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Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

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SlidingHorn
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Joined: 2018-03-26 15:38

Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#1 Post by SlidingHorn »

I have a dual boot system with Windows 10 & Debian 9, and I wanted to remove the current Debian system entirely (I plan on installing a new one, but for now, I wanted to see how to fix my current issue).

I followed an outside source to remove the partitions (https://www.howtogeek.com/141818/how-to ... -computer/) and everything through the last step appeared just as it does in their examples. However, when I reboot after running the "bootrec.exe /fixmbr" with the USB recovery drive, I'm still brought to the GRUB recovery mode. I'm able to boot into Windows without a problem if I manually change the boot order by pressing F11 when the machine starts to boot up.

Since I planned on installing a new Debian anyway, would it be likely that doing so would simply repopulate GRUB's configuration and I'll be fine? If not, what would I need to do?

(I know, I probably should have come here first instead of going off some outside source. My apologies.)

Dai_trying
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#2 Post by Dai_trying »

As you are using Win10 I am guessing you are using UEFI (as fixmbr didn't appear to work) and if so you should be able to set your boot order, simply place Windows first in the list. You could have done this from Debian (using efibootmgr) before wiping the system but "live and learn" :D

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#3 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

From a Windows Administrator prompt:

Code: Select all

bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path "\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi"
Now excuse me while I run away before @Segfault scolds us for guessing... :mrgreen:
deadbang

SlidingHorn
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#4 Post by SlidingHorn »

Dai_trying wrote:As you are using Win10 I am guessing you are using UEFI (as fixmbr didn't appear to work) and if so you should be able to set your boot order, simply place Windows first in the list. You could have done this from Debian (using efibootmgr) before wiping the system but "live and learn" :D
I am, and as you said, I'll know better next time :mrgreen:
Head_on_a_Stick wrote:From a Windows Administrator prompt:

Code: Select all

bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path "\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi"
Now excuse me while I run away before @Segfault scolds us for guessing... :mrgreen:
Will do. When I do this, will there be any lasting effect to consider when I end up installing Debian again?

SlidingHorn
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#5 Post by SlidingHorn »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:From a Windows Administrator prompt:

Code: Select all

bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path "\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi"
Now excuse me while I run away before @Segfault scolds us for guessing... :mrgreen:
So before running the command, I just ran bcdedit without any options (just to see if it would give me a usage message to see what I would be doing), and it shows that the path is already set as {bootmgr}

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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#6 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

SlidingHorn wrote:the path is already set as {bootmgr}
I think "{bootmgr}" is just Windows' generic technical term for the UEFI bootloader, the rest of the output would have contained the critical information and you should have posted that here.

Did it list Debian & Windows as NVRAM entries?

The output format is a little different but `bcdedit` provides the same information as `efibootmgr` does under Linux and it can make similar modifications to the NVRAM boot entries in a UEFI system.
deadbang

SlidingHorn
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#7 Post by SlidingHorn »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
SlidingHorn wrote:the path is already set as {bootmgr}
Did it list Debian & Windows as NVRAM entries?

The output format is a little different but `bcdedit` provides the same information as `efibootmgr` does under Linux and it can make similar modifications to the NVRAM boot entries in a UEFI system.
No - only appears to have windows-oriented info:

Code: Select all

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {df21b763-fd72-11e7-a973-fecda025af14}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 10
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {df21b765-fd72-11e7-a973-fecda025af14}
displaymessageoverride  Recovery
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {df21b763-fd72-11e7-a973-fecda025af14}
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard

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pylkko
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#8 Post by pylkko »

I don't know how that windows software works. However, perhaps you are only displaying the entries that pertain to /Microsoft/... and you should go one path down. What is the exact command you typed into the windows shell?

Or maybe you can just boot a live linux and use efibootmgr to change the order?

SlidingHorn
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#9 Post by SlidingHorn »

pylkko wrote:I don't know how that windows software works. However, perhaps you are only displaying the entries that pertain to /Microsoft/... and you should go one path down. What is the exact command you typed into the windows shell?
Sorry, not sure what you mean by "one path down".

The exact command was "bcdedit"

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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#10 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

OK, it's been a while since I used Windows but I remember that Debian's grubx64.efi showed up in `bcdedit` :?

Just in case I'm going (more) senile, could you try loading up a live ISO image and checking the output of `efibootmgr`?

From what you have posted so far, it looks like you may have installed Debian in non-UEFI mode.

That "fixmbr" program won't do anything for you because if you have a UEFI Windows system (as indicated by the `bcdedit` output) then you don't have an "MBR" on your disk at all...
deadbang

SlidingHorn
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#11 Post by SlidingHorn »

Well I ran it, then wrote down the pastebin address incorrect :oops:

However, it showed an order of 0001, 0000....

0001 was listed as debian
0000 is my windows

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pylkko
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Re: Deleted Deb Partitions from DB - GRUB Recovery Remains

#12 Post by pylkko »

Okay, then you need to change the order with that same efibootmgr. You use "-o" flag for this. To learn more see the very well written manual with:

Code: Select all

man efibootmgr
So, anyway, now you should try something like:

Code: Select all

efibootmgr -o 0000,0001
Or maybe even delete the debian boot number if that is better for your purposes (again see man).

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