mounted at /boot/efi in your /etc/fstab, but the Boot Info Script found no Linux boot files on it. The former holds the EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi file that I'm guessing is your Windows boot loader, and you'll need to mount it manually to get a file listing from it.

[twohot]

This issue was conquered yesterday morning. So, what was the fix?

1. Discovered that the current version of os-prober (12.2) does not support chainloading of another EFI bootloader, therefore it was generating a faulty menu entry for Win-8. First step was to disable os-prober
   
   

   echo GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true >> /etc/default/grub

2. Establish the EFI boot partition holding the Windows boot manager and probe it for string hints search parameter (in my case it was: "/efi/Boot/bootx64.efi". I found lots of examples pointing to "/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi". Note that, in fedora, the command for this is grub2-probe. Many examples online had grub-probe. This was confusing at first.
   
   

   grub2-probe --target=hints_string  /efi/Boot/bootx64.efi

3. Create a custom menuentry for Win-8 UEFI-GPT system in "/etc/grub.d/40_custom" and add the results of the above command on the search line. It will look like the following:
   
   

   menuentry "Microsoft Windows x86_64 UEFI-GPT" {
       insmod part_gpt
       insmod fat
       insmod search_fs_uuid
       insmod chain
       search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root <insert ouput from grub2-probe here>
       chainloader /efi/Boot/bootx64.efi
   }

4. Run grub2-mkconfig as root using the output to replace the current EFI grub.cfg. grub2-mkconfig uses the contents of "/etc/default/grub" and "/etc/grub.d/40_custom" to create a working GRUB menu list
   
   

   # grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

5. Reboot and Enjoy

[smaug]

Thanks for this information. Now grub recognizes Windows 8.
But had to use --target=fs_uuid not --target=hints_string

[Ihatewindows]

hey you had the same issue as me? how crazy?

i have a simple fix though:

Part 1

download super grub 2 disk (google it)

and burn it to cd/dvd using any linux image burning program.

---------- Post added at 07:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:34 PM ----------

Part 2

boot from the burned disk and a simple lightweight grub2 should appear, looking like this:



select 'Detect any operating system' and an option for windows should appear...
mine was 'windows 8 loader (on /dev/sda2)' i think.....

if it does... try booting it.
if it works, then shut the pc down.
boot up without the disk : INTO LINUX WE GO!

download and install grub-customizer

open it and go to preferences.
under 'default entry' ... select predefined and pick your os from the list.
and make sure 'look for other operating systems' is ticked.

close preferences and click save.
once saved reboot pc
and see if it worked.

please post results
thanks. onkar

They even have an upgrade to it.
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/rescatux/