Dell Precision 3541 boots to Grub prompt

Ed McCauley said:

size free type
Drive 0 Part 1: ESP 190MB 85MB System
Drive 0 Part 2: 128MB 128MB MSR(Reser...
Drive 0 Part 3: OS 953MB 779MB Primary

Click to expand...

Drive 0 Part 1: ESP 190MB 85MB System
- This is the EFI System Partition (ESP), which contains the boot files.

Drive 0 Part 2: 128MB 128MB MSR(Reser...
- This is the Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR).

Drive 0 Part 3: OS 953GB 779GB Primary
- This is the operating system partition.

Could you share a photo of what you see on the screen?

If it is a EFI - GPT drive, @Celery already gave you the commands to fix it on post #14


Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
List vol (identify the Windows partition letter X)
select volume X (replace X with the Windows partition letter found above)
active
exit
bcdboot X:\Windows /s X: /f BIOS (replace X with the Windows partition letter found above)
exit

or

If you can boot into Linux
Open your terminal and run
sudo update-grub
to scan for operating systems and rebuild your configuration file. It will make an option under Grub to boot Windows

Megahertz said:

If it is a EFI - GPT drive, @Celery already gave you the commands to fix it on post #14


Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
List vol (identify the Windows partition letter X)
select volume X (replace X with the Windows partition letter found above)
active
exit
bcdboot X:\Windows /s X: /f BIOS
exit

or

If you can boot into Linux
Open your terminal and run
sudo update-grub
to scan for operating systems and rebuild your configuration file. It will make an option under Grub to boot Windows

Click to expand...

List Vol:
Vol 0 C OS NTFS Partition 953GB Healthy
Vol 1 ESP Fat32 Partition 190MB Healthy Hidden
Vol 2 D BootDr Win1 NTFS Removable 14GB Healthy
Vol 3 E UEFI_NTFS FAT Removable 1039kb Healthy

(replace X with the Windows partition letter found above)
Vol 2 + Vol 3 Drive Letters D+E state "Removable" so they must be located on the Flashdrive

Vol 1 is Hidden and has no Drive Letter
Vol 0 is Drive Letter C, the traditional OS Drive Letter, and it states "OS"

It seems obvious that I should replace "X" with Drive Letter "C", but I'm going to ask anyway...
Should my next entry on the Command Line be "select volume C"?

Megahertz's instructions are not applicable here. Both commands below are intended only for BIOS/MBR systems, not UEFI/GPT systems.

active
bcdboot X:\Windows /s X: /f BIOS

---

BIOS/MBR systems rely on a chain of boot sectors — the disk’s Master Boot Record (MBR) and the active partition’s Volume Boot Record (VBR) — plus the active partition flag to locate and launch the bootmgr executable.

UEFI/GPT systems do not use the MBR/VBR boot sector chain or the active flag. Instead, the UEFI firmware loads EFI executables (.efi) directly from the FAT32-formatted EFI system partition.

Celery said:

Megahertz's instructions are not applicable here. Both commands below are intended only for BIOS/MBR systems, not UEFI/GPT systems.

active
bcdboot X:\Windows /s X: /f BIOS

---

BIOS/MBR systems rely on a chain of boot sectors — the disk’s Master Boot Record (MBR) and the active partition’s Volume Boot Record (VBR) — plus the active partition flag to locate and launch the bootmgr executable.

UEFI/GPT systems do not use the MBR/VBR boot sector chain or the active flag. Instead, the UEFI firmware loads EFI executables (.efi) directly from the FAT32-formatted EFI system partition.

Click to expand...

So... What can I do?

Ed McCauley said:

List Vol:
Vol 0 C OS NTFS Partition 953GB Healthy
Vol 1 ESP Fat32 Partition 190MB Healthy Hidden
Vol 2 D BootDr Win1 NTFS Removable 14GB Healthy
Vol 3 E UEFI_NTFS FAT Removable 1039kb Healthy

Click to expand...

(I haven't used Linux myself, so I asked ChatGPT about this.)

The DiskPart list volume command only shows volumes with filesystems that Windows recognizes. It does not show Linux ext4 or swap partitions as volumes.

If you want to see all the partitions on the SSD, run the following commands:

diskpart
list disk
select disk #
list partition
exit

The list partition command displays all partitions on the selected disk, including Linux (ext4, swap, etc.) partitions, even though DiskPart does not identify their filesystem types.

Ed McCauley said:

So... What can I do?

Click to expand...

If you want to remove Ubuntu and boot into Windows 11, format the EFI System Partition (ESP), which removes both the Ubuntu and Windows boot files. Then recreate the Windows 11 boot files. See post #14 and, if necessary, also post #16.

