[GRUB] Problem with grub with uefi install

[nevillef]

I have installed 13.10 on a HP G6 laptop that comes with windows 8. It installs fine and I have tried installing grub on sda and on sda8 the root partition, but it boots straight into windows. If I hit escape and enter boot menu it gives me a kubuntu entry in efi but stops at:

GNU GRUB version 2.00-15ubuntu2
Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions.
grub>_

What do I have to do to fix this? I did have 13.04 working with grub installed on root partition.
grub.cfg file is there with menu entrys and an x86_64-efi folder with files in the boot folder of my root partition.

[SteveRiley]

You wrote "I did have 13.04 working with grub installed on root partition." Are we to understand that it no longer works?

[SteveRiley]

Documenting for use when we can boot into any working Kubuntu...

Create the file /etc/grub.d/40_custom, add the text below, then finish with update-grub

menuentry "Windows 8 (alternate boot method)" {
  search --set=root --file /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
  chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

[nevillef]

You wrote "I did have 13.04 working with grub installed on root partition." Are we to understand that it no longer works?

I did have it going and did an online update to 13.10 that crashed and I couldn't get KDE to load, so wiped it off and did a clean install.

[nevillef]

Documenting for use when we can boot into any working Kubuntu...

Create the file /etc/grub.d/40_custom, add the text below, then finish with update-grub

menuentry "Windows 8 (alternate boot method)" {
  search --set=root --file /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
  chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

I had this working with 13.04 only slightly different. The only way I could get Kubuntu to start with a menu without going into boot order menu was I found a way to edit the windows boot menu to make the kubuntu efi file (/efi/kubuntu/grubx64.efi) the default boot manager using easybcd because the easybcd entry doesn't load linux like it used to with the bios setup.

[nevillef]

OK. Went back to 13.04 which setup OK. Boot loader setup on sda8, the root partition for the install. As I had setup the ATI video driver last time before the update which most likely caused the crash, I went straight into the update. It is now working so there must be a bug in the setup of 13.10 when it sets up either grub or the files it puts in the EFI folder, which mustn't be changed with the update as it now works.
As there doesn't seem to be anyway to make the efi boot loader show on startup, as it goes straight to windows, I installed easybcd in win8 and ran the following command at easybcd command prompt after much searching. This then boots straight to grub menu. Then I had to do as above, as grub doesn't setup the windows boot properly just like easybcd won't setup a linux boot properly with the efi setup.

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

[SteveRiley]

You can also do that with efibootmgr in Kubuntu.

Install it:

sudo apt-get install efibootmgr

Examine the UEFI NVRAM variables:

sudo efibootmgr -v

Sample:

BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0004,0003,0001,0002
Boot0001  Setup Menu
Boot0002  EFI Shell
Boot0003* Ubuntu  HD(1,28,100000,35a3de7a-7015-4855-b882-1c8e9432b8fe)File(\EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi)
Boot0004* Windows HD(1,28,100000,35a3de7a-7015-4855-b882-1c8e9432b8fe)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)

Note the current value of BootOrder. To change the above so that the firmware starts GRUB:

sudo efibootmgr --bootorder 0003,0004,0001,0002

Be sure to specify everything that's already in the BootOrder line, and swap the positions of only the variables pointing to Windows and GRUB.

[nevillef]

Thanks for your help on this.

[nevillef]

You can also do that with efibootmgr in Kubuntu.

Install it:

sudo apt-get install efibootmgr

Examine the UEFI NVRAM variables:

sudo efibootmgr -v

Sample:

BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0004,0003,0001,0002
Boot0001  Setup Menu
Boot0002  EFI Shell
Boot0003* Ubuntu  HD(1,28,100000,35a3de7a-7015-4855-b882-1c8e9432b8fe)File(\EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi)
Boot0004* Windows HD(1,28,100000,35a3de7a-7015-4855-b882-1c8e9432b8fe)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)

Note the current value of BootOrder. To change the above so that the firmware starts GRUB:

sudo efibootmgr --bootorder 0003,0004,0001,0002

Be sure to specify everything that's already in the BootOrder line, and swap the positions of only the variables pointing to Windows and GRUB.

This is what my efibootmgr shows:

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 3000,3001,3002,2001,2002
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,c8800,82000,fd83a092-63dd-4689-95e9-618fb1f1ee96)File(\EFI\kubuntu\grubx64.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.}...R................
Boot0001* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,c8800,82000,fd83a092-63dd-4689-95e9-618fb1f1ee96)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi )RC
Boot0002* kubuntu HD(2,c8800,82000,fd83a092-63dd-4689-95e9-618fb1f1ee96)File(\EFI\kubuntu\grubx64.efi)
Boot2001* USB Drive (UEFI) RC
Boot2002* Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive (UEFI) RC
Boot3000* Internal Hard Disk or Solid State Disk RC
Boot3001* Internal Hard Disk or Solid State Disk RC
Boot3002* Internal Hard Disk or Solid State Disk RC

It is showing to different boot items.
BootCurrent is 0000
and
BootOrder: 3000,3001,3002,2001,2002

Is that because I changed the windows boot manager?

[woodsmoke]

A) I have watched this thread with GREAT interest.
B) A question:.....

It seems that "hardware" really is not of consequence...except in that the manufacturer, of the hardware, does "stuff" with UEFI, Windblows, etc.

in other words....this thread is....hardware independent, give the trivial iteration of it not being about "*386, PII, PIII, etc.

hardware independent?

just a question.

woodsmoke

[SteveRiley]

Is that because I changed the windows boot manager?

I'm a little flummoxed as to why your BootOrder doesn't include the EFI boot loaders referenced by [b]Boot0000[b], [b]Boot0001[b], and [b]Boot0002[b]. And now you have a thing called "Windows Boot Manager" that actually launches GRUB, and is also listed in the Windows BCD. Unusual. But is it working the way you want now?

[SteveRiley]

hardware independent?

The techniques are hardware-independent, but how you apply them is directly related to the storage hardware: how many drives, how they're partitioned.

[nevillef]

OK downloaded Beta 1 and did a clean install. Same problem that I started this thread with.

GNU GRUB version 2.00-15ubuntu2
Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions.
grub>_

I am installing exactly the same as 13.04, putting the boot loader on sda8 my root partition. Why does 13.04 work but 13.10 doesn't? Is there anyway to get grub installed properly? All the files are in the boot folder for grub. Is the problem with the xx.efi file?

This is on a HP Pavilion laptop with win8 installed and secureboot turned off.

[SteveRiley]

You need to install GRUB into the EFI system partition, not into the root partition containing the operating system.

Do you have other operating systems on this machine?

[nevillef]

I did install grub in efi partition with the alfa version and it didn't work, but will try again.

I have left the windows 8 install there so can dual boot, not that i use it. It is there to remind how awful it is every now and then.