Boot Device Issues (Windows 10P / Void Linux)

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
1

Hi All,

I have a Framework 13 with 2x drives I swap back and forth, one with Windows 10 Pro, the other with Void Linux. Instead of dual booting I decided to do this to keep Windows from erasing the boot settings for the Linux installation.

However, after extended use of the Windows drive, I swapped the Linux drive back in, and I am getting the

“Default Boot Device Missing or Failed” error. When I boot to USB with the live image I see that the partitions, etc. are all there.

I’m wondering what happened here?

Terry

2

The UEFI is stored in the motherboard (some memory) on the computer. Means, the last device updating the UEFI will eventually remove all traces of OS’s that it cannot scan.

Under linux you can read it out with efibootmgr:

~$ efibootmgr 
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0000,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* EFI Hard Drive (48797879300891-Sabrent SB-2130-1TB)
Boot0002* EFI PXE 0 for IPv4 (0C-37-96-80-1C-7E) 
Boot0003* neon
Boot2001* EFI USB Device
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM
Boot2003* EFI Network

So - IMHO, what you should do is get yourself a USB stick where you install something link refind The rEFInd Boot Manager and scan for existing OS’s on a regular base.
I used refind back in time where OS-X was messing with the efi-tables and removing Linux.
Never tested it on my FW16 - as I stopped using anything other than linux anyway.

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3

Thanks so much for this!

I always wanted to try out rEFInd as it was recommended to me in the past, but I was too lazy to look into it as the website is an absolute mess in terms of readability.

I installed it to USB and it worked like a charm with finding my Void install.

Once Win10 is unsupported I’m out, Microsoft’s recent moves with Win11 sealed the deal. Sadly, I have to deal with Windows and MacOS for work, but I’ll be all in on Linux on my personal machines.

4

I totally agree with you on that. I am currently testing Steam and the Heroic Games Launcher under KDE Neon on my FW16 + GPU - and some games are way smoother then under Windows 10. The only Windows systems we have @ home are alas our gaming rigs. But even Windows 10 is too bloated for me since the last updates.
Weirdly, it always requires work to run windows or run it alongside other OS’s. Cleanup, make sure the EFI does not get erased, run Anti-Virus software (Well, as it’s a gaming only rig, I deleted all AV stuff - but the alerts that I don’t have AV software running is a PITA).
A Real Secure OS should not require ANY AV software! :joy:

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