Hey everyone, I just joined the 2XKO closed beta and decided to jump into Windows 10 to check it out since some games don't run on Linux. But now I'm stuck! I have a dual-boot system with Windows 10 and CachyOS, and after shutting down last night, I'm getting a boot error when trying to access CachyOS. I see this error message: "Loading Linux linux-cachyos; error: file '@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-cachyos' not found; Loading initial ramdisk...; error: you need to load the kernel first." I suspect this happened because of a Windows update, which seems to mess with GRUB sometimes. I know some basics about this issue, but I've faced numerous problems trying to fix it. I hope I can get some guidance here, and I'm ready to take things step-by-step if needed. Thanks a lot!
5 Answers
I don't think Windows is the culprit here. It seems more like an interrupted update on the Linux side that’s causing this kernel issue.
You might want to boot using a rescue media and just reinstall GRUB. It’s a simple fix that could save you a lot of headaches.
Always remember to manually partition the disk when installing Linux to avoid having both OSs share the EFI partition. Otherwise, you’re just asking for Windows updates to mess things up with GRUB down the line.
Definitely follow the rescue media advice! That should get you back to a working state. Also, make sure you hold SHIFT when powering down Windows to prevent this in the future. If you can, check your BIOS settings and set Linux as the first boot option—it can help with these kinds of issues.
The messages from GRUB suggest it's mostly working but can’t find the kernel. You should try booting from a live USB, which is super handy for troubleshooting like this. It’s not just for installs—it’s great for recovering your system too!
I think I might be losing my mind, but I have a feeling the kernel is actually missing. I checked my root partition and it seems like the kernel just isn’t there anymore. How can I recover it?