Unable to boot to Windows after following auto mounting guide

Hey all. I followed this guide and now my grub and BIOS doesnt show Windows as bootable. I can access the drive through Linux but can no longer boot from there. After I selected 'Take Ownership" and selected "Recursive", I tried to run the "sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo mount -a" command but it said the drive did not exist. I thought I could restart and try again. After the restart, the command successfully worked but now I can no longer see my Windows install. Is there something I did wrong?
Universal Blue
GNOME Disks Auto-Mount Guide
[GNOME] This comes pre-installed on GNOME images. Instructions [GNOME_Disks] Open GNOME Disks (gnome-disk-utility) Locate the disk and partition you want to mount Click the cog icon on the partition Select “Edit Mount Options” Turn off “User Session Default” Check: “Mount at system startup” and “Show in user interface” In the space where th...
Solution:
but what i suspect is your WD black had an efi partition for whatever reason
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73 Replies
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
ujust regenerate-grub none of the things in the guide you linked touches grub or the efi and will not affect the boot menu
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
Weird. Well I suppose I will need to reinstall Windows. Do you have any idea why I wouldn't be able to boot to Windows again? I reinstalled Bazzite so maybe that may have caused it? I think this happened to me last time I reinstalled and auto mounted my partition
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
no idea, i dont use windows so i dont dual boot only thing i can think of is if you messed around with the efi partition
antheas
antheas3w ago
you might have nuked the windows bootloader by mistake
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
can you check if the windows bootloader still exist in the efi
antheas
antheas3w ago
if you repair it with a windows installer it will nuke the bazzite one
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
Would it nuke the bootloader if it was on a separate drive? Seems odd that it would touch the Windows bootloader. My Linux and Windows are on two separate drives. I'll check when I get home from work.
antheas
antheas3w ago
Then you just have messed up bios settings probably
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
Hmm. Is there a way to fix this? Last time I checked my boot order, my Windows boot selection had WD_BLACK listed in parenthesis. Maybe it was somehow sharing the EFI partition with Linux?
No description
antheas
antheas3w ago
Where's your other drive
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
It's not listed there anymore. This was a picture of it after the reinstall. But it's on my second nvme slot
antheas
antheas3w ago
What happens if you press the boot options
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
If I press either bazzite or fedora, they both take make to Bazzite I'm guessing that Windows and Bazzite both shared a EFI and since I reinstall and wiped the EFI from my last install, it removed the info for Windows? I'm not too familiar with how this works
antheas
antheas3w ago
There should be an option to show and reorder the boot options If you have 2 drives no
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
I think you are looking at the options. You can hit enter, I can reorder them.
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
did you replace any drives recently? or remove any
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
Nope. I just reinstalled with the gnome version and set up auto mount.
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
ok well that rules out the windows bootloader being on a drive no longer present in the system (the windows installer has a bad habit of flinging the bootloader on the first efi partition it sees if one exists, even though you tell it to install to a different disk) can you check the efi partition on the windows disk from bazzite see what it contains?
zolta
zolta3w ago
prob good practice when installing os es on different drives is to remove or unplug drives with different os, so it does not see their uefi?
antheas
antheas3w ago
yes it is you can also optionally disable the connectors in bios that works as well
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
No description
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
how do you do that?
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
your windows disk is missing the efi partition
antheas
antheas3w ago
yeah you fucked up that windowsi nstall youre cooked
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
did you install bazzite first and then windows?
antheas
antheas3w ago
you managed to make it take 2 drives
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
check your other drives and see if there is another efi partition
antheas
antheas3w ago
how did you do that, good luck
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
you said your previous entry mentioned the WD black check that disk
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
No description
antheas
antheas3w ago
that looks correct for just bazzite
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
yep
antheas
antheas3w ago
whats in that efi partition
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
No description
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
i can go deeper if you need me too
antheas
antheas3w ago
youre cooked
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
damn
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
yeah you messed something up unless there is another efi partition on the other disks
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
no, i dont see any
Solution
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
but what i suspect is your WD black had an efi partition for whatever reason
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
and windows used that when being installed because it saw it
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
ah that is probably it
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
this is why tech youtubers that know their stuff tell you to disconnect other drives when installing windows
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
because AFAIK, i never saw a EFI partition in that drive
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
to avoid that problem
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
ah okay never heard that before but ofc its a windows problem lol
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
trust me everyone who experience this is caught off guard by it because in typical windows fashion its not documented (officially) anywhere that the installer does that
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
gotta love windows!
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
idk a safe way to fix the bootloader unless maybe resize windows, make a new efi partition on the right drive then try repair the bootloader with the bazzite disk disconnected idk if that will work
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
im gonna try to disable my bazzite drive and see if I can reinstall i think my gigabyte bios will allow me to do that
zolta
zolta3w ago
whats that 1.1gb partiton for just after the uefi one?
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
thats /boot
antheas
antheas3w ago
dont ask why its 1.1 (nobody knows)
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
and it contains your pinned deployments
zolta
zolta3w ago
what is a pinned deployment?
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
an image you have pinned
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
Great. My BIOS has no options to disable my nvme drives :moyaiguy:
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
think of it as you pinning a specific update so you have a fallback if an update completely breaks sounds like it is time to get the trusty screwdriver
zolta
zolta3w ago
open and disconnect is that like brtfs thing
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
Yeah... I absolutely hate doing this because I have a massive GPU with a massive support bracket that is a PITA to uninstall from the Mobo. That's one great thing about SATA is that its so easy to disconnect and reconnect
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
it is an ostree thing
zolta
zolta3w ago
ah thx learning
zolta
zolta3w ago
No description
zolta
zolta3w ago
that is what my single dual boot partiton setup i had to make a second uefi as the one windows created was too small
antheas
antheas3w ago
yeah this is someone that followed the dual boot guide /\
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
So my bazzite install looks completely fine? Just need to disconnect the Bazzite drive and install it on my secondary one?
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
just need to disconnect bazzite drive and then reinstall windows. or you need to make an efi partition on the windows drive first then disconnect the bazzite drive and then attempt a windows bootloader repair
antheas
antheas3w ago
install windows yes or that place the efi partition on the end of the drive if you do that
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
no idea if doing the bootloader repair like that will work though but its worth a shot if you dont want to lose any data on the windows drive when making the efi partition it might be named an ESP partition or something like that windows efi is usually 100mb idk if they increased that with windows 11 though
antheas
antheas3w ago
do 300mb
HikariKnight
HikariKnight3w ago
yeah play it safe
antheas
antheas3w ago
has to be at the end
Jayden
JaydenOP3w ago
I'll just save the hassle and start over with that drive. I didn't have anything important on it I wish Linux had good VR and game modding support or else I would just use strictly Linux Oh oh well
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