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Being impatient and willing to wait until Dell comes up with their new version with ubuntu preloaded, I am trying to install 14.04.1 on my brand new XPS 13 (9343).

I did few dry runs with a USB install key, found out how to work around the few kinks they still have (i.e., I got the network, and the mousepad working fine) and decided to go for the full installation.

Given that I do not care for Windows 8, I opted to nuke it out, and install only linux. No need for me to keep a dual boot at all. Thia apparently was a careless move, as after I completed a seemingly successfull installation, at the next reboot I get:

No bootable device found.
Press F1 key to reboot.
Press F2 key for setup utility
Press F5 key to run onboard diagnostic.

My guts tell me that I inadvertently removed the Windows loader and did not get grub installed so at boot time it does not find any partition where to boot from.

If I re-use the USB key I can see the drive, and its data, but I cannot run it from the HD.

How do I get from here to have grub (or any valid boot loader) to work on these UEFI hard disks?

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  • Guido: If one of the below answers helped you, don't forget to click the grey ☑ at the left of their text, which means Yes, this answer is valid! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Jul 23, 2015 at 19:34

5 Answers 5

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You nuked a bit too much and deleted your UEFI partition as well: UEFI firmware does not reside in the BIOS any more, but on-disk!

Use the Dell Recovery DVD to restore your system to a workable state, then follow this: Installing Ubuntu Alongside a Pre-Installed Windows with UEFI then shrink Windows to the minimum+20% allowed size and delete it after you haven't booted to Windows for a month or so! ;-)

Oh, and have a look here as well on how to make system back-ups...

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  • Any pointers on how to use the dell recovery dvd (or usb) to get it back to a workable state? After "Restore disk", I still have the "no bootable device" warning.
    – koenmetsu
    May 15, 2015 at 17:37
  • @koenmetsu: Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! ;-) We're very sorry, but this is not a good place to put another question as the only person seeing your comment will be me and I don't own a Dell... So please first look over the existing answers and if none of them work, ask a new question and refer back to this question and explain what went wrong. ;-)
    – Fabby
    May 15, 2015 at 20:32
  • So if I want to use Linux on my Dell XPS I have to keep Windows?
    – crypdick
    Jan 26, 2016 at 18:27
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    @RovingRichard: No you don't need to keep Windows: You need to keep the UEFI partition as that contains your "BIOS". Delete everything Windows, just keep the UEFI intact. For more info on how to install Ubuntu click here for more info about your particular problem, click here
    – Fabby
    Jan 26, 2016 at 20:24
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I wound up having similar trouble. Follow these steps: http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN297060/en

After first reboot I had a boot profile suddenly :)

Why it works, I'm not sure. It does seem that before install you turn on UEFI and secure boot etc.. The linux install does configures itself depending upon how it was booted, whether it should load via BIOS (legacy) or UEFI. But, the hardward is apparently only looking for one type, so it needs to be installed to match.

I did also upgrade the firmware to A07. I don't think that was any different, but in case I'll mention it. (To upgrade to A07, download it from: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=28M21, throw the .exe onto a USB stick, and hit F12 on boot during the Dell log, then update/flash firmware)

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You can just create an EFI partition via parted or similiar partition tools and stick your EFI boot files for Linux in there.

You aren't bound to the tiny 128MB default EFI partition Dell ships with their devices, I for one have a 512MB one created from which I boot my Arch Linux just fine.

So fret not, nuking the EFI partition isn't the end of all things.

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I have the Dell iso image for 14.04. Using this will get your device back to factory which includes the Dell Recovery.

Hope this helps.

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  • It is not the correct iso. The iso title contains : m3800-A08.
    – hg8
    Jul 16, 2015 at 12:46
  • @hg8 Do any of the images come with dual boot enabled from the get go? I was under the impression from Dell that the 9343 either comes with Windows or Ubuntu, not both.
    – NotMy1RealName
    Jul 23, 2015 at 15:51
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I had the same problem with my Dell XPS 13 9343. In the end I went into the setup utility (by pressing F2) and under "General -> Boot Sequence" clicked "Add Boot Option", found grub and added it.

Initially it still wouldn't boot because apparently the loader didn't have the correct certificates for SecureBoot, but I turned that off (under "SecureBoot" option) and it seemed to work.

This may for some reason be bad advice, in which case please let me know, but it worked for me.

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  • This didn't work for me because Add Boot Option only shows two filesystems, both of which seem to be the same thing under different names - the live USB stick I am trying to install Linux from.
    – Robin Green
    Jun 13, 2016 at 18:52

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