Q4OS Forum

Chilly

Member

Registered: 2018-10-22

Posts: 3

Windows installer problem

Hello,

I installed Q4OS (using the supplied Windows installer) on Windows 10 a few days ago on a Toshiba Satellite with UEFI.

When I boot the machine, Q4OS comes up every time.   However, the BIOS nor the F12 boot select does not provide any options to change the default back to Windows, or boot to Windows.

Thank you.

Dai_trying

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2015-12-14

Posts: 2,992

Re: Windows installer problem

This can usually be done using the efibootmgr command, be careful when using these commands though as they have the potential to cause the system not to boot if you use it wrongly.
if you go to a terminal (konsole) and type

man efibootmgr

you will get the manual with some example use, please read it carefully and make sure you understand what the command is doing before you use it, if you just type

efibootmgr

without any parameters it will list available boot options (without changing anything) so you can see what options you have available, one of them should be Windows boot manager (usually option 0000).

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,501

Website

Re: Windows installer problem

Windows installer should never make Q4OS to boot by default. It keeps Windows to be the default boot entry, so something wrong had to come with your system. You could check the EFI boot entries using "bootctl" and "efibootmgr" commands.

Please install "efibootmgr" first:
$ sudo apt install efibootmgr

Next, run the following commands in terminal:
$ sudo bootctl
$ sudo efibootmgr -v
and post output here to analyze.

Chilly

Member

Registered: 2018-10-22

Posts: 3

Re: Windows installer problem

Here is the result:

sudo bootctl
[sudo] password for jack:
Couldn't find EFI system partition. It is recommended to mount it to /boot. Alternatively, use --path= to specify path to mount point.
jack@q4os-desktop:~$ sudo efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0004,2003,2001,2002
Boot0000* EFI Network 0 for IPv6 (4C-72-B9-D1-6D-F1)    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x15,0x2)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(4c72b9d16df1,0)/IPv6([::]:<->[::]:,0,0)RC
Boot0001* EFI Network 0 for IPv4 (4C-72-B9-D1-6D-F1)    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x15,0x2)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(4c72b9d16df1,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.0:0<->0.0.0.0:0,0,0)RC
Boot0002* Q4OS Scorpion HD(2,GPT,4dde7286-04e5-11e2-b0b8-cd05c16e8339,0xe1800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\debian\wubildr\shimx64.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.8.e.e.b.a.e.4.e.-.8.b.0.6.-.1.1.e.8.-.9.1.c.8.-.e.a.3.7.c.b.0.6.8.f.3.6.}....................
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager  HD(2,GPT,4dde7286-04e5-11e2-b0b8-cd05c16e8339,0xe1800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,501

Website

Re: Windows installer problem

Well, you have the 'Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager  HD(2,GPT,4dde7...)' boot entry present in UEFI boot table. You need to recall the boot menu upon the computer startup. The way is hardware dependable, for Toshiba laptops most likely the 'F12' key does the job.
Shutdown your PC while pressing the Shift key to turn off your computer completely. Don't put the computer into "Hibernation", but shut down your device completely. Now restart the computer by pressing the power button - immediately start tapping the F12 key on the keyboard until the "Boot Menu" screen appears.

Dai_trying

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2015-12-14

Posts: 2,992

Re: Windows installer problem

On my machine I can just use the efibootmgr command below to change the order

sudo efibootmgr -o 4,3,2,5,0

and this will set 0004 as first option 003 as second etc etc... note the leading zeros are not required but can be used if you wish, so the command that I would use for your machine would be this

sudo efibootmgr -o 4,2,2003,2001,2002

After issuing the command you should have the boot order displayed in the terminal for you to check (the same info you get by using efibootmgr without parameters)

Chilly

Member

Registered: 2018-10-22

Posts: 3

Re: Windows installer problem

Thank you!

I was able to boot into Windows using the F12 key by selecting Windows at boot time, which solves my initial problem.

Also, the tip regarding EFIBOOTMGR is much appreciated, should I wish to default to Windows at boot time.

Cheers.