Dual boot Windows with Linux

lx07 · 04 Feb 2016

mibaup said:

Is it possible to install refind from Windows? Btw, if I understand, refind is a GUI for choosing the installed OS's?

Yes. I gave you the link above but maybe it was hidden in my huge block of text. Sorry about that. Here it is in full The rEFInd Boot Manager: Installing rEFInd

Essentially you mount your EFI partition, copy the rEFInd folder to it, rename refind.conf.sample to refind.conf and then tell your boot manager to load rEFInd not windows boot loader first with (from an elevated Windows command prompt) bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi . That is it.

You only need to update the refind.conf in very unusual circumstances. Otherwise if you can make new partitions, insert an external USB or SD card with Windows or Linux on it and it will be found and you can boot it. If it isn't there then it will not appear as a choice.

If you are interested in EFI and GPT partitioning the rodsbooks site is the best I've found even if you decide not to install the loader and use something else.

mibaup · 04 Feb 2016

z31fanatic said:

The rEFInd Boot Manager

All it takes to install it is three lines in the Linux terminal

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:rodsmith/refind
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install refind

lx07 said:

Yes. I gave you the link above but maybe it was hidden in my huge block of text. Sorry about that. Here it is in full The rEFInd Boot Manager: Installing rEFInd

Essentially you mount your EFI partition, copy the rEFInd folder to it, rename refind.conf.sample to refind.conf and then tell your boot manager to load rEFInd not windows boot loader first with (from an elevated Windows command prompt) bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi . That is it.

You only need to update the refind.conf in very unusual circumstances. Otherwise if you can make new partitions, insert an external USB or SD card with Windows or Linux on it and it will be found and you can boot it. If it isn't there then it will not appear as a choice.

If you are interested in EFI and GPT partitioning the rodsbooks site is the best I've found even if you decide not to install the loader and use something else.

Thank you all,
I actually did:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:rodsmith/refind
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install refind

Like you suggested, through an Ubuntu Live USB. I did that, but nothing happens. I mean, it did show that it installed. But how do I find it? Where can I see? I do not see any REFIND entry in my UEFI bios, and I don't know how to use Ubuntu too much, so I don't know how to see where it's installed, or how to actually uninstall REFIND?

It asked me something about creating files in the UEFI firmware. I'm afraid it is installed somewhere deep in the bios (?) . So I basically followed your instructions and it shows nothing. Are you sure it is safe? Because I see nothing and I feel like I installed something really bad for my laptop :)

lx07 · 04 Feb 2016

mibaup said:

It asked me something about creating files in the UEFI firmware. I'm afraid it is installed somewhere deep in the bios (?) .

No. It sets the default boot loader name in NVRAM that is all. Same as bcdedit does.

EFI is simple. It looks for something it can call. What is can call is either a CD, DVD, floppy disk or a hard disk containing the only thing it can understand a FAT partition.

Assuming it finds a FAT partition it will look for a boot loader either by default (made up by the manufacturer or whatever you put in NVRAM) or wander through the /EFI/Something/Something.efi files until it finds something appropriate.

That is all.

Please mount your EFI partition and show what you have. This is mine - I'm mounting the ESP which I have as partition 2 on disk 0) in windows and then showing directories...

As you can see the boot manager (as shown by bcdedit below) thinks the path of the boot loader is \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi which is correct.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]
(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.10586

Copyright (C) 1999-2013 Microsoft Corporation.

DISKPART> sel disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> sel par 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> assign letter=q

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit

Leaving DiskPart...

C:\WINDOWS\system32>q:

Q:\>dir
 Volume in drive Q is EFI
 Volume Serial Number is C866-15EC

 Directory of Q:\

09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          EFI
11/06/2015  09:36 PM    <DIR>          Temp
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               2 Dir(s)     151,442,432 bytes free

Q:\>cd EFI

Q:\EFI>dir
 Volume in drive Q is EFI
 Volume Serial Number is C866-15EC

 Directory of Q:\EFI

09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          .
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          ..
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          APPLE
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          refind
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          tools
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          Microsoft
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          Boot
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               7 Dir(s)     151,442,432 bytes free

Q:\EFI>cd refind

Q:\EFI\refind>dir
 Volume in drive Q is EFI
 Volume Serial Number is C866-15EC

 Directory of Q:\EFI\refind

01/16/2016  03:07 PM    <DIR>          .
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          ..
01/16/2016  03:07 PM           219,176 refind_x64.efi
01/16/2016  03:07 PM    <DIR>          icons
01/10/2016  01:54 PM    <DIR>          icons-backup
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          keys
11/11/2015  12:16 PM            24,889 refind.conf
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          drivers_x64
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          banners
09/14/2015  11:36 AM            23,125 refind.conf-manual
09/15/2015  03:08 PM            22,983 refind.conf-original
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          myicons
01/16/2016  03:07 PM            24,835 refind.conf-sample
               5 File(s)        315,008 bytes
               8 Dir(s)     151,442,432 bytes free

