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I put Ubuntu 20.0.4 on a usb and it loaded. I chose install Ubuntu, letting it partition 200Gb for it, and it seemed to work. When I restart the computer, however, it goes straight to Windows. I loaded the usb Ubuntu and chose reinstall. This time, it says I need to go back and add an EFI partition.

Laptop is an HP Pavilion, with an i-5 running at 1.7GHz on 6 GB RAM, under Windows 10 Home version 1809. it has UEFI and secure boot is off.

Disk management reports C: (Windows) and D: (Recovery) drives as NTFS, and four Disk 0 partitions (1,2,5,7) as Basic. There is no EFI partition listed.

Should I delete all partitons except C: and D: and install an EFI partition, then reinstall Ubuntu? How would I add the EFI partiton? Or is there another way? Thanks for help.

Above is from Windows. Ran gparted from usb and it reports:

Partition Name System Size Flags
sda1 basic data ntfs 400MB hidden, diag
sda2 EFI fat32 260MB boot, esp
sda3 MS reserved unknown 128MB msftres
sda4 basic data ntfs 384GB msftdata
sda7 ext4 186GB
sda5 ntfs 991MB hidden, diag
sda6 basic data ntfs RECOVERY 24GB hidden, msftdata
unallocated 7MB

So, it seems there is an EFI and needs repair. How would I go about fixing it so I could choose the OS at boot?

Timothy Buchanan
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    You need to know if bios is UEFI or legacy first. Recent computers should be UEFI, but not certain. Edit your question with computer info also. Both OSs should be installed the same UEFI or legacy. Computers that came with Win 8 or 10 usually UEFI, Win 7 could be either, XP will be legacy. – crip659 May 29 '20 at 00:56
  • Would boot using the USB installer and just use the Try Ubuntu option. See what gparted on the Ubuntu USB(might need to install gparted) says about the partitions. Should give better details. What size is "D'? EFI partition usually quite small, 100 to 300MBs, formatted as Fat32, sometimes NTFS if done by windows. – crip659 May 29 '20 at 16:10
  • Make sure you boot from the installation USB in the UEFI mode. See the pictures in this answer to check you have booted USB in UEFI mode. Use Try Ubuntu before installing option. run gparted and delete sda7. This will erase previous Ubuntu installation. close gparted. start installation again from within Try Ubuntu. Choose install side by side Windows option. Installation should find the unallocated space and put Ubuntu there again. – user68186 May 29 '20 at 16:55
  • When I start the usb Ubuntu it says booting in nonsecure mode but nothing about UEFI. Does this mean it isn't booting UEFI and if so, how to force it? – Timothy Buchanan May 29 '20 at 19:10
  • Ok there is a folder /sys/firmware/efi so I guess it's in UEFI mode. – Timothy Buchanan May 29 '20 at 19:21
  • Did the following: Ran gparted and deleted sda7, shutdown. Started Ubuntu from usb and selected install alongside Windows Boot Manager. Result: same as before: from cold start, pc boots to Windows with no option for Ubuntu. What to try now? – Timothy Buchanan May 29 '20 at 20:10
  • After that I installed and ran boot-repair. I applied recommended repairs, then shutdown and restarted. Still boots only to Windows. – Timothy Buchanan May 29 '20 at 20:31
  • Can see this link, but can forget the sections that mention swap. Ubuntu now uses a swap file, don't need a swap partition. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=163126. Also should turn off windows fast boot if it is still on(default) – crip659 May 29 '20 at 20:50
  • Deleted sda7 again. PC boots in UEFI mode, secure boot is off, fast start is disabled. Ran Ubuntu from usb. Verified in UEFI mode with ls /sys/firmware, efi is there. Ran install, choosing "something else" as procedure. Told installer to use free space and mount sda7 as /. Told installer to use sda2 EFI partition for bootloader. Result: PC still only boots to Windows. Does anyone know of an install procedure for Ubuntu to a Windows 10 computer that will result in a dual booting machine? Appreciate help. – Timothy Buchanan May 30 '20 at 13:35
  • Just wondering if it might be a problem with download/burning to USB/ or USB. You seem to be doing everything right, but something not working right. Try starting from doing the ISO download again and maybe change program for burning the ISO and/or USB stick. Maybe someone can suggest how to place sys/firmware into EFI, but I can't. – crip659 May 30 '20 at 14:44
  • Ubuntu is loading and running from USB, so I don't think ISO is bad. The installer also reports that all goes well, says it installed GRUB. No errors are reported; it just won't boot to Linux after. Is there a way to load Ubuntu from the USB, then mount and run the version it says it installed on the HD? – Timothy Buchanan May 31 '20 at 17:03

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