Sorry for the confusion

Megahertz said:

If it is a EFI - GPT drive, @Celery already gave you the commands to fix it on post #14


Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
List vol (identify the Windows partition letter X)
select volume X (replace X with the Windows partition letter found above)
active
exit
bcdboot X:\Windows /s X: /f BIOS (replace X with the Windows partition letter found above)
exit

or

If you can boot into Linux
Open your terminal and run
sudo update-grub
to scan for operating systems and rebuild your configuration file. It will make an option under Grub to boot Windows

Click to expand...

As I said, If it is a EFI - GPT drive, @Celery already gave you the commands to fix it on post #14

Basically, for a EFI - GPT drive:
Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
List vol (identify the Windows partition letter W)
List disk (To find the main drive number. Identify the main drive number n)
select disk n (To select the main drive . Replace n with the drive number found above)
List part (To find the EFI partition number. Identify the EFI partition number m)
select part m (To select the EFI partition. Replace m with the EFI partition number found above)
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI (To clean the EFI partition)
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot W:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI ( To transfer the boot manager to the EFI partition. Replace W with the partition letter found with list vol)
diskpart
select vol S
remove letter=S (To remove the EFI partition letter)
exit
exit

Megahertz said:

Sorry for the confusion

As I said, If it is a EFI - GPT drive, @Celery already gave you the commands to fix it on post #14

Basically, for a EFI - GPT drive:
Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
List vol (identify the Windows partition letter W)
List disk (To find the main drive number. Identify the main drive number n)
select disk n (To select the main drive . Replace n with the drive number found above)
List part (To find the EFI partition number. Identify the EFI partition number m)
select part m (To select the EFI partition. Replace m with the EFI partition number found above)
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI (To clean the EFI partition)
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot W:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI ( To transfer the boot manager to the EFI partition. Replace W with the partition letter found with list vol)
diskpart
select vol S
remove letter=S (To remove the EFI partition letter)
exit
exit

Click to expand...

entered "List vol"
Volume 0 C OS NTFS Partition 953GB
Volume 1 ESP Fat32 Partition 190MB Hidden

(identify the Windows partition letter W
Volume 1 does NOT have a drive letter, and is the EFI *System* Partition
Volume 0 has drive letter C and is the *Operating System*, which is presumably the same as the *Windows Partition* you mention...
W=C?

entered "List disk"
Disk 0 Online 953GB GPT*
Disk 1 Online 14GB GPT*

(To find the main drive number. Identify the main drive number n)
Due to the size of Disk 0, and the fact that Disk 0 is/was the traditional residence of the OS,
n=0?

after selecting Disk 0
I entered "list part"
Partition 1 System 190MB
Partition 2 Reserved 128MB
Partition 3 Primary 953GB
(To find the EFI partition number. Identify the EFI partition number m)
There is no specific mention of EFI here, but the "List Vol" command above states ESP as 190MB, so it would seem that the EFI Partition number is "1".
So m=1?

I entered "1" and got a list of DiskPart commands including "Format", so I've stopped there until I get confirmation of the letter values as I have guessed.

Are these the correct values for W, n, and m?

Sorry for the questions, but I don't dare get this wrong. Pardon my ignorance here, but Windows is plagued with endless issues and after decades of keeping up with all this technoligy and terminology I have given up on getting it to work reliably. On it's BEST DAY it is like a patient in the Intensive Care Unit. 100% attention 24/7 by a dozen experts forces it to barely run at all...

Tom

Ed McCauley said:

entered "List vol"
Volume 0 C OS NTFS Partition 953GB
Volume 1 ESP Fat32 Partition 190MB Hidden

(identify the Windows partition letter W
Volume 1 does NOT have a drive letter, and is the EFI *System* Partition
Volume 0 has drive letter C and is the *Operating System*, which is presumably the same as the *Windows Partition* you mention...
W=C?

entered "List disk"
Disk 0 Online 953GB GPT*
Disk 1 Online 14GB GPT*

(To find the main drive number. Identify the main drive number n)
Due to the size of Disk 0, and the fact that Disk 0 is/was the traditional residence of the OS,
n=0?

after selecting Disk 0
I entered "list part"
Partition 1 System 190MB
Partition 2 Reserved 128MB
Partition 3 Primary 953GB
(To find the EFI partition number. Identify the EFI partition number m)
There is no specific mention of EFI here, but the "List Vol" command above states ESP as 190MB, so it would seem that the EFI Partition number is "1".
So m=1?

I entered "1" and got a list of DiskPart commands including "Format", so I've stopped there until I get confirmation of the letter values as I have guessed.

Are these the correct values for W, n, and m?

Sorry for the questions, but I don't dare get this wrong. Pardon my ignorance here, but Windows is plagued with endless issues and after decades of keeping up with all this technoligy and terminology I have given up on getting it to work reliably. On it's BEST DAY it is like a patient in the Intensive Care Unit. 100% attention 24/7 by a dozen experts forces it to barely run at all...

