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I just installed Ubuntu Budgie 20.04 on my main desktop (Acer). I was happily surprised that it can install onto the SSD which was not an option with Ubuntu 18.04. This gave me the added benefit that I did not have to wipe my HDD where 18.04 was installed.

The problem is now when I boot and press F12 (to get the boot menu, which is not a grub menu), I see two options:

  • ubuntu
  • ubuntu

As these two are identical, there is no way to tell which is 18.04 (HDD) and which is 20.04 (SSD). I would like to rename these two entries but I cannot see where to do this.

I thought it might be picking up things on grub on each drive but I did not see "ubuntu" in grub anywhere. So, I tried Grub Customizer but that only showed me "Ubuntu" not "ubuntu" so I thought it was not that.

Then I decided to try boot-repair. After this, I now see two items when I press F12:

  • ubuntu
  • USFI: Kingston blahblahblah

As I believe boot-repair only changes grub, I now feel more confident that the answer lies within grub.

As my SSD is Kingston I can now tell the difference. However, I would really like to actually rename these two something like

  • Ubuntu 18.04
  • Ubuntu 20.04

Is there any way to see this when pressing F12 to get the boot menu?

John
  • 996
  • When you press F12 you get the BIOS/EFI menu, that is not related to GRUB. EFI registered two entries for each OS installed, this is my suspicion. ¿Why do you need to start the machine with F12? ¿What does the GRUB menu actually shows? – schrodingerscatcuriosity Jul 25 '20 at 16:34
  • If you do this: sudo efibootmgr -v, you will see details on your ubuntu entries. And one will boot with shimx64.efi and other with grubx64.efi. You will only get one version of Ubuntu in UEFI boot menu and then from grub can boot all other installs. I even renamed, but something is hardcoded, so /EFI/ubuntu/grub is always used. And that will be from last install or last with major grub update (so may change). https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/CustomMenus & https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2076205&p=13787835#post13787835 – oldfred Jul 25 '20 at 18:20
  • @schrodigerscatcuriosity The GRUB menu was not showing but if I pressed F12 I could choose between the drives to boot. After running Grub Customizer (again) and using File->Install to MBR, now I get the grub menu each time. The boot-repair seems to have fixed GRUB so it now has 20.04 and 18.04 in it. So, the problem seems fixed. – John Jul 26 '20 at 07:05
  • @oldfred Thanks for your suggestion. Strangely, it lists three boot entries: Windows (which was on the SDD and no longer exists) and two ubuntu. Both (yes both) ubuntu entries boot with shimx64.efi (neither boot with grubx64.efi). – John Jul 26 '20 at 07:09
  • @oldfred Actually, now that I used Grub Customizer and choose File->Install to MBR, now the efibootmgr shows what the F12 screen shows (one ubuntu and one KINGSTON). The Kingston entry is quite long and does not either shim or grub. The final few letters are "..BO" so it looks like it hit some character limit. Is there any way to rename these entries to have something nicer than "KINGSTON blahblah...?" – John Jul 26 '20 at 07:12
  • @John "So, the problem seems fixed". Good to know! I wouldn't worry about the EFI boot menu entries if you can boot your OSs from GRUB. But you can always follow some answers like this How do I remove Windows from the UEFI boot menu after custom installing Ubuntu? to handle the UEFI entries. In my work I had a machine that added an entry each time I tried to boot from a USB... so unless I have a specific issue regarding the UEFI boot menu I don't spend time trying to fix it ☺️. Cheers! – schrodingerscatcuriosity Jul 26 '20 at 15:27
  • It sounds like you are booting with BIOS, not with UEFI. How you boot install media, UEFI or BIOS is then how it installs. And UEFI boot menu for installer flash drive should show two menu items, but some tools that create installer may make it either UEFI only or BIOS only. Shows installer with screen shots. Both BIOS purple accessibility screen & UEFI black grub menu screen https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI If UEFI hardware, better to have all installs in UEFI boot mode. – oldfred Jul 26 '20 at 16:24

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