Arch Linux

fyredragon

Member

Registered: 2022-12-07

Posts: 4

[SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

Good afternoon, I've been having some issues with my laptop and dualbooting Windows 8.1 with Arch Linux. Any time I try to boot Arch Linux without entering the BIOS to choose Arch, it only boots to Windows. I have tried the customized boot option which points to the grub EFI file, but no luck. No matter what I do, it will only boot to Windows. I've also tried swapping out bootmgfw.efi with grub (renaming grub to mirror the filename), which also did not work. I'm not sure what else I can do at this point. Any help would be appreciated. Much thanks.

Last edited by fyredragon (2022-12-11 19:09:43)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,716

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

What's your current setup like? Post

efibootmgr -uv

This can sometimes be the case on bad firmware, do you have no way to actively adjust the boot order in the UEFI itself?

mcloaked

Member

From: Yorkshire, UK

Registered: 2012-02-02

Posts: 1,240

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

I have an HP laptop - I had to change the BIOS (UEFI) settings to ensure that the boot manager (in my case systemd-boot) is selected as the primary boot option - in a number of HP laptops it defaults to Windows to boot first unless you change the setting in the boot order section and save that change.

---

Mike C

fyredragon

Member

Registered: 2022-12-07

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

What's your current setup like? Post

efibootmgr -uv

This can sometimes be the case on bad firmware, do you have no way to actively adjust the boot order in the UEFI itself?

Here's the output of efibootmgr, and yes, there is a way to rearrange the boot order, but that didn't work either. Tried putting the custom entry at the top, but still booted into Windows.

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002
Boot0000* Notebook Upgrade Bay	BBS(CDROM,,0x0)
Boot0001* Notebook Hard Drive	BBS(HD,,0x0)
Boot0002* Notebook Ethernet	BBS(128,,0x0)
Boot0003  Notebook Ethernet	BBS(128,,0x0)
Boot0004  Windows Boot Manager	HD(2,GPT,4f8e3b04-d3e5-4a2a-aebf-f8d2b6a9a7bb,0x96800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)䥗䑎坏S
Boot0005* GRUB	HD(2,GPT,4f8e3b04-d3e5-4a2a-aebf-f8d2b6a9a7bb,0x96800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\grub\grubx64.efi)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,716

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

Did you try to arrange with efibootmgr or HP's built-in tool? I'd say only the latter would/should stick. FWIW if there's really no way to change this your only other option would be adding an entry to the Windows boot manager, see e.g. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=281328 for an example

d.ALT

Member

Registered: 2019-05-10

Posts: 920

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

Here's the output of efibootmgr, and yes, there is a way to rearrange the boot order, but that didn't work either. Tried putting the custom entry at the top, but still booted into Windows.

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002
Boot0000* Notebook Upgrade Bay	BBS(CDROM,,0x0)
Boot0001* Notebook Hard Drive	BBS(HD,,0x0)
Boot0002* Notebook Ethernet	BBS(128,,0x0)
Boot0003  Notebook Ethernet	BBS(128,,0x0)
Boot0004  Windows Boot Manager	HD(2,GPT,4f8e3b04-d3e5-4a2a-aebf-f8d2b6a9a7bb,0x96800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)䥗䑎坏S
Boot0005* GRUB	HD(2,GPT,4f8e3b04-d3e5-4a2a-aebf-f8d2b6a9a7bb,0x96800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\grub\grubx64.efi)

WARNING!
PROCEED WITH CARE!
Do NOT do any of the reported steps below if you're not sure!!

Just wondering... What if you fake HP's Firmware by swapping the bootloaders' .efi exectables files?
>> Be prepared to boot into Arch Live Environment to revert the changes reported below, just in case your computer will be no more capable of booting any OS! <<

###boot into Arch###
###mount - if not already - the ESP###
# cd /path/of/your/ESP
# mv EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi EFI/Microsoft/Boot/original.bootmgfw.efi.bak
# cp EFI/grub/grubx64.efi EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
# reboot

---

<49,17,III,I>    Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa;
<50,17,III,I>    misericordia e giustizia li sdegna:
<51,17,III,I>    non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa.

mcloaked

Member

From: Yorkshire, UK

Registered: 2012-02-02

Posts: 1,240

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

What's your current setup like? Post

efibootmgr -uv

This can sometimes be the case on bad firmware, do you have no way to actively adjust the boot order in the UEFI itself?

Here's the output of efibootmgr, and yes, there is a way to rearrange the boot order, but that didn't work either. Tried putting the custom entry at the top, but still booted into Windows.

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002
Boot0000* Notebook Upgrade Bay	BBS(CDROM,,0x0)
Boot0001* Notebook Hard Drive	BBS(HD,,0x0)
Boot0002* Notebook Ethernet	BBS(128,,0x0)
Boot0003  Notebook Ethernet	BBS(128,,0x0)
Boot0004  Windows Boot Manager	HD(2,GPT,4f8e3b04-d3e5-4a2a-aebf-f8d2b6a9a7bb,0x96800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)䥗䑎坏S
Boot0005* GRUB	HD(2,GPT,4f8e3b04-d3e5-4a2a-aebf-f8d2b6a9a7bb,0x96800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\grub\grubx64.efi)

In my HP Envy using efibootmgr did not set the Linux Boot Loader to be the primary boot entry, so I had to go into the BIOS settings, and then go to the boot order, and change the order so that the Linux boot manager (in your case GRUB) was at the top, but then also press F10 to save that order, and then F10 again to save those settings before leaving the BIOS (UEFI) settings and rebooting.  It certainly was not obvious how to save the changes made in the BIOS itself. For me no matter what was done with efibotmgr, and indeed using the efi shell to try to set the nvram entries, nothing stayed permanent unless the BIOS settings were directly changed and this is a feature of quite a few machines where the BIOS (UEFI) is Vendor: Insyde ( which you can check with the dmidecode command)

---

Mike C

fyredragon

Member

Registered: 2022-12-07

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

Did you try to arrange with efibootmgr or HP's built-in tool? I'd say only the latter would/should stick. FWIW if there's really no way to change this your only other option would be adding an entry to the Windows boot manager, see e.g. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=281328 for an example

I tried with both, neither working unfortunately. I will try adding to the Windows boot manager and report back.

fyredragon

Member

Registered: 2022-12-07

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] HP ProBook 650 G1 dualboot with Windows 8.1

Unfortunately, still cannot get Arch to show up. I'm not using the Windows install for much, so I think I'm just gonna delete it and go full Arch. I have a desktop with Windows on it, it'll just be less convenient. Thanks for all the help regardless.