I know this is a Linux magazine but I can’t really find a lot of resources on this.

I installed fedora kinite on a second hard drive, intending to dual boot with windows, after the install finished it looks like it removed my windows boot loader.

Has anyone run into this and if so how did you correct it?

  • geoma@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    If it is a second hard drive… Probably the win bootloader is on the first still? Check bios boot options

    Maybe its destiny telling you you can do it without windows

  • stuner@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Given that you installed Linux on a separate drive, it’s likely that the Windows bootloader is perfectly fine but your BIOS chooses to prioritize the Linux disk. I would check if you can still select the Windows drive / installation in the BIOS / boot media selection.

    Typically, Fedora should also add the Windows installation to its bootloader (https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/grub2-bootloader/#_adding_other_operating_systems_to_the_grub2_menu). It uses os-prober to find other operating systems. Can you post the output of sudo os-prober?

    Edit: The output of lsblk -f would also be useful (though you may want to anonymize it first).

  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Windows install will have a back up bootloader that you can copy over or you can use the install media

    I’ll give the install media instructions, you can do it from your Linux install if it’s able to see the Windows files

    Launch Command Prompt with Shift+F10

    List Disks with

    list disk

    Select desired disk with

    sel disk #

    Create the boot partition

    create partition efi size=100

    Select Boot

    sel partition 1

    Format Boot

    format fs=FAT32 quick

    Assign Boot partition

    assign letter=g:

    Copy the boot files to the partition

    bcdboot c:\Windows /s G: /f ALL

  • Vik@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Which index were these disks arranged in? Windows will install its bootloader on 0 regardless of where you physically install the OS.

    I like to keep OS disks self contained, and tend to completely remove other connected disks when conducting a new install. This is a must for Windows, I’ve not had a Linux distro place it’s bootloader in anything other than the OS destination.

    • Sandbag@lemm.eeOP
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      3 days ago

      I’ll have to double check when I get home, but is it possible to restore the windows bootloader to the windows disk, if not I can always reinstall Windows but would prefer to not if I can help it.

      • visor841@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I haven’t done it in a bit, but you should be able to do Windows startup repair from a USB (possibly a Windows install USB), which I believe can restore the bootloader. I’d recommend disconnecting all drives other than the Windows one when doing the repair.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    You can also install ReFind and it’ll find all bootable partitions when it boots next time, but it’ll probably look a lot messier than Grub until you figure out how to mask the extra entries you’ll get for the Fedora stuff.