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I'm running a dual-boot system with Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.04. After reinstalling both OSs several times my System boots right into Windows.
Some information I gathered:
If I have a bootable USB (either Ubuntu or Windows) plug in and boot to the Windows recovery screen and select the boot from external device I can select Ubuntu and boot into it. There I installed the boot-repair tool which told me to deactivate the secure boot option in my BIOS, which I did, but which also didn't change anything. I ran boot-repair again and it got caught in an infinite loop doing the same things again and again with no option to cancel it. But I got the information log (http://paste.ubuntu.com/8121921/).

My guess is that either Windows overwrote the grub or that I installed it to the wrong partition. But I screwed my System several times by now and it's still not working as it did with the OEM which is kind of a big deal 'cause I kinda need some features back for school...but that's some other story...

So if someone could give me some (detailed) instructions on how to get grub to working again without killing Windows please tell me.

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2 Answers 2

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You need to boot to a live CD/USB and install boot-repair

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo sed 's/trusty/saucy/g' -i /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yannubuntu-boot-repair-trusty.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && (boot-repair &)

Then find boot-repair in the dash

Then click the "Recommended repair" button. then reboot and check if you recovered access to your OSs

Documentation is HERE

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  • I know you said you tried boot-repair but the install commands listed is very important, and the documentation linked contanes advanced options for you to try
    – Mark Kirby
    Aug 23, 2014 at 12:39
  • Make sure to install grub to dev/sda
    – Mark Kirby
    Aug 23, 2014 at 12:40
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If you did duel-boot install i'm assuming you know how to enable system/laptop boot menu in both help infos/situations, if not i explained on the bottom.

If you get auto-windows when shutdown/boot your PC: hold the power button until it goes off, and use the key commands to open mini-boot(or, non-purple grub) menu scroll to the bottom with the arrows and open system setup. change the boot order so Ubuntu is first, this will enable the grub menu every time you turn off your PC, and you can use the arrow keys and enter to navigate, but you cannot switch on between windows and Linux unless you do a shutdown.

If your windows goes into a recovery loop after a few Ubuntu boots: change the boot order so windows is first. you won't get the grub, so you'll have to use the mini-boot every time you boot in Linux, but it'll boot faster without error.

Oh, and an example of accessing mini-boot menu is using tab + esc on an asus when it shows the logo, but before it does the circle indication its loading, it may be a different key combination if you use a different laptop brand, hope this helps.

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