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I have a dual boot laptop (2 internal SSDs) that has been working for a couple of years with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.04. Today, I had to install Windows updates, and when the computer rebooted, I chose my normal Linux option in order to run updates there as well. When I did the apt upgrade, it asked me a question about grub config, stating that something was perhaps different than it was originally, and gave me two options. Seeing as I hadn't changed anything, or at least not knowingly, I kept the default option.

Now, when I reboot and attempt to launch Windows, I get a "not a valid root device" error, but Linux boots fine. Here is my disk layout:

sudo parted -l
Model: ATA KINGSTON SA400S3 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 240GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      17.4kB  16.8MB  16.8MB  fat16              boot, esp
 2      16.8MB  240GB   240GB   ext4


Model: WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-256G-1006 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      2097kB  107MB  105MB  fat32              boot, esp
 2      108MB   255GB  255GB  ntfs               msftdata
 3      255GB   256GB  631MB  ntfs               diag

My Windows entry in grub appears to be configured to boot to /dev/nvme0n1p1 which seems possibly correct?

Can someone explain the error message, and help me get back to being able to boot Windows?

1 Answer 1

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My "solution" was to go into BIOS and change the boot order. It had an entry labeled "UEFI ubuntu" selected. I selected one of the other UEFI entries that had characters that suggested it was one of the SSDs.

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  • "choice" is perhaps too strong a word, but I'm sure I'm guilty of some configuration crime. 2nd disk was already formatted when added to the system, so that may be part of the cause, and certainly ignorance is part of it. However, I think your positive diagnosis is perhaps a bit too strong. I've updated Windows alone countless times without any resulting boot issues. Only on the occasional Ubuntu update has this happened.
    – tastewar
    Nov 30, 2022 at 12:25
  • The 2nd disk, which I stated was formatted when it was added to the system, was a disk pulled from another computer. This is a work laptop, and that's how they gave it to me. My request was for a system with a larger disk, and this is what I received, though I was the one who installed Linux. So, I certainly didn't "deliberately fool" the system into doing anything. I also don't imagine IT did such a thing. You assume intention, when in fact ignorance (which I already confessed to) would be a better thing to assume in people. Not everyone knows the intricacies of UEFI as well as you clearly do
    – tastewar
    Dec 1, 2022 at 12:07
  • The "you" in this case is not the individual "you". I am simply listing the possible reasons for this kind of problem to happen and correct you because your original hypothesis of the cause of the problem was incorrect. In any case, comments are not for extended conversation and I think you're now aware of the root issue, so I'll leave it at that.
    – Nmath
    Dec 1, 2022 at 20:21

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