I've been using Windows my entire life but recently decided to give Linux a try. Currently, I have Windows on my main drive and Linux Mint installed on a second drive. The issue is that Windows is set to boot automatically each time. How can I change this so that Linux Mint launches first? I tried adjusting the boot order in the BIOS, but the Linux drive doesn't even appear there. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Just a reminder: always mention your specific distro, any hardware details, and any error messages when posting technical questions! It helps get better support.
You might need to ensure your machine has an EFI partition and that GRUB is installed correctly for your firmware to recognize your Linux OS. If everything else is set up right, you can boot from the Live USB of Linux Mint you used for installation. Once you're in, open a terminal and run `sudo update-grub`. Enter your password when prompted. If this doesn’t work, we might have to check your partition table from the Live USB.
Does update-grub handle grub-install too, or just grub-mkconfig? If grub isn’t installed, it could fail.
If GRUB is on your primary Windows drive, you can also edit it to make Linux boot automatically. There are plenty of guides available for this process; I recommend making backups before making changes. You could also try using a tool like Grub Customizer for a graphical way to edit GRUB settings.
I got it working too! I’ll definitely check out those guides since I'm new to this. Thanks for helping!
I managed to fix it! I just wasn’t looking in the right menu for the boot options. The Linux drive was listed under UEFI Hard Disk Drive BBS Priorities, but I was only checking the fixed boot order, which only showed Windows. I also reinstalled GRUB, but I’m not sure if that helped. Thanks anyway!