Help, windows boots automatically since... today??

[edosan]

Yes, Windows updates do rewrite the bootloader sometimes.
I assume that you have Windows and Mint installed in UEFI mode.
You can check out the rEFInd boot manager - http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/refind.html

so yes grub is in a partition and can be controlled by windows also and any change to grub, UUID or even bios may hang it sooner or later.
To recover try reFIND it's probably your best chance.
The tuto is not wrong it's a bit outdated, at the time it was written Mint 17 didn't boot well in EFI mode, it could now say boot your usb or DVD in EFI mode.

OK guys, here is what I did.

Tried to install rEFInd from Mint (liveDVD). It gave me errors and fails. With my poor skills I couldn't understand what to do, so ... I burnt the rEFInd .iso on a CD and made it run via liveCD.

It shows me two big Windows-ish icons and one Ubuntu-ish icon.

BUT:
- Clicking on the big Ubuntu-ish icon does not work. (Unless taking more than 20 minutes to load is fine)
- I haven't even tried to click on any of the Windows ones.
- And don't trust myself to use the EFI shell. I don't even understand if I can install rEFInd from that EFI shell, I mean, via the rEFInd liveCD.


So I tried SuperGrub2. It works!!! it lets me boot/start Mint.

What shall I do now? Windows still boots automatically and wants to restore the disk whenever I switch the computer on without the supergrub2 CD in it.

A) Shall I look for errors in the drive using Mint? How?
B) Shall I try to install rEFInd from Mint (not live, but just the installed Mint?)?
C) Shall I back-up Mint, delete it and reinstall everything? (restore "factory" Windows8 and going back to square one?)

I don't know/understand whether windows will stop wanting to restore the disk after having installed rEFInd and I'm afraid of what Windows may mean with "restore".

Since I somehow can manage to start Mint now, shall I open a new thread somewhere else for these questions?

Thanks a lot for your patient and priceless support.

[austin.texas]

So I tried SuperGrub2. It works!!! it lets me boot/start Mint.

A) Shall I look for errors in the drive using Mint? How?
B) Shall I try to install rEFInd from Mint (not live, but just the installed Mint?)?
C) Shall I back-up Mint, delete it and reinstall everything? (restore "factory" Windows8 and going back to square one?)

SuperGrub2 is great for a lot of things!
I suspect that all you have to do is boot into Mint with the SuperGrub2, open a terminal and enter the command:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

Then reboot.

[edosan]

So I tried SuperGrub2. It works!!! it lets me boot/start Mint.

A) Shall I look for errors in the drive using Mint? How?
B) Shall I try to install rEFInd from Mint (not live, but just the installed Mint?)?
C) Shall I back-up Mint, delete it and reinstall everything? (restore "factory" Windows8 and going back to square one?)

SuperGrub2 is great for a lot of things!
I suspect that all you have to do is boot into Mint with the SuperGrub2, open a terminal and enter the command:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

Then reboot.

Seems like it did something

Code: Select all

edosan@edosan-laptop ~ $ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for edosan: 
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic
  No volume groups found
Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/sda4@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done

I'm ejecting the Supergrub2 CD and rebooting...

[edosan]

So I tried SuperGrub2. It works!!! it lets me boot/start Mint.

A) Shall I look for errors in the drive using Mint? How?
B) Shall I try to install rEFInd from Mint (not live, but just the installed Mint?)?
C) Shall I back-up Mint, delete it and reinstall everything? (restore "factory" Windows8 and going back to square one?)

SuperGrub2 is great for a lot of things!
I suspect that all you have to do is boot into Mint with the SuperGrub2, open a terminal and enter the command:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

Then reboot.

no, it did NOT work a Windows 8 disk restore session still starts as soon as I push the power button.

please be patient Thank you

Inviato dal mio GT-S6500 con Tapatalk 2

[austin.texas]

It seems the rEFInd option is the one to pursue.

[edosan]

It seems the rEFInd option is the one to pursue.

installed with the terminal.

It works. perfectly.


Windows still does not work (and won't boot and wants to restore itself). I'll have to format the whole disk sooner or later
But at least I have a working machine now.
Thanks to you!


Thanks a lot for your patience and support