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?

  • stuner@lemmy.world
    16·
    7 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).

    • Kongar@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      51·
      7 days ago

      This is my thought as well. Why do you believe it was deleted? It’s probably still there, you’re just not booting it. Even easier, pull up your boot menu when you start your computer and see what’s there. I bet you’ll see windows and can select it?

      I just can’t imagine Linux doing this. If it’s really gone, I’d seriously question what you did - (did you install to a wrong drive, did you format a partition by mistake, etc?)

  • QuazarOmega@lemy.lol
    3·
    5 days ago

    I did too, I had installed with 2 drives, Windows first, then Kinoite, but the problem was that Windows automatically put its bootloader on drive 1 even if the OS was installed to drive 2, so when I installed Kinoite on disk 1, it naturally wiped everything that was on there.
    My stupid easy solution was to reinstall Windows on drive 2 again, but with drive 1 disconnected from the PC at installation time, so it couldn’t mess up, other answers here might be more refined (no pun intended) though, if you prefer/need to salvage the Windows system and can’t just delete it.
    Mine actually wasn’t that easy either, because the drive was ButLocker encrypted, so before I could proceed to destroy everything, to save my files, I also needed to boot from Linux, mount the drive, decrypt with the BitLocker key and copy over the files to drive 2

  • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    7 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.

  • geoma@lemmy.ml
    26·
    7 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

  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
    111·
    7 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

  • pinguinu [any]@lemmygrad.ml
    5·
    7 days ago

    I had the exact same problem with regular Fedora KDE. In my case it turned out that it didn’t wipe out the entire Microsoft bootloader because there was a backup bootx64.efi. In the end I downloaded a windows installer iso, copied the boot* files and directory to efi/Microsoft/boot and copied that bootx64.efi and added it to the grub menu using the 40_custom file in grub.d and applied grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

    To boot from grub you use set root and chainloader /... which you then write as a menuentry

    Sorry for the bad reply but I’m working

    • pinguinu [any]@lemmygrad.ml
      2·
      7 days ago

      I hadn’t read the other drive stuff. I’m guessing it’s the same case as mine since you planned or guessed you would be using Grub on your primary drive instead of Windows boot manager. I don’t have my computer with me but I would be willing to make a more concrete “tutorial”. You can DM me too

  • Vik@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    7 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
      1·
      7 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
        3·
        7 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.

        • SL3wvmnas@discuss.tchncs.de
          1·
          7 days ago

          yeah disconnecting the fedora drive while doing repairs is important.

          Always unplug your Linux drives when doing windows work, makes your life easier.

          I once borked my windows install because I left the designated (not yet installed) Linux drive plugged in - then windows decided for some God forsaken reason to install the bootloader on the Linux disk. Had to copy the bootloader from install disk like someone else in this thread already typed out.