System became unusable after installing Linux. Windows is now locked and cannot be restored.
System became unusable after installing Linux. Windows is now locked and cannot be restored.
I just set up Sparky Linux on my hard drive and now my computer won’t start Windows. Here’s what I have: an SSD with two partitions—one running Sparkylinux and another for Windows EFI boot. There’s also an HDD with many partitions, including Linux Mint 22, Ubuntu Studio, and a data partition. A Windows 11 install is present. My setup changed after installing Sparky: before, I saw the BIOS screen, updated it, and chose Windows 10 or 11. Now, with Sparky, I have a GRUB entry for Sparkylinux with UEFI settings, but no Windows appears. Earlier, when using Linux Mint instead of Sparky, it worked fine in the Ubuntu Studio GRUB. After some troubleshooting—turning off SSD 1 and trying to boot—I saw strange beeps followed by a direct install prompt. The sequence was unclear but involved repeated beeps. I’m unsure if rebooting or formatting the Sparky partition will help. Any advice on getting back to Windows Mint over here would be appreciated.
Set up a boot-manager on the drive where the BIOS boots. In this manager, list all your operating systems so you can choose from them during startup. I’m not sure exactly how to do this, but it should guide you in the right direction. (Windows’ built-in boot manager isn’t ideal for Linux, though some Linux boot managers can work with Windows.)