MX Linux Forum • Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

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Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 11:02 am

by Fairway

Ive been dual booting MX and Win11 on my old HP Z400 (legacy BIOS - no UEFI) for a couple years without issue. I know this may be a faux pas here but I need help.
Win11 did an update and then after reboot I got a "disk error" and could no longer boot to hard drive/grub.
I booted to MX live USB and successfully did grub boot repair and can now boot to MX via grub but Win11 (though listed in grub will not boot).
I repaired the win11 install using Ventoy BCDE and successfully booted to windows but when i did that it wiped grub so no dual boot.
I then booted to live MX and reinstalled grub and can boot to MX with but when i select Windows from grub im getting "disk error" (again).
Now I cant seem to replicate how I used BCDE to overwrite the MBR and get windows to boot again to attempt to try and reinstall grub and dual boot.
I dont want to do a reinstall of windows and repair wont work and all the win11 iso wants to do is overwrite.
Can anyone help with this? If not can anyone recommend where I might be able to find help!?
Thanks for looking.
F

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 [6.1.140-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-37-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
    init=/lib/systemd/systemd
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.20.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_x64 Libretto July 31  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Z400 Workstation v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 6 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 0B4Ch v: D serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Hewlett-Packard
    v: 786G3 v03.61 date: 03/05/2018
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech K520 serial: <filter> charge: 70% (should be ignored)
    rechargeable: yes status: discharging
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse serial: <filter>
    charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Xeon W3520 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Nehalem level: v2 built: 2008-10
    process: Intel 45nm family: 6 model-id: 0x1A (26) stepping: 5 microcode: 0x1D
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: disabled cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB
    L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB desc: 1x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2130 high: 2133 min/max: 1596/2661 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2133 2: 2127 3: 2130 4: 2131 bogomips: 21331
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
  Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS:
    Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 3GB] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nouveau v: kernel
    non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
    built: 2016-21 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s ports:
    active: DP-2 empty: DP-1, DVI-D-1, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 0f:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c02
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 31.0 C
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.20.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 678x382mm (26.69x15.04") s-diag: 778mm (30.64")
  Monitor-1: DP-2 model: Acer ED270U P2 serial: <filter> built: 2023 res: 2560x1440 hz: 165
    dpi: 109 gamma: 1.2 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.3 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: NV136 direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801JI HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:3a3e class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 0f:00.1
    chip-ID: 10de:10f1 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-37-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: tg3
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1684
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX210/AX211/AX411 160MHz driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl pcie:
    gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2725 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 8087:0032
    class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
    service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: d0c0 bus-ID: 00:1f.2
    chip-ID: 8086:2822 rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.78 TiB used: 364.56 GiB (12.8%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2UB102 size: 1.82 TiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
    rev: 0001 scheme: MBR
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide size: 57.3 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 425.82 GiB size: 418.06 GiB (98.18%) used: 45.5 GiB (10.9%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 28 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda4
    maj-min: 8:4
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 31.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 1238
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2748 libs: 1544 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-bookworm.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian bookworm main
Info:
  Processes: 268 Uptime: 16m wakeups: 6 Memory: 27.39 GiB used: 2.66 GiB (9.7%) Init: systemd
  v: 252 target: graphical (5) default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 11:16 am

by Eadwine Rose

Can you give us the output of

Code: Select all

lsblk -f

in code tags?

You can post code on the forum like this:

[code]code output here[/code]

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 11:17 am

by fehlix

Two questions:
When you have a GRUB working,
can you reboot with a LiveUSB/LiveDVD (not ventoy)
and at LiveBoot menu select Switch to GRUB,
on the GRUB menu select Boot Rescue, and further search for Windows boot loader.
Would it find a windows bootloader and when selected boot to Windows?

If yes, disabled fast-boot within Windows, or temporary
press and hold Shift, when clicking on Power off.

Next try again when booted with MX to regenerate the grub menu,
with:
sudo update-grub

Will the now generated Windows boot entry boot to Windows?

If not, but in case the Rescue boot to Windows has worked, we might adjust the generated entry
by the one which was used with the rescue boot.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 11:50 am

by Fairway

Eadwine Rose wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 11:16 am Can you give us the output of
Code: Select all
lsblk -f
in code tags?

