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February 8th, 2025 19:34
XPS 8940 - how to dual boot?
Hello all -
I added a 3.5" 12 TB Seagate Barracuda disk to my XPS 8940.
On that I installed Debian 12.
After installation, I rebooted and went into BIOS and turned off secure boot as this is required in order to install nvidia-driver and then have the kernel successfully recompile and update grub.
After restarting to confirm that the nvidia-driver is now installed, I noticed that on the grub menu Windows Boot Loader is missing.
Every other dual boot I've ever set up, the Windows Boot Loader is added to grub during the installation of Linux - even if the install is not done to another partition on the Windows disk.
So, I restarted the XPS 8940 again, then as su I ran os-prober and after it completed I ran update-grub.
Again after restart no Windows Boot Loader.
So, I restarted again and ran lsblk from a terminal - I see all the hard disks as /dev/sdX and I see the CD/DVD drive as sr0, but I do not see any nvme devices??!!
Windows 11 came installed on a 1 TB nvme stick.
Can someone tell me why os-prober cannot see Windows 11, or why lsblk cannot see any nvme device?
NOTE: This may be important or it may not - If I boot with F12 when the one time boot menu comes up Debian is 1st drive and Windows is 2nd drive. Do you suppose if I transversed them and then booted Debian from the one time boot loader os-prober would then see Windows? Would lsblk see the nvme? I don't see why this would make any difference at all, but I'm just asking.
Thanks much in advance for any help.
rvolters
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February 13th, 2025 11:50
Just a thought, it occurs to me that the nvme has Windows installed as secure boot.
For Debian, I turned secure boot off in order to have the ability for nvidia-drivers to install and update (unsigned, so in secure boot the kernel won't compile after the driver is installed/updated).
This is the only thing I can think of that would possibly prevent Windows from being found by os-prober, maybe eve lsblk.
ann_droid
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February 11th, 2025 17:00
Hi
I am not too familiar with the process you have done.
Given the chance the Windows Boot MANAGER wants priority.
But in the BIOS you may have both the Microsoft and DEBIAN boot MANAGERS listed, and you may need to switch their priority, so that the
Boot LOADERS are tried sequentially.
AND the os-prober needs something like this...
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
in the ""sudo nano /etc/default/grub"" file and re-run the updater.... """sudo update-grub"""
I expect you already tried all that.
(edited)
rvolters
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February 11th, 2025 17:27
Hi, thanks for the response.
Yes, I have already tried these steps.
I have even installed ntfs-3g in hopes that it would resolve the issue.
The salient issue for me is this - on Debian when I run lsblk I see only /dev/sdX output for disks.
An NVMe "disk" should show up as something along the lines of "nvme0n1"
I see NO nvmeXXX. That in itself explains why os-prober doesn't provide a Windows entry in Grub.
By the same token I have decided it would be pointless to try and manually add Windows to the Grub menu - the Windows install is on a nvme device that just flat out is not recognized.
I have searched about this on the web and while I have found nothing about this problem, I have found numerous issues raised in the forum about firmware update isssue w/r/t nvme devices, not being able to add a 2nd nvme device - in short lots of issues raised about nvme devices on XPS 8940 PCs.
I spent my career in IT and have developed a good sense of when something smells. My gut tells me there is something funky going on with how nvme & firmware on the XPS 8940 works.
Oh well, it is a minor irritant in any case. On the rare occasion when I need to boot up Windows, I can just start the PC holding down F12 and then select the 2nd entry to boot to Windows.
Honestly though, if I knew at purchase time, what I know now about the way this PC is designed, I would have probably ordered a new system from System76 or Tuxedo. They are both "right to repair" designed systems, as well as being specifically engineered at Linux systems.
Thanks anyway for your suggestions - much appreciated.
ann_droid
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February 11th, 2025 17:51
@rvolters Prego.
Daft thought.....
Sometimes these things treat 2 similar devices as a raid pair and generally foul up.
rvolters
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February 11th, 2025 20:02
"Sometimes these things treat 2 similar devices as a raid pair and generally foul up".
Hmmm. Not sure I follow as there is no RAID configuration on my XPS 8940, the specific issue I am trying to get an answer to is - "why isn't a single nvme "disk" on the motherboard being recognized by Debian which runs on a 3.5" hard disk I have added?
In short - before my add-ons, this was a "Windows 11 PC" - it had 1 1 TB nvme "disk" running Windows 11 and 1 3.5" hard disk that was part of the original configuration and was the "D" (data) drive.
After I added the 2nd 3.5" disk (Seagate Barracuda 12 TB disk) and installed Debian on it, I now effectively have a PC that will boot Debian in insolation, or, by holding down F12 on boot, I can select the Windows Boot loader to load Windows 11.
But the fact remains that in Debian, the lsblk command (which as you know displays information about all block storage devices currently available on the system; provides details such as names, major and minor numbers, size, device type, and mount point; and displays the output in a tree-like format - each physical device at the top of the tree and partitions or logical volumes branching off from that device) just simply does not see that nvme "disk".
There is just something not kosher here, but I cannot figure it out. At this point I'm just asking to see if anyone knows why this is the case. It is more a matter of curiosity now because as I say, I can get to Windows if I need to, it just isn't conveniently there in the grub menu when I boot up.
Regards