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On my laptop Acer swift 3, I had Windows 10 and I wanted to have Ubuntu alongside. So installed Ubuntu 16.04 successfully but after restarting, automatically boot Windows 10. Boot repair via Live Ubuntu didn't help. Secure Boot disable option also not helpful.

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  • Are you able to hold down the Shift or Esc key during boot up and have the GRUB menu appear?
    – heynnema
    Jan 10, 2017 at 1:39
  • 1
    Have not seen Acer Swift, but all other Acer have required you to set a UEFI password and enable trust on grub & shim .efi boot files.Some threads mention downgrade of UEFI, but newer ones say newest UEFI from Acer works, so make sure you have newest UEFI from Acer. askubuntu.com/questions/627416/…
    – oldfred
    Jan 10, 2017 at 1:52
  • Thanks heynnema for you answer, not the Shift and Esc did not help to appear GRUB
    – dreadsoul
    Jan 10, 2017 at 9:54

2 Answers 2

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I have an Acer Aspire F 15 just got in the last several weeks and have dual boot with Ubuntu 16.04 and Windows 10 set up and running fine.

I don't mean to plagiarize, these directions are NOT mine but I don't remember where I got them from. They were posted on line somewhere. If I could give credit to the original author, I certainly would.

Here is how I went about setting up dual boot. I think your fix is in here somewhere. You definitely need to put a password on but also you have to tell the BIOS that your boot file is trusted. Step 35ish......

Anyway, here is what I used


  1. Turn on the laptop and press F2 as soon as you see the "Acer Explore Beyond Limits" screen. This will take you into the UEFI/BIOS screen.
  2. If this is the first time you have entered the UEFI/BIOS section there are some adjustments that need to be made.
  3. Using the cursor keys highlight the menu item "Main."
  4. Network Boot: [Disabled]
  5. F12 Boot Menu: [Enabled]
  6. D2D Recovery: [Enabled]
  7. Wake on LAN: [Disabled]
  8. SATA Mode: [AHCI Mode]
  9. Touchpad: [Advanced]
  10. xHCI Support: [Enabled]
  11. Cursor over to the "Security" menu item.
  12. Set Supervisor Password to one of your choosing.
  13. Disable "Password on Boot."
  14. Cursor over to the "Boot" menu item and arrange these items.
  15. Boot Mode: [UEFI]
  16. Secure Boot: [Enabled]
  17. Arrange the boot devices as follows
  18. ATPI CDROM:
  19. HDD:
  20. USB HDD:
  21. USB FDD:
  22. Network Boot - IPV4
  23. USB CDROM:
  24. Network Boot IPV6
  25. Windows Boot Manager
  26. Press F10 to Save your modifications and Exit BIOS.
  27. Open the DVD tray and insert your LiveDVD of Ubuntu. Close the DVD tray and restart your laptop.
  28. When you restart, if the boot order is set correctly you should boot up in Ubuntu. If not go back into the "Boot" item in the BIOS menu and make sure the laptop's DVD is at the top of the boot devices.
  29. Select the option "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows." The installation program will divide the Windows partition. My Acer Aspire has a 500 Gigabyte HDD. The installation program divided it like so:
  30. Files (27.2 GB) /dev/sda4(ntfs) 253 GB
  31. Ubuntu /dev/sda5(ext4) 231 GB
  32. Wait for Ubuntu to install. This will take awhile.
  33. After Ubuntu is installed you will be instructed to reboot your laptop. After you select reboot you will be instructed to remove the Ubuntu DVD from the DVD ROM drive. Warning: If you think the laptop will now boot up and let you choose which OS you want to run. I am afraid you will be disappointed. The only OS recognized by the UEFI firmware at this time is Windows.
  34. Restart the laptop as we did back in Step 1.
  35. Use the right cursor key to highlight "Security" and use the down cursor key to highlight "Select an UEFI file as trusted for executing" and press Enter.
  36. The "Security" window will show HDD0 in white letters. Press the Enter key.
  37. On my laptop two items; they look like folders show up: "EFI and Temp." Highlight EFI and press Enter.
  38. These folders are displayed: ., .., ubuntu, Microsoft, Boot, and OEM. Highlight ubuntu and press Enter.
  39. Another set of folders are listed: ., .., shimx64.efi, grubx64.efi, and MokManager.efi. Highlight "grubx64.efi" and press Enter.
  40. The "Add an new file" window will appear in the middle of the screen with the question: "Do you wish to add this file to allowable database?" In the "Boot Description" type in grubx64.efi and press the Enter key twice.
  41. Press F10 to Save and Exit BIOS.
  42. Now restart the laptop and return to the BIOS menu. Cursor over to the "Boot" item and you will see a ninth boot file added: "EFI File Boot 0: grubx64efi." If you choose to leave the boot order alone. Whenever you turn on your laptop it will boot up in Windows.
  43. Or you can move the ""EFI File Boot 0: grubx64efi" to the eight position and boot up in Ubuntu.

