Arch Linux

sudoku

Member

Registered: 2012-10-31

Posts: 96

[SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

Hi,

I have recently reinstalled Archlinux on a UEFI laptop dual-booting with Windows, following instructions on the Beginner's Guide.

I can boot into Arch, but I have no menu at boot asking me wheter I want to boot into Windows instead.

$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 298.1G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   1.2G  0 part /boot
├─sda2   8:2    0  29.3G  0 part /
├─sda4   8:4    0 213.1G  0 part /home
└─sda5   8:5    0  54.5G  0 part 

$ fdisk -l /dev/sda
Device           Start          End   Size Type
/dev/sda1           64      2459711   1.2G EFI System
/dev/sda2    116712256    178155519  29.3G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4    178155520    625141759 213.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5      2459712    116712224  54.5G Microsoft basic data

$ ls -R /boot
/boot:
EFI/
initramfs-linux-fallback.img*
initramfs-linux.img*
loader/
vmlinuz-linux*

/boot/EFI:
Boot/
gummiboot/

/boot/EFI/Boot:
BOOTX64.EFI*

/boot/EFI/gummiboot:
gummibootx64.efi*

/boot/loader:
entries/
loader.conf*

/boot/loader/entries:
arch.conf*

Please could you let me know what should I do to be able to boot Windows?

Thanks a mil!

Last edited by sudoku (2014-02-18 07:33:59)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

You have posted part of the fdisk output, but omitted the information before the partitions.  Are you absolutely sure that windows is installed with UEFI booting? If the disk is partitioned with msdos/MBR format, it will be bios booting, but if the disk is GPT, then windows will be using UEFI.  You also don't have the UEFI windows loader on your ESP.

If it is not using UEFI, then that would explain why it is not picking up the windows partition.

sudoku

Member

Registered: 2012-10-31

Posts: 96

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

Hello WonderWoofy and thanks for the answer.

This is the full fdisk output:

Disk /dev/sda: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E2DB0454-A62E-4DBB-B59C-04A7F859B4E7

Device           Start          End   Size Type
/dev/sda1           64      2459711   1.2G EFI System
/dev/sda2    116712256    178155519  29.3G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4    178155520    625141759 213.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5      2459712    116712224  54.5G Microsoft basic data

How can I check whether Windows is installed with UEFI booting? I know that the disk is partitioned with GPT, and that the motherboard supports UEFI. In the menu you access before booting (the BIOS menu) I chose "UEFI only". In additon, the install medium automatically boots into UEFI mode and when I did

efivar -l

during installation, it found a lot of stuff.

This is all according to the Beginner's Guide. Only that Windows is not recognised.

Last edited by sudoku (2014-02-18 04:01:14)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

If the disk is GPT, then you should have a efi loader binary for windows on your ESP.  Typically this would reside at /EFI/Microsoft/boot/Bootmgfw.efi, but it is not on your ESP.  It is this file that gummiboot looks for when it autodetects windows.

You didn't by chance mkfs.vfat the ESP when you installed Arch did you?  That would have effectively wiped out the windows EFI loader in the process.

sudoku

Member

Registered: 2012-10-31

Posts: 96

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

Ops... So that was that. So I suppose my option now if I want to be able to boot Windows again is to go back to a BIOS system? Or are there other options?

the_shiver

Member

Registered: 2013-03-27

Posts: 130

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

you could fix your windows bootloader by reinstalling it from the windows-install-disk-repair-console (or whatever they calls it)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

Yeah, going into the bios isn't going to get you anywhere, you are going to need a windows disk for this.  When you do fix it, it is probably going to overwrite the gummiboot in the "default" spot (/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi) as well as make itself a firmware entry that is higher priority than gummiboot's.

sudoku

Member

Registered: 2012-10-31

Posts: 96

Re: [SOLVED] gummiboot not recognising Windows 7

Ah, cool, thanks. Another headache. I will get round to doing it one day.