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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Lesson I also learned when I started out with Linux… don’t fuck with grub unless you really understand what you’re doing! Borking grub is a right of passage imo.
I’m not sure how to fix your issue (I gave up on dual booting and just have windows in a virtual machine, so Windows doesn’t mess up grub).
I always keep backups of the working grub config in case I need to restore. Just boot into a version of Linux on a usb key and copy the working config.
oh yes, did it multiple times... Now I'm using MX Linux, if I break something, I boot on the USB disk and click on the "repair boot", and tada! it works again. But yeah I always keep a backup of my EFI in case of too.
Grub is still better than LILO :)
I'll have to give this another try tomorrow when I'm more awake. I probably should have just asked here when I had grub issues in the first place.
Just boot into a version of Linux on a usb key and copy the working config.
So I guess this is what the guides are saying, but I seem to get stuck on the installation step with this error grub2-install: error: this utility cannot be used for EFI platforms because it does not support UEFI Secure Boot. Hopefully I understand it better once i'm more awake. Thank you though!
You need to turn off secure boot in your bios maybe
Most relatable Linux title ever
And people said Linus' experience wasn't representative of non-experienced users trying out Linux.
It's character building though.
You could take a look at refind, if you're on a efi system. Refind is a boot manager that can either chainload other Bootmanagers, kernels as well as eny efi bootloader entries. Even if grub is borked. You can probably set it up on a usb stick or even find a rescue distro that uses refind. It's good as a failsafe if you can't get grub to work.
Highly recommend this. It's magic.
Also recommend, refind has saved my dual boot machines more times than I can count
Agreed, I've been using refind for about a year now and it hasn't failed me.
I installed Windows on an isolated drive, connected another drive, installed Linux and refind.
running a quick refind-install in the terminal picked up the windows bootloader and all of the Linux kernels that I have installed.
In addition to GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT you also need to set GRUB_DEFAULT=saved.
You should probably follow these instructions from the Fedora Wiki: Reinstalling GRUB.
I wish you all the best. The way I avoid dealing with this on my own PC is I use separate physical drives. I unplug one, install OS, swap, install the other OS, and just use BIOS to choose which drive to boot from. I find that to be a lot less of a headache.
Honestly, if you're new to linux, the best way to recover from borked GRUB is to reinstall linux. You can boot from a live CD, mount positions, chroot, and fix it, but I found that more difficult than reinstall until I had a bunch of experience.
This is the reason I really like the distros that everyone shits all over for being "just pre-installed software, custom configs, and themes" like mint or Garuda or zorin... Almost all of them come out of the box with a graphical interface for managing grub settings (and most other parts of the OS) so you don't have to faff with getting command line just right, you just select the thing you want from a drop down box and it works.
I'll probably get shit all over myself for saying this though, lol.
Every time someone says experienced users should use a more difficult to use distribution I die a little inside - I happily use Mint, have done for years, why make my life more difficult?
More specific questions might be better than my mess above:
The guide I mentioned above seems to be the guide a few other forums reference. Is there a boot repair tool for Fedora KDE Plasma?
Alternatively, I am able to make it to the last step of the regular guide, where I need to run
sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot --bootloader-id=ubuntu --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/mnt/boot/efi
I get a sudo: grub-install: command not found message. Since I'm on Fedora and not Ubuntu, what would be the correct command for me, assuming that's the reason. I didn't think it would work, but I tried just swapping 'fedora' for 'ubuntu' and got the same error
edit: Got a little further by using grub2 instead: sudo grub2-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot --bootloader-id=ubuntu --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/mnt/boot/efi, but got a new error:
grub2-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/modinfo.sh doesn't exist
edit: Got a little further by running sudo dnf install grub2-efi-x64-modules. Now when I run that command, error is
grub2-install: error: this utility cannot be used for EFI platforms because it does not support UEFI Secure Boot.
secure boot is definitely off, so I'm stuck again
Did you try: sudo update-grub
Welcome to dual booting with Windows! Best advice I can give is try to keep Windows away from your Linux drive as it doesn't like to share. A 2nd drive for your Linux install can save a ton of headache (I went so far as to put Windows on my old PC when I upgraded).