0

I have setup my computer to have a dual boot for Ubuntu and Windows 10. The installation process worked fine, so both are operational, however, I do not have the option to choose one or the other when booting.

In the BIOS settings, when I have Ubuntu as a low priority, Windows will boot immediately with no option for anything else.

When I have Ubuntu as the highest priority, it will go to an options page, but none of these options will go to Windows (as far as I know). These options are

  • Ubuntu
  • Advanced options for Ubuntu
  • Windows Boot Manager
  • System Setup

At the moment, I have Ubuntu as low priority, so when I boot, it loads Windows. Then I restart the computer with

Advanced Restart Options -> Use a device -> Ubuntu

I would like to have the option to choose between Windows or Ubuntu at startup, and I am not sure how to do this.

Improve this question
4
  • What happens when you select the Windows Boot Manager option? Do you get an error message or something? If you think there is something but it's to fast try filming it with a tripod and watching the video frame by frame. That's what I did in some situations.
    – LiveWireBT
    Nov 22, 2015 at 6:13
  • When I select Windows Boot Manager, it comes up with error: cannot load image.
    – mojo1mojo2
    Nov 24, 2015 at 4:37
  • Could you add help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info to your post? Don't run boot-repair, just boot-info. It's either a mix of BIOS and UEFI booting (in that case install Ubuntu in the same mode as Windows boots) or it's more complex.
    – LiveWireBT
    Nov 24, 2015 at 4:41
  • I tried out one of the answers below. I also disabled Secure Boot and it worked.
    – mojo1mojo2
    Nov 24, 2015 at 4:50

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

There may have been some error with your grub. It is possible that that grub did not correctly configure itself to link to windows boot manager. To rectify this problem

  • Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T).
  • Run boot repair. This will automatically detect window boot manager and correct the links.

To install Boot Repair

  • Connect to the internet, Open Terminal and run the following command

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

Note: You can copy and run them all at once. If you want to run them individually just remove the trailing "; \".

And if you have to make any further changes to grub, then after you have logged into your system

  • Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T).
  • Type in the terminal gksu gedit /etc/default/grub
  • To see the grub-menu at boot time, comment or remove the following line: GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
  • To comment, add # at the beginning of this line, the result will be #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
  • Save the file.
  • In the terminal run sudo update-grub.

Other Sources: How to install the Boot-Repair

Improve this answer
2
  • Hey, first time I tried using Boot Repair it didn't work. I tried using it a second time, and also chose to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS settings. Is there any downside to this? It all works now, so thank you.
    – mojo1mojo2
    Nov 24, 2015 at 4:48
  • @mojo1 14.04 ships with a bootloader (and kernel images I believe) signed by Microsoft, theoretically this should allow to chainload the Windows Boot Loader from Grub, but I don't have a system at hand with Secure Boot and MS keys. Since you used boot-repair before there is the possibility that it touched some of the EFI loaders and thus breaking Secure Boot. Booting without Secure Boot has the downside of not leveraging it's features like hardening against basic evil maid attacks, a popular view though is that running a tainted Linux is good and Microsoft is evil (just replace MS keys!).
    – LiveWireBT
    Nov 24, 2015 at 5:09
1

From OP description firmware is UEFI.

  1. "Windows Boot Manager" entry in GRUB menu is the answer.

In Windows Vista to Windows 10 it is Windows Boot Manager which controls Windows boot selection (or loads Windows directly if only one boot entry).

  1. You can use one time boot selection key (usually F12, could be other on your system) to switch between Windows and Ubuntu.

  2. You can install "rEFInd" boot manager to display a boot menu for all installed OS like Windows and Linux descendants.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.