Dual boot 8.1 Win with Mate - no grub

Support & Help Requests
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#1

I’ve tried by all methods and resources available to run in a dual boot configuration, Ubuntu Mate and windows 8.1 in my asus laptop. I cant seem to get the boot loader to give me the choice between Ubuntu and windows. I’ve diabled fast boot in the power options under windows, i have secure boot disabled in bios. I’m able to boot via usb and run the live OS and install it as well. I’ve installed ubuntu in two different methods, 1: using the “install alongside windows” and 2: “something else” which allows me to do all the partitioning my self. I make sure to always select the dev/sda for the boot loader. No luck!! ive spend hearly half a day and nothing. I cant use Easybcd because the functions are limited due to “EFI mode”. I also get an error when trying to use boot-repair saying to restart using EFI, seems to be contradictory but this moment im not sure what im saying any more.

Please help, at the moment i have installed both OS’s but the computer boots straight to windows. :frowning:

#2

That’s odd, but not too surprising – UEFI making Windows harder to remove. :confounded:

GRUB should have been installed during installation, but we could try installing it again and might be able to get any error details if it silently failed during installation.

You could check the BIOS/UEFI settings again if there’s anything “locking the bootloader” in case disabling Secure Boot wasn’t enough.

Re-install the GRUB Bootloader

  1. Boot up a live session of Ubuntu MATE from the CD/USB.
  2. When you get to the desktop, open a terminal by pressing CTRL+ALT+T.
  3. Double check /dev/sda is your hard drive. For instance, my 64 GB SSD reads “Disk /dev/sda: 59.6 GiB” along with that disk’s partitions.

sudo fdisk -l

  1. Mount the Linux partition:

sudo mount /dev/sdaX   /mnt
(Replace X with the partition number)

  1. install GRUB again:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda --boot-directory=/mnt/boot/

If installation is successful, the bootloader should be working. If not, there could be an error that may help.

#3

You need to set up your BIOS so it boots from “Legacy”!. :smiley:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

1 Like
#4

Tried this but still didn’t help. I did this earlier on as one of my many attempts to save things. I think somewhere i along the lines i messed up something in one of the windows partitions. I say this because my first try to install MATE the installer was able to detect and suggest “install alongside windows” then later on i didn’t, only the “something else” choice which told me the windows Os wasn’t recognized. I admit full responsibility for the mess up as i wasn’t too informed on the new EUFI and windows 8 forward. I think i have a hybrid EUFI and not full on. I had installed linux distros before with success(years ago).

Wolfman: I did change the BIOS settings to allow legacy, made sure secure boot was off. I know this as i follow either the guideline mentioned by you kind sir or a similar one. Im my bios, “enable CSM” was the choice. I messed up windows OS and i’m trying to install Mate fresh, not as dual boot. I think i changed something from GXX to MBR or vice versa. As i said i’m not as familiar as i should have been before trying this. I’ll probably try later to make a bootable usb of a windows 7 copy i had and retry the whole process(dual boot).

After my first attempt of installing MATE and not getting a GRUB i thought i had it all checked to allow it but i later discovered i didn’t have “fast boot” unchecked in the windows power savings options menu. By the time i unchecked this option i had already messed with the partitions enough to cause other issues.

#5

I also tried something call boot-repair and that game me an error telling me to start BIOS in EFI mode or legacy, one to the two but to my understanding i was already in legacy mode, allowing this “CSM” is the only option i had aside from disabling secure boot. One thing i did find a little strange and again all these options made things that much more confusing was in my bios, I was allow to select “OS” between windows 7 and windows 8.x, which i’ve never seen before. Running Mate successfully at the moment as a single boot. there’s no way to install windows now is there? Id have to install windows then mate? Thanks a bunch.

Sorry for the constant editing but i literally spent half the day trying this and well not with much luck. As i recall bits and pieces of the errors i made have done i’m adding them. I also recall at some point my /dev/sda wasn’t sda anymore but sdb, lol i seriously made something really bad.

