Navigation section

Windows 8 Windows 8 fails to boot. Linux grub doesn't recognize additional OS.

J

jacnj

New Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
Messages
8
Hello all, I am attempting to dual boot windows 8 and a linux distro and I fear I may have obfuscated a hdd partition. I ran a bash to find out how my drive partitions are looking:

Code: 
  Boot Info Script 0.61  [1 April 2012]

============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  ntfs
  Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
  Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
  Operating System:  
  Boot files:  /boot/bcd
sda2: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  vfat
  Boot sector type:  -
  Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
  Operating System:  
  Boot files: 
sda3: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  ntfs
  Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
  Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
  Operating System:  
  Boot files: 
sda4: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  ntfs
  Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
  Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
  Operating System:  
  Boot files:  /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe
sda5: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  ext4
  Boot sector type:  -
  Boot sector info: 
  Mounting failed:  mount: /dev/sda5 already mounted or sda5 busy
sda6: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  swap
  Boot sector type:  -
  Boot sector info:
sda7: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  ntfs
  Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
  Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
  Operating System:  
  Boot files: 
sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________
  File system:  vfat
  Boot sector type:  -
  Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
  Operating System:  
  Boot files: 
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
Partition  Boot  Start Sector  End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System
/dev/sda1  1 1,465,149,167 1,465,149,167  ee GPT

GUID Partition Table detected.
Partition  Start Sector  End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1  2,048  2,099,199  2,097,152 Windows Recovery Environment (Windows)
/dev/sda2  763,449,344  764,448,767  999,424 EFI System partition
/dev/sda3  2,304,000  2,566,143  262,144 Microsoft Reserved Partition (Windows)
/dev/sda4  2,566,144  763,449,343  760,883,200 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda5  764,448,768 1,432,551,423  668,102,656 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda6  1,432,551,424 1,448,179,711  15,628,288 Swap partition (Linux)
/dev/sda7  1,448,179,712 1,465,147,391  16,967,680 Windows Recovery Environment (Windows)
Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0 GB, 32015679488 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3892 cylinders, total 62530624 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition  Boot  Start Sector  End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System
/dev/sdb1  32  62,530,623  62,530,592  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________
Device  UUID  TYPE  LABEL
/dev/sda1  0020C65520C65178  ntfs  System
/dev/sda2  25BA-5E1F  vfat  
/dev/sda3  A8D6C931D6C90094  ntfs  
/dev/sda4  F20CCB7E0CCB3C7B  ntfs  TI10675800F
/dev/sda5  335bf987-7fd6-43ef-8464-5410086cc7e8  ext4  
/dev/sda6  f6154198-9105-4a0f-b49f-be2f5d57648f  swap  
/dev/sda7  B20844190843DACD  ntfs  Recovery
/dev/sdb1  C801-14E2  vfat 
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device  Mount_Point  Type  Options
/dev/disk/by-uuid/335bf987-7fd6-43ef-8464-5410086cc7e8 /  ext4  (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sda2  /boot/efi  vfat  (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sdb1  /media/usb  vfat  (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

I'm not understanding what the problem is. Are my windows partitions correct? Does windows need a dedicated EFI boot partition like linux does?

I appreciate any help
 

Solution
F
I'm just going to guess that the computer had Win 8 and you added the dual boot through a Linux install. Most of the popular Linux installations use Grub for this purpose and it is sometime prone to errors. It is not uncommon for either Windows or Linux to not boot following the installation. The Grub people have a Boot Repair utility and I would just start there since it is easy to do and fixes most problems automatically. Do the fix in Linux, even using the LiveDVD session. You can actually create a bootable CD with the repair utility on it if you plan to play with various Linux installations. For one time usage, copy and paste these terminal commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo...
Sort by date Sort by votes
I'm just going to guess that the computer had Win 8 and you added the dual boot through a Linux install. Most of the popular Linux installations use Grub for this purpose and it is sometime prone to errors. It is not uncommon for either Windows or Linux to not boot following the installation. The Grub people have a Boot Repair utility and I would just start there since it is easy to do and fixes most problems automatically. Do the fix in Linux, even using the LiveDVD session. You can actually create a bootable CD with the repair utility on it if you plan to play with various Linux installations. For one time usage, copy and paste these terminal commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair
boot-repair

You will be asked for your password with the first sudo command. Allow the screen activity to finish between commands. The last command will start the utility. You will get a program screen and the top button is "Recommended repair (repairs most frequent problems)". Click on that and let it do its thing. When it is done it will give you a code to write down in case you need further support.

