Help: Dual Boot Laptop Now Only Shows Windows

So my Lenovo gaming laptop was originally set-up with 2 petitions, one with Linux, the other Windows 10. I mainly use Linux, however a couple of things I needed to do within a windows environment. I've been there for about a month, but now that I'm trying to restart/reboot I no longer have any options to pick an OS.

I haven't done anything to the bios or anything, however it only goes straight back to the Lenovo screen then into windows.

Can anyone assist in what to do so I can get back my options at start-up?

TIA 🙏

Comments

  • +6

    From my experience it tends to be dependent on what bootloader you are using. I've also heard Windows likes to delete GRUB (The most common Linux bootloader) when it updates. It's likely your files from your Linux OS are still there - just that your bootloader is misbehaving. You can try load up a live USB and access your files, but a more permanent solution would be to fix the bootloader.

    This wiki page from Arch Linux should give you some insight into how the process works, and how you might be able to fix the problem:
    https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows

  • +1

    Far better solution is to use one of the OSes in a VM from the other … no re-occuring boot issues then :P

  • Most likely your EFI boot entries have been reset (possibly a side effect of a BIOS update).

    For some reason, most linux distros don't install Grub as the fallback bootloader, and leave Windows there.

    There's a few ways to fix, but I found the easiest for me was a Windows program called Diskgenius that had a EFI boot entry editor in it.

    You could also use efibootmgr from a linux live CD, or just reinstall GRUB from there.

  • Boot into Linux using a live usb (if you are using Ubuntu use the install usb) or https://www.supergrubdisk.org/ , then reinstall Grub

    https://www.maketecheasier.com/restore-grub-2-as-the-main-bo…

  • Microsoft, decided on your behalf, that you are better off only using microsoft products.

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