Windows still auto boots after install...

[mrwaistcoat]

Hi there

just installed 15.10 to a new HP pavillion laptop with Windows 10. When I power up it still boots into windows. In the bios, there is only one hard drive entry

After I switch on the power, I can also press f9 which brings up a boot order menu. In this menu there are two options, windows and ubuntu. So I am able to boot into Kubuntu this way and am happy enough.

Is this just an issue specific to this laptop or is this common with dual booting with w10?

Ideally I would like the default boot to be Kubuntu and was wondering if there is a way I can do this?

Thanks

[Qqmike]

You can try this first, hoping to keep this simple:

Boot into Kubuntu.

Open Konsole (K > Applications > System > Terminal (Konsole)).

Type this and press Enter:
sudo grub-install
then this:
sudo update-grub

Re-boot to test it.

[Qqmike]

I may be out for awhile this afternoon. Just in case, I'll post this as another solution. Your computer is new, so it comes with the newer UEFI ("BIOS") firmware. The following solution uses standard features of the UEFI firmware. The problem can be that different manufacturers may implement UEFI differently. However, the efibootmgr program 'should' work the same.

At Konsole, issue this command:

sudo efibootmgr

If you have a UEFI system, you should see output that looks like this (your specific details will be different, but the basic layout should be similar):

 sudo efibootmgr
 [sudo] password for mike:  
 BootCurrent: 0000
 Timeout: 1 seconds
 BootOrder: 0000,0003,0007,0001,000A,0005,0006,0002,0004,000B,0008,0009,000C
 Boot0000* ubuntu  [B]<-- This is my Kubuntu[/B]
 Boot0001* debian
 Boot0002* grub_sda5K1504
 Boot0003* rEFInd Boot Manager
 Boot0004* Mint_2
 Boot0005* Hard Drive 
 Boot0006* CD/DVD Drive  
 Boot0007* TestMint_sda8
 Boot0008* UEFI:CD/DVD Drive
 Boot0009* UEFI:Removable Device
 Boot000A* Mint_1
 Boot000B* ubuntu
 Boot000C* UEFI:Network Device

IOW, you should see BootCurrent, BootOrder, and the individual Bootxxxx entries (you may not have too many, but you should have at least two--one for Windows, one for (K)Ubuntu).

Then the man page for efibootmgr tells how to change the boot order.
At Konsole,
man efibootmgr

See the examples toward the end:

3.
Changing the Boot Order

Assuming the configuration in Example #1, efibootmgr -o 3,4 could be called to specify
PXE boot first, then Linux boot.

Example:

In my case, see my output above, the boot order is

BootOrder: 0000,0003,0007,0001,000A,0005,0006,0002,0004,000B,0008,0009,000C

Suppose I want to interchange the first two items, 0000 and 0003. To do so, at Konsole, issue this command:

sudo efibootmgr -o 0003,0000,0007,0001,000A,0005,0006,0002,0004,000B,0008,0009,000C

And, I will just mention two things:

Some people like to use a really nice boot manager for dual-booting. Written by 'the' UEFI expert Rod Smith, it is called rEFInd. My how-to on that:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post372221

And, finally, for reference, my how-to on UEFI for Kubuntu:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379977

[mrwaistcoat]

Many thanks. The simple solution did not work

I tried the second one but got the following output

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,3001,0000,2001,2002,2004
Boot0000* ubuntu
Boot0001* Windows Boot Manager
Boot2001* EFI USB Device
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM
Boot3001* Internal Hard Disk or Solid State Disk
rick@rick-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$ sudo efibootmgr -o 0000, 0001, 2001, 2002, 3001
Malformed boot order: 0000

[Qqmike]

Like this:

[FONT=monospace]sudo efibootmgr -o 0000,0001,2001,2002,3001[/FONT]

Sorry, no spaces between the numbers -- just commas as separators. (efibootmgr only sees the first one in your output, 0000 -- it doesn't see 0001.)

[mrwaistcoat]

Strange. That looked like it had worked and I could see that ubuntu was now first. Upon reboot it was still into windows, I then went back into kubuntu and for some reason, efitbootmgr shows it has reverted to the previous set up with windows first. Have the bios changed it back?

[Qqmike]

It is strange. But it is not so strange, as we are coming to expect this kind of stuff from Windows and/or from makers implementing Windows on their units. Anything is possible: The UEFI firmware (BIOS) may have been made to set Windows always first; or Windows bootloader files have done this. Thus rendering efibootmgr kind of useless. Each maker can implement the UEFI recommended firmware in its own way. Frustrating, isn't it?

After you ran efibootmgr -o ..., then you checked it by running again sudo efibootmgr to see that ubuntu was first, right?

Thoughts:

Some folks have the courage and stamina to google this and to learn how to edit the Windows bootloader (or use packages that edit the Windows bootloader), and so then set K(U)buntu first.

Or, try to use rEFInd, the boot manager by Rod Smith. Let it run the boot loading on the machine. It's also handy in case something gets messed up.

