SOLVED - Grub will not boot Windows 10

[handyman4848]

After an upgrade to linux mint 18.3 from linux mint 17.3, I can no longer boot into Windows 10. Windows 10 appears on the grub menu but if selected, the screen goes dark for a few seconds the the grub menu re-appears.

I did a clean install, not an upgrade. I deleted my linux mint 17.3 partitions (/, /home and swap) then installed linux mint 18.2 from a usb live stick. When installing I selected "Windows Boot Manager" as the device for installing the Grub boot loader and the installation proceeded normally. After the install completed the grub menu appeared as usual and booted into linux mint 18.3 with no difficulty and everything works properly. Only when Windows 10 is selected is there a problem. As stated previously selecting Windows 10 results in a black screen for a few seconds followed by the re-appearance of the grub menu.

I have run update-grub but it does not help. Since Windows 10 appears in the grub Menu it seems that grub recognizes Windows but seems to be looking in the wrong place for the Windows boot loader.

Can anyone help me in solving this problem?

I have attached a screen-shot of my partition table.

Thanks in advance for any assistance

[Mattyboy]

Hi. You've, unfortunately, exceeded more that 4 partitions on the drive. That will break Windows ( because its dumb ).

The quickest way of restoring your system would be to start again with a clean drive. Guessing you want a data partition, two primary partitions one for windows one for data and one logical to install a partitioned Linux.

There may be a way of restoring your current Windows install but its going to be a major headache and you'll probably get better help on a Windows forum.

If it were me I'd back up my data and go for the full re-install making a suitable partition table first ( Windows first then Linux, you'll need to clean the drive from Windows command prompt using DISKPART ).

[handyman4848]

Thanks for your input Mattyboy, but this is the exact same setup I had with Linux Mint 17.3 before upgrading and it worked fine for me for quite some time so I can't see it as the cause of my current problems.

[Sir Charles]

@Mattyboy
Isn't the partitoning alright all the same with 3 primary partitions for Windows and a 4th extended one where Linux is installed?

@handyman4848
Just a thought: Can you still boot into Windows from BIOS?

Edit: here is what I found in ArchWiki. Can something like this apply to your install?

Bootloader UEFI vs BIOS limitations
Most of the linux bootloaders installed for one firmware type cannot launch or chainload bootloaders of other firmware type. That is, if Arch is installed in UEFI-GPT or UEFI-MBR mode in one disk and Windows is installed in BIOS-MBR mode in another disk, the UEFI bootloader used by Arch cannot chainload the BIOS installed Windows in the other disk. Similarly if Arch is installed in BIOS-MBR or BIOS-GPT mode in one disk and Windows is installed in UEFI-GPT in another disk , the BIOS bootloader used by Arch cannot chainload UEFI installed Windows in the other disk.

The only exceptions to this are grub(2) in Apple Macs in which EFI installed grub(2) can boot BIOS installed OS via appleloader command (does not work in non-Apple systems), and rEFInd which technically supports booting legacy BIOS OS from UEFI systems, but does not always work in non-Apple UEFI systems as per its author Rod Smith.

However if Arch is installed in BIOS-GPT in one disk and Windows is installed in BIOS-MBR mode in another disk, then the BIOS bootloader used by Arch CAN boot the Windows in the other disk, if the bootloader itself has the ability to chainload from another disk.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Du ... oot_loader

[Elizine]

Edit

Code: Select all

 /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Find

Code: Select all

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows 10 (loader) (on /dev/sdXX)'

After

Code: Select all

chainloader +1

Write

Code: Select all

ntldr /bootmgr 

Hope this works for you.

[michael louwe]

@ handyman4848, .......

...

.
The "Device for boot loader installation" should have been the internal hard-drive or /sda, and not the Windows Boot Manager(or /sda1).

If above solutions do not work, try reinstalling Grub ... https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/grub

[Sir Charles]

If you need to repair/reinstall the Grub and/or repair the mbr, there is a handy tool called boot-repair. You can install it on your Mint's Live USB and run it from there. Here are two links that can be of use if you feel like having a look:
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[kukamuumuka]

When installing I selected "Windows Boot Manager" as the device for installing the Grub boot loader and the installation proceeded normally.

Download and run Boot Info Script and tell the result.
http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

[JerryF]

Hi. You've, unfortunately, exceeded more that 4 partitions on the drive.
...

That's not correct. He has an MBR disk with 3 Primary partitions and 1 Extended partition with 3 Logical Partitions. All which is fine.

[handyman4848]

Thanks Elizine that solution worked for me. Thanks also to the others who responded. This is sure a great resource for people having problems. Now all I have to do is remember how to mark the subject closed.

[JerryF]

...
Now all I have to do is remember how to mark the subject closed.

Just look at my signature below in red.

[Mattyboy]

That's not correct. He has an MBR disk with 3 Primary partitions and 1 Extended partition with 3 Logical Partitions. All which is fine.

Yeah, you're right, my bad, jumped the gun ( must stop doing that ). +1