You can post code on the forum like this:

[code]code output here[/code]

Code: Select all

mx64@mx64:~
$ lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL    UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                            
├─sda1
│    ntfs         System Reserved
│                          14E444F7E444DD1C                                    
├─sda2
│    ntfs                  F686E14F86E110C3                       65.4G    83% /media/mx64/F686E14F86E110C3
├─sda3
│    ext4   1.0   rootMX23 d4e10825-0cdf-4c41-bcc2-ada265831243  351.2G    11% /
└─sda4
     swap   1              390c60c4-f560-4380-be2c-b805c9ee625e                [SWAP]
sdb                                                                            
└─sdb1
     exfat  1.0   2TBarracuda
                           E683-C5CD                               1.3T    30% /media/mx64/2TBarracuda
sdc                                                                            
├─sdc1
│    exfat  1.0   Ventoy   87C1-B4BC                                           
└─sdc2
     vfat   FAT16 VTOYEFI  626B-4255                                           
sdd                                                                            
sde                                                                            
sdf                                                                            
sdg                                                                            
sr0                                                                            
mx64@mx64:~

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 12:22 pm

by Fairway

fehlix wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 11:17 am Two questions:
When you have a GRUB working,
can you reboot with a LiveUSB/LiveDVD (not ventoy)
and at LiveBoot menu select Switch to GRUB,
on the GRUB menu select Boot Rescue, and further search for Windows boot loader.
Would it find a windows bootloader and when selected boot to Windows?

If yes, disabled fast-boot within Windows, or temporary
press and hold Shift, when clicking on Power off.

Next try again when booted with MX to regenerate the grub menu,
with:
sudo update-grub

Will the now generated Windows boot entry boot to Windows?

If not, but in case the Rescue boot to Windows has worked, we might adjust the generated entry
by the one which was used with the rescue boot.

Yes it will boot to mx live (no ventoy)
here are the boot options in grub - none of the windows selections work and result in "disk error" when selected.
Im sorry - for my confused response here....
EDIT: I had made quite a few attempts to reinstall MBR to and also to C drive - the following is copied from grub customizer

MX 23.6 Libretto, with Linux 6.1.0-37-amd64 (systemd)

Code: Select all

	load_video
	insmod gzio
	if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,msdos3'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos3 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos3 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos3  d4e10825-0cdf-4c41-bcc2-ada265831243
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d4e10825-0cdf-4c41-bcc2-ada265831243
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux 6.1.0-37-amd64 ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-37-amd64 root=UUID=d4e10825-0cdf-4c41-bcc2-ada265831243 ro  quiet splash init=/lib/systemd/systemd
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-37-amd64

Windows from sda2 (manual chainload)

Code: Select all

    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ntfs
    set root=(hd0,msdos2)
    chainloader +1

Windows 11 (on /dev/sda1)

Code: Select all

insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  14E444F7E444DD1C
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 14E444F7E444DD1C
fi
parttool ${root} hidden-
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1

Windows 11 (on /dev/sda2)

Code: Select all

insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2  F686E14F86E110C3
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F686E14F86E110C3
fi
parttool ${root} hidden-
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 2:03 pm

by noursle

Post removed -> Created a new topic

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 2:04 pm

by fehlix

Fairway wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 12:22 pm Yes it will boot to mx live (no ventoy)
here are the boot options in grub - none of the windows selections work and result in "disk error" when selected.

So you are saying with GRUB rescue menu you have selected to find "Windows loader"
And it has found at least two entries. But both complained about a disk-error when selected.
The boot-rescue did found two, one from the "System Reserver" ntfs drive and another one
from the un-labeld /dev/sda2". Normally one is valid but depending how you manual adjusted bcd,
Windows sometime recreates another on the C:-drive /dev/sda2

Fairway wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 12:22 pm EDIT: I had made quite a few attempts to reinstall MBR to and also to C drive

I guess you made it worth, b/c "C:" drive would be according to the "lsblk -f" the un-labled partition /dev/sda2
And installing GRUB to the PBR of sda2, would destroy the PBR updated by windows,
which will normally used by GRUB to chainload into the windows install.
So any chain loader with grub's "chainloader +1" on that partition may fail to boot windows.

First I would try to repair the windows bootloader with help of windows own tools.
an when booted to windows disable fast-startup/fast-boot or always hold Shift and power down.
When this was done try again to have LiveUSB Boot Rescue to find the windows loader,
one of the two found should boot.
Next: Reboot in MX with help of MX LiveUSB -> Boot Rescue and search for GRUB loader or GRUB menus,
eiither of both should work to boot back into MX Linux.
Now, first trial:
Do install GRUB into the PBR of the MX root partition, so we won't destroy windows boot loader

sudo grub install --force /dev/sda3

sda3 is your mx-root partions.
If that works update grub
sudo update-grub.
whatch the output.. Is it finding Windows?
If yes, reboot back int LiveUSB -> Boot rescue -> search for GRUB loader.
It should show the MX Linux GRUB menu with a Windows boot entry.
Does the Windows entry boot into Windows?
If yes, you could now re-install install into the MBR of the drive using MX Boot Repair,
but before this select backup the MBR which was create by windows, incase you need to revert back.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 2:07 pm

by fehlix

noursle wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 2:03 pm Hello,
I have the same problem. After installing MX 23.6 on my PC, Windows disappeared from the bootmenu.

