Windows borked on my dual boot Dell xps

[fox]

This happened after I installed a firmware upgrade issued by Dell, but I don't know that the upgrade itself caused the problem entirely because I was previously having trouble installing Windows 10 upgrades. At any rate, since the upgrade, the Windows 10 grub item starts to boot but never completes it. The error message: "Process aborted due to an invalid return code". It reboots and tries to repair itself through Dell's Support Assist. The repair ends with the message: "Hard drive not installed". Trying to boot through the Dell repair disk on USB, it runs some operations that indicate that nothing is wrong that it can repair, but the repair fails anyway. It gave the option of reinstalling, which I also tried, but it failed, too. Through all this, the grub menu remains OK, and I can continue to boot into Ubuntu.

I'd like advice about where to go from here. Among my ideas:
- Erase the Windows partitions and start over with the Dell repair disk or the Dell restore image
- Replace the SSD and start over with either the repair disk or the Dell restore image

Also, I have a Windows 10 Professional disk from the university, but it would require a serial number, and I don't think my Dell windows serial number in the firmware would work because the Dell version is Windows Home. But I could try installing it just to see what happens and replace it later.

One problem with the Dell restore image is that there are 6 of them available for download for my machine. They are:
- 201YYA00_Win10x64ROW_home.iso
- VTRMA05_Win10x64ROW_home.iso
- 201YYA03_Win10x64ROW_home.iso
- 201YYA01_Win10x64ROW_home.iso
- VTRMA04_Win10x64ROW_home.iso
- 9663HA00_W10x64ROW_home(DL)_v3.iso

Any idea which one I should use, or does it even matter?

[ssfc72]

Maybe see if you can get some help from the Dell website, on what the difference is between the different available ISO's?

[buster]

Welcome back from the great white north Mike. Interesting tales to relate I imagine.

Might it be possible to

1.Clone your Ubuntu, clear the hard drive, divide it into 2 halves, format ntfs both halves so Microsoft can see it clearly.
2. Install the Win10 that is usually available somewhere on the Microsoft site to the first half of the hard drive. It should recognize this is a legitimate Windows computer and allow you to do this. (I have done this several times.) This avoids Dell as an intermediary.
3. Do all the updates and make sure it works, maybe a few days.
4. Reinstall Ubuntu on the available space, formatting where needed, and reinstall grub.
5. Send me a thank you card.

[Jason]

Yikes! I think Buster's idea is sensible although it would entail probably a lot of reconfiguring Windows 10 back to the way you like it.

I'm not sure the Pro version would be accepted with digital authorization (i.e. not needing a serial number) as you mentioned but you can get the iso from Microsft as Buster says.

The real PITA is probably getting the updates again. If you go this route, don't try and go to Windows Updates to do them manually. Let Windows handle it. It knows what it needs and can probably do it with less effort (installing cumulative updates, like service packages, for example).

Better yet, banish the Windows beast from your Dell machine never to be seen again! Yeah, I know there is probably some app that you need running in Windows but what about just doing it in a VM in Linux? If you use Virtualbox, you can create snapshots and restore the last one should something go amiss again (and it probably will). I know this isn't your request but I'd lose my Linux geek license if I didn't at least suggest it.

[fox]

Yikes! I think Buster's idea is sensible although it would entail probably a lot of reconfiguring Windows 10 back to the way you like it.

I didn't do much configuring. I mainly have to reinstall the tax program and MS Office.

The real PITA is probably getting the updates again. If you go this route, don't try and go to Windows Updates to do them manually. Let Windows handle it. It knows what it needs and can probably do it with less effort (installing cumulative updates, like service packages, for example).

Not sure what you mean here. How would I get the Windows updates if I didn't go to Windows Updates? And I would want the security updates. There is also the question of Dell drivers. Should I ignore them and just stick with the ones Windows installs?

Better yet, banish the Windows beast from your Dell machine never to be seen again! Yeah, I know there is probably some app that you need running in Windows but what about just doing it in a VM in Linux? If you use Virtualbox, you can create snapshots and restore the last one should something go amiss again (and it probably will). I know this isn't your request but I'd lose my Linux geek license if I didn't at least suggest it.

I did consider this. But even assuming that my tax software would run in a VM, if I installed Windows 10 in the VM, would it be registered as a result of the internal Dell digital authorization? If not, I don't have a copy of Windows 10 to register; I would have to buy one.

