Re: Windows Loader For Windows 8.1 Pro
Rocki Stenger
I have Windows 8 pre-installed, and then I installed GRUB with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not my thing, so now I want to remove it along with GRUB. From what I have learned, with UEFI, GRUB does not overwrite the windows bootloader in the EFI partition and is stored elsewhere. How would I remove GRUB and make my PC use the Windows bootloader instead? It should be noted that I created a separate /boot partition when installing Ubuntu.
Enter powershell into the windows search of the start menu. Look for a blue icon with the label "Windows PowerShell", right click on the that and select "Run as Administrator" within the context menu.
To Mount the EFI System Partition on the given drive use the mountvol command by using the /S parameter. You can chose any free drive letter you want. For example "S".
You can restore the Windows bootloader with a Windows 8/8.1 DVD. These instructions are inspired by Manindra Mehra's answer, but I expanded it with full working details (verified with a Windows 8.1 DVD).
With UEFI you have both a Windows folder & an Ubuntu folder in the efi partition. the UEFI reads the efi entries and adds them to its own NVRAM to remember them. You have to remove ubuntu folder from efi partition first or UEFI will re-add it. Then you have to remove UEFI entry from UEFI.
You should have these folders in the efi partition. Delete only the ubuntu folder. Live installer should show folders. And if only Windows you have to mount from inside Windows the efi partition as it is not normally mounted.
3: If you've done everything right up to this point you should see (depending on your computer) your splash screen for a second and then it will turn into an error screen saying that there was an error with the boot. ("Winload.exe is missing or corrupted" most likly).
For system with GPT partition table, the method provided by @Ganesh Kondal won't work. Using bootsect /nt60 C: /mbr will show that it worked while it really doesn't. Using bootrec /fixmbr will lead to error that "the system cannot find the file specified". If any of the above situation applies, do the following (Using Windows 10 as an example):
I have followed the instructions of the 2nd answer on this thread but after that my pc was stuck in a boot loop. Running the commandbcdedit /set bootmgr path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi fixed it for me since my Windows Boot Manager path was pointing to grub.
I installed a Linux (Fedora) as second OS. I did like that so many times but with other distros. After installing I tried to boot in my first OS (Windows 11), but in a grub I didn't see her. I tried to re-install my Windows, when I went to BIOS, I couldn't boot in my flash drive and all UEFI ways to boot are gone. Now I'm sitting without my Windows and I can't install something else. Also I tried to update the grub, add some parameters in a config file and etc. If I try to boot in the windows (in one of my pictures you can see), then it boots me in the grub and after that I can't load my distro.
Before installing Fedora, every time when I got any error from installer, I was trying to boot through selecting a EFI file and it always worked - I tried this way to solve the problem and it's doesn't work.
The root cause is that you did not boot the Fedora installer in UEFI mode, but in legacy BIOS mode. It has written a legacy BIOS-style MBR on your disk, and apparently your system firmware (currently?) prefers booting in legacy mode over UEFI mode. If it sees a disk that is bootable in both modes, it will pick the legacy mode, which is the wrong choice for your existing Windows 11 installation.
One way would be to destroy the MBR boot code so the system firmware will have no choice but to boot in UEFI mode. You could do that by booting Linux from some external live media, and writing zeroes to the first 440 bytes of the Master Boot Record of the hard disk, like this:
If you do this, be very careful: any mistakes in this command could cause further destruction. Also, when booting from external media, the system disk might get a different device name, so make sure you're targeting the correct disk and adjust the /dev/sda part of the command if needed.
To fix your existing Fedora installation, you could boot from an external live Linux media, mount the root filesystem of your Fedora installation, chroot into it, then remove the grub2-pc-.x86_64.rpm package (the version of GRUB for booting in legacy BIOS style) and install grub2-efi-.x86_64.rpm instead. To be compatible with Secure Boot, you probably should also install the shim-.x86_64.rpm package. Then you should mount the EFI system partition /dev/sda1 at /boot/efi, and run grub2-install --target=x86_64-efi /dev/sda to explicitly install a UEFI version of GRUB.
