Dual boot: Windows installation won't boot due to GRUB "no such device" error

I have an existing Windows 10 installation on my main drive with its efi boot partition on my SSD - nvme0n1p1. I also have an additional storage HD on which I previously installed elementaryOS and had no issues dual booting it with Windows through GRUB.

I now decided to familiarise myself with Manjaro instead, so I deleted the partitions with elementaryOS on my HD and replaced the space with new partitions to install Manjaro. During the installation procedure, I have created a new boot partition as per the recommendations on the storage HD - sda4.

Now, the new GRUB installation discovers Windows 10 and adds an option in the boot menu:

savedefault
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root CC68-021C
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root CC68-021C
fi
chainloader /efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

But when I try to boot into Windows, I get an error: “no such device: CC68-021C”. I cross–checked the UID with:

blkid /dev/nvme0n1p1
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL=“SYSTEM” UUID=“CC68-021C” BLOCK_SIZE=“512” TYPE=“vfat” PARTLABEL=“EFI system partit
ion” PARTUUID=“843e529e-a9c0-4707-82b4-f205ac10d0e9”

The os-prober also discovers Windows:

os-prober

/dev/nvme0n1p1@/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi:Windows Boot Manager:Windows:efi

My partitions are as follows:

lsblk

NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 891G 0 part
├─sda2 8:2 0 38.1G 0 part /
├─sda3 8:3 0 2G 0 part [SWAP]
└─sda4 8:4 0 512.7M 0 part /boot/efi
nvme0n1 259:0 0 476.9G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 260M 0 part
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 16M 0 part
├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 475.9G 0 part
└─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 800M 0 part

I tried to update grub and even reinstall Manjaro after removing and recreating partitions again, but nothing changed. At the moment I’m only able to boot into Windows by changing the boot-order in the BIOS to prioritise Windows Boot Manager.

Being a total newbie, I’m not sure how to resolve this problem so I can simply boot into Windows from the grub menu. Is this problem occurring because I have 2 different boot partitions on SSD and HD? Can someone kindly assist me in this issue?

Thanking you in advance!

Most likely, yeah. If memory serves, systems tend to get all kinds of confused with more than one UEFI-partition. I remember I had to switch my whole system to UEFI-mode but I can’t for the death of me remember how it was done. I do remember it was pretty easy to set up in the end after a bit of googling, and I’m no guru.

Hopefully some one more knowledgeable can help you more, but I’m pretty sure that’s the problem there.

2 Likes

What @ilenisaatio said:

You seem to have 2 ESP partitions and then you can’t use grub to boot Windows: only the UEFI firmware can by switching the boot drive to the other NVMe.

  • If that’s a solution: live with it.
  • If that’s not, you’re in for a re-install as moving UEFI boot files can be done but you need to boot from a USB stick, copy everything over, change the boot parameters in NVRAM, … so if your installation is quite new, a reinstall will be faster and definitely much easier.

:sob:

P.S. While you’re re-installing, read this to put you in a better mood:

2 Likes

Oh, and a pro tip I learned just this past Summer: make /home it’s own partition. It has made life so much better.

2 Likes

Thank you, will look into it! It’s an experimental install so I don’t mind reinstalling, but I just felt the need to learn what was causing the issue and if there are other possibilities to fix it :slight_smile:

1 Like

I only had 40GB to work with and I wasn’t really sure which data goes into root or /home to divide the space between them, so I decided to keep them combined while I learn more about how things work. Thank you for the tip nonetheless, I will read more about it before I reinstall :slight_smile:

1 Like

I managed to resolve the issue by installing rEFInd Boot Manager. Didn’t even need to make any additional configurations. Thank you all for your help! :slight_smile:

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