I'm trying to install Linux alongside Windows, but I haven't been able to boot into Linux afterward. I've tried Pop!_OS, Bliss OS, CachyOS, and Nobara. The installations either fail, or appear to finish successfully, but when I open the boot menu with F12, the only option listed is Windows Boot Manager. I may have disabled Secure Boot, but I'm not completely sure. What should I check to make the Linux boot option appear?
2 Answers
A likely cause is Secure Boot or a mismatch between UEFI and legacy/CSM boot modes. Some of those distributions need Secure Boot disabled unless you manually configure signing. In the firmware settings, confirm that Secure Boot is actually off, disable Legacy/CSM if the system is using UEFI, and make sure Windows and the Linux installer are both booted in the same mode. Also check that the installer created an EFI System Partition and installed a bootloader there.
Try a mainstream distribution such as Fedora KDE Plasma first, since its installer and UEFI support are generally well tested. During installation, verify that you’re installing in UEFI mode and that the existing EFI partition is being used rather than installing the bootloader in legacy mode. If Linux is installed but missing from the firmware menu, a live USB can sometimes repair or recreate the UEFI boot entry with tools such as efibootmgr.
I think I turned Secure Boot off, but I’ll double-check the firmware settings and make sure the installer is booted in UEFI mode.