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Will in-place upgrade of Win7 to Win10 bork existing dual boot setup?

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    #1

    Will in-place upgrade of Win7 to Win10 bork existing dual boot setup?

    Update: The upgrade to Win10 left Grub in place. So far anyway. The reboots during the upgrade all came back to the Grub menu. I've restarted a couple of times since the upgrade finished, and get the happy Grub menu. Color me surprised.

    Existing dual boot setup of Win7 and Linux. Standard BIOS. Grub handles booting into the OS.

    I know installing Windows into an empty partition requires re-doing Grub stuff. I think that's what I did 2 or 3 years ago.

    Will at some point need Win10 for work.

    Anyone know or have a guess whether upgrading to Win10 'in-place' will: a) just work; b) require updating Grub; or, c) leave me with such a mess I'll end up re-installing everything from scratch (assuming I can find my bleeping Win7 CD)?
    Last edited by ronw; Aug 09, 2015, 12:23 PM.
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    #2
    Anyone know or have a guess...
    Standard BIOS (not UEFI). Without researching this (I guess by googling Windows sites), my guess would be that Windows will install its bootloader machinery, and it is inconceivable (to me) that it would not go ahead and run its install scripts or setup scripts (or whatever it does) on that new Windows bootloader. If that happens, then the Windows bootloader will take over the booting of the PC. And you would then have to re-install GRUB.

    To do so you could use a live CD and re-install GRUB, for which there are plenty of how-to's on that, including my tests of it:

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...tallingWindows

    https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post374017


    Before the upgrade to 10, I would now get and keep handy Boot Repair: it should be able to do this whole thing for you.
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
    It seems to work for people more often than not.


    (If this were the newer UEFI, piece of cake: install rEFInd now, do the upgrade to 10, use rEFInd to boot into your Kubuntu where you simply issue sudo grub-install and sudo update-grub, done deal.)
    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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      #3
      Thanks. It's been so long since I've futzed with installing Windows that I wasn't sure. In fact I think I used Boot Repair the last time -- on actual CD no less.
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        #4
        Originally posted by ronw View Post
        Thanks. It's been so long since I've futzed with installing Windows that I wasn't sure. In fact I think I used Boot Repair the last time -- on actual CD no less.
        Please post back your upgrade experience, if you ever decide to do the upgrade, here. I am in the same situation as well and would like to find out more on this before proceeding with my upgrade.
        Thanks!
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          #5
          For those of you attempting to upgrade to Windows 10, please be aware of issues such as --> Ubuntu Forum Post.

          I would tread lightly.

          I wish you the best of luck!
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            #6
            If that's true, I say, Oh just wonderful. If Windows messes with the partitioning, THAT is a problem. Good luck with TestDisk--it has worked for me more often than not, but focus, mind your p's and q's, and cross your fingers.

            Now, Windows 10 seems to come on without messing with your personal data existing in Windows 7/8/8.1. That's good. But I see another issue for dual-booters: you better back up your Linux data if Windows may change the partitioning.

            Reminds me of some advice I saw elsewhere about dual-booting:
            If you want to use two OS, say Windows and Linux, buy two computers ...

            I think that's some form of humor, but it does make you stop and think

            You guys should thank Simon for the heads-up on this.

            MY Windows 10 is not mine, it's the wife's on HER laptop, which not only is separate from MY PC but it is located 12 feet away from my PC ...


            So, the prep might be:

            Prepare a live CD/DVD for possible rescue. Use the correct 32 or 64-bit for your setup.
            Prepare Boot Repair. Use the correct 32 or 64-bit for your setup.
            Familiarize yourself with TestDisk NOW and set it up (it comes on various rescue CDs, on GParted Live CD, and you can install it through Muon in a Live Kubuntu DVD session, also).
            Continue to google to find info as Simon has done this morning.
            An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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              #7
              In addition to the link Simon posted, I see people saying the 8 to 8.1 upgrade required re-installing Grub.

              http://askubuntu.com/questions/36046...-affect-ubuntu

              The safe conclusion here appears to be that 7 to 10 will require re-installing Grub. Easy enough.
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                #8
                I've updated the original post to reflect this.

                The upgrade to Win10 left Grub in place. So far anyway. The reboots during the upgrade all came back to the Grub menu. I've restarted a couple of times since the upgrade finished, and get the happy Grub menu. Color me surprised.

                I still recommend following Qqmike's advice and having a tested and known to be working Boot Repair USB on hand. I did.
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                  #9
                  For me I removed my Kubuntu install from my laptop before the upgrade. Was easier to do that than the pain of anything going wrong, since it is my works laptop anyway. At home I use my desktop anyway which is all Kubuntu and not a hint of Windows, so I've got both worlds.
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                    #10
                    What did you upgrade from, win 7 or 8? Did you reinstall kubuntu back?
                    Thanks!
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                      #11
                      Wind 7 Prof. No I didn't reinstall as at work we are more a MS shop. Not by choice but by nature of the software we have to use. So I left it as Win10. As I said, at home I use my desktop only anyway and the Kubuntu install I had on the laptop never was used much.
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                        #12
                        OK, I upgraded my wife's laptop from Windows 7 Home to Windows 10 Home. It is dual boot with Kubuntu 14.04. All went well and GRUB stayed as it should. Dual Boot still there and operational.
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                          #13
                          Good. Thanks for taking time to post that, MoonRise.
                          An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                            #14
                            It's still not clear how it works, though, whether it is BIOS booting (and so Windows should install itself into the MBR overwriting GRUB and taking over the booting order) or UEFI (in which case Windows, you would think, would place itself first in UEFI firmware BootOrder).
                            An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                              #15
                              The laptop is legacy. It does not have UEFI. As far as how I did the WIN10 upgrade may have to do with why it does not replace the MBR with itself. I upgrade within WIN7 using the Media Create Tool. I believe all it does really is replace the OS already there as it does create a back up of the Windows folder and I guess "assumes" the MBR is what was there for WIN7 and doesn't go through the effort to replace.

                              Just conjecture.


                              NOTE: I did three upgrades. All performed differently. One was not dual boot and went right through. The second was dual boot but I remove Kubuntu and repaired WIN7 MBR first. Then the wife's laptop as described above.
                              Last edited by MoonRise; Aug 16, 2015, 05:36 PM.
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