Create your own topic,b/c it may be completely unrelated, even if it looks like the same or similar problem.
Advicse within this thread are given to the OP's issue, anything else would make this thread confusing.
Thanks

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 2:17 pm

by Eadwine Rose

@noursle Please start your own topic, as Fehlix has asked, do not tack onto other peoples' threads. Thanks. (tag added for attention)

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 8:49 pm

by Fairway

Code: Select all

mx64@mx64:~
$ sudo grub install --force /dev/sda3 
[sudo] password for mx64:     
sudo: grub: command not found
mx64@mx64:~

First I would try to repair the windows bootloader with help of windows own tools
First I would try to repair the windows bootloader with help of windows own tools.

Does the Windows entry boot into Windows?

I tried the Windows Repair and Recovery Tools and each time it fails
I also tried using chatgpt for guidance to use Ventoy BCDE PE tool but no progress
It did work last night as mentioned and I successfully booted to windows butwhen i tried to reinstall grub it stopped working.
I dont know what else to do as I am not great with linux terminal commands on my own but I can input commands etc if they are provided with direction.

I guess I will need to try and do a new install and lose all of my apps.
I also think its time maybe to just sureender to the mighty microsoft and build a new machine that is compatible with Widows 11.
(I had to do workaround to install Win11 on the legacy boot machine)
Thanks for helping.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 9:30 pm

by fehlix

Fairway wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 8:49 pm

Code: Select all

mx64@mx64:~
$ sudo grub install --force /dev/sda3 
[sudo] password for mx64:     
sudo: grub: command not found
mx64@mx64:~

Opps, my bad the command would be "grub-install" with a hyphen:

Code: Select all

sudo grub-install --force /dev/sda3

But this was meant after you have repaired windows boot loader.

Fairway wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 8:49 pm I tried the Windows Repair and Recovery Tools and each time it fails
I also tried using chatgpt for guidance to use Ventoy BCDE PE tool but no progress

Although I am not a Windows user, but there are quite a few forum members who may know how to repair the Windows bootloader.

Note, it may sometimes good to show the commands and the way you tried to fix windows.
B/c that may help someone here in the forum may spot the issue.

Fairway wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 8:49 pm It did work last night as mentioned and I successfully booted to windows butwhen i tried to reinstall grub it stopped working.

That's rather an indication either something wrong with windows bootloader, or maybe with the drive/disk,
esp. with the start of the drive wehre all those boot sectors are located.

Fairway wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 8:49 pm I guess I will need to try and do a new install and lose all of my apps.
I also think its time maybe to just sureender to the mighty microsoft and build a new machine that is compatible with Widows 11.
(I had to do workaround to install Win11 on the legacy boot machine)

Ohhe, a "workaround", that may well be the reason Win11 does not like this anymore.
Suggest you reinstall windows11 with UEFI mode, which has the benefit to use GPT partition table.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 1:29 am

by Eadwine Rose

@fehlix Back when I lost the bootloader due to drivedeathiness I got this bit saved in my files after asking for help on the forum, which solved it for me.

Maybe this is of use for you.

Don't ask me what I did anymore... I don't remember, as this was likely a year ago or something. It was very confusing and I'd much rather forget that whole ordeal

but I thought maybe the info could help so I am doing a straight copy/paste from my file.

Strong urge to OP to NOT use this unless vetted by someone in the know.. might be that your code lines need to be different or whatever else needs adjusting. Could be not the solution for you at all. Just sharing this for fehlix so he might know what you need to do / can try.

If you lose the Windows Boot Partition (drive broken)

In /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft there are two folders, one is Boot. In it the file
bootmgfw.efi

If that is there you can make a custom bootloader:

Code: Select all

sudo tee -a /boot/grub/custom.cfg <<!
menuentry "Windows 10" {
     insmod part_gpt
     insmod fat
     insmod chain
     set root=(hd1,gpt1)
     search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F22E-D9D6
     chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}
!

where F22E-D9D6 is the UUID of the Fat32 partition.

