GRUB does not appear at startup, whether or not I press SHIFT

[WavermanD]

This is a sort of puzzling issue I've not had with any other distro I have used in the past.

Mint is installed alongside a Windows 11 install (Windows 11 was installed first) with the intention being a dual-boot setup. More specifically, Mint is installed on an ~80GB partition on the same 256GB SSD as Windows, which has a ~176GB partition. With every other distro I have used on this machine (e.g. XUbuntu 20.04, Garuda, Manjaro), GRUB would appear at startup and allow me to choose whether I wanted to boot into Linux or Windows. I did not have to press any key out of the box to get to this menu.

I had heard that pressing shift was sometimes required on Mint, but this did not help. I have done some searching around of my own and made changes to the GRUB configuration file with no results.

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#GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden

is now commented where it previously would not have been.

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GRUB_GFXMODE=auto

is now uncommented where it previously would have been commented.

Following these changes, I updated the GRUB config file and restarted. The menu still didn't appear. Mint is at the top of my boot priority list in BIOS.

I am using kernel 5.15.0-58-generic.

[kato181]

You have told us nothing about the system you are using. Post the results of the following command..

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inxi -Fxz

Windows with it's updates will over write the grub file everytime. Boot into your live session usb and in terminal enter the following command and reboot.

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sudo update-grub

I believe there is a bug in the installation as it installs the efi on the first O/S it sees, being Windows.

[ajgreeny]

And Windows 11 is always installed using UEFI unless you installed it yourself in legacy BIOS mode (not even sure if that's possible!).

Using UEFI the shift key does not bring up the grub menu; you need to repeatedly stab at the Esc key instead immediately after power on but before you get to the POST self testing.

[SMG]

I have done some searching around of my own and made changes to the GRUB configuration file with no results.

Code: Select all

#GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden

is now commented where it previously would not have been.

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GRUB_GFXMODE=auto

is now uncommented where it previously would have been commented.

Following these changes, I updated the GRUB config file and restarted.

Welcome to the forum, WavermanD.

I have not heard of using the two changes you mention. Others have had success using the information in this post which makes the same first line change you did, but has a different second line change.

Many newer computers are very fast and it can sometimes be difficult to get the timing correct, but you are dual-booting so unless Windows messed with grub, I'm not sure what might have happened that you are not seeing grub.

[Jo-con-Ël]

Let's resolve doubts about the mode Windows and Mint are installed/booting posting back following codes result:

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inxi -Fxxxzr
sudo parted -l
sudo blkid
sudo efibootmgr -v

Undo changes on /etc/default/grub file. These are the lines to change in order to grant grub menu is shown

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5

You don't need it If both systems (Windows and Linux Mint) are installed on same mode (UEFI or BIOS Legacy ). There would be another reason not to show grub menu by default after running sudo update-grub (removing/changing executable files on /etc/grub.d/, if Linux Mint 21.X removing/changing /etc/default/grub.d/50_linuxmint.cfg ...of course if GRUB Customizer is installed,...).

Please, also post back following codes result

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sudo os-prober
sudo update-grub
cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg | nc termbin.com 9999

[ajgreeny]

Even the few times that I do not have a dual boot (never with Windows which I stopped using about 15 years ago) I still like to show the grub menu though only for 2 seconds,
I only reboot when my upgrades tell me it's necessary, so generally that is when a new kernel version appears in upgrades, but when I do reboot I like to always see the grub menu so I edit /etc/default/grub file to ensure that happens and after the edit i run

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sudo update-grub

which makes sure those edits are enabled.

I will show my edits tomorrow when on my Linux box and not this Android tablet just to make sure I get them right.