[Boot-Repair] Graphical tool to repair the PC boot in one click

[sudodus]

@sudodus
I would have expected that UEFI would have seen efi partition with some efi files and offered to boot, even if not really workable.
But you may have had to turn on UEFI boot mode in UEFI/BIOS or turn off BIOS/CSM boot. Some auto switch and some do not.
Did grub-pc install do something to efi partition? You need boot flag on efi partition for it to be seen as efi bootable partition and BIOS would not need any boot flag.

I don't know, and I cannot check now if grub-pc wrote something to the EFI partition, because I used Boot-Repair, which changed things.

I did toggle between BIOS and UEFI several times in the BIOS menu system in order to test these things. It does not auto-switch.

-o-

If you think it is worthwhile, I can start from the image of the original system, do the changes and check very carefully what is written and where.

I used the following commands to add the BIOS bootloader:

sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt # Example: sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdX # Example: sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda

from this link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing

[oldfred]

@sudodus
If you have booted with UEFI, then a sudo grub-install to sda, will just reinstall the UEFI boot loader to the efi partition. Or did you uninstall grub-efi and then install grub-pc?
I do not know what uninstalling grub-efi does in the background?
Boot-Repair does a better job of documenting whether you have grub in protective MBR, and or grub in efi partition. I have seen a lot of Boot-Repair reports where they still have grub in MBR, but Boot-Repair converted to UEFI with grub efi files in efi partition. And then when they try booting in BIOS it gives a grub rescue.
I would think if grub installed in MBR and working in BIOS mode, UEFI should still see grub's efi files in efi partition. Run BootInfo report from Boot-Repair before and after grub installs. And backup efi partition when it is working in UEFI mode.

[sudodus]

@sudodus
If you have booted with UEFI, then a sudo grub-install to sda, will just reinstall the UEFI boot loader to the efi partition. Or did you uninstall grub-efi and then install grub-pc?

I did not uninstall anything. I switched to BIOS and ran grub-install (booted from another system). Then I rebooted and it worked (the system installed in UEFI worked in BIOS). Then I switched to UEFI, and it did not work.

I do not know what uninstalling grub-efi does in the background?
Boot-Repair does a better job of documenting whether you have grub in protective MBR, and or grub in efi partition. I have seen a lot of Boot-Repair reports where they still have grub in MBR, but Boot-Repair converted to UEFI with grub efi files in efi partition. And then when they try booting in BIOS it gives a grub rescue.
I would think if grub installed in MBR and working in BIOS mode, UEFI should still see grub's efi files in efi partition. Run BootInfo report from Boot-Repair before and after grub installs. And backup efi partition when it is working in UEFI mode.

OK, I'll make an attempt with that (but I think it has to wait until tomorrow because it is getting late here in Sweden).

[DaNipper]

@DaNipper
Something with grub must not be correct. I might try the full uninstall/purge and total reinstall of grub from Boot-Repair.
Boot-Repair cannot parse Windows BCD. Any entries in Windows are from EasyBCD, and you need to use bcdEdit or EasyBCD to edit BCD to remove extra entries.
You show these in UEFI menu.


Line 610 All entries line 597 thru 617
Boot000C* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,1f4800,82000,3456751d-d5b5-41e5-80f6-31d851318e12)File(EFIMicrosoftBootbootmgfw.efi)WIN DOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6 .2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...s................
Boot000D* Lenovo Recovery System ACPI(a0341d0,0)PCI(1f,2)03120a00010000000000HD(3,2 76800,1f4000,65e28a69-e420-43a1-b009-43e80d721c97)File(EFIMicrosoftBootlrsBootMgr.efi)
Boot000E* ubuntustudio HD(2,1f4800,82000,3456751d-d5b5-41e5-80f6-31d851318e12)File(EFIubuntustudiogrubx64.efi)
Boot000F Setup

Both of these are your Windows boot from grub, not sure why Boot-Repairs says recovery
Boot-Repair's entry
menuentry "Windows UEFI recovery bootmgfw.efi"
os-prober's entry
menuentry "Windows Boot Manager (UEFI on /dev/sdb2)"

You also are showing dual video. Do you control Which video it boots with? With nVidia you need nomodeset, but Intel usually needs other boot parameters.

How to set NOMODESET and other kernel boot options in grub2 - both BIOS liveCD & grub first boot ( also UEFI with grub)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132
Possible boot options suggested by ubfan1
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...0#post12871710

Thanks, @oldfred I tried purging and reinstalling GRUB - I can now get back into UbuntuStudio, but still can't get into Windows, which is what I really need. Windows boot still shows two UbuntuStudio entries and when selected, says it can't find the EFI or MBR files (as reported in an earlier post). I don't think that the video card is an issue, as don't have the symptoms others report around this issue.

I'm about ready to give up the fight and just try to restore or reinstall Windows, as I desperately need it at this point (I hate to admit that I', beholden to Windows, but it's painfully true).

I did create the backup partitions, etc. thru both Boot-Repair and EasyBCD. I don't think I can use the EasyBCD backup, as there's no way to get into Windows to use it. Is there anyway to restore the old boot files & config from the backups created with Boot-Repair?

