I destroyed Win10 UEFI, please help

Hey there,

I made a big mistake and installed garuda. while windows 10 was on another ssd.
I had no idea garuda would erase the win10 UEFI.
Anyways, Im now trying to create a rescue / install usb for win 10 and dont know how to get garuda to create such a install usb. Im a bit stranded here.

Can you please help me with a fix to my problem.
Is the win10 rescue USB even necessary ?

Thanks in advance

Hi there, welcome to the forum.
Normally Garuda does not erase anything unless selected in the partitioning step of the installer.
Could you please provide your

efibootmgr

Maybe you have two EFI system partitions, one in each disk, and you can select the other at BIOS level when needed or change the order in efibootmgr.

3 Likes

Thank you filo,

Maybe you have two EFI system partitions, one in each disk, and you can select the other at BIOS level when needed or change the order in efibootmgr.

Unfortunately not, tried that first. Only Garuda left in the BIOS.

here is the output of efibootmgr:

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0003,0004
Boot0000* Garuda HD(1,GPT,65afef27-4551-466d-a4bc-5fe97686352c,0x1000,0x96000)/File(\EFI\GARUDA\GRUBX64
.EFI)
Boot0003* UEFI OS HD(1,GPT,65afef27-4551-466d-a4bc-5fe97686352c,0x1000,0x96000)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.E
FI)0000424f
Boot0004* Hard Drive BBS(HD,0x0)0000474f00004e4fad0000000100000073004b0049004e004700530054004f004e00200053
004e005600320053003100300030003000470000000501090002000000007fff040002010c00d041030a00000000010106000101010106
00000003171000010000000026b7686293dbf57fff040001043600ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d01b4ce6350030003000320036004200
370036003800360032003900330044004200460000007fff04000000424f00004e4fb9000000010000007f0049004e00540045004c0020
00530053004400500045004b004e0057003000320030005400380000000501090002000000007fff040002010c00d041030a0000000001
0106000301010106000200010106000009010106000000031710000100000000000000000000007fff040001043600ef47642dc93ba041
ac194d51d01b4ce6500048004e0048003800340032003400300030004a005700320050003000430000007fff04000000424f00004e4fb5
000000010000007500530061006d00730075006e0067002000530053004400200038003400300020005300650072006900650073000000
0501090002000000007fff040002010c00d041030a0000000001010600030101010600010003120a000000ffff00007fff040001043e00
ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d01b4ce6310053004700340045004e00430042003200420039003700370037002000560020002000200020
0000007fff04000000424f00004e4fa7000000010000007500430054003200300030003000420058003500300030005300530044003100
00000501090002000000007fff040002010c00d041030a0000000001010600030101010600010003120a000100ffff00007fff04000104
3e00ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d01b4ce632003200340032003600450043003300350039003800380020002000200020002000200020
00200000007fff04000000424f00004e4fbb000000010000007500530061006d00730075006e0067002000530053004400200038003500
30002000450056004f0020003200350030004700420000000501090002000000007fff040002010c00d041030a00000000010106000301
01010600010003120a000200ffff00007fff040001043e00ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d01b4ce6320053003600520042004e004a0030
0032003300370030003300320020004800200020002000200000007fff04000000424f00004e4fb7000000010000007500530061006d00
730075006e006700200053005300440020003800370030002000510056004f00200034005400420000000501090002000000007fff0400
02010c00d041030a0000000001010600030101010600010003120a000300ffff00007fff040001043e00ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d0
1b4ce6350053005400530046004e005700300030003800390036003100380020004400200020002000200000007fff04000000424f

Mmm I expected a \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi there… :frowning:
Could you please provide

sudo fdisk -l
lsblk -f

Sure, thank you again for helping filo!

sudo fdisk -l 
    Disk model: INTEL SSDPEKNW020T8
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: dos
    Disk identifier: 0x671ed331

    Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
    /dev/nvme1n1p1 * 2048 4000794623 4000792576 1,9T 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

    Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 931,51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
    Disk model: KINGSTON SNV2S1000G
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: gpt
    Disk identifier: A032F8E2-7AB6-40B6-A444-48B6FC2492EB

    Device Start End Sectors Size Type
    /dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 1953523711 1953521664 931,5G Microsoft basic data

    Disk /dev/sdc: 232,89 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
    Disk model: Samsung SSD 850
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: dos
    Disk identifier: 0x18c4e44c

    Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
    /dev/sdc1 63 488395119 488395057 232,9G 42 SFS

    Disk /dev/sdb: 1,82 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
    Disk model: CT2000BX500SSD1
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: gpt
    Disk identifier: 5C8B966D-B805-446B-9D56-FA78A2C95AD8