The irony is that a laptop is becoming less and less useful to me. I used to need it in conferences and I used it to give lectures, but I don't attend conferences anymore and I found that my iPad is better for lectures than a laptop. In fact the only use I've made of it in the last two years is for running the tax software, which is also available for the Mac. I may end up selling it soon and of course if I do that, it needs Windows only on it. Having taken Buster's idea to make a Windows install disk and knowing that it would be registered without needing a serial number, I am at least ready to set it back to normal if I decide to sell it.

[fox]

OK, so here is what I did. I deleted all ntfs partitions on the xps and then added one (ntfs) large enough to hold what I need and then some. Next I ran the Microsoft version of the Windows 10 installer and put Windows on the ntfs partition I created. It worked and I have Windows again. Next I added the Dell SupportAssist application, ran it and downloaded the Dell driver updates. I rebooted and noticed that the Windows bootloader has two Windows options for boot, one of which it the correct one and the other doesn't work. I'll have to look into that later. Also, it looks like the grub bootloader that I left on the computer is not working, so it boots right into Windows. That should be an easy fix, as a reboot into the Windows bootloader showed that my Ubuntu partition is fine and works when I boot from it. The grub menu is displayed then so it's still there. While Ubuntu boots up OK from it, Windows doesn't, so there is an error there. (Could it have to do with not erasing one or both of the small partitions at the front end of the drive?)

One of the small partitions is an EFI system partition and the other a Microsoft reserved partition with an unknown file system. Gparted puts a warning flag on it with the following explanation:
"Unable to detect file system! Possible reasons are:
- The file system is damaged
- The file system is unknown to gparted
- There is no file system available (unformatted)
- The device entry /dev/nvme0n1p2 is missing"

Does this mean anything to you? I can't mount or read what's in it.

Checking for Windows updates, there were a few but the biggest ones are the July and August cumulative updates. I'll run them and see what happens. These were ones that wouldn't install previously.

[Jason]

Not sure what you mean here. How would I get the Windows updates if I didn't go to Windows Updates? And I would want the security updates. There is also the question of Dell drivers. Should I ignore them and just stick with the ones Windows installs?

You don't need to manually go to Windows Updates. It gets them automatically in the background, whether you want them or not. There are ways around that. If I remember you can postpone feature updates in Home but security updates always come down the pipe. Running Windows Update may get you some things faster but it's not needed especially not for the casual use you describe. Although, if you're hardly ever in Windows, it might be still a good idea to do it manually so you can control when it happens instead of being forced into it. In that case, you'd probably want to turn automatic updates off. Either rest assured you're getting those security updates.

With drivers, the ones Windows provides (which come through the manufacturer often) are usually good enough but you might have some specific features that Dell provides. Dell might have its own Dell update program for this. It is likely on their support pages for your model.

[Jason]

I did consider this. But even assuming that my tax software would run in a VM, if I installed Windows 10 in the VM, would it be registered as a result of the internal Dell digital authorization? If not, I don't have a copy of Windows 10 to register; I would have to buy one.

No, it wouldn't read the hardware as being the same so it wouldn't get registered. I haven't tried it but I believe Buster mentioned that you can use Windows 10 quite fine without registering it. It nags you sometimes and puts up a little banner but it won't stop working. Perhaps Buster will chime in about this. Being a teacher I bet a Windows license would be pretty cheap though. Charities get them for under $20, $10 last time I checked.

[fox]

I would gladly pay $10 or $20 for a legit Windows license, but I don't have that option through Trent. If someone can tell me how to get it legitimately for that price, please post.

[fox]

I'm stuck at a decision point. I can boot either Windows or Ubuntu, but from different menus in that the grub menu won't boot Windows. To boot up Windows, I have to start up the Windows Boot manager and boot Windows from it. Not a big deal but not how it should work.

Possible things to try to fix it:
(1) Delete the small MS reserved partition and see what happens
(2) Start all over again with the installation, this time erasing the EFI system partition and the MS reserved partition
(3) Start all over again with the installation, this time erasing the whole disk, formatting it into 2 parts (one for Ubuntu) and installing Windows on the first part.
(4) ?