[oldfred]

@DaNipper
When you boot Windows from UEFI and you get any Studio entries, you are using the EasyBCD created entries. I do not know EasyBCD and Boot-Repair cannot fix that. They have their own forum for help.
You can restore a default bootmfgw.efi, but I think you need to houseclean BCD and restore its defaults.

I do not think you need this:
Windows UEFI install should have backup of bootmgfw.efi here:
C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi from a working Windows x86_64 installation.

But you need to use EasyBCD or EditBCD to restore defaults.
http://www.ms-windows.info/Help/boot...bcd-17554.aspx

This also may be part of the issue as Windows and UEFI copy between themselves.
Remove Duplicate Firmware Objects in BCD and NVRAM
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...=ws.10%29.aspx
UEFI NVRAM boot entries are cached in the BCD store
BCD has 1:1 mappings for some UEFI global variables
Any time {fwbootmgr} is manipulated, NVRAM is automatically updated

I think this is the manual way to do what your EasyBCD has done.
Alternative to Boot-Repairs rename of shim.
Some systems work better to register grub/shim from inside Windows - for those that keep resetting Windows as default
http://askubuntu.com/questions/37155...3-10-dual-boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
https://coderwall.com/p/vfyqkg

[DaNipper]

@DaNipper
When you boot Windows from UEFI and you get any Studio entries, you are using the EasyBCD created entries. I do not know EasyBCD and Boot-Repair cannot fix that. They have their own forum for help.
You can restore a default bootmfgw.efi, but I think you need to houseclean BCD and restore its defaults.

I do not think you need this:
Windows UEFI install should have backup of bootmgfw.efi here:
C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi from a working Windows x86_64 installation.

But you need to use EasyBCD or EditBCD to restore defaults.
http://www.ms-windows.info/Help/boot...bcd-17554.aspx

This also may be part of the issue as Windows and UEFI copy between themselves.
Remove Duplicate Firmware Objects in BCD and NVRAM
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...=ws.10%29.aspx
UEFI NVRAM boot entries are cached in the BCD store
BCD has 1:1 mappings for some UEFI global variables
Any time {fwbootmgr} is manipulated, NVRAM is automatically updated

I think this is the manual way to do what your EasyBCD has done.
Alternative to Boot-Repairs rename of shim.
Some systems work better to register grub/shim from inside Windows - for those that keep resetting Windows as default
http://askubuntu.com/questions/37155...3-10-dual-boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
https://coderwall.com/p/vfyqkg

Thanks again, @oldfred. I appreciate all your help (and patience!). I'll give these a shot - sounds like it's the right path to go down.

-Rob

[sudodus]

@sudodus
If you have booted with UEFI, then a sudo grub-install to sda, will just reinstall the UEFI boot loader to the efi partition. Or did you uninstall grub-efi and then install grub-pc?

I did not uninstall anything. I switched to BIOS and ran grub-install (booted from another system). Then I rebooted and it worked (the system installed in UEFI worked in BIOS). Then I switched to UEFI, and it did not work.

I do not know what uninstalling grub-efi does in the background?
Boot-Repair does a better job of documenting whether you have grub in protective MBR, and or grub in efi partition. I have seen a lot of Boot-Repair reports where they still have grub in MBR, but Boot-Repair converted to UEFI with grub efi files in efi partition. And then when they try booting in BIOS it gives a grub rescue.
I would think if grub installed in MBR and working in BIOS mode, UEFI should still see grub's efi files in efi partition. Run BootInfo report from Boot-Repair before and after grub installs. And backup efi partition when it is working in UEFI mode.

OK, I'll make an attempt with that (but I think it has to wait until tomorrow because it is getting late here in Sweden).

Portable installed system for UEFI and old style BIOS

It works

Thanks oldfred. I did not go the long way via the desktop installer and syslinux and grub. I tried fixing things according to your advice in the previous posts. So now I have a USB 3 pendrive, that boots my Toshiba in BIOS (CSM) as well as in UEFI mode. The setup is probably not optimal, but it is the first installed system that works for me like this. You may want to check the boot-info at this pastebin link

http://paste.ubuntu.com/7115197/

[oldfred]

@sudodus

Fantastic.

It was theory and I wanted to try it but do not have an UEFI system (yet).
You maybe should summarize how to do it in a Tips & tutorials thread or just a separate post to make it easy to get to. Others will never find this thread.

[sudodus]

@sudodus

Fantastic.

It was theory and I wanted to try it but do not have an UEFI system (yet).
You maybe should summarize how to do it in a Tips & tutorials thread or just a separate post to make it easy to get to. Others will never find this thread.

Yes, that is a good idea. There was some trial and error, and I must find a clean set of steps before making a tutorial of it.

[Jonathan_Wallace]

Hello,

During a recent upgrade via aptitude to my lubuntu desktop, I lost my connection to the terminal doing the upgrading. This interrupted the upgrade process. I muddled around trying to restore the state and ran aptitude a few times and now my desktop won't boot.

I've burned the boot-repair cd and attempted the recommended repair but have had little luck. When I initially set up the machine, I set up raid5 with three hard disks. I did install mdadm as suggested by boot-repair before attempting the repair.

Here's my paste bin: http://paste.ubuntu.com/7123514/.

What should I try next?