Control Grub and Windows Boot Manager

I’ve installed Arch Linux and Windows 8 on my Laptop: ASUS K450LD because I want to convert the HDD from MBR legacy to GPT. TO DONE it, I backuped my HDD content then convert it to GPT during the Windows 8 Instaltion process with Windows Command Prompt. If you want to know how have I done, just follow the steps below:

  • Enter Windows Command Prompt by press Shift + F10 in the second Instaltion Windows
  • Use diskpart tool
  • Clean the HDD with command: clean
  • Convert HDD to GPT by: convert gpt

The next step, I install Arch Linux and use GRUB to manage my installed OSs. When you use GRUB on UEFI system, it requires EFI partition to install, it'll delete Windows 8 boot information then we need repair it to make it bootable.
Sometimes, after recover the Windows Boot Manager, it has set as default and you need use BIOS or hotkey to select the GRUB. Here is my solution to help you set GRUB as default.

Control Grub and Windows Boot Manager In Linux

We need efibootmgr package to view, edit the boot information.
Here is mine:

$ efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0004,0005,0003
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager	HD(2,96800,32000,740ff4d3-832a-488d-b08f-d06811560d25)File(EFIMicrosoftBootbootmgfw.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.}..._................
Boot0001* arch_grub	HD(2,96800,32000,740ff4d3-832a-488d-b08f-d06811560d25)File(EFIarch_grubgrubx64.efi)
Boot0003* Windows Boot Manager	Vendor(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb,)
Boot0004* CD/DVD Drive 	BIOS(3,0,00)..GO..NO........o.T.S.S.T.c.o.r.p. .C.D.D.V.D.W. .S.U.-.2.2.8.F.B....................A...........................>..Gd-.;.A..MQ..L.1.S.H.2.Y.6.F.H.0.2.W.3.D.T. . . . . . ........BO
Boot0005* Hard Drive 	BIOS(2,0,00)..GO..NO........w.S.e.a.g.a.t.e. .B.a.c.k.u.p.+. .B.K. .0.4.1.9....................A.............................D..Gd-.;.A..MQ..L.S.e.a.g.a.t.e. .B.a.c.k.u.p.+. .B.K. .0.4.1.9........BO..NO........s.H.S.P.A. .M.M.C. .S.t.o.r.a.g.e. .2...3.1....................A........................[email protected];.A..MQ..L.H.S.P.A. .M.M.C. .S.t.o.r.a.g.e. .2...3.1........BO

You can reorder the boot manager or increase the timeout to help you select it at the boot screen.

To change the order of boot managers

# efibootmgr -o 1,0,3,4,5

then review the result:

$ efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,0000,0003,0004,0005

To change the timeout

# efibootmgr -t 2

When you reboot, GRUB should come up. The trouble is that if/when Windows decides to re-install its boot loader, the system will start booting straight to Windows again.

Control Grub and Windows Boot Manager In Windows

Run Windows Command Prompt with Administrator privileges. We use bcdedit to edit it.

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path EFIubuntugrubx64.efi

Note that {bootmgr} should be typed exactly; that's not a variable. If that doesn't work, you could try this in Linux.

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