[solved] Can no longer boot into Windows after installing Arch | Arch Linux Community | Page 1

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 2:32 PM

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I'm new to Arch, recently I installed it onto a separate drive after wiping it clean. It was in a windows storage pool so I removed it from there first.

I thought of adding Windows 10 to GRUB through os-prober. However, I can't boot into windows at all anymore. I get a black screen. I can't boot via boot menu either.

Was deleting the MBR on the drive I installed Arch on a mistake? What do I need to do to be able to boot into Windows again?

SOLVED: In my case, the MBR and contents of the EFI boot partition were too damaged to repair via windows installation media. Reinstalling with a windows media creation tool made installation medium resolved the issue.

ruby scroll Jun 23, 2024, 2:55 PM

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Is this a legacy BIOS system?

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 2:56 PM

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No, it's UEFI.

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For the record, my mainboard is a MSI Z370 PC PRO

ruby scroll Jun 23, 2024, 3:04 PM

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spring rivet No, it's UEFI.

Did you use a separate EFI partition for Arch?

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 3:07 PM

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ruby scroll Did you use a separate EFI partition for Arch?

I believe so. I used the entirety of the drive for arch. GRUB is on there too.

Disk model: Samsung SSD 850 
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: CACDAF6E-1B54-42BB-85CF-A54FF3056798

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048    923647    921600   450M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda2     923648   1126399    202752    99M EFI System
/dev/sda3    1126400   1159167     32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4    1159168 486784658 485625491 231.6G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5  486785024 488394751   1609728   786M Windows recovery environment


Disk /dev/sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10EZEX-08W
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 34F4967E-AC91-477F-BA06-09CB4FDB51DC

Device      Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdb1      34     262177     262144   128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sdb2  264192 1953523711 1953259520 931.4G Microsoft basic data

Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.


Disk /dev/sdc: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: WDC  WDS500G2B0B
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: C5C02E61-B8EA-4F1A-9743-E77902B13F67

Device     Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdc1     34     32767     32734    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sdc2  32768 976771071 976738304 465.7G Microsoft basic data


Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 1.82 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 990 PRO with Heatsink 2TB   
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E094A2D5-9433-4D14-B3FD-9A2B0ADF88B8

Device           Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1    2048    2099199    2097152    1G EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 2099200 3907027119 3904927920  1.8T Linux filesystem


Disk /dev/zram0: 4 GiB, 4294967296 bytes, 1048576 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/sdd: 1.82 TiB, 2000398933504 bytes, 3907029167 sectors
Disk model: Basic           
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x016db828

Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdd1        2048 3907026943 3907024896  1.8T  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT```

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Windows is on /dev/sda and Arch on /dev/nvme0n1

ruby scroll Jun 23, 2024, 3:11 PM

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Try mounting Windows' EFI partition (sda2) and see what is inside of it

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 3:12 PM

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 EFI  'System Volume Information'
[serenity@DESKTOP-KG7872C ~]$ ls -a /mnt/windows_efi/
 .   ..   EFI  'System Volume Information'
[serenity@DESKTOP-KG7872C ~]$ ls -a /mnt/windows_efi/EFI
.  ..  Boot  Microsoft
[serenity@DESKTOP-KG7872C ~]$ ls -a /mnt/windows_efi/EFI/Boot
.  ..  bootx64.efi

There's stuff in there.

ruby scroll Jun 23, 2024, 3:21 PM

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Did you change any BIOS settings when installing Arch?

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 3:22 PM

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I disabled secure boot and fast boot when first installing arch. After that, I changed boot order so I could try out grub without needing to mash F11 on my keyboard.

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I'm going into my bios to check if the windows boot manager is set as the primary option

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Nope, everything as it should be

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 3:44 PM

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Remove Windows --> dont forget to put the post on solved after

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 3:51 PM

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cedar solar Remove Windows --> dont forget to put the post on solved after

I still need Windows, unfortunately. Games like Destiny 2 explicitly do not support Linux and I need to be ready tomorrow for homeoffice work.

Yes, windows sucks ass but it's a necessary evil. It's inconsiderate of you to simply suggest to get rid of windows entirely. I'm not completely done migrating to Linux. Remember, I just installed it.

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 4:02 PM

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Okay okay, I was just messin'. However if you dont get it running you could try to get the apps, which are necessary for your work, running on linux? Like a good alternative for the office products are wps-office - it looks pretty much the same + has the same functions

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I havent found an alternative for access, but WHO THE FUCK USES ACCESS FOR DATABASES

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our teacher...

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 4:03 PM

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lol

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That's for later though, I need to worry about getting windows to run again first.

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I'll make a bootable windows installation media

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Well I'll be damned

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_57eaa965-b45b-4e19-8fed-3e2fd4066c90.jpg

ruby scroll Jun 23, 2024, 4:17 PM

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Interesting

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Well, I would try repairing it with a Windows' USB and see if it helps

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 4:28 PM

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ruby scroll Well, I would try repairing it with a Windows' USB and see if it helps

Well, not really for some reason.

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:02 PM

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spring rivet Well, not really for some reason.

Ry german?

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 5:03 PM

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Yeah.

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:06 PM

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Okay just being curious. Anyways, I mean I could show you how to access your files on linux, and save those "temporarily" there, reinstall and get them back on windows. But Im sure that wont help

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 5:16 PM

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cedar solar Okay just being curious. Anyways, I mean I could show you how to access your fil...

Actually, could do. I need a wireguard configuration file recovered from there.

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:18 PM

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I was more thinking about, booting into linux and mount the ntfs partition, then save the important files on idk where and then reinstall

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 5:19 PM

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Oh, just mount it. Alright.

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:20 PM

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Yup

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Mount it to /run/.. and then access it. Youll prolly have to input your pwd

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 5:28 PM

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Yeah. Got a new issue now, the configuration file is encrypted in dpapi. bleh.

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Should still try this I think https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/zy6tqv/windows_drive_is_unbootable_after_installing_mint/

From the linuxquestions community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the linuxquestions community

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:36 PM

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You got a lot of weird issues man, are you unable to mount it? or just an issue with accessing it

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 5:39 PM

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No, my main issue seems to be that the windows boot configuration is missing or corrupted

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God this makes me LIVID. I can't even go for a reinstall. Bad iso maybe?

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Does the media creation tool work under Linux?

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:49 PM

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No there is no need to

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just download the iso of win and write it on a pendrive

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 5:50 PM

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spring rivet God this makes me LIVID. I can't even go for a reinstall. Bad iso maybe?

It seems to

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 6:03 PM

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Figured out why... My pihole was blocking a microsoft domain neccessary to get the iso. So I was grumbling "god fucking damnit microsoft won't even let linux users have a chance..." and downloaded a different iso from chip.de, so I just whitelisted that domain and am downloading the official iso now.

cedar solar Jun 23, 2024, 6:35 PM

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Lmao thats one of the reasons why I hate microsoft

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 6:47 PM

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No, not even the official iso works

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Same error

spring rivet Jun 23, 2024, 7:21 PM

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I think I'll have to give it a break

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I'll see if I can make a bootable USB with media creation tool and try that

#[solved] Can no longer boot into Windows after installing Arch