Fix Grub Not Showing For Windows 10 Linux Dual Boot

Brief: Can’t access Linux in dual boot because your system boots straight to Windows without showing the Grub menu? Here’s a possible fix for you.

So, finally, I upgraded Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 last night. Since I dual boot Windows 8.1 with Ubuntu, I was expecting to see the Grub menu at boot so that I could choose the operating system I wanted to use. But the upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 messed up the settings and it never showed the grub menu. It just kept booting into Windows 10 at each startup.

Frustrating, isn’t it? It seemed like there was no way to access Ubuntu at all. No – the Ubuntu install on the other partition was fine. It was just the UEFI settings that were different in the boot manager. I verified everything by accessing the UEFI firmware settings in Windows 10.

If you too are unable to boot into Grub and you’re just rebooting Windows 10 repeatedly, here’s the simple solution that worked for me.

Fix Dual Boot system booting straight to Windows

Though I’m referring to Windows 10, the steps are equally valid for Windows 8 and 8.1. Similarly, I’m using Ubuntu in dual boot here, but the trick applies to all other Linux distributions such as Linux Mint, etc.

Step 1

In Windows, go to the menu.

Step 2

Search for Command Prompt, right click on it to run it as administrator.

Step 3

This is strictly for Ubuntu. Other distributions might have some other folder name.

In here, copy and paste the command below:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi

You don’t need to enter a password or anything like that. The command should run just fine given that your account has admin rights.

Step 4

Restart and you’ll be welcomed by the familiar Grub screen. I hope this quick tutorial helped you fix the Grub issue.

No success?

If the above method didn’t change anything, you can reverse it using the command below:

bcdedit /deletevalue {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi

Even if the above command didn’t work, try the one below to set the boot back to Windows.

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

If you’re not able to boot into the Windows installation, insert the Windows installation disk and there you’ll have access to the command prompt.

You can try some suggestions mentioned here to stop dual boot from booting straight into Windows.

If you see a “no boot found” error, you can try this or this solution.