Seeking advice on fixing boot and grub settings yourself.
Seeking advice on fixing boot and grub settings yourself.
I recently faced a problem where my main drive wouldn't boot, so I swapped it out and reinstalled Mint. FWIW, the old disk still worked fine when mounted as a USB, but I couldn't get it to boot. Now I'm trying to grasp how the grub/efi and dual-boot setup functioned before, but it's confusing. Would anyone take some time to review my previous configuration? I'd appreciate understanding how everything worked, identifying what went wrong, and figuring out how to reintegrate Windows boot. The issue is documented here:
On GRUB2 and Arch Linux, the documentation provides details about the bootloader and installation process.
I've moved on to other important tasks and haven't reached this one yet. I've updated the files and now have a marginally clearer grasp, though I'm still stuck at a basic level. I've been using only Linux Mint for the past few weeks, but I really need to resolve this. To clarify for anyone who wants assistance: My main Linux installation drive (SSD) became corrupted and I couldn't determine a fix. I reinstalled Mint on a new SSD, but my dual-boot setup isn't functioning properly now. Here are a few quick questions: 1. My storage supports UEFI, but I don't remember using it during setup. Did I need to enable it for dual-boot? Was the initial setup guide sufficient? 2. Which operating system controls the first boot stage—Windows or Linux? In short, did I usually boot from Windows and then switch to Linux, or vice versa? I think Linux likely handled the first stage. 3. In my latest Mint installation, the /boot/grub/efi folder is missing. Did this happen because I didn't perform a UEFI boot before starting from scratch? Is this central to my problem?
The installer will set up UEFI when you start with UEFI, and BIOS works similarly. Verify if /sys/firmware during a Linux boot has any EFI-related files or folders. UEFI isn't mandatory for dual booting, though it's advised. It relies on the bootloader order in UEFI/BIOS. In UEFI, you need at least one EFI partition from your storage options; the motherboard will search all EFI partitions. Each OS you install should have its own bootloader inside those partitions. For instance, if Windows is installed, it places its bootloader in an available EFI slot and instructs the board to start it. After that, Linux will install its bootloader next, alongside Windows (unless you format the partition). The order can be adjusted by switching between UEFI and BIOS. This is usually a yes.
I haven't experienced it before, but it looks achievable: the links provided offer guidance.