SOLVED Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

When you run into problems installing MX Linux XFCE
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svx_biker
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Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:34 pm

Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#51 Post by svx_biker »

Maybe a silly question in this forum but: Have you ever tried to install a different distro?

When I started with GPT disks and later with EFI machines i found that different distros do the handling better than others. As I understand your system will be reinstalled anyway so it could be an idea to try fedora, manjaro or ubuntu just to name a few.

Also are you sure you really need Windows 10? I've dropped windows completely where I could as it just wastes my time. I still have to use it at work but there I only have Windows. My personal machines have several linux distros with EFI and BIOS and one desktop even with a software RAID (2 Disks with 1000GB each).
Machine: Acer Aspire S5-371
CPU: Intel Core i3-7100U with 8GB RAM
MX-19 Beta-2 with Kernel 4.19.0-6

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fehlix
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Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#52 Post by fehlix »

svx_biker wrote: Sat Dec 22, 2018 11:55 am Also are you sure you really need Windows 10?
Surely a legitimate question, nevertheless I assume this is not part of this thread topic :lipsrsealed:
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H, Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 (Quad core), 32GB RAM,
GeForce GTX 770, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, Seagate Barracuda 4TB

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svx_biker
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Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#53 Post by svx_biker »

Ok ronjnk, I tried an install to be as close as possible with yours. I don't have a Lenovo desktop but used an EFI laptop with other distros already installed.

- Boot MX-18 in UEFI-mode
- install with most defaults on /dev/sda4, leave the rest

After reboot I find that MX-18 doesn't seem to update the EFI boot order. The laptop comes up with the GRUB selection of the already installed systems. I have to boot into the "grub-host" (here PCLinuxOS) and do an update-grub2. After another reboot I'm now into MX-18.

Here some informations:

Code: Select all

lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL     UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                          
├─sda1 vfat   EFI       586E-D063                            
├─sda2 ext4   PCLinuxOS e80571aa-8cdc-4875-b656-7d9eace40b67 
├─sda3 ext4   Fedora    75a7e1e0-a751-44ea-9eae-d3d78f2e62cf 
├─sda4 ext4   rootMX18  e29e77c5-99de-4369-b750-a1a4b2612e09 /
└─sda5 ext4   Daten     e8627e7d-0075-4dbc-9357-021d37ffde81
Nothing special here ...

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sudo efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* PCLinuxOS
Boot0001* Fedora
Boot0002* Manjaro
Boot0003* Unknown Device: 
Boot0005* MX18
Boot2001* EFI USB Device
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM
Boot2003* EFI Network
Here the interesting part for me is that BootOrder doesn't even contain MX18 though it was added to list of EFI entries :eek:
I mounted the /dev/sda1 as /mnt/efi to see what happend there:

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ls -l /mnt/efi/EFI
insgesamt 20
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dez 19 19:59 BOOT
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Dez 20 11:58 fedora
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dez 20 00:05 Manjaro
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dez 22 12:04 MX18
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul  4 20:10 pclinuxos
So this confirms that the EFI partition is updated but the EFI boot order isn't. This is probably also why your system never wants to boot into MX18.

My experience with different distros is that some all updates correctly and some do only part of it. For MX18 it seems that the EFI boot order as seen with efibootmgr isn't updated as it should. What I will try next is to add the MX14 partition to the boot order and reboot. This should probably work with linux only partitions but Microsoft sometimes does his own strange things to prevent other operating systems to start.
Last edited by svx_biker on Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Machine: Acer Aspire S5-371
CPU: Intel Core i3-7100U with 8GB RAM
MX-19 Beta-2 with Kernel 4.19.0-6

ronjnk
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:36 pm

Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#54 Post by ronjnk »

Thanks Fehlix. It is a bit of a puzzle since when I look at the individual devices, they say they are all Non-Raid physical disks which is confirmed when I click on each drive. But as you note, it looks like something has RAID from the response of that one command query.

When I go to a completely different line in BIOS which is the configure SATA, then I have the choice to change it to AHCI. I'm thinking this is an all encompassing thing dealing with all SATA drives and maybe I should change it to AHCI. But I don't understand why when I go to each device, it is already Non Raid.

That's what I'm wrestling with now. Changing all SATA configuration to AHCI. There's nothing to change RAID wise on the individual devices.

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fehlix
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Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#55 Post by fehlix »

svx_biker wrote: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:14 pm After reboot I find that MX-18 doesn't seem to update the EFI partition on /dev/sda1.
Please check on EFI-partition whether you have a folder MX18 and the grub bootloader file grubx64.efi.
If this does not exists, this might point to an issue in the installer.
And do confirm that you have/or not have a MX18 menuentry within the UEFI-boot menu (e.g. by pressing F12 (?) during POST)
Thanks
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H, Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 (Quad core), 32GB RAM,
GeForce GTX 770, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, Seagate Barracuda 4TB

ronjnk
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:36 pm

Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#56 Post by ronjnk »

SVX biker I have considered trying another distro just to see if it will install. I may end up doing that at some point. But I'm really set on MX right now and will do all in my power to get it installed. I'm grateful for all the support from the forum. Nobody's given up on me yet and I won't give up as well until the bitter end. :) I hate windows but I have tax, GPS mapping and a purchased movie maker software that I need windows for. WINE won't run the stuff last I checked.

