Dual boot, lost the ability to boot windows

[raccoonstrait]

Hi,

This is weird. I have had no problems with this and have been doing this same behavior for years. Current Xubuntu is 18.04 running on a System76 Bonobo notebook.

Yesterday, as usual, after the usual daily update/upgrade I rebooted to change over to Windows (Flight Simulator fan here) and it didn't work, but booting Xubuntu did. After reading the forums for a while I created a live USB boot disc and followed the instructions for installing and running boot-repair. That worked and I had my Windows session.

Today, again Windows won't boot. Now I did run update-grub this morning, not sure if that had anything to do with anything, but full disclosure and all. So I inserted the USB and opened a live session and re-installed boot-repair and ran it. Windows still won't open.

Here is the link to my pastebin from today's boot-repair session

https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/F8T2f5RpPY/

I sure hope someone has some suggestions.

Raccoon Strait

I don't know if this will help, but I have two pastebins from yesterday. This first one is before running boot-repair

https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/xvV9YQS5zh/

This second one is after running boot-repair, the one that worked yesterday.

https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/kXvHxsrCsG/

[oldfred]

I do not see much.

Boot-Repair only does very minor fixes to Windows. If Windows issues you either have to directly boot from UEFI boot menu, or use your Windows repair flash drive.
You do have a repair drive for current version of every installed system?

Grub only boots working Windows. Or if Windows needs chkdsk or has turned its fast start up back on, which it does with updates, then grub will not boot Windows. You may be able to boot from UEFI and use f8 to get into internal repair console.

Windows 10 repair disk
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4...dows-10-a.html
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html
Repair/backup/restore
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...recovery-drive
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...covery-options

[raccoonstrait]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. The Windows is version 8.1, and updates are turned off (I didn't want to be forced into Win10 as so many reported). The only things that gets updated on the Windows side is Windows Defender along with Intel (which seems to only update the WiFi) and the NVidia drivers, which updated recently, but not yesterday. While I do run the Chrome Browser (which updates itself) the only thing I really do in Windows is run Flight Simulator. I then return to Linux.

It appears that all of the options you list require being in Windows, and the Windows installation came from a network install, if I remember correctly. No I do not have a Windows recovery disk. I will check again, but I believe it is booting from UEFI.

Raccoon Strait

[raccoonstrait]

OK, this is interesting. Windows won't boot from the selections presented (by grub I guess) but when I use F7 (on my system) and select Windows it works. I think that probably means it isn't a CHKDSK issue, or an MBR issue. Not sure what is left.

Raccoon Strait

[oldfred]

Could be chkdsk, or fast start up or anything that Windows sees as a problem.
The grub boot of Windows seems to only work if Windows works normally. Not sure why it should be different than directly booting from UEFI, but it is.

Windows 8 UEFI fixes, if no repair flash drive you may be able to download Window installer and use it.

Windows 8 UEFI fixes, if no repair flash drive you may be able to download Window installer and use it.
http://superuser.com/questions/46076...efi-bootloader
Repair Windows UEFI ows 8 boot issues & repair CD or flash
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2105418
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html
Not free but they are good tools
http://neosmart.net/blog/2013/downlo...s-for-windows/

[raccoonstrait]

oldfred,

Thanks for your help. I have a Windows repair flash drive now, I made one as soon as I got in. It worked, but when I asked it to take me to Windows it basically rebooted. Still needed to use F7 and select from that list to get into Windows. I did find fast boot turned on and turned it off. So far as I know it has been on all along. Didn't seem to matter.

I tried using the recovery drive, but it keeps telling me it is invalid.

I am going to try a Windows System Restore and see if that helps.

Raccoon Strait

[raccoonstrait]

Windows System Restore didn't work. I think this issue is in grub somewhere, because Windows does boot, but only when I go to that F7 menu (I think you call it the UEFI menu, but it is not marked as such).

That the Windows System Restore didn't work isn't a problem for here. I have never gotten that to work, and I have been using Windows since 3.1.

Maybe someone has some ideas about the grub issue and what I might be able to do about that. Yes I know it is a big assumption on my part, but nothing else makes sense.

Thanks for all your help oldfred, I do appreciated your efforts.

Raccoon Strait

[oldfred]

I do not know Windows restore as never used it.
But from what I have seen, different vendors seem to do it differently, or maybe different Windows versions.
Some will just restore Windows. Others only want Windows standard partitions. And some totally erase drive and restore to as new and may or may not keep your data. I think most now do try to keep data.

Some users that only boot Windows or Ubuntu occasionally, just use the UEFI boot menu. Since grub only boots working Windows, that avoids most Windows issues.

If you have fast start up off (and Microsoft did not do another update & turn it back on) and have run chkdsk, I would expect grub to then be able to boot Windows. Not sure of any other Windows issues that prevent grub from booting it, especially if Windows directly boots.

[raccoonstrait]

I went back and ran c:chkdsk /f /r and got no errors. Windows still doesn't boot from the grub menu, but does from the UFEI menu. So I do not think the issue is on Windows, it works. But the grub menu, which has worked for a couple of years, now doesn't. It will boot Xubuntu, but not the Windows Boot Manager, I have to go to the UEFI menu.

I looked at /etc/default/grub and compared that with a couple of older files put on when the system was created, but did not see much difference, or any difference that seemed important. I also looked at /etc/grub.d but that has a bunch of scripts which I don't really want to mess with as I don't no what they are supposed to look like.

Any other thoughts?

Raccoon Strait

[oldfred]

Boot-Repair added two more UEFI boot entries for Windows. Have you tried all 3?

Did you turn UEFI Secure boot on, may be Windows or Other where Other is Secure boot off.
Grub will not boot Windows with UEFI Secure Boot on. Chain of trust is lost.