I know that something is still basically wrong because even in the Windows Boot Manager it still refers to another Windows installation that isn't the one I just performed. Could this be something in the small MS reserved partition? Do any of you dual booters have this partition on your computers?

[Jason]

I would gladly pay $10 or $20 for a legit Windows license, but I don't have that option through Trent. If someone can tell me how to get it legitimately for that price, please post.

I did some search and apparently, there is a discounted rate for faculty but Trent doesn't appear to offer it. Choose the Faculty button and enter the form to see what I mean. It says you might still be able to get one at the general ehub store but I couldn't find it.

What Buster said about downloading it (in another post somewhere is true) - you can download it free and not register it. I don't think you're breaking any laws here. It's freely available on their website. You just lose some functionality, basically just changing your background or some other appearance stuff. You get that "Activate Windows" message in the lower right. It's not intrusive.

Other ways here with #1 having been just mentioned.

[Jason]

Have you tried the program that is available for Ubuntu that will fix grub automatically? You've mentioned it to me in the past. I think it's called Boot Repair or something. I've used it a few times when I added or remove a partition and stuff went awry.

I'm not sure about the Microsoft reserved partition. How big is it? If it's in the GB (perhaps 20-40 GB) range, it's probably the restore partition that comes with those typical machines. That's why it'd be hidden. So you don't accidentally delete it.

[fox]

Have you tried the program that is available for Ubuntu that will fix grub automatically? You've mentioned it to me in the past. I think it's called Boot Repair or something. I've used it a few times when I added or remove a partition and stuff went awry.

This deactivated my Grub Customizer and made it so the Windows bootloader doesn't work!

I'm not sure about the Microsoft reserved partition. How big is it? If it's in the GB (perhaps 20-40 GB) range, it's probably the restore partition that comes with those typical machines. That's why it'd be hidden. So you don't accidentally delete it.

I'm pretty sure that's not what it is. I had two such larger partitions at the end of the drive and deleted them both. I don't remember how gparted identified them, but I remember that it identified the format as ntfs. This one must be a small partition, based on the gparted visual display of the partitions - it looks as small as the EFI partition.

I'm looking at it from the Windows side in Disk Management. The partition doesn't even show up. I'm thinking more and more that this is the cause, but I realize that if I delete it, I might have to start over. At least I now know that this is a viable option.

[fox]

Update - I'm not out of the woods yet. I had to reinstall Windows after boot-repair borked the Windows bootloader and grub. (Never had that happen before.) This time I started by deleting all partitions except the Ubuntu one and a small empty fat32 partition at the beginning of the drive, and leaving an ntfs partition open for the Windows reinstallation. After reinstalling Windows, it booted OK, but without grub installed, Ubuntu wouldn't boot. Interesting that the Windows bootloader saw Ubuntu, but was unable to boot it.

I tried unsuccessfully to install grub from a live USB, so the next thing I did was install another version of Ubuntu from scratch. This brought back grub and made it possible to boot up the old and new Ubuntu partitions, but once again, grub was unable to boot the Windows partition even though it was listed there. (I can still boot Windows by selecting it from the BIOS menu.)

I'm baffled as to why, all of a sudden, grub can't boot Windows. The only clue I have is that when I try, Windows reports that it can't find the hard drive. I've tried googling the grub problem and the only suggestion it makes is that the mechanism of booting might be different between Linux and Windows (BIOS vs UEFI). Thus far I haven't been able to address this, but it was also suggested that other bootloaders would work better.

The alternatives I am considering for my next move are:
- delete all Ubuntu partitions and reinstall Ubuntu from a live USB
- set up a dual boot menu from the Windows bootloader using Easy BCD
- set up a dual boot menu using Refind (the bootloader I use on my Macs)

If anyone has an idea of how to get Windows booting from the grub menu, I'm all ears!

[fox]

I installed EasyBCD and it gives me the following message:
"EasyBCD has detected that your machine is currently booting in EFI mode. Due to limitations set by Microsoft, many of EasyBCD's multi-booting features cannot be used in EFI and have been disabled."

It appears that among what has been disabled is the ability to boot Linux distros, as the tab showing other OSes doesn't show on my Dell.

I next tried installing Refind, and it produces a startup menu with the various boot options, including Windows. However, Windows won't successfully boot from this.

What I can't understand is what changed because originally I had no problem booting either Windows or Ubuntu from the grub menu I had before the trouble started.