GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

Misinput · 2025-03-18 01:48:15

Hello!!!

I have installed Windows 11 on my PC which already has Arch on it. Web results recommended disconnecting all drives when installing Windows, so I uninstalled all my drives, since I wanted Windows 11 on my old HDD. It installed without issues. Booting into the Windows Boot Loader through my BIOS works, so I do not believe there is an issue with Windows(?).
I reinstalled my drives, and booted up Arch, and ran os-prober, it detected the Windows Boot Loader and added it to GRUB. Attempting to use the new entry, however, gives me two errors;

error: no such device: B8D8-7B6B.
error: disk 'hd0,gpt1' not found.

Press any key to continue...

I edited my /etc/default/grub file to preload fat modules. Line looks like this;

# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos fat"

Running ls in grub terminal and searching for my Windows EFI partition did not work, I was unable to find it. (hd0) exists, but no partitions like (hd0,gpt1). I added the partition to my fstab file so maybe it could be detected by GRUB, but it did not work. Here's what I added to my fstab;

# /dev/sda1
UUID=B8D8-7B6B  /boot/efi       vfat    defaults        0 1

I have done a fresh reinstall of GRUB, and it did not solve the issue.

I feel like I've exhausted my options here, so I'm looking for some assistance. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!!

Last edited by Misinput (2025-03-18 01:49:47)

twelveeighty · 2025-03-18 18:37:13

Did you Disable Fast Startup and disable hibernation?

Misinput · 2025-03-19 16:38:00

Hey there!

Yeah, I've had it off for awhile. I just ran the command again for good measure though. Though I've noticed, sometimes, I'm able to boot from GRUB?

Did some experimenting... for some reason, if I boot into Windows from the BIOS, log in, then restart, I am able to boot into Windows from GRUB? But if I do anything else, like restart Linux into Windows, or try to boot into Windows after turning on my PC, it doesn't work?

MAYBL8 · 2025-03-19 17:12:36

Not sure if you have the same issue as I had but this worked for me:

Ok I solved the issue.
What I had to do was 2 things.
Not sure that the first thing did anything but what that was disable Fast boot in Windows.
That alone did not solve the issue.
The next thing I had to do was go into Windows and run this command at the command prompt.

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\grub\grubx64.efi

I then rebooted and the grub menu was still there.

Misinput · 2025-03-19 20:43:16

I don't have any issues booting into GRUB so I'm not sure if this solution will work. I'll hold off for now and see if theres any other possible solutions.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-03-20 08:10:31

Please share the output of

parted --list
blkid

Thanks.

Misinput · 2025-03-20 09:23:26

Output of parted --list;

Model: ATA WDC WD5000AZLX-6 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size    File system  Name                          Flags
 1      1049kB  106MB  105MB   fat32        EFI system partition          boot, esp, no_automount
 2      106MB   123MB  16.8MB               Microsoft reserved partition  msftres, no_automount
 3      123MB   499GB  499GB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 4      499GB   500GB  673MB   ntfs                                       hidden, diag, no_automount


Model: CT4000T700SSD3 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  1075MB  1074MB  fat32              boot, esp
 2      1075MB  4001GB  4000GB  ext4


Model: Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme2n1: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  1000GB  1000GB  primary  ext4


Model: CT4000P3SSD8 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  4001GB  4001GB  ext4


Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/zram0: 4295MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096B/4096B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End     Size    File system     Flags
 1      0.00B  4295MB  4295MB  linux-swap(v1)

Output of blkid;

/dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="3DB3-CC62" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="22ed2e74-f16a-44ee-babc-ab8691556a6f"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: UUID="001916b5-bec2-4ce1-adf0-93d21fc1672f" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="e23c3896-d1cf-4254-a888-58cf012a4209"
/dev/nvme2n1p1: UUID="a3c70af4-eed8-44b4-bda6-6a908a848f74" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="f46ab98a-01"
/dev/nvme1n1p1: UUID="b696ce0e-9cba-47aa-8895-3cf16cf10e51" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="22bd77ea-eaf4-4a9d-810f-ba43f3e7104f"
/dev/sda4: BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="DC08F24608F21F68" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="fca000d8-b0c5-4592-afbd-4a59b6686d79"
/dev/sda2: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="eb7bbb8e-c9d1-4aae-8fe2-d28f104d3fd7"
/dev/sda3: BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="286ED9956ED95BDE" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="f430d910-c3db-4577-ba7b-40d7d2f3a427"
/dev/sda1: UUID="B8D8-7B6B" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI system partition" PARTUUID="f9f20b5e-ea1f-44b1-b9a7-f9ab891aba83"
/dev/zram0: LABEL="zram0" UUID="6905db91-28af-4716-999e-9eb9a7a0a1b6" TYPE="swap"

sanderson123 · 2025-03-29 14:09:09

Hi, I had this exact same problem with Windows strangely ONLY working after booting in from the BIOS menu, and then restarting to the GRUB menu. Rebooting from Linux to GRUB, and attempting to boot into Windows, I got the same error message as you. This started happening after I swapped my Arch to another SSD. I ended up fixing it by completely switching to rEFInd boot manager, and that was a really hassle free setup compared to systemd-boot. Everything worked right from the get-go. I didn't delete all of my GRUB files yet, so I don't know if something will break after doing so, but at least for now it's working completely fine.

qu@rk · 2025-03-29 20:27:47

Misinput wrote:

# /dev/sda1
UUID=B8D8-7B6B  /boot/efi       vfat    defaults        0 1

Doesn't that mount the HDD's efi partition to your /boot/efi on linux SSD? Try mounting it on /mnt see if you can see the files there.

Misinput · 2025-03-30 20:05:42

qu@rk wrote:

Misinput wrote:
# /dev/sda1
UUID=B8D8-7B6B  /boot/efi       vfat    defaults        0 1
Try mounting it on /mnt see if you can see the files there.

Edited my fstab to mount it to /mnt instead of /boot/efi. I was under the impression this did not matter.
This did not solve the issue.

qu@rk · Yesterday 02:00:04

No, I meant so you can check if you can see the efi files on the HDD. Can you see them in /mnt ?

Misinput · Today 04:14:56

Yes I can see them all.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-03-18 01:48:15

GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#2 2025-03-18 18:37:13

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#3 2025-03-19 16:38:00

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#4 2025-03-19 17:12:36

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#5 2025-03-19 20:43:16

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#6 2025-03-20 08:10:31

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#7 2025-03-20 09:23:26

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#8 2025-03-29 14:09:09

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#9 2025-03-29 20:27:47

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#10 2025-03-30 20:05:42

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#11 Yesterday 02:00:04

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

#12 Today 04:14:56

Re: GRUB cannot detect my Windows 11 EFI partition

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