For stealth reasons you can let your laptop default boot into Windows, but if you need Ubuntu when you power on the Laptop press the F12 key repeatedly until the "Boot Manager's" window opens. There should be two options.


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  • But I wanted to install Ubuntu to specific part of hdd and choosed "Something else" when i installed it. So still it gets directly in Windows 10
    – dreadsoul
    Jan 10, 2017 at 9:56
  • @dreadsoul - Follow the steps 33 on.
    – user589808
    Jan 11, 2017 at 22:54
  • Thanks CelticWarrior ))) that helped. But you know, Ubuntu is somehow working not properly. That means : When i choose Ubuntu in grub it freezes in ubuntu loading and it 4th attempt i got into ubuntu but still it working strange.
    – dreadsoul
    Jan 18, 2017 at 9:33
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I see in your comments that you have had a hard time booting Ubuntu on your Acer Swift 3. The answer above helps you get the boot option to work, but note that Ubuntu will not boot. To see why and how to fix that, read my answer here -> Ubuntu 16.10 Acer Swift-3 multiple problems

Or I will just copy pasta it here.

The answer is simple, but first a little bit of backstory.

I too, own one of these machines, and I was famished when I found that Ubuntu would hang and would boot 1/10 percent of the time.

The reason is the following. The Acer Swift 3 firmware and the ACPI firmware in Linux 4.11 & below have a bit of a conflict...

But the solution is this! Linux kernel Devs fixed it in Kernel 4.12 and above! Ubuntu 17.10 officially comes with the latest kernel, but it will release after a few months.

so a TEMPORARY solution (not recommended by me, see below why) is to boot an Ubuntu ISO with the Mainline / unstable 4.12 or above kernel, or boot Ubuntu with acpi=off, use a separate mouse and keyboard, install the Mainline Kernels, and remove that acpi=off from the grub boot commands.

Why is this not a good solution? because Mainline kernels have many bugs and stuff, and I got harsh karma from using Mainline kernels. my new Acer Swift 3's battery total went from 100% to 98%!!! I can never charge my laptop to its full potential now! And that is to be expected in any laptop, but the reason why this is such a big problem is because the battery went down in 1 day!!

within a day, the total of my new laptop took a hit. that is why I will use Linux on MY Acer Swift 3 only once Ubuntu 18.04 releases (for stability, but 17.10 will also work) But you are free to go ahead and use risky software and kernels.

LINK for Ubuntu ISO with mainline kernel -> http://linuxiumcomau.blogspot.com/2017/06/interim-ubuntu-1704-iso-with-mainline_29.html

TIP - Install That ISO, and upgrade its Mainline kernel to the latest, or at least to 4.12, because it comes with 4.12RC7.

Or maybe try an "unstable" Ubuntu kernel, but be warned, battery life takes a hit when using these kernels, so remember to use TLP ;) Good Luck!

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