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I am having some trouble booting into Ubuntu (dual-boot laptop), please find summary below:

Overview of machine & installations

  • I have dual booted my Lenovo Ideapad 110 with Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 20.04 (about two years ago).
  • I have recently updated the partition size for Ubuntu as shown in the image below (71.94GB = Ubuntu and 391.42GB = Windows).

Image of partition breakdown (GParted)

Image of partition breakdown (Windows Disk Manager)

Overview of Problem

After increasing my partition size everything worked for a few weeks (I was able to long into both Windows and Ubuntu using the Grub menu when starting my laptop).

However, a few days ago I tried booting into Ubuntu (after booting Windows) but noticed the following:

  • The Grub menu was missing and the only screen at startup is the Windows Boot Manager (where it only gives me the option to log into Windows).
  • An error pops up "ubuntu boot failed" when trying to boot into Ubuntu using the Boot Manager (after pressing the esc key while in the Windows Boot Manager).
  • My System Utility: Boot menu does display both Windows and Ubuntu (EFI).

Questions

  1. Why did the Grub menu disappear?
  2. Would it be possible to boot into Ubuntu ?
  3. If not, is there a way to access my data that was saved in Ubuntu?
user1118319
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  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. Please answer comments by editing your question. Can you boot into a live session and run Gparted, select the Ubuntu partition, take a screen shot and post it into your question? – Raffles Nov 11 '23 at 08:32
  • Is your Lenovo old enough to have a bios? When you boot can you go to any configuration options? If so, see if there is a "fast boot" option and then disable it. – darth_epoxy Nov 11 '23 at 08:46
  • Hi @darth_epoxy, regarding the first question (bios): the system utility menu allows me to set a boot mode (legacy or UEFI). I have disabled the fast boot mode but the same problem occurs. Just a summary of my utility setup:
    • Boot Mode: UEFI
    • Fast Boot: Disabled
    • Secure Boot: Disabled
     – user1118319 Nov 11 '23 at 12:16
  • Can you boot Ubuntu directly from UEFI boot menu? And if Windows turned fast start up on or did an UEFI update, may have reset to defaults. Grub cannot find a hibernated Windows which fast start up sets. https://askubuntu.com/questions/843153/unable-to-mount-windows-10-partition-it-is-in-an-unsafe-state & https://askubuntu.com/questions/145902/unable-to-mount-windows-ntfs-filesystem-due-to-hibernation – oldfred Nov 11 '23 at 14:57
  • @Raffles, I have updated the question above to include the image of the Gparted session (after selecting the Ubuntu partition). I noticed that the Ubuntu partition has 32% used memory but the linux-swap partition has 0% used memory. Is this the reason for the missing Grub menu? – user1118319 Nov 12 '23 at 09:42
  • @oldfred I unfortunately cannot boot into Ubuntu using the boot manager nor by setting Ubuntu as the first OS in the EFI boot order (System Utility). Furthermore, I have turned off both the "Turn on fast startup" and "Hibernated" options in Windows Power Options. In addition, I have turned off the Windows Boot Manager in the Windows cmd: "bcdedit /set displaybootmenu no" – user1118319 Nov 12 '23 at 10:32
  • The Linux swap partition is only used when your memory gets full. It's like a virtual memory. But I see your EFI system partition has somewhat less data than mine on my dual boot machine, so maybe Grub was wiped off. – Raffles Nov 12 '23 at 14:36

1 Answers1

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Firstly, please try Grub Repair as detailed here

Boot into a live session. Open a terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair

boot-repair

You should then get this Grub_repair

Boot Repair will begin working. It may ask you to open a Terminal and copy/paste a few commands into it.

Just follow the instructions that appear on your screen. Perform the instructions Boot Repair wants you to and click "Forward" to continue through the wizard. The tool will walk you through everything you need to do.

Restart your computer after the Boot Repair tool finishes applying its changes. Ubuntu should boot up normally.

NB! As always, Windows Fast Start (in your Windows Settings) should be turned off. In the UEFI, secure boot should be turned off and UEFI enabled.

In any event, you can recover your data, both Linux and Windows, while in an Ubuntu (or other Linux) live session. All files are accessible. Just copy it to an external hard drive. Note: you can't access Linux files while booted into Windows.

Raffles
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    Hi @Raffles, the above solution worked. Thank you! (I had to run the process twice in order for it to work). But thanks again! – user1118319 Nov 18 '23 at 13:12