Best way is to regenerate the boot loader into the partition.

Grab the Windows 10 USB key and boot to it using F8 to get to the Bios boot menu

From the Windows Setup screen, select “Next”.
Choose “Repair your computer”.
On the “Choose an option” screen, select “Troubleshoot”.
Then select “Advanced options”.
Choose “Command Prompt” from the list of options.

Start diskpart by entering diskpart in the terminal
list disk to show an overview of all the disks on the computer that can be detected
select disk X (where X is a number, 0, 1, 2, etc.)
list volume to show the content
I have found that no matter what disk I selected, the volume output remained the same
I did select the windows install disk number, and then went list volume and found that was 4 in this case

The sequence
diskpart
list disk
select disk X (the disk that holds the windows install)
list volume
select volume Y (the fat32 partition)
assign letter=S (this gives the letter S to the partition as drive name)

then exit out of diskpart, and run

bcdboot X:\Windows /s S:

The X in that line, replace it with the found drive letter in diskpart and list disk and such. I found it was assigned D, so the line became:

bcdboot D:\Windows /s S:

Which means save the bootrecord found in D Windows on drive S (that Fat32 partition).

When completed successfully it will say so, boot files sucessfully created. If you don’t see that, check that you have assigned everything correctly. I had the bcdboot line set at X first, and that needed to be D. It gave me “failed to set element application device. Status = [c00000bb]

Type exit again to close the command prompt, and shut down the system. Remove the USB disk. Reboot.

Now it either just works when you press F8 to boot from the Bios boot menu, and getting into Windows. You might need to use mx-boot-repair to reinstall MX bootloader if that doesn’t start from the Bios menu.

If you can boot into MX and there is a /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft folder, with in there content, then you could just run

sudo update-grub

and it should bring Windows back into the grub menu. You might have to change the boot order in MX Boot Options if Windows boots first now.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2025 8:30 am

by Fairway

Note, it may sometimes good to show the commands and the way you tried to fix windows.
B/c that may help someone here in the forum may spot the issue.

Here are some of the many attempts I have tried - all with the guidance of chatgpt. That may not have been a good guide but I didnt know any better
They may not be exact in order but it is hard to copy the guided commands from chatgpt to show you

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diskpart
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 2
active
exit
bootsect /nt60 all /mbr

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diskpart
list vol
exit
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

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lsblk
sudo mkdir /mnt/mx
sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/mx
cd /mnt/mx/home/mx64/Downloads/ms-sys-2.8.0
sudo ./build/bin/ms-sys -7 /dev/sda
sudo reboot

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sudo mkdir /mnt/windows
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows
sudo mkdir /mnt/boot
sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda1
sudo reboot

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lsblk
sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
sudo chroot /mnt
grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub
sudo reboot

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sudo os-prober
sudo update-grub
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

Ohhe, a "workaround", that may well be the reason Win11 does not like this anymore.
Suggest you reinstall windows11 with UEFI mode, which has the benefit to use GPT partition table.

This a 16 years old HP Z400 it does not use/have UEFI it is legacy boot sytem

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2025 8:42 am

by Fairway

Eadwine Rose wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 1:29 am If you lose the Windows Boot Partition (drive broken)

In /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft there are two folders, one is Boot. In it the file
bootmgfw.efi

Thank you for responding.
Machine is ~16 year old HP Z400 - no UEFI it is legacy boot only
I have spent many hours trying to repair this problem and weary - as you can see i have managed to even botch this reply to your response!

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2025 5:56 pm

by Fairway

Update - I bought a new samsung evo ssd and installed. Allowed win11 to prep and install a win11 rufus patched iso since this is a non-complinat legacy boot machine. Installed win11 on the new disk and kept MX on the other disk. Dual boot worked, installed all of my apps on win1 and everything worked great for about 4 days. This morning i did a reboot and bam... same fng DISK ERROR as before. Though I have been running a rufus patched version of win11 for 6 months I am wondering if they are purposefully inserting into updates or features that break the installations on these older non-compliant machines.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2025 6:06 pm

by Germ

Fairway wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 5:56 pm I am wondering if they are purposefully inserting into updates or features that break the installations on these older non-compliant machines.

I updated my wife's laptop (non-compliant hardware) to win 11 using rufus and she has had zero problems. That was at least a year ago. I really don't think M$ will stoop to that yet. Probably will after win 10 support stops.

Re: Dual Boot - MX and Win11 - Windows No Longer Boots

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2025 6:11 pm

by Germ

An interesting read:
https://www.techspot.com/news/91783-you ... -dont.html