I hope this won't be marked as a duplicate as I've tried almost all answers to similar questions I could find on this site. My Sony Vaio runs Windows 8.1 and I wish to dual boot Ubuntu 14.10 on it.
Here's how I installed Ubuntu:
Disable secure boot and fast startup.
Boot from USB and install.
I selected 'install beside windows 8.1' and did not select 'something else'
After the installation the laptop rebooted, since my USB was still plugged in, it booted into it and realized I made a mistake. I powered off the laptop, pulled the USB stick out and then turned it on. It booted straight to Windows 8.1.
My boot order was CD > External > Internal. Network boot is disabled.
Here are some of the things I tried after looking at similar questions on this site:
I tried the following commands
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
,bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi
, with secure boot enabled and disabled accordingly but still no sight of grub.I then
shift clicked restart
> selecteduse a device
in the menu that came afterwards > and selectedubuntu
from there and the laptop rebooted. But unlike the other questions I've seen on this site, once again Ubuntu did not load and instead windows booted up. This method works for this individual.Afterwards I tried the boot-repair after booting into the live CD but that did not work either. Here is the file that was generated from the boot-repair tool :(http://paste.ubuntu.com/10551408/).
A very similar question that I don't understand the solution to:
This question on AskUbuntu seems similar to mine except he manages to get the grub menu showing using his little hack, but that does not work for me (mine boots right into Windows).
Also, I do not understand how to carry out the most voted answer to that question.
More details about my laptop:
It's a Sony Vaio E14P: SVE14A290X with a 240 gig Intel SSD, added by myself. I noted that other Sony laptops (different models) had issues with SSD's but all of them managed to load the grub menu without a problem.
EDIT:
Something else I found when following this tutorial:
To set GRUB2 as the default bootloader follow these steps:
Login to Windows 8
Go to the desktop
Right click on the start button and choose administrator command prompt
Type mountvol g: /s (This maps your EFI folder structure to the G drive).
Type cd g:\EFI
When you do a directory listing you will see a folder for Ubuntu. Type dir.
There should be options for grubx64.efi and shimx64.efi
Run the following command to set grubx64.efi as the bootloader:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
Reboot your computer
You should now have a GRUB menu appear with options for Ubuntu and Windows.
If your computer still boots straight to Windows repeat steps 1 through 7 again but this time type:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi
Reboot your computer
When I type dir, to check the directory contents, instead of a folder called Ubuntu I get a huge list of windows related files. Does this mean my ubuntu is not installed in the correct place?
FINAL UPDATE:
After trying so hard for so many days, running codes and messing with things I didn't know, I tried installing EasyBCD (something I missed out on somehow) and using that I deleted the Sony boot loader entry, the Windows 8.1 boot loader entry and just left Windows 8.1 and ubuntu and rebooted, and guess what? Grub loaded up!! Windows works fine too. I followed this tutorial. Thanks everyone who tried to help me! I really wish it hadn't been this daunting but oh well!