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

**Relsig** · March 24th, 2013

Originally Posted by oldfred

@relsig
You can only have one efi partition per drive, you have two. Use gparted and remove the boot flag from sda5. All booting under UEFI is from the efi partition.
Your efi partition has no Windows boot files. Did you erase it, the Ubuntu recreated it?
There is a backup of the Windows boot file, but you also need the BCD which you can recreate with a Windows repair flash drive.

? location of BCD?
/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD
copy of Windows efi boot files:
C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi

Windows 8 UEFI repair USB must be FAT32
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/For...-166dddf32205/
http://www.ghacks.net/2012/11/01/how...m-repair-disc/

I'm not sure why, but I checked on gparted before I installed ubuntu and both sda1 and sda5 had the /boot flag. I'll remove on sda5 once I solve my current dilemma... My dog ate my windows repair CD... I have an OEM factory reset drive but that puts me back to square one (windows 8, no ubuntu).

I did delete the /sda1 before installing ubuntu, ubuntu wouldn't recognize my windows install and only provided the format hdd or "somethine else". Is there a workaround for that? could the /boot flag on the windows partition (by default on the factory image) be a possible culprit?

is there a way to obtain a windows 8 repair disk image and burn it in ubuntu? (calling dell would get me one in roughly 2 weeks time, so that's a no go)

I suppose worst case scenario:
I lock my dog in his cage,
factory reset my hdd,
create a windows repair disk,
do the whole process over

If I do have to take that route I would like to know how to solve the issue with ubuntu installer not able to detect the windows 8 install before i start that long process, to save me from ending up where I am now but with the repair disk. None of the 12+ topics on the fact were helpful...

**oldfred** · March 24th, 2013

Is this an UltraBook, with a small SSD? That uses RAID which causes issues. Or did you create partitions with Windows which converts it to LDM or dynamic partitions which does not work with Linux.

You do need to use Windows disk tools to shrink Windows and reboot Windows several times, so it can run chkdsk and make whatever repair it needs due to new size.

You will need to use the 64 bit version of 12.10 or 12.04.2 and from the UEFI menu boot the flash drive in UEFI mode. That way it will install in UEFI mode.
Systems need quick boot or fast boot turned off in UEFI settings. Vital for some systems. Best to backup efi partition and Windows partition first.
Use Windows Disk Tools to shrink Windows main partition, but not to create any new partitions, if installing on same drive.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI
As of 12.04.2, it is possible to install on UEFI systems with Secure Boot enabled (using signed versions of Shim, GRUB, and the Linux kernel). This is only currently set up for Ubuntu (desktop, alternate, and server) and Edubuntu images due to pressures of time; we expect to enable it across the entire Ubuntu family for 12.04.3. Details:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrecisePango.../UbuntuDesktop

It looks like Boot-Repair may have added boot flag. It must think you are booting in BIOS mode with WIndows not UEFI mode. You also have some XP boot files in your Windows partition?

**MartinLL** · March 24th, 2013

Hi everyone!

I have a dell xps 15 (l521x) 32GB msata and a 750GB HD with windows 8. I installed 12.10 as follows.

- disable RST from windows
- disable RST in the bios
- install ubuntu
- switch uefi bios to boot 'ubuntu' entry first

Ubuntu is working great but I do not see a grub menu since everything boots direct to ubuntu. I had no chance to select windows.

I ran boot-repair.

Now I get a grub menu, but all the handful of windows boot options... none of them work. They all say

'error: cannot load image'.

Here is the debug info from boot-repair
http://paste.ubuntu.com/5642105/

If I go to the bios boot menu and select windows, windows boots, but never from grub.

I've tried a few things:

1. If you look at the windows boot entries in the link above... they all list:
chainloader (${root})/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

... the 'EFI' should not be in all caps. When I do tab completes in the grub boot editor thing, it tab completes to lower case 'efi'.

After switching it all, I get the same 'cannot load image' error.

2. I tried editing the /etc/grub.d/*custom* thing and adding
set root=hd0,gpt1
before the chainloader command, but that gives the same problems.

Any idea what I can do? Is grub supposed to let me boot windows? Is there a windows bootloader to boot grub?

======= EDIT =======

Some more info:

There is a 'secure boot' option in the bios. I turned it off, I can not boot the first two windows entires... it gives me 'unknown error'. But if I try the 'dell' entries, it takes me to the dell utility to try and repair my windows, but it will not boot windows.

**Relsig** · March 24th, 2013

I did use the windows tool to shrink the partition leaving ~500 gb for windows and leaving ~400gb for ubuntu.

before doing ~anything~ (i was on fresh factory settings) gparted showed a /boot flag at sda1 and sda5.