#6

It sounds like your system has been booting between the BIOS and UEFI world. Just to clarify, the amd64 image is needed for booting in UEFI mode (the download description is a bit outdated/misleading if you downloaded i386 thinking it’s for an Intel processor only)

You can install Ubuntu MATE first, but you’ll need to provide unallocated partition space for Windows beforehand and follow my instructions (or boot-repair) to install GRUB over Windows’ bootloader.

#7

Cant figure out how to quote and reply to your responses and my coding skills are not up there yet to be able to use html. :confounded:

I think my problem was what you mentioned about the intel/amd64 distro. I downloaded the intel version and this could have caused my issues, or not. I’ll start from scratch later on, installing windows then the correct version of Ubuntu mate to provide a solved/solution to this thread. Any problems running the intel386 version?

I have another slight problem and not sure if creating another thread would be wise. I cannot get the Fn key to control the screen birghtness on my laptop now. The volume keys do work fine however, any suggestions? Greatly appreciate your help.

PS- I’ll be instaling a Win 7 copy i had, will this be EUFI(bios depenent) or does this only apply to windows 8 and ^ preinstalled systems? I want to make sure i get the right copy of Ubuntu-Mate this time inteli386 or AMD64.

#8

:bulb: You can highlight text and a “Quote Reply” button appears. :ok_hand:

i386 is the 32-bit version, targeted for BIOS PCs (but compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit processors). This version doesn’t have UEFI support, which is essential for a system like yours, so go for amd64.

Differences between these two versions:

  • amd64 - 64-bit Version
  • Works on both Intel and AMD processors
  • Processor takes advantage of 64-bit instructions.
  • Supports booting in UEFI mode.
  • Best for systems with more then 4 GB of RAM.
  • i386 - 32-bit Version
    • Works on both Intel and AMD processors
  • 32-bit can access more then 4 GB using PAE.
  • 32-bit is more efficient for systems with less than 2 GB of RAM.

The naming should be ignored, there’s some history behind it that’s causing confusion. The download page isn’t helping right now with it’s outdated info, I’m hoping to get that changed. :wink:

Since you’re starting again from scratch, things should go a lot smoothly since you can boot and choose whether to use BIOS or UEFI mode.

Windows 7 doesn’t support UEFI, only Windows 8 and above. You can install Ubuntu MATE with amd64 since you’ve told your BIOS to boot in “Legacy” mode. It’s safe to install both and they’ll function just like a normal computer would (before all the UEFI/Secure Boot stuff came along)

It’s usually a good idea to install Windows first, since Ubuntu will install GRUB and kindly boot between both worlds.

A bit of further reading on UEFI: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

Probably a good idea to do that. There may be threads already that have solved that problem. :slightly_smiling:

#9

Well i tried to get my win7 copy and now i cant seem to boot from usb lol. Wow…either my bootable usb i made on my Mac is not good or something else is messed up.

#10

Hi,

start here:

and also:

#11

Hello, this might not be relevant but I’m currently running a dual boot with windows 8.1 and Ubuntu Mate but I use a dual-SSD setup (I have a 500Go SSD with Win8.1 and one which is 120 Go with U-M). I also had to install them both in UEFI mode (I used 64bit DVD for Win8.1 and AMD64 ISO for U-M). It works really well, GRUB handles choosing which OS I want to start when booting.

#12

Thanks for this its sound advise. I didn’t follow these as is usually the first thing most giluides tell you as the Windows laptop I was using wasn’t used for anytning personal and was practically empty.

At this point I can’t boot to a usb to install Windows either, the boot priority selection reads a eufi: usbxxx which at least it seems to be running them in eufi. I even tried to force it to boot the usb by wiping the hdd from any actual OS using the live ubuntu usb, which oddly enough it lets me boot to. Yep, pretty odd. I’m using to different brand usb so not sure if that has anytning to do. Now I need to get my hands on another win os to make a eufi bootable usb with my windows OS in it as I read they use grt or something instead of mbr.