That will fix most boot problems (especially the ones created by Grub). If it doesn't, then get into the weeds diagnosing the configuration.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 1 Downvote
Solution
Thanks for the reply. I've been doing some research since last night and discovered that trying to install certain Linux distros (like Debian Wheezy as I am) on machines with MOBOs configured in UEFI as opposed to BIOS is...difficult to say the least. The Linux distro need to install and boot in BIOS and windows 8 boots in UEFI. Now, there are ways around it, using a third party boot manager or trying to get GRUB to boot windows in UEFI and Linux in BIOS legacy mode for instance. This seems like too much trouble to go through. I learned of several distros that have already tackled the UEFI issue and I plan to use one of those, Debian Jessie (testing) for instance.

As far as my Windows issue, I was able to get a hold of a recovery disk and will be running it within the next couple hours. Hopefully it will get my machine up and running again.

Again, thank you for the advice.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
[SOLVED]

Ran my windows recovery disk and found that during my Linux install I had inadvertently reformatted the windows boot partition. The recovery disk I have fixed the issue and now I'm back in business!

Now...back to my Linux install...attempt 6. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment!
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
Glad you got it fixed. Thanks for getting back with the explanation.

BTW, a primary reason for going with Debian is that it is one of the most stable distros. It almost defeats the purpose to go with a testing release in order to solve a one-time boot problem.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
From what I'm reading it not a one time problem. Debian can only be installed and booted from a BIOS mobo, my machine has a UEFI mobo, grub, at least Wheezy grub, has a serious conflict with UEFI systems. Everything I'm reading is that a major improvement to Wheezy was the introduction of a UEFI compatible boot loader.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
What I meant by "one time" was that you install it once and then use it forever (or until you decide to change it, by which time the problem may no longer exist). It seemed a shame that you would be dealing long-term with a distro other than your first choice because of a problem at install time. You had mentioned that you had found some potential work-arounds but they were too much trouble. Actually, now that I think about it, your approach makes a lot of sense. It gives you a simple solution now and you can always change to the stable release once the fix works its way through testing.

Interesting information. Thanks for sharing it.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
That was my logic. Thanks for responding. You on any Linux forums? Check out linuxquestions.org, I'm usually in the newbie forum, same user name.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
I'll have to check that out. I usually just assume that the distro-specific forum will be the best place to find people with distro-specific knowledge.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
You might want to pop in a picture of your Disk Management window. Is it your belief you are running Windows 8 in UEFI?

As far a Linux, I like Ubuntu and it 14.04 distro is Windows 8 Secure Boot compatible. Trying to install using a boot menu can be problematic, so I just use the Boot Device menu when I boot the system to select which OS to boot, and leave the primary OS as the primary boot device.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
Am I wrong to assume that Windows 8 runs in UEFI?
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
It wasn't meant to be a trick question, just a confirmation of your configuration. You might be surprised by how easy it is for someone to install in legacy mode while thinking they were using UEFI.

But since the partition listing you provided seems to show boot files in an NTFS partition, it might not be UEFI.

Never mind, I went through your listing and saw sda2 is a UEFI system partition. You should be able to select that in a boot device menu and boot into Windows.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ah, OK. No I'm sure its in UEFI mode. I've learned quite a bit about this topic over the past week. Its been a literal crash course.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
The problem with Linux is it can be installed as Legacy on a GPT configured drive. It adds it own Master Boot Record and uses that to boot. You should still have the Windows Boot Manager listed as a Bootable Device, if your system is still set to see UEFI devices.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
I found a distro that installs and runs in UEFI mode, Debian Jessie. Its a testing version but I haven't found any serious bugs as of yet.

I just had to add GRUB to the windows boot partition.

On start up GRUB launches and offers both Windows and Debian.

With the Debian Wheezy, I had to install it in bios mode which made dual booting impractical.
 

Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top