Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-12 16:12:47

aaditya wrote:

If you want, you can use Ubuntu's Boot Repair https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

You probably shouldn't rely on or recommend "boot repair".

aaditya · 2013-09-12 16:30:08

WonderWoofy wrote:

aaditya wrote:
If you want, you can use Ubuntu's Boot Repair https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
You probably shouldn't rely on or recommend "boot repair".

Sorry. didnt know about it causing trouble on EFI.
I generally dont use Boot Repair, but I suggested it beacuse the OP wasnt able to configure it himself, and he had said that Ubuntu's version of Grub worked on his system.

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-12 17:27:24

Yeah, don't worry about it aaditya. I just figured I should make you (and others) aware of that post. Considering that it is written by Rod Smith (srs5694) who also created and maintains the rEFInd fork of rEFIt, I just thought that in this case it would be particularly significant.

aaditya · 2013-09-12 19:18:20

WonderWoofy wrote:

Yeah, don't worry about it aaditya. I just figured I should make you (and others) aware of that post. Considering that it is written by Rod Smith (srs5694) who also created and maintains the rEFInd fork of rEFIt, I just thought that in this case it would be particularly significant.

yeah, no worries, got the point
didnt know that srs5694 was Rod Smith!

srs5694 · 2013-09-12 19:54:26

aaditya wrote:

I wonder if the OP also renamed efibootmgfw.efi , how would rEFInd find Windows

If it's moved (or moved and renamed) to an EFI/* directory (say, EFI/Microsoft), then rEFInd will detect it in its scans. (Exceptions: EFI/tools, whatever directory rEFInd itself resides in, and any directory or filename excluded via dont_scan_volumes, dont_scan_dirs, or dont_scan_files.)

WonderWoofy wrote:

You probably shouldn't rely on or recommend "boot repair".

I should update that page, since Boot Repair is no longer as aggressive in taking over the EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi spot. It no longer does this by default, which prevents many of the problems it used to cause.

That said, it does install an Ubuntu-style GRUB 2, with the configuration file in /boot/grub (wherever it decides that is). I'm not at all sure it would work properly on an Arch installation, although it should do a better job on a computer that boots both Arch and Ubuntu.

aaditya · 2013-09-14 04:49:12

srs5694 wrote:
If it's moved (or moved and renamed) to an EFI/* directory (say, EFI/Microsoft), then rEFInd will detect it in its scans. (Exceptions: EFI/tools, whatever directory rEFInd itself resides in, and any directory or filename excluded via dont_scan_volumes, dont_scan_dirs, or dont_scan_files.)

good to know

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-15 20:30:15

So what should I do? Should I try Ubuntu's boot repair?

srs5694 · 2013-09-16 17:13:09

DoctorSelar wrote:

So what should I do? Should I try Ubuntu's boot repair?

I recommend against it; see my most recent previous post.

Your last post to this thread was post #46, and I responded to it in post #48. Subsequent posts were others' responses to your post #46 and back-and-forths between people who were not you, with topic drift. If you need further clarification or have some new information about your problem, please be specific.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-17 19:10:57

Sorry. I was just getting a bit confused on what I should be doing. I think I want to try rEFInd again; what are the exact steps that I should take to install rEFInd?

srs5694 · 2013-09-17 21:15:38

You can follow the instructions in the Arch wiki or in the official rEFInd documentation. Note that the install.sh script referenced in the rEFInd documentation is renamed in the Arch package (to refind-install, IIRC), so if you want to use the Arch package and that script, you'll need to launch it using its Arch-specific name.

cfr · 2013-09-17 21:39:59

DoctorSelar wrote:

Sorry. I was just getting a bit confused on what I should be doing. I think I want to try rEFInd again; what are the exact steps that I should take to install rEFInd?

Please use the wiki. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UE … ing_rEFInd is not difficult to find. You should not expect people here to walk you through this stuff step-by-step. Obviously if you get into trouble or don't understand the instructions, people will be glad to help if they can, but you should help yourself by consulting the wiki etc. first. Especially for topics as well documented as this.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-19 18:21:21

I have followed the instructions on the wiki for rEFInd. I am a little confused about the install.sh script. How do I use it/what is the equivalent in Arch? I installed the package refind-efi. The wiki also mentions UEFI drivers. Would these be included with refind-efi or would I have to download another package?

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2013-09-19 18:29:36)

cfr · 2013-09-19 22:09:26

The script is refind-install on Arch. The drivers are included in the package. Reread the output from pacman from when you installed refind and you will see it tells you what to do with them.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-19 23:19:39

What order do I do them in?
For example:
1. Install refind-efi
2. Copy files from /usr/share/refind (including EFI drivers)
3. Run refind-install

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2013-09-19 23:20:48)

cfr · 2013-09-19 23:29:36

I don't know that (2) is necessary if you do (3) but, yes, you obviously have to do (1) first.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-19 23:41:14

Do I need to pass any arguments to refind-install? For example, the location that the ESP is mounted.

cfr · 2013-09-20 00:01:04

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UE … ing_rEFInd
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

Please use the wiki and the links it provides to answer your questions. You should not expect people here to walk you step-by-step through well-documented procedures. Either use the method explained in the wiki (and outlined in pacman's output) or consult the author's documentation for information about installing rEFInd, including instructions for using the script.

EDIT: I will even give you this: http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/install … #installsh.

Last edited by cfr (2013-09-20 00:05:31)

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-20 01:10:01

I installed rEFInd using the refind-install command. The entry shows up when I press F9. However, if I don't press anything on startup, it still boots straight to Windows. refind-install gave no errors. If it helps, F9 doesn't list Windows as a boot options; only OS Boot Manager is listed.