I'll keep your suggestions in mind but I think I need to get back to square one which is restore the computer to like new with windows all working and then give MX an install and see what happens. Right now, windows is dead and the disk is corrupted. Thanks! Ron

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svx_biker
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Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#57 Post by svx_biker »

Hmmm, the bootloader of MX18 doesn't want to start. I also added the grubx64.efi as secure UEFI in the setup but still it wont boot.

Now I'm back into the host and see

Code: Select all

efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002,0003,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* PCLinuxOS
Boot0001* Fedora
Boot0002* Manjaro
Boot0003* MX18
Boot0004* Unknown Device: 
Boot0005* MX18
Boot2001* EFI USB Device
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM
Boot2003* EFI Network
Strange, isn't it? I have two MX18 in EFI now. I'll delete 4 and 5 and redo efibootmgr -o3,0,1 which gives:

Code: Select all

efibootmgr -o3,0,1
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0000,0001
Boot0000* PCLinuxOS
Boot0001* Fedora
Boot0002* Manjaro
Boot0003* MX18
Boot2001* EFI USB Device
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM
Boot2003* EFI Network
Machine: Acer Aspire S5-371
CPU: Intel Core i3-7100U with 8GB RAM
MX-19 Beta-2 with Kernel 4.19.0-6

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fehlix
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Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:09 pm

Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#58 Post by fehlix »

ronjnk wrote: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:19 pm Thanks Fehlix. It is a bit of a puzzle since when I look at the individual devices, they say they are all Non-Raid physical disks which is confirmed when I click on each drive. But as you note, it looks like something has RAID from the response of that one command query.

When I go to a completely different line in BIOS which is the configure SATA, then I have the choice to change it to AHCI. I'm thinking this is an all encompassing thing dealing with all SATA drives and maybe I should change it to AHCI. But I don't understand why when I go to each device, it is already Non Raid.

That's what I'm wrestling with now. Changing all SATA configuration to AHCI. There's nothing to change RAID wise on the individual devices.
Ahh that makes sense, SATA is enabled as RAID, but all deives are set to NON-RAID. Probably the manufacture made a decision to have RAID prepared but disabled on all devices. Anyway I would get out of the SATA-RAID if it is not used, and stay with AHCI.
BTW: Before you format that drive, You might try to fix the RAID related GPT issue on that sda-disk by using gdisk (btw made by the same autor of rEIFnd ;) ANd see wehter you can have with the repaired GTP-table the existing MX18
shown up in UEFI-menu after mx-boot-repair.... :snail:
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H, Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 (Quad core), 32GB RAM,
GeForce GTX 770, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, Seagate Barracuda 4TB

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svx_biker
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Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#59 Post by svx_biker »

Still no luck. I reboot into MX18 and do another update-grub.

Question: How can I (re-)install grub-bootloader into /dev/sda?

I tried boot-repair and select /dev/sda1 as the EFI partition and /dev/sda4 as the boot partition but still my grub menu from /dev/sda2 comes up after restart.

Edit: You could also add MX18 to the Windows boot loader.
Last edited by svx_biker on Sat Dec 22, 2018 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Machine: Acer Aspire S5-371
CPU: Intel Core i3-7100U with 8GB RAM
MX-19 Beta-2 with Kernel 4.19.0-6

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fehlix
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Posts: 10303
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:09 pm

Re: Windows 10 Dual Boot but MX Linux doesn't show up

#60 Post by fehlix »

svx_biker wrote: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:47 pm Still no luck. I reboot into MX18 and do another update-grub.

Question: How can I (re-)install grub-bootloader into /dev/sda?

I tried boot-repair and select /dev/sda1 as the EFI partition and /dev/sda4 as the boot partition but still my grub menu from /dev/sda2 comes up after restart.
To be honest, as you a "fighting" with UEFI-boot menu, you can sort it out with adjusting UEFI-boot menu either
with in UEIFI-system-setup or try with efibootmgr. What I found as a much more stable and elegant alternative is
to have rEFInd installed ( so in a sense it becomes a "replacement" of the UEFI-boot menu).
You would install rEFInd within running MX18 (or any other Linux you have installed),
make sure EFI-partition is mounted on /boot/efi and do install refind

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sudo apt install refind
Refind tries to make itself the default menu in UEFI-menu, and will display all found EFI installtion on the system.
:puppy:
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H, Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 (Quad core), 32GB RAM,
GeForce GTX 770, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, Seagate Barracuda 4TB

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