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I am currently trying to install Ubuntu 14.04 on a Sony Vaio that came pre-installed with Windows 8 in (I understand) UEFI mode. And I am experiencing the dual-boot hell. I already tried most of the suggestions in the exhaustive Installing Ubuntu Alongside a Pre-Installed Windows with UEFI guide as well as Ubuntu installations when using UEFI, but I still experience issues so please do NOT mark the current question as duplicate.

These are the steps that I already did:

  1. Use a 64-bit 14.04
  2. In the BIOS I could NOT find nor disable QuickBoot/FastBoot and Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT). But I did disable FastStartup in Windows 8.
  3. In BIOS I disabled SecureBoot.
  4. I installed 14.04 in UEFI mode (the /etc/fstab contains the UEFI partition) by using manual partitioning on the GPT hard-drive. I reduced the size of the Windows 8 partition from within Windows 8, as recommended.
  5. After the installation I noticed dual-booting issues, so attempted to use boot-repair (following this guide). But it only ended in an error and didn't fix much.

Issue:

Windows 8 always boots fine. When somehow I manage to get to the grub screen then choosing Ubuntu or Windows 8 will result in either OS booting just fine. So dual-booting sort of works. However, most of the times the Vaio will simply boot to Windows 8 after a shutdown or restart.

To get to the grub screen reliably, I am currently using the following awkward workaround:

  • While holding the SHIFT key, I click on Restart within Windows-8: enter image description here
  • When the menu below appears, I select Use a device: enter image description here
  • Then I select Ubuntu: enter image description here

Afterwards the GRUB menu appears and I can boot Ubuntu. For this to work I had to enable External Device Boot in BIOS and set in the Boot priority that the External Device (1) should be before the Internal HDD (2).

Question:

  • How can I fix the dual-boot issues on the laptop? I would like to be able to get straight to the GRUB screen whenever I restart the computer, either from Windows 8 or from Ubuntu.
Community
  • 1
landroni
  • 6,011

4 Answers4

4

One Sony user posted this:

The trick was to manually copy the ubuntu Boot directory in place of the \EFI\Boot Directory, and rename shimx64.efi to \EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi (not \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi )

Boot-Repairs fix is the rename of bootmgfw.efi, which has to be redone if Windows updates its files. And then can only boot Windows from grub menu.

Some other options:

Alternative to Boot-Repairs rename of shim. Some systems work better to register grub/shim from inside Windows - for those that keep resetting Windows as default

Grub not showing on startup for Windows 8.1 Ubuntu 13.10 Dual boot

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi

https://coderwall.com/p/vfyqkg

Some install rEFInd which seems to be another workaround.

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/index.html

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/secureboot.html

Community
  • 1
oldfred
  • 12,583
1

I had the same issue here. To fix, try the steps below:

  1. Disable secure boot, fastboot, etc... (you have already done that);
  2. When installing Ubuntu, choose manual partitioning and create the partitions as follows:
    1. An ext4 partition for system and home (if you want). Mount point: /
    2. A swap partition. I normally use 50% of available RAM;
    3. A ext2 partition for boot. I think 400mb is enough. Mount point: /boot;
  3. Install Ubuntu, but do not restart after the installation finishes.
  4. Install gparted: sudo apt-get install gparted
  5. Open gparted. Select your disk and then the boot (ext2) partition. Right click on /boot partition, select manage flags and enable bios_grub flag. Apply change and close gparted.
  6. Install boot-repair like this link and execute it normally using recommended settings.

If everything is right, boot-repair will find your Windows 8 and will configure grub for you. Now, you can reboot.

Hope it helps.

humungs
  • 629
0

Try this. I had the same problem with Ubuntu 14.04 and Windows 7 and that worked just fine for me.

Ragnar
  • 151
0

If a boot device option does not appear for your device: Check the options in the firmware menus to enable or disable BIOS-compatibility mode.

To use BIOS-compatibility mode, check for options in the firmware menus to disable UEFI SecureBoot features.

For older PCs (Windows® 7-era or earlier), look for options to Boot from file, and browse to the \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI file on that device.

stright from MS WEBSITE

z atef
  • 211