EDIT: There are a couple of errors/warnings/notifications when booting up, which are:
Failed to mount root partition as read/write - Doesn't seem to affect anything
Failed to start swap on /dev/sda5 - Swap still working on /dev/sda5

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2013-09-20 01:28:42)

srs5694 · 2013-09-21 02:02:58

You've probably got a buggy EFI that's failing to work correctly with efibootmgr (which the rEFInd install script and most other similar tools use for registering boot loaders). the rEFInd documentation for some workarounds, in particular:

Registering rEFInd via Windows (see steps 10-11, in particular)
Registering rEFInd via an EFI shell (see steps 12-15, in particular)
Using alternative boot loader names

I believe the Arch wiki covers these options, too.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-23 20:12:14

For the Registering rEFInd via Windows one, would steps 10 and 11 in the documentation still work if I installed rEFInd through Arch using refind-install? Also, should i use efibootmgr to remove the current rEFInd entry?

EDIT: I did steps 1-6 (on Windows) and came to an interesting problem. When I run dir to find out what's in the directory (S:\EFI\refind), Windows pops up two "The parameter is incorrect." and then goes on to show that there is one file in the directory, which is a bunch of random letters and a happy face character.

EDIT 2: Windows is getting to be a bit of a pain in the ass. When I tried to reboot into Arch again, the rEFInd option in the F9 menu was gone. When I try to remove the rEFInd directory through the Arch live CD, I get a bunch of errors about a read-only file system. I managed to fix it using fsck.msdos -aw /dev/sda2, but the rEFInd directory was empty when that was done.

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2013-09-23 20:33:46)

cfr · 2013-09-23 21:05:27

10 & 11 should still work if you installed rEFInd from Arch, yes. However, I'm not sure about using efibootmgr to remove the existing entry as I think srs5694's was that your firmware was not working properly with efibootmgr.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-23 21:23:37

I have been able to remove and add entries using efibootmgr; it just seems to be unable to set boot priority.

srs5694 · 2013-09-24 03:19:48

DoctorSelar, have you disabled the Windows fast startup feature, as described here:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/63 … s-8-a.html

If you haven't done so, do so immediately! That feature should really be called the "damage all dual-boot filesystems" feature, since that's what it does on computers that dual boot.

DoctorSelar · 2013-09-24 20:12:31

Yes, I disabled that as soon as I read about it. That's probably what damaged the ESP, although after I ran fsck.msdos -aw /dev/sda2, it was fine. When I mounted it in Windows and ran dir in S:, it gave a bunch of errors when showing some files. They were all FSCK00xx.REC, so I'm assuming that isn't a problem. Everything else was fine though. When I did step 10 of Registering rEFInd via Windows, everything went fine. I rebooted and went into the F9 menu to check. Step 10 created a second OS boot manager entry. The first entry (default one) still boots into Windows.

EDIT: The second OS boot manager entry is gone from the F9 menu on the second restart. I was unable to figure out what it did.
EDIT II: The second OS boot manager entry was back on 3rd restart! It boots into rEFInd.
EDIT III: I copied /boot/efi/efi/refind/* to /boot/efi/efi/boot/ and renamed bootx64.efi to bootx64.efi_old. Then I renamed refind_x64.efi to bootx64.efi. Still, it booted straight to Windows. I even did the bcdedit command on the new bootx64.efi, still booted straight to Windows. I'm starting to wonder if the person who programmed the UEFI on this computer was competent.

It was bootmgfw.efi! HP decided to ignore what is supposed to be booted first and forced Windows to boot first. I copied the /boot/efi/efi/Microsoft to /boot/efi/efi/Windows. rEFInd didn't detect it and I had to make a few tweaks to refind.conf to make it work, but it seems to be working fine. That extra OS boot manager entry seems to have gone away on its own. Thanks to everyone who helped me solve this problem. I'll be sure to keep my eye out for posts with similar problems.

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2013-09-24 21:33:35)

cfr · 2013-09-24 22:02:14

What exactly is in /boot/efi/efi/refind/ and /boot/efi/efi/boot/ now? You said it was empty and then that it contained a bunch of FSCK... files but that "everything else was fine". What is the everything else?

If the preferred boot option is not available (for example because the contents of that directory no longer exist or are damaged), the firmware will fall back to the second boot option and so on until it runs out of options. At that point, it will look for something in the default fall back loader position. But since Windows is the second option, I assume it will try that first.

I'm really unclear what the state of your ESP is at this point and whether you've corrected whatever problems not having fast-boot disabled earlier may have created.

Arch Linux

#51 2013-09-12 16:12:47

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#52 2013-09-12 16:30:08

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#53 2013-09-12 17:27:24

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#54 2013-09-12 19:18:20

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#55 2013-09-12 19:54:26

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#56 2013-09-14 04:49:12

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#57 2013-09-15 20:30:15

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#58 2013-09-16 17:13:09

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#59 2013-09-17 19:10:57

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#60 2013-09-17 21:15:38

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#61 2013-09-17 21:39:59

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#62 2013-09-19 18:21:21

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#63 2013-09-19 22:09:26

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#64 2013-09-19 23:19:39

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#65 2013-09-19 23:29:36

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#66 2013-09-19 23:41:14

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#67 2013-09-20 00:01:04

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#68 2013-09-20 01:10:01

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#69 2013-09-21 02:02:58

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#70 2013-09-23 20:12:14

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#71 2013-09-23 21:05:27

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#72 2013-09-23 21:23:37

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#73 2013-09-24 03:19:48

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#74 2013-09-24 20:12:31

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

#75 2013-09-24 22:02:14

Re: Setting GRUB as the default boot manager on a UEFI-based system

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