Re: Set UEFI boot target with Windows (was: Hardware Advice Wanted: Router)
On Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:27:59 +0100 Arno Lehmann wrote: > > ... have you ever tried > > bcdedit /bootsequence > > In general, the built-in help of bcdedit is not bad, needs a bit of > patience, though. > > And of course we lack the flexibility of tools such as awk or sed on > Windows, to automate setting things and still remain flexible :-) > > On a particular system, with rather static setup, hard-coding a > single bcdedit call and automatically execute that should be > feasible, though. > > Give it a try if you haven't done yet! > I have used it in the past, when Windows moved away from boot.ini. That was probably XP, so about twenty years ago. I believe using it to write currently requires booting to Safe Mode, and if I've got to reboot, it might as well be to the Debian install disc/USB. Having got to chroot, I just use the up-arrow and it remembers the efibootmgr command I used last time. I haven't looked for a while, if it's possible to set NextBoot from normal Windows it would be worth doing. -- Joe
Re: Set UEFI boot target with Windows
On 30/11/2023 19:27, Arno Lehmann wrote:
Am 30.11.2023 um 12:52 schrieb Joe:
I have a
netbook which, left to its own devices, will always boot to Windows,
and cannot be made to boot to anything else from the UEFI part of
whatever we're supposed to call the BIOS these days.
... have you ever tried
bcdedit /bootsequence
I have read that early UEFI versions of some vendors had hardcoded path
to windows loader. Another variant is loader installed to "removable"
path EFI/Boot (in additional or instead of EFI/microsoft) and firmware
tries EFI/Boot with higher priority.
From linux:
efibootmgr -v
ls -l /boot/efi/EFI/{boot,debian,microsoft}
I have a decade-old HP laptop that boots from EFI/Boot. (Or using a
custom boot entry with path to shimx64.efi created from the firmware
setup menu that is less convenient.) It has never had windows installed
though.
Set UEFI boot target with Windows (was: Hardware Advice Wanted: Router)
Bit of a digression here, probably better not to pursue *this* on the mailing list, but... Am 30.11.2023 um 12:52 schrieb Joe: On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 18:34:30 -0500 Jeffrey Walton wrote: As I understand things, a well functioning UEFI system does not need to use GRUB. The entries for Linux and Windows will be in the UEFI boot menu, and you can boot directly using EFI variables. It's the 'well functioning' that is sometimes a problem. I have a netbook which, left to its own devices, will always boot to Windows, and cannot be made to boot to anything else from the UEFI part of whatever we're supposed to call the BIOS these days. It does not honour DefaultBoot, always resetting it to Windows, but for some reason does honour NextBoot. So once Linux is running, a script sets NextBoot to grub. Unfortunately, there's no simple way to set NextBoot from Windows, ... have you ever tried bcdedit /bootsequence In general, the built-in help of bcdedit is not bad, needs a bit of patience, though. And of course we lack the flexibility of tools such as awk or sed on Windows, to automate setting things and still remain flexible :-) On a particular system, with rather static setup, hard-coding a single bcdedit call and automatically execute that should be feasible, though. Give it a try if you haven't done yet! There seems to be a lot of problems with the EFI commands operating BIOSes properly, so I wonder if good old MS requires compliant manufacturers to get it wrong deliberately. Well... ... probably yes. But that's MS and their hardware partners for you. It's getting better the more MS loses interest in actually selling Windows. Cheers, Arno -- Arno Lehmann IT-Service Lehmann Sandstr. 6, 49080 Osnabrück
