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It's a rather simple question (I hope). I currently have Windows 8 and I am dual booting it with Ubuntu 13.04.

If I were to install the latest update for Windows 8, that being 8.1, will it affect Ubuntu or will there be any conflicts between the two?

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7 Answers 7

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While an installation from scratch will overwrite the MBR an upgrade from Windows 8 to 8.1 shouldn't. I've scoured the net in search for supporting facts, but found only this post which looks more like a piece of opinion (like mine) than anything.

In any case: Should the MBR still be overwritten by an upgrade, you can still repair the Grub2 MBR without much trouble.

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    All right, I have been downloading the update. I will install as soon as it is finished and then I will come back and confirm. Oct 17, 2013 at 19:49
  • @JuanSalazar How did the update fair?
    – Cyle
    Mar 25, 2014 at 17:58
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I updated from Windows 8 to 8.1 and can confirm that this update WILL overwrite the MBR. I am now greeted by the grub rescue screen.

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I can confirm that my laptop is greeted with GRUB Rescue Screen. Yes, I too had same windows 8 and ubuntu 13.10; After Updating window 8 to windows 8.1, i am Unable to boot into Ubuntu I have resolved via How can I repair grub? (How to get Ubuntu back after installing Windows?) by running Boot repair!

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  • I must say that I did the same, and yet Boot repair didn't help much. I ran it from a LiveUSB and now neither Linux nor Win8.1 run... sigh
    – Sos
    Jun 23, 2014 at 16:45
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The upgrade from 8 to 8.1 worked great for me. In addition, if I choose to set the Windows bootloader as the first (default) option, every time I boot or restart the computer there is now a new blue screen that looks like the screen you see with the "Advanced Startup" screen that first appeared in Windows with Windows 8. From this screen, there was an option to continue booting to Windows 8.1, Boot to Linux Mint 15, or boot with EFI USB. Surprisingly enough, when I selected the Linux option, I was greeted by the GRUB menu. Since I'm seeing this blue screen any time I boot or reboot to Windows, I just made the Windows bootloader the default option. That's a whole lot easier than it was before with Windows 8 and all the frustrations with the BCD, boot-repair, rEFInd, etc. Trivial bonus: you can use the mouse/cursor on that blue startup screen as well. Here's a quick picture I snapped of the sceen:

Blue boot selection screen

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I also just upgraded to Windows 8.1 from 8 and GRUB was just fine, didn't need to do anything other than be on alert so that I would choose the Windows option in GRUB the two times the PC rebooted during the whole process. So there you have it, you can't be sure what's going to happen.

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    The only difference I noticed was needing to uncheck the "fast boot" box under power settings again.
    – ubfan1
    Oct 26, 2013 at 3:46
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I would repair the windows boot first then deal with Ubuntu using the live CD and boot-repair application.

Follow the directions on this link to access the boot options menu. http://www.howtogeek.com/126016/three-ways-to-access-the-windows-8-boot-options-menu/

I would first try automatic repair and see if it repairs the Windows boot. If not go to the command prompt and use the following commands. http://www.techspot.com/guides/630-windows-8-boot-fix/

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Windows 8.1 should boot. I would then use the live CD to boot to Ubuntu, get the boot-repair application, you need to go to to the following link and follow directions to do the boot repair. you should be able to launch both OS's

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I just update to Windows 8.1 and lost my grub and therefore lost access to my Ubuntu 13.10. Once I booted via an old Ubuntu 12.04 CD I had laying about I was able to boot to my Ubuntu 13.10 grub menu, which was confusing but reassuring.

From there I ran

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

And now I have my old grub menu back and both OS's are accessible again.

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