Why did Windows Update kill grub? - cannot reinstall

[grasshopper]

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.

[fehlix]

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.

[rana3124]

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...

[fehlix]

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

[Stevo]

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.

[Jan K.]

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.

[Sparky]

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

[m_pav]

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.

Screenshot-31.png

[Head_on_a_Stick]

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

[fehlix]

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.