    Device Start End Sectors Size Type
    /dev/sdb1 34 32767 32734 16M Microsoft reserved
    /dev/sdb2 32768 3907026943 3906994176 1,8T Microsoft basic data

    Disk /dev/sda: 232,89 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
    Disk model: Samsung SSD 840
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: dos
    Disk identifier: 0x52b3f6e3

    Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
    /dev/sda1 2048 206847 204800 100M 6 FAT16
    /dev/sda2 206848 488394751 488187904 232,8G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

    Disk /dev/sdd: 3,64 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors
    Disk model: Samsung SSD 870
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: gpt
    Disk identifier: 2BCD3FA3-0281-43F7-9C31-EEA41F2B8B27

    Device Start End Sectors Size Type
    /dev/sdd1 4096 618495 614400 300M EFI System
    /dev/sdd2 618496 7814032064 7813413569 3,6T Linux filesystem

    Disk /dev/zram0: 62,72 GiB, 67345842176 bytes, 16441856 sectors
    Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

    Disk /dev/sde: 14,93 GiB, 16034824192 bytes, 31318016 sectors
    Disk model: USB Flash Drive
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: dos
    Disk identifier: 0x00000000

    Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
    /dev/sde1 2048 31309823 31307776 14,9G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

The last one is the USB I try to use as rescue USB. I already figured out how to format it to ntfs! Unfortunately I cant get the win10.iso to ‘extract’ properly on it yet.

NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
    sda
    ├─sda1
    │ ntfs System-reserviert 30D84471D844377E
    └─sda2
    ntfs 681C4D361C4D0114
    sdb
    ├─sdb1
    │
    └─sdb2
    ntfs Work 2 88C4BC02C4BBF114
    sdc
    └─sdc1
    ntfs Library 5C1A682D1A68067C
    sdd
    ├─sdd1
    │ vfat FAT32 09CB-7348 298,8M 0% /boot/efi
    └─sdd2
    btrfs 9cc13446-5885-47e3-9693-6636919c4c3d 3,6T 2% /var/log
    /var/tmp
    /var/cache
    /srv
    /root
    /home
    /
    sde iso966 Jolie GARUDA_DR460NIZEDGAMING_RAPTOR 2023-10-29-10-57-46-00
    └─sde1
    ntfs 7C75067812954861
    zram0
    [SWAP]
    nvme1n1

    └─nvme1n1p1
    ntfs Work E8287F28287EF542
    nvme0n1

    └─nvme0n1p1
    ntfs DC80955A80953BC8

:rofl: Just kidding, of course.

I took a look and it doesn’t appear Windows is using UEFI to begin with, actually:

A UEFI system will have another partition there (the EFI partition). It looks like Windows was installed in “legacy” mode.

If you have disabled CSM in order to install Garuda, you will have to re-enable it to boot back to Windows. It will not be possible to to get them both on the same boot menu if one is in UEFI mode and one is in legacy mode; you will have to manually switch from one to the other in the BIOS menu every time.

8 Likes

Ahahaha, so its a good deal I guess? :smiley:

Unfortunately CSM is enabled and I also tried to legacy boot directly from my win10 ssd. It just says ‘no OS detected’.

I cannot recall touching my win partition in any way. And if only the UEFIs got erased that would be fixable right?

This right here helped a bit, but got stuck at #10:

garuda wont find my ‘mount point’

Right now im trying my luck with a borrowed windows laptop.

But thanks for the hints BluishHumility!

no UEFI for your windows install means that you’ll need to set your BIOS to UEFI mode and reinstall windows and then Garuda.

before doing so however you may want to back up your data from your windows user profile folder in from a live disk.
you should be able to navigate the drive and copy your personal data to another device.

don’t forget to copy the hidden ‘Appdata’ folder in C:/users/(profilename), it has many saved things like video game save files and other saved application data you will more than likely want to keep, browser profile data for one.

once you’ve backed up your data, i highly recommend re-partitioning the drive before you reinstall windows and give it it’s own space while saving another space for Garuda.

a ‘pro-tip’ for everyone is to always set your BIOS options correctly regardless of the OS you use.

1 Like

Ok, that might seem like a troll question, but sadly im running into a problem reading USBs.
I tried many usbs but everytime now I get:

An error occurred while accessing ‘Win10’, the system responded: The requested operation has failed: Error mounting system-managed device /dev/sde1: Unknown error when mounting none

The partition manager can partition them - succesfully - But then cannot open them.
Yesterday it seemed to work.
Restarting didnt help.

Edit:
The solution is to mount it in the partition manager, not the dolphin explorer.
Im a linux noob stumbling around.

I just did what you need to do right NOW! That is…

Boot from the Windows ISO and click Repair

Lower left-hand corner.

3 Likes

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