Tom

Click to expand...

It's been 8 hours since my last post and I need my Computer working. I don't want to screw this up, so can anyone confirm that I have the correct values for the Format command?

Ed McCauley said:

entered "List vol"
Volume 0 C OS NTFS Partition 953GB
Volume 1 ESP Fat32 Partition 190MB Hidden

Click to expand...

Replace # with the volume number of your FAT32-formatted EFI System Partition (ESP).

diskpart
list volume
select volume #
format quick fs=fat32
exit

bcdboot C:\Windows

If the Windows installation USB flash drive was booted in UEFI mode, bcdboot automatically identifies the FAT32-formatted EFI System Partition (ESP) and copies the required UEFI boot files from the specified Windows partition to the EFI System Partition (ESP).

You're posting under Elevenforum so we assume you have Win 11 on your computer, but 190MB for System,128MB for Reserved and no Recovery partition it's telling me that you may have Win 7. Please confirm you have Win 11

You wrote
after selecting Disk 0
I entered "list part"
Partition 1 System 190MB
Partition 2 Reserved 128MB
Partition 3 Primary 953GB

Where are the Linux partitions?

From the information you gave, try this:

Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI
diskpart
select vol S
remove letter=S
exit
exit

Reboot
It should boot into windows

Megahertz said:

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Click to expand...

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Celery said:

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Click to expand...

You right, My bad.
Thanks

Megahertz said:

Megahertz said:

You're posting under Elevenforum so we assume you have Win 11 on your computer, but 190MB for System,128MB for Reserved and no Recovery partition it's telling me that you may have Win 7. Please confirm you have Win 11

You wrote
after selecting Disk 0
I entered "list part"
Partition 1 System 190MB
Partition 2 Reserved 128MB
Partition 3 Primary 953GB

Where are the Linux partitions?

From the information you gave, try this:

Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI
diskpart
select vol S
remove letter=S
exit
exit

Reboot
It should boot into windows

Click to expand...

You're posting under Elevenforum so we assume you have Win 11 on your computer, but 190MB for System,128MB for Reserved and no Recovery partition it's telling me that you may have Win 7. Please confirm you have Win 11

Click to expand...

Windows 11 pro

Megahertz said:

You wrote
after selecting Disk 0
I entered "list part"
Partition 1 System 190MB
Partition 2 Reserved 128MB
Partition 3 Primary 953GB

Where are the Linux partitions?

Click to expand...

The above is the entire list displayed following the "list part" command.

Boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 USB installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt and type:

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI
diskpart
select vol S
remove letter=S
exit
exit

Reboot
It should boot into windows

Celery said:

Replace # with the volume number of your FAT32-formatted EFI System Partition (ESP).

diskpart
list volume
select volume #
format quick fs=fat32
exit

bcdboot C:\Windows

If the Windows installation USB flash drive was booted in UEFI mode, bcdboot automatically identifies the FAT32-formatted EFI System Partition (ESP) and copies the required UEFI boot files from the specified Windows partition to the EFI System Partition (ESP).

Click to expand...

I followed the instructions to the letter. First, when I tried to enter / using the keyboard, the character * appearred. I used alt+92 and the / character appeared. The command executed properly, but it once again rebooted into a grub prompt.

Setup now includes Windows Boot Manager unchecked, Ubuntu checked, and UEFI WDC PC SN730...Partition1 (which indicates the cloned internal SSD) checked. The Boot Sequence is: Ubunto, followed by UEFI WDC PC SN730...Partition1. I unchecked Ubunu. This moved Windows boot manager to number 1 in the Sequence, clicked Apply, then Exit, and rebooted.

Windows loaded, and I have my Computer back - thanks to all who responded - I would have been forced to Format the entire drive and lost everything.


One more Problem, though...

I'd like to be able to add a "USB Boot" option as first in the Sequence, so that I can insert a bootable flashdrive, and the Computer will Boot directly to a Flashdrive. As things are, I have to shutdown the computer, insert the bootable flashdrive, reboot, and press F12 at the Logo. Within the BIOS I must goto Boot Sequence, Select the specific Flashdrive Option, move it into the number 1 Sequence, Apply and Exit. Only then will it Boot with the Flashdrive.

Within the BIOS I have "Enable USB Boot Support" and "Enable External USB Port" checked. Noting the caveat, "If FastBoot Option is set to Minimal, Enable USB Boot Support setting is ignored, FastBoot it is set to Auto. There is no BIOS Option to Boot from Ext USB even after rebooting.

Prior to UEFI I had always set my Boot Sequence with the Externals first. If I had an issue and needed to boot from an exterior source it would happen automatically. Is this no longer an Option, or am I missing something?

Thanks again for getting me back into Windows!

Tom