Q:\EFI\refind>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=Q:
path                    \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
flightsigning           Yes
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {9c34aefd-9152-11e5-9c76-00155d013517}
displayorder            {current}
                        {9c34aef5-9152-11e5-9c76-00155d013517}
                        {9c34aeff-9152-11e5-9c76-00155d013517}
                        {9c34aefe-9152-11e5-9c76-00155d013517}
                        {9c34af00-9152-11e5-9c76-00155d013517}

If you are more comfortable with Linux or OSX it is the same (except the installer does it for you) - copy the directory to EFI system partition and update the NVRAM so the boot manager looks for the correct boot loader.

That is all there is to it really.

It isn't just how rEFInd works - it is how every EFI bootloader is called by EFI firmware for any OS.

You can read more about it here if you like FGA: The EFI boot process.

mibaup · 04 Feb 2016

lx07, thank you, I managed to successfully install rEFInd and now it boots first.
I guess the problem was doing it through the LIVE USB. it worked after I did that in a real installation.
I still do encounter some problems:

1) From some reason, rEFInd shows me some previously deleted OS at the booting options.
I currently only have Ubuntu and Windows. But I previously had openSUSE, and deleted it.
I also removed it from the UEFI boot entries using some Linux commands. So how does rEFInd still show them? and how can I remove them?
2) Is it possible to delete rEFInd? I don't find any how-to on the official rEFInd website as to how to delete it? (I installed it via Ubuntu and not Windows)

Thanks again

lx07 · 04 Feb 2016

1. It will scan for anything it thinks is a bootloader. Without knowing exactly what you did it is hard to say but if you've deleted openSUSE completely (there are no partitions containing it on any connected disks) but still see boot options for it, chances are you've got a leftover boot loader in the EFI System Partition (ESP), and deleting those files may be in order.

Mount the ESP and have a look in the /EFI and /EFI/boot directories. If you find any directories like /EFI/opensuse/ or /EFI/boot/opensuse/ directory then just delete them.

Code:

Q:\>cd EFI

Q:\EFI>dir
 Volume in drive Q is EFI
 Volume Serial Number is C866-15EC

 Directory of Q:\EFI

09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          .
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          ..
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          APPLE
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          refind
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          tools
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          opensuse  <<< delete that whole directory if you have it
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          Microsoft
09/21/2015  02:14 PM    <DIR>          Boot

2. You don't really need to uninstall it as it is very small. What you could do is reset your default boot manager to something else. For example, in Windows you would enter bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi to reset the windows bootloader as default.

If you do want to uninstall it just delete the /EFI/refind directory (same as openSUSE or anything else you don't want in the ESP). Here are the removal instructions: The rEFInd Boot Manager: Uninstalling rEFInd

topgundcp · 04 Feb 2016

2) Is it possible to delete rEFInd? I don't find any how-to on the official rEFInd website as to how to delete it? (I installed it via Ubuntu and not Windows)

Not sure if you are using Macrium. If you do then just restore the EFI System partition, uncheck everything else and you can do it while Windows is running.

mibaup · 04 Feb 2016

I'm not using Macrium, so I guess that you can only remove rEFInd from the OS you installed it from? In my case, if I installed it from Ubuntu, I can only uninstall it from Ubuntu somehow? I will figure out and post an answer here if I find :)

lx07 · 04 Feb 2016

mibaup said:

I installed it from Ubuntu, I can only uninstall it from Ubuntu somehow? I will figure out and post an answer here if I find :)

No, it makes no difference. You just need to delete the directory from the EFS - it doesn't matter what OS you use for this. Just mount the ESP (if it isn't) and delete the refind directory.

If you want to do it in Linux then something like this

Code:

sudo rm -r /boot/efi/EFI/refind

In windows, something like this

Code:

diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 2 (probably but you should check it)
assign letter=s
exit
s:
rmdir s:\EFI\refind /s /q

Restoring the partition using Macrium would overwrite the whole ESP with what was there before (and thus also effectively delete the same directory).

mibaup · 04 Feb 2016

Thanks, what exactly is the meaning of "mounting the ESP"? Isn't it always mounted? If not, how do I do that on Linux?

lx07 · 04 Feb 2016

mibaup said:

Thanks, what exactly is the meaning of "mounting the ESP"? Isn't it always mounted? If not, how do I do that on Linux?

Usually it is in Linux (and usually at /boot/efi ) but it isn't in windows. If you are trying to delete why not try the command above and see what is says. You'll get an error if it isn't found.

In which case you can check here Managing EFI Boot Loaders