Sometimes within the firmware ("BIOS") itself (after you press your magic key to enter the firmware setup, like you've been doing), you can change the boot order right there in the firmware boot listing -- by drag-and-drop, by clicking and indicate up or down, and so on; so you place K(U)buntu above Windows -- and hope nothing else resets it back to Windows first!

Sometimes these specific issues are addressed by Rod Smith on his web pages.
Sometimes they are known issues and can be found by googling the problem.
Windows 10 is very new, evolving, and already has had its issues, although the November re-basing should be helping out.

If I have another idea, I'll post back. Fact is, efibootmgr is supposed to be YOUR convenient, user-friendly handle on editing the UEFI firmware. But apparently the computer maker and/or THAT implementation of Windows 10 can mess with the firmware also to set things differently.

[Qqmike]

Is Fast Boot disabled in BOTH the UEFI ("BIOS") firmware menus and from within Windows 10?

What is the output of
sudo efibootmgr -v


(btw, this can also be a firmware bug)

[Qqmike]

Getting more information, checking things:

At Konsole
lsblk
should show the disk setup, the partitions, to confirm where the ESP (EFI System Partition) is located.
Presumably, Windows should have set up the ESP; and now GRUB will see that ESP and use it.

Also, your Kubuntu/grub EFI files should be here:
/boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/
You may see a grubx64.efi, maybe a shim file, maybe other files.
This is to confirm that GRUB2-EFI did, in fact, install its EFI files where they should be.
(The ESP will always be mounted, in Kubuntu, at /boot/efi.)

[mrwaistcoat]

Is Fast Boot disabled in BOTH the UEFI ("BIOS") firmware menus and from within Windows 10?

What is the output of
sudo efibootmgr -v

output below. Fastboot disabled (so is secure boot, which currently doesn't seem to let me switch it back on?!) - I've barely used windows yet so have not disabled fast boot from within but will look into that
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,3001,0000,2001,2002,2004
Boot0000* ubuntu HD(1,GPT,9041e78b-b70b-41a2-b430-43538e0548e4,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EF
I\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot0001* Windows Boot Manager HD(1,GPT,9041e78b-b70b-41a2-b430-43538e0548e4,0x800,0x82000)/
File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS..... ....x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2
.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...b................
Boot2001* EFI USB Device RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot3001* Internal Hard Disk or Solid State Disk RC

[mrwaistcoat]

$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 1.8T 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 260M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 128M 0 part
├─sda3 8:3 0 893.4G 0 part
├─sda4 8:4 0 735M 0 part
├─sda5 8:5 0 16.7G 0 part
├─sda6 8:6 0 944G 0 part /
└─sda7 8:7 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP]
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom

[Qqmike]

sudo efibootmgr -v

shows both Windows and ubuntu are using the same ESP, which is good:
HD(1,GPT,9041e78b-b70b-41a2-b430-43538e0548e4,0x800,0x82000)
and shows that ubuntu does have the shim file installed, which is good:
File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)

(9041e78b-b70b-41a2-b430-43538e0548e4 is the GUID of the ESP, sda1.)

And lsblk does show the ESP as sda1, used by both Windows and ubuntu,
--sda1 ... part /boot/efi

The pieces seem to be in place.

If the firmware is buggy, then maybe not even rEFInd would work, hard to say.

(And changing the boot order was done using sudo, right?
sudo efibootmgr -o etc etc .... )

[Qqmike]

In case you still wish to play with this ...
What we have tried above should work -- fairly standard UEFI stuff. Apparently is hasn't. Are we missing something? Is the firmware buggy? Who knows.
Another approach, as I indicated above, is to let the computer boot Windows, but edit the Windows bootloader to boot into Kubuntu; and from the GRUB menu in Kubuntu, you could, if you wish, choose Windows. I don't do the Windows anymore (not since XP). But here's an example of that:

I just had to run this in windows as an administrator : bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi Grub appears fine on boot and I can boot into Ubuntu and Win10 fine.

The point is that bcdedit is used for this (or, at least, it is one way of doing this kind of editing).
Btw, I got this from here:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/65501...ir-doesnt-help
But, imo, ignore almost everything posted there as it doesn't look right, relevant, or looks like crap. The quote I posted appears just below the sub-head titled "12 Answers."

In your Kubuntu, on your GRUB menu (which you can see here: /boot/grub/grub.cfg) ), Windows should be listed as a boot option. If it is not, boot into Kubuntu and simply issue the command sudo update-grub (which you have already done, above).

Finally, I should mention that some people, sometimes, use Boot Repair. But Boot Repair does what we have already done: re-install GRUB. But, you can play with it, investigate its menus deeper:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[mrwaistcoat]

Many thanks for all your help

I will return to this at some point, but not until I figure out the wifi situation!

[Qqmike]

... not until I figure out the wifi situation!

Yes, that makes very good sense! Good luck with it.