If your live media failed to boot in UEFI mode, grub2-install might display an error message, because it won't be able to access UEFI boot variables. But it should still have installed the UEFI GRUB, so you should then be able to boot by selecting Boot from EFI File and selecting \EFI\Fedora\shimx64.efi (Secure Boot-compatible) or \EFI\Fedora\grubx64.efi (with Secure Boot disabled).
Once you have the system booted to Fedora in UEFI mode, you could just re-run grub2-install --target=x86_64-efi /dev/sda to create the necessary UEFI boot variable, or install the efibootmgr package and use it to configure the UEFI boot variables yourself.
I want to know does windows 10 come with any bootloader so that I can boot from Linux using that boot loader? I have made a system rescue drive in case something goes wrong. Also, I know that if in UEFI or EFI bios Fast boot or secured boot option is ticked on then I cannot boot from Debian.
If you turn off secure boot you will Not have malware on your system, Not necessarily. if you use an updated Window 10 version and the Windows Defender (aka Microsoft Defender), you will be fine, it has very advanced features and protections that will not let malware come in.
I am using Manjaro with Cinnamon DE.
I have installed wine, so I can run windows programs.
With right click on the exe the program starts and run well.
There is a setting on this program to start at double-clock on that with Wine windows program loader.
How start the program with command line options?
Thanks
Hi @ZaeNae ,
I do not know much about Cinnamon, but under settings you can surely find the mouse and touchpad icon to solve the double-click problem. I wonder whether is an executable MS file, in that case with a right clik on the program and then selecting Open with Wine may be enough.
The other answer depends whether you have installed the program or not.
Hi @j8a ,
I know I can run the program by right click on that. That is OK, but after the right click how can i enter the command line options?
I tried to run from terminal, but the program or the wine or something else immediatly crashed.
But with simple right click or simple double click works well.
So the question, how can use the Wine windows program loader from terminal?
Regards
After installing Fedora 34 KDE I have no access to the Windows 10 installation. (I also have no access to a previous Solus installation, but that problem had preceded the installation of Fedora. I have posted a separate topic on that here).
Here I am interested in restoring access from Fedora boot loader to my Windows 10 installation. (I had a Linux Mint in place of Fedora, and Mint had access to Windows but not to Solus. I have thought that replacing Mint with Fedora would fix the problem: it did not, it added a new one.)
I would like to be able to keep Fedora (remove other Linux, namely Solus) but I want a dual-boot with Windows 10. I think a solution would be to install Kubuntu in place of Fedora - I think that would provide access to at least Windows. But I want to give it a try here.
thanks a lot! getting closer and closer The Grub menu appears when I boot Fedora in Bios but if I turn on the laptop it will start windows directly. Is it something I need to configure in Windows so it recognizes a dual boot?
I have been trying to remove the Windows Bootloader or at least set it to be the last thing in the list of UEFI loaders to try via the Acer BIOS. Nothing sticks. Every time I reboot, no matter which bootloader I have set, it will just reset to using the Windows Bootloader and try to load something that isn't there. I've removed the Windows and the recovery partitions since I don't need them.
I also installed rEFInd and it sets itself as default boot manager at the end of installation. However, as soon as I reboot, something in the Acer BIOS (I guess?) is taking over control again and forcing the Windows Bootloader entry to first place.
I solved it! I had to switch Secure Boot on so that I could get to the option "Select an UEFI file as trusted for executing" (otherwise it would be grayed out). Then I navigated to the rEFInd bootloader and Debian's grubx64. I added both, then switched OFF Secure Boot. For some reason they still stayed in the boot priority list and I could now move them up.
There might still be bits of the Microsoft loader left, but I don't care because now the correct loader gets called first. Wheee! The BIOS version is 1.08 and I would like to install 1.13 anyway. It seems that only works with Windows, though, the BIOS can't upgrade itself from inside the BIOS, huh?
At least the parts of the bootloader that I could get to are gone, I deleted the recover partition at the start of the disk (it was sda1 when I looked at it) and the larger one at the end (it was sda7). Then I moved the Microsoft directory away from EFI/Microsoft so it can't be found. I'm not sure what piece of the BIOS or the UEFI system is still pointing at this bootloader, but I'd like it to point somewhere else
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