- Recover Linux After Windows Install
- Restore Grub After Windows Installer
- Restore Grub Menu After Windows Installation
- Repair Grub
- Restore Ubuntu Grub After Windows Install
- Restore Grub After Windows Install
This week they released the RTM Version of Windows 10, and I decided to install it on my laptop. Most of my development is done on my desktop Mac at home, but the laptop is good for collaborating, coffee shop coding, etc. I decided Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015 would be good for this. There’s only one issue: I also have Arch Linux on this laptop, and it’s dialed in very nice and I definitely don’t want to remove it.
I haven’t upgraded Windows on this machine since I put Windows 8.1 on it over a year ago, so I never had to deal with the issue of fixing grub. It is slightly different from other distributions, and there is no “boot repair” yet. I decided to Google a few things and figure out how to restore it but didn’t find a complete article on it, so I decided to write one. I installed Windows 10 on the machine without changing any of the partition data, and that’s crucial. After doing that it would only boot into Windows 10, so here’s what I did.
1. Download an Arch Linux ISO
Download a live ISO for Arch Linux here. If you’re using Windows, LiLi is a great free tool for creating bootable Linux USBs.
After a fresh install of ubuntu on the blank SSD (windows was on another SSD, both SSDs are setup with GBT which requires UEFI), the system directly boot into ubuntu without showing grub menu. README This script makes reinstalling Grub (e.g. After installing Windows and it removed Grub from the MBR) easy. The script is meant to be run from a Live CD. It will ask you to choose your Linux partition and the hard drive you want to install Grub to.
boot to this USB drive and you’ll be taken to a command prompt.
2. Restore Grub
This assumes of course that you were using GRUB to begin with, but here’s how to restore it.
Find the partition your Linux is installed on:
You’ll see something like this:
In my case my Linux installation is at /dev/sda4. Note where yours is, then exit this application.
So mount your Linux partition:
Then, change root with this command (specific to Arch Linux)
and restore GRUB:
And yes, it does detect Windows 10 properly.
After you reboot, you’ll see your familiar boot screen again:
Recover Linux After Windows Install
And you can now boot into Linux (or Windows) again.
Configure Grub
Now if you’re like me (which you probably are if you’re reading this blog) you will be bothered that it incorrectly says “Windows 8” or whatever your previous version was. This is easy to fix by editing some entries in your Grub configuration:
Make a backup of your grub.cnf
![Restore Restore](/uploads/1/1/0/4/110432269/196251172.jpg)
Edit the file:
Look for the Windows 8 or Windows 7 entry in the file:
and change it to whatever you want. Then reboot. Now it should look like this:
This is how I have mine set up. If you’d like to learn more about GRUB menu options click here
Summary
This is how you can restore your dual boot options if you reinstall or upgrade Windows on a dual boot Arch Linux system. I have heard of people just reinstalling Linux afterword, and it’s a terrible idea unless you were going to change it anyway. It only takes a few minutes to fix.
A note about Arch Linux:
As I said in the article I have Arch Linux installed and it’s “dialed in” meaning I have a nice system compiled with only what I need, lean custom kernel, and my development environment is all set up. I wouldn’t advise an Arch install to everyone, but it has been fantastic for me personally. It runs very fast and reliably and it’s easy to update everything.
If you’re looking for a new Linux distribution or just want to escape the Ubuntu crowd, you should give it a try. It has a steep learning curve as you’ll need to know Linux really well, or be able to follow the directions explicitly, but if you do you’ll find a nice solid system that’s fast and lean.
-Jeremy
Restore Grub After Windows Installer
Restore Grub Menu After Windows Installation
Published: Aug 1, 2015 by Jeremy Morgan. Contact me before republishing this content.
HelloI'm new, so please be kind.
I'm sure there must be a post to answer this issue, but I've searched and found conflicting answers and not necessarily a perfect fit.
eg. I often find instructions of how to do this for Ubuntu, but 'sudo grub' command is not recognised in Mint 9's terminal.
Since it is a delicate issue I'd like to be pointed in the right direction at the start, please.
Scenario:
Dell M4400
Windows 7 x6bit Pro
Resized Windows partition
Installed Mint 9 on new partition
All working great for several months.
Windows requires a Repair Install.