Question

2

How to point to GRUB instead of windows loader?

rated 0 times [ 2] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 18268 / 2 Years ago, thu, december 16, 2021, 7:12:13

I am relatively new to ubuntu and just installed 12.04.2 on my machine alongside the pre-installed windows 8. I created a new ext4 partition near the beginning of my disk, ran boot-repair from a live session and told it to set this new partition as the boot point and the windows efi partition as the efi boot. Now when I boot my computer, it only starts into windows. If I enter into the boot manager during startup (F9), my boot options are:
OS boot Manager (loads windows),
Ubuntu (loads GRUB with a choice of ubuntu or windows),
Boot from EFI File,
Notebook Hard Drive.

I would like to set GRUB as the default so that I do not have to enter the Boot Manager each time to load ubuntu. I ran boot-repair once more and obtained this information: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/6097128/ .
How can I correct this?

Thanks!

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

ingwhin

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 332

Total Questions: 112

Total Answers: 115

Location: Burkina Faso

Member since Tue, Apr 26, 2022

2 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago rryble · Accepted Answer

Try the following:

Boot to Linux.

Open a Terminal window.

Type sudo efibootmgr -o 1,2.

In theory, this should set up Linux (Boot0001 in the efibootmgr output) as the first item in the boot list, followed by Windows (Boot0002). Unfortunately, some computers (notably many HP models) have broken EFIs that ignore this parameter. If you've got such a computer, you may need to:

Re-launch Boot Repair.

Select the Advanced options in Boot Repair.

Check the option to back up and rename the Windows boot files.

Click Apply to make the changes.

This procedure applies an ugly hack of a solution for the ugly problem of a broken EFI: It renames the Windows boot loader file and puts a copy of GRUB in its place. That way, the broken EFI will launch GRUB, thinking it's the Windows boot loader. Boot Repair will also adjust GRUB configuration to launch Windows from its new name. It's possible to do this manually; Boot Repair just makes it easier to do it.

Alternatively, you could return the computer for a refund and buy something with a less-broken EFI. In the long run, if you've got an EFI that's broken badly enough to need this second (ugly hack) solution, that's the better solution. If people accept broken firmware, manufacturers will continue to sell us broken firmware, so we'll be dealing with the same problem in the future. If we return defective products, manufacturers are more likely to take notice of the problem and fix it.