#13

Thanks for this, it actually does help confirm I grabbed the wrong file for the mate install as the am64 seems to be the compatible with eufi. Now my issue is the reinstalling a Windows 7 in a previously installed Windows 8 pc lol. Just need the right tools to make the proper eufi bootable usb with my windows copy and we’ll be in business. Starting from scratch, thanks again for the contribution, any piece of info does help.

#14

This might help? (I haven’t watched it btw!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amwujljr7pY

#15

I’ll take a look at it for sure. Really appreciate your help. I have searched around and I know that most motherboards will vary slightly but I do know that “fast boot”, “secure boot” and “CSM” or “EUFI” will almost always be listed in one way or the next. I’ll review a few guidelines here and there along with the attached video to be sure before continuing with my quest. I’m pending a new Win 7 install and then try to dual boot with the correct amd64 Ubuntu-Mate distro.

Edit: Watched the video and it’s pretty good, being that the mobo is asus a lot of the labels are similar to mine. I see that I have to enable CSM(which I had, I actually tried every setting possible), select the EUFI source, in my case USB and so forth but… it doesn’t go into any details on how the usb has to be formatted. I think to be eufi compatible the partition table or boot loader(sorry but not sure what im talking about here) has to be GPT instead of the usual MBR. Whats odd is that it allows be to boot to the live Ubuntu usb, not sure if that’s gpt or mbr?

I have to get an app to create a bootable usb in gpt form. That or my last resort is make a DVD with the Win 7 ISO.

#16

Found this little piece of information. Confirms that I have to use an app that allow me to format the usb in gpt or use a CD to be able to load windows. Thank you all for the help. I will resume my initial goal and update, mark as resolved as well.

#17

With regard to formatting your USB stick, it should be pre-formatted to FAT32!.

When you create your Ubuntu Live disk (whether DVD or USB); it has UEFI tools included and you don’t need to worry about GPT and the like!. (Unless it doesn’t happen then you need to create a GPT partition manually!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_System_partition )

MBR is the “Master Boot Record” which is placed at the beginning of the hard drive and is also automatically taken care of!.

CSM is the newer name for UEFI’s other name “BIOS” so if you can change that, do so!. :smiley:

#18

If I disable CSM then It wont boot into anything or at least not the USB, whether it be Ubuntu live or windows, hence I left csm enabled. I think in order to boot USB for the windows OS install I have to use it in CSM/EUFI mode, since my laptop originally came with windows 8 installed. I could be wrong, but I know at least now with the usb im using to boot windows Os, which I believe it was created in MBR, it wont boot. I’ll try making one in gpt see if that works.

Question: if I disable CSM, meaning running legacy, I should be able to boot using my USB(windows 7) formatted using mbr?

So the new Ubuntu live comes with the eufi tools, is this all of the version,intelx86 and AMD64? I guess this could explain why I was able to boot with it.

#19

I am not quite sure what you mean here?. You need to run/use CSM in order to boot from disks/USB sticks!. :smiley:

The MBR will be overwritten by the Ubuntu GRUB installer, you should install Windows first and then Ubuntu, see the partitioning guide on how to create your partitions!.

Read the first part of this guide and make sure Windows is on the left! :slightly_smiling:

#20

Well I guess explains my experience(below), not being able to boot anything(when I had a clean HDD, no OS) when I disabled CSM. :laughing:

I do have a question now that I skimmed through the guide. I deleted the partitions I had in my HDD, leaving me without nothing, but there were a couple of, partitions, if they could be called that which had a key displayed. Ex. /dev/sd3 (key picture)… something like that, I don’t recall if it was the swap file or something else but I do know I couldn’t remove them to start with a clean completely unallocated HDD.

Lastly Wolfman i do appreciate the time taken and the quick responses, I’ve learned a lot from this and i will make sure to leave this thread solved. Don’t think I’m just sitting here asking anything and all that comes to mind with no end :grin: