MX Linux Forum

I have windows 10 and MX 17 on the same HD. Using GRUB to boot, all was well and dandy. Windows threw a big update at me..and it wasted on my boot menu. I just get a message now that says "Error Unknown file system" then the prompt "Grub Rescue".

Using a live USB key with MX18 on it I am able to boot into windows and MX17 (If I select SMI and boot from the HD, choosing UEFI won't allow this)..so that is a plus. But it's very odd. I'm using MX17 right now but I gotta do the USB trick to get it to boot.

I ran boot repair, no joy. Told boot repair to reinstall grub, no joy. See attached.

What is the procedure to get this repaired? Thanks in advance.

grasshopper wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:19 am Using a live USB key with MX18 on it I am able to boot into windows and MX17 (If I select SMI and boot from the HD, choosing UEFI won't allow this)..so that is a plus. But it's very odd. I'm using MX17 right now but I gotta do the USB trick to get it to boot.

Within an UEFI system you would (normaly) have a GPT partition scheme . But you would rarely install into MBR, which is used for booting in BIOS-mode. So you are mixing here something. WIndows is either bootable in BIOS mode or in UEFI mode, not in both. Whereas MX Linux can be booted within both modes after having prepared grub for this mode.
So if you have Windows in UEFI mode installed in the first place, switching to BIOS-mode will not help you to boot into windows. BTW: Windows update will not kill any GRUB installed within UEFI mode.
Only in BIOS mode the same MBR is used for Windows and GRUB, and as such could have been potentially overwritten by an unfriendly winOS upgrade.

i've been using ubuntu for 5 years now, i wanted to try mx linux so i installed it alongside windows 10

MX linux doesn't show up in windows boot manager, infact windows doesn't acknowledge that another distribution is installed
this is how i have too boot into MX linux

I have to press F9 at the start of laptop from there i have to select whether to load windows boot manager or MX linux grub
so i select grub this is a hassle why can't MX have the same easy to install grub like ubuntu had, where i could select any OS i'd want from Ubuntu Grub...

rana3124 wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:31 pm i've been using ubuntu for 5 years now, i wanted to try mx linux so i installed it alongside windows 10

MX linux doesn't show up in windows boot manager, infact windows doesn't acknowledge that another distribution is installed
this is how i have too boot into MX linux

I have to press F9 at the start of laptop from there i have to select whether to load windows boot manager or MX linux grub
so i select grub this is a hassle why can't MX have the same easy to install grub like ubuntu had, where i could select any OS i'd want from Ubuntu Grub...

Our installer does update UEFI Boot Menu and places the new MX Linux entry as the first place within that UEFI Menu list. Not all UEFI firmware do respect this change and simply still boot into Windows. Further our installer does not update the Windows Boot Manager on the Windows partition. Windows Boot Manager entries can only be updated from within running Windows. If another OS has managed to convince WinOS to list that menuentry automatically we don't see we can do much about it.
Please open a new thread as this is another topic.
Thanks

Many Windows or BIOS updates will remove the MX efi file from the top spot on the boot list. This happens to me, and I have to go back into the UEFI setup and put it back where it should be.

Windows might be more polite to Ubuntu since they paid Microsoft the fee to work with Secure Boot.

Frankly, I've never understood how anyone can muster the courage to multi-boot with Windows...

Perhaps multi with other Linuxes, but having a very long time relationship with Microsoft... I wouldn't trust them with anything.

On a regular basis they're even know to wreck their own installs!


Which, btw. , is among other reasons, I'm here.

The amount of times Windows updates resulted in the BSD was way to often for me. Bye Bye Windows!

Sorry this will offer no assistance to the OP, but...... Q: what goes woof woof and has a nasty bite? A: Windows, cause it's a dog. No disrespect to dogs, I love them, they're amazing animals, just a shame the name given to their type has an ulterior meaning.

@ grasshopper, how about attaching a screen shot of gparted showing how your HDD is partitioned. Here's mine that dual boots MX Linux and Win10 and I have no issues whatsoever. I keep the lesser OS there so my laptop retains its perceived resale value.

grasshopper wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:19 am Told boot repair to reinstall grub, no joy. See attached.

The error in the screenshot indicates that the non-UEFI grub-install command was attempted.

Try the method listed on this Debian wiki page:

https://wiki.debian.org/GrubEFIReinstall

Head_on_a_Stick wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:39 pm

grasshopper wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:19 am Told boot repair to reinstall grub, no joy. See attached.

The error in the screenshot indicates that the non-UEFI grub-install command was attempted.

Try the method listed on this Debian wiki page:

https://wiki.debian.org/GrubEFIReinstall

MX Boot Repair is actually intended to do GRUB-repair including reinstalling GRUB in UEFI mode,
probably better when booted in UEFI mode so UEFI NVRAM entries could be updates also.

fehlix wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:55 pm MX Boot Repair is actually intended to do GRUB-repair including reinstalling GRUB in UEFI mode,
probably better when booted in UEFI mode so UEFI NVRAM entries could be updates also.

Oops!

Sorry OP!

I use legacy mode, not EFI.

When I installed MX-linux on one of my old dual boot systems, GRUB didn't see my old windows partition. But I could boot MX-linux.
I installed MX-linux in my old ubuntu partion. I formatted the whole ubuntu partition (removing ubuntu). Ubuntu had no problem on my system.
I expected that a simple Mx-boot-repair would solve the issue, but it didn't happen.
I had to do manually do a sudo update-grub to make it work.
I am still confused why mx-boot-repair couldn't do that.

So, maybe you can try a simple : sudo update-grub
After booting your MX-linux on your hard disk via your USB stick.

I am 'up'grading from Win 7 to 10 because it's apparently still available and I figure I should have one system with Windows 10 just in case I ever 'need' it.. (and perhaps because I'm an optimist and a masochist simultaneously on some level) A simple automated GUI solution was the boot repair in Mint 20 and it worked in spite of errors, Grub is back and 10 is on the menu. Whether Windows will work remains to be seen, it's still in the middle of the several restarts ...

anti-ewaste wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 12:47 pm A simple automated GUI solution was the boot repair in Mint 20 and it worked in spite of errors, ...

You know we have MX specific GUI tools for these things right? Look under MX tools.

Also please don’t bump really old threads unless really have to and try to stick to solutions that involve MX, it can confuse new users and then we have to deal with it.

Yeah the MX tools didn't work though - sorry I know it's not proper but the way I look at it is Windows isn't worth the time, though I suppose it could be viewed as an opportunity to learn more..

The take away is Windows isn't worth it - ignore whatever else I said. Don't do drugs.