Win/Linux restoring problem

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by moredhelfinland, Dec 28, 2022.

  1. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    Hi,
    My system drive consist of Windows and Manjaro Linux(XFCE). I'm using GRUB as a bootloader to boot to windows / Manjaro. Manjaro is using BTRFS filesystem, and i set Timeshit to make only two "system restore points" during the boot. Actually, it does it, after 10minutes after the boot.
    Imaged all of the system partitions with Macrium and Image For Windows.
    Then restoring back the imagefile by using USB stick restore media, it boots straight to windows. No Grub menu.
    Am i doing something wrong here? Why PBA or what ever Grub loader is located at is not backed up?
    To get Grub loader back i need to do chroot **** via manjaro live mode.
     
  2. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    moredhelfinland,

    I note you have IFW. Do you have BootIt UEFI (BIU)?

    BIU doesn't use GRUB to boot the Windows OS. The Windows and Linux OS are independent in that you could delete all Windows OS and the Linux OS would still boot. You could delete all Linux OS and the Windows OS would still boot.

    When you restored your image, did you restore the ESP?
     
  3. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    @Brian K
    Sorry for the late reply, i also have paid version of Macrium. I also imaged my C drive(windows+linux with Grub as bootloader) with Macrium. Restored it back, but Grub loader is not there, it boots straight to the Windows.
    When imaging the C drive, i chose all the partitions of it. I really don't know why it does not backup the grub loader or maybe it does but when restoring back it does not restore it back. The same happens when using IFW.
    When restoring back i simply just restore all the partitions back. And by default, macrium selects all the partitions of the system drive so it should backup the grub loader too.
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Can you try this? After a restore and the failed grub menu, get into your UEFI/BIOS and find Boot Option Priorities. What are the first 2 or 3 items?
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    If you are still booting into Windows without seeing grub, don't do a restore, just get into the BIOS and check Boot Option Priorities.
     
  6. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    @Brian K
    The system is in UEFI mode. The system is working now, because i restored Grub menu after image restore couple of days ago. But when i do next restore, the Grub menu is not there.

    These are the boot UEFI options:
    Manjaro
    Windows Boot Manager
    Endeavouros (from my previous linux install, obsolete)
    OpenSuse-secureboot (from my previous linux install, obsolete)
    Ubuntu (from my previous linux install, obsolete)
    OpenSuse (from my previous linux install, obsolete)
    UEFI OS

    Do you know easy way to remove those obsolete UEFI boot entries?
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    To remove the obsolete entries you can select them and Disable.

    I suspect you have a "naughty" BIOS. When you restore an image your BIOS changes the Boot Option Priorities to Windows Boot Manager first. It's not the fault of IFW or Macrium.

    All you have to do is get into the BIOS and make Manjaro the first item. You can disable everything else if you desire. I even have Windows Boot Manager disabled as BootIt UEFI is my only entry.

    Please let us know the outcome after your next restore.
     
  8. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    @Brian K
    I will do that when doing the next restore. Damn you, naughty BIOS! :D
    Thanks alot for helping me out.
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I've seen it occasionally with my BIOS when restoring Linux partitions. But certainly not frequently. Changing the Boot Option Priorities fixes it for that event. But it will happen again.
     
  10. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    @Brian K
    Actually i just did a test restore with Macrium. Very strange, now it restored the grub menu back. I did the restore the same way like i did it before(and no grub menu).
    I'll keep that Boot Option Priorities tip in mind, if the next restore fails to restore the grub menu. Thanks again.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    moredhelfinland,

    Your BIOS wasn't naughty this time. Manjaro is first in the list.
     
  12. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Try this. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite\TeraByte OSD Tool Suite Pro\win

    Right click tbosdtw64.exe and Run as Administrator

    Type this
    list uefi bootorder
    Press Enter

    Can you post a screenshot of the window? Manjaro should be in slot 0 (it could be called ubuntu)
    0x0000 Windows Boot Manager will be next or further down the list.
     
  13. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    @Brian K
    0) 0x0004 Manjaro
    1) 0x0000 Windows Boot Manager
    2) 0x0008 endeavouros-6411
    3) 0x0007 opensuse-secureboot
    4) 0x000B ubuntu
    5) 0x0011 opensuse
    6) 0x0012 UEFI OS
    7) 0x0003 CD/DVD Device
    :cool: 0x0006 Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
    9) 0x000A Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
    10) 0x000E Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
    11) 0x0002 Generic Usb Device
    12) 0x000D rEFInd Boot Manager
    13) 0x000C Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
    14) 0x0010 rEFInd Boot Manager
    15) 0x0001 Pop!_OS 21.04
    16) 0x0005 pop
    17) 0x0009 Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS

    Those Linux entries are obsolete(exept Manjaro), because i distrohop a lot. rEFInd is there, because when i was testing popos, it overwrite windows own boot loader, so i installed rEFInd boot manager to get windows back to the boot menu.
    Now i'm using Manjaro XFCE with BTRFS filesystem(manual partitioning), timeshift snapshot level is set to BOOT only(keep 2 snapshots). Timeshift makes a boot snapshot after 10 minutes of booting. So its easy to restore system via Grub menu if Manjaro fails to boot for some reason.
    Next time when i distrohop, i should make separate partition for those boot snapshots, because if the filesystem gets corrupted, those snapshots gets corrupted too.
     
  14. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Great. Many thanks.

    Out of interest, if your next restore boots into Windows and not the grub menu, you could use this to fix the Boot Option Priorities...

    Run tbosdtw64.exe as an Admin

    Code:
    set uefi bootorder 0x0004 0
    This puts Manjaro into slot 0. It will replace Windows Boot Manager.
     
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Lots of distros. With BootIt UEFI you could have all of those OS on your HD/SSD. Boot which ever one you want.
     
  16. moredhelfinland

    moredhelfinland Registered Member

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    @Brian K
    Couple of years ago, when i had dual boot problems, i used freeware BOOT-US bootmanager. It was able to find my linux partitions and then added its own boot manager. It was simple to use.
    I used that bootmanager when i tested windows+linux+haiku(that BeOS variant). So it was "triple boot". Worked just fine.
     
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