I'm going to factory reboot, create another recovery cd, remove the /boot flag from /sda5 and see what happens. I'll post back tomorrow-ish if it works and i'll remove windows and install ubuntu if it doesn't. at this point i'm not really caring for windows 8 anyways, guild wars 2 is actually running better through wine and that's the only reason I really needed windows.... Microsoft makes everything a pain, lol.

EDIT: Nvm, can boot to the drive but it says recovery image is corrupt or missing... which is hilarious because I haven't touched it since the last time I used it... sad days.

I suppose I'll have to call dell tomorrow, lol.

**banjobeagle** · March 24th, 2013

Hi everyone,

I'd be really grateful if anyone has some advice for me.

I am running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Windows 8 on my HP Pavilion G6 laptop. When I first bought the computer it took me a while to get it running as a dual-boot system, but eventually it worked...until yesterday morning. Windows did some updates, and now it boots straight into Windows, no GRUB screen appears. To try and solve this I booted using the linux live USB drive I had made when initially installing, and ran boot-repair. This didn't appear to solve the problem, the computer still booted straight to Windows, still no GRUB screen.

I am able to boot Ubuntu by pressing Esc when the computer first switches on, pressing F9 for "Boot device options" - this gives me three options: 1) OS boot 2) Ubuntu (Hitachi HTS547575A9E384) 3) Boot from EFI file. By selecting Ubuntu I am taken to the GRUB screen and can load Ubuntu from the list of options as I was previously able to do.

Is anyone able to offer any advice as to how I can get it to load the GRUB screen automatically? The URL I got from boot-repair is http://paste.ubuntu.com/5639490/

Many thanks in advance,
Tim.

**oldfred** · March 24th, 2013

While Ubuntu is using the Microsoft UEFI key, some systems had further modified UEFI to only boot Windows. And some require secure boot to be on to boot Windows. Neither should be requirements but that is how it is.
Boot-Repair has a work around where it renames Windows file, so UEFI thinks it is booting Windows, but is really booting the shim file that has the Microsoft key. Then grub chains back to the Windows file.

So if system does not dual boot, use the rename function and try that.

Boot-Repair - Updated Jan 1, 2013 to not rename first time, but rename if first time Windows does not boot. Post 706 and 711
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...769482&page=71
Boot-Repair copied /EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi to /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi (in case the BIOS is hard-coded to boot into /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi or secure boot signed GRUB file shimx64.efi.
Renamed files:
/EFI/Boot/bkpbootx64.efi
/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bkpbootmgfw.efi

To perform this, just run Boot-Repair --> Adv options --> tick "Backup and rename EFI files" --> Apply
Then reboot the PC to UEFI/BIOS and chose ubuntu, and please tell us what you observe.
Please enable SecureBoot in your BIOS, then run Boot-Repair --> Advanced Options --> "GRUB options" tab --> tick "SecureBoot" --> Apply.

@martinll
You may need secure boot on. While with Linux case is important, with Windows efi is the same as EFI and the efi partition is FAT32 so case does not matter.
Some other Dell

Installing Ubuntu 12.10 x64 on Dell XPS 13 Alongside Windows from USB New user with Details post 10
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2108450
Dell Inspiron 17R SE - 12.04.2 but otherwise similar to XPS13 above
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2125701
Dell XPS 14 Ultrabook what works
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2116597
Dell 14z used Dell Recovery and Refind
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2125397
HOWTO Ubuntu 12.10 x64 Dell XPS 14 (UEFI + Intel Rapid Start Technology + Flashcache), bumblebee - Details
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2117166

@banjobeagle
I would think Windows updates in UEFI would be just like in BIOS. In BIOS it would overwrite grub in MBR and you had to reinstall grub to MBR. You may just have to reset UEFI to boot ubuntu entry, or if the rename was done, it may have overwritten the shim file and need renaming. BootInfo report is not showing any renamed files, so it should be just the UEFI default entry?

To All, Since Windows does it repair into the efi partition and may reset UEFI, you should backup efi partition as part of your regular backup routine. Of course if new files are installed you will want to keep those.

**Sanakei** · March 24th, 2013

Big thanks to you oldfred, now it works like intended.
I checked secure boot and it was enabled again (did it for testing), after disabling it, following your boot-repair instructions and your tip that the recovery entry is the correct one I finally got it working.

PS: boot-repair is an awesome tool

**banjobeagle** · March 24th, 2013

Thanks for the advice oldfred. I'm not sure I know how to reset UEFI to boot ubuntu, is it straightforward? (I'm no expert with these things!) I tried running boot-repair again, but still not luck. The URL this time was http://paste.ubuntu.com/5643862 .
Thanks,
Tim.

**bcbc** · March 24th, 2013

Two things... why isn't boot-repair on the Ubuntu CD and in the standard repos?
And why do dual-boots with UEFI always need to be repaired after installing?

It seems something is fundamentally broken here.