Junior Member
Hi,
I've dual-booted Kali 64-bit v.2016.2 with Windows 8. I have a problem and a few questions.
#1) In order to see the GRUB loader I have to enter BIOS and switch from UEFI to Legacy. Is that common? Is it safe to leave it on Legacy indefinitely?
#2) When I enter the GRUB loader I can only see Kali, I cannot see Windows. How can I make the GRUB see both of my OS's?
Please let me know if any more info is needed to help me troubleshoot this.
Thanks!
Senior Member
Did you install kali-linux in Legacy BIOS?
Legacy BIOS doesn't support GPT partition scheme on which windows 8 is installed. So, if UEFI is disabled which is only the one that supports GPT windows 8 will not boot. If you've installed kali-lnux in Legacy BIOS then kali will not boot in UEFI. Why did you even touch Legacy BIOS? Kali supports UEFI then why choose old scheme?
Junior Member
Thanks for your response. It's prompted me to dive a little deeper based upon what you said. I can see why Windows will only boot in UEFI mode, though it's odd that Kali ONLY boots in legacy mode. Odder still is that I followed this tutorial to the tee:
https://techlog360.com/how-to-dual-b...th-windows-10/
Looking back at it now, it looks as though I used a windows 10 tutorial on my windows 8 OS...embarrassment aside, everything went well during the process until I reached Step 27. At this point, a notification appeared that said that the GRUB did not detect my windows OS. I pressed forward and indeed can only access each of my operating systems by alternating the Legacy/UEFI modes. Again I have three questions.
#1: Is this potentially fixable and if so would it be easier than starting over.
#2: If starting over is easier or is the only option, how would I go about safely removing my linux OS?
and
#3: If I've just royally messed this whole operation up, would you be able to point me in the right direction so as to avoid any further errant maneuvers?
Thanks for taking the time to assist me. I very much appreciate the help.
Last edited by RustyNail; 2017-03-11 at 19:33. Reason: Correction
Senior Member
Kali also boots in UEFI if you wouldn't have installed it in Legacy mode. I don't know why people choose this option. People don't even touch BIOS options when they install windows 10. But somehow a magical instruction comes into their mind which asks them to enable Legacy BIOS for kali. Most of the people don't even know what Legacy BIOS is used for why this option is present in UEFI settings. But as soon as one asks them "how to install kali?" Their magical words will be "oh kali-linux? First enable Legacy BIOS".Originally Posted by RustyNail
These kind of tutorials are misleading and are based on their own very old experience. Kali-linux is continuosly evolving and firmwares are evolved.
You followed a tutorial of kali 2.0 which is a very old version of kali. Now it is kali-rolling with current kernel version 4.9 and soon 4.10 is going to be dispatched.
Obviously. UEFI uses a separate EFI partition for storing boot loaders and creates entry for each in the boot-menu. Legacy BIOS uses Master BOOT Record to store bootloader and that boot loader is responsible for booting both the operating system. In Legacy Mode grub couldn't find Windows Bootloader because it is present in EFI partition and grub was looking in MBR which didn't exist until you install kali.
1# The solution is to enable UEFI and install grub in EFI partition if you don't want to start over.
2# Formatting the partition will erase linux.
Last edited by _defalt; 2017-03-11 at 21:02.
Junior Member
Would you be able to walk me through installing grub on my EFI partition? Rather than follow an errant tutorial, I would feel more comfortable with someone as knowledgeable as yourself to point me in the right direction.
I've re-enabled UEFI and am sitting in windows now...
UPDATE 1:
Sidenote: Should I have created an EFI/boot directory on the USB before I installed Kali? I took kali-rolling right off of the main website. Does it come pre-loaded with this directory? Is this directory necessary to have grub boot in UEFI mode?
Sorry for the numerous questions. As you can tell I'm still in learning mode. Thank you very much for your help and patience with me.
UPDATE 2:
Sorry, when speaking about the EFI/boot directory I meant to also mention needing to drop these files into it. I've seen this spoken about in other tutorials:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...k9oNEtwLTJWbkU
Last edited by maiki; 2017-03-21 at 13:44. Reason: Merge posts
Senior Member
The files in your google drive are already present in Kali weekly images but it is not present in Kali-rolling 2016.2 image. Those files are only boot files so that your UEFI can recognize your USB. It has nothing to do with that EFI partition where grub will be installed. That EFI partition is present in the hard disk.
You know a fresh-install of latest kali weekly image will be better than going through a process to fix it. You don't have anything to lose.
Download week 10 image of kali. It already EFI/BOOT/boot files so you don't have to add EFI/BOOT directory in it. Create a ISO bootable USB using rufus.
Grub will be automatically installed in EFI partition. After installation, show the output of fdisk -l.
Junior Member
I have the same problem that grub isnt showing windows 10 however i didnt change the bios to legacy.
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