Windows dual boot (on seperate HDD)

brent I have two independent OS's on different drives that function, done to the letter of your tutorial.
I am not attempting to dual boot yet.

Progress. Assuming that Windows Boot Manager and Linux Boot Manager are the first two entries, in whichever order you prefer, probably Linux Boot Manager first and Windows boot manager second, the computer should boot to whatever OS is the first on the list, with F12 (or whatever key you use to access the boot manager screen) to get to the second on the list.

The first step might be to open the boot manager screen in BIOS and see what it looks like. As I recall, you said that you can move boot entries up and down, so that might be all you need to do right this minute.

brent I don't know how to get rid of all the boot entries. Found no info for my AMI V.25.2 and my MSI-7817.
What my weird bios DOES have, however, is this UEFI Shell Teminal. It's a terminal. I have no idea what language/commands to use it in. But I bet that's the key. Or is it?

Sounds like it might be.

brent Will research more.

That's good idea, but be careful before you start hacking away. As you said in an earlier comment, you are probably okay if the Windows Boot Manager and the Linux Boot Manager are the first two entries.

By the way, I ran across this little squib about how to unlock AMI BIOS hidden settings. That might be easier than using the shell, if it works. I have no idea if it will work. Maybe it will unhide "delete boot entry".

Brucehankins Thanks

brent It runs in the terminal. You can find a short tutorial on basic commands here. I have not used it, because I have only two boot entries (Windows Boot Manager and Windows Boot Manager) and want to keep both, but I understand the syntac enough to know that you are going to have to be very careful to get the boot number dead right.

From the tutorial:

4. Deleting Boot Entry

Let’s say you have installed multiple Linux distributions on a hard disk so you have multiple boot entries just like the above screenshot. And now you deleted a Linux distro but the boot entry is still there. To remove the respective boot entry, run:

sudo efibootmgr -b <bootnum> -B

For example,

sudo efibootmgr -b 0014 -B

-b option specify the boot number. -B option delete that boot number.

My advice: See if you can get into your BIOS far enough to find a tool to delete inactive boot entries, and see if that is something you want to use. If you can't get in or think that the BIOS method is more than you want to take on, then install and try efibootmgr.

tomscharbach the hidden menu of any given ambios over the years has a plethora of combinations...not a single one that worked for me and I have a ruled pad full of them written in ink. BUST.
Some info about my B85 2016-era board claims you can only see the secret menu while flashing the bios...

On the the other hand, many threads involving removing efi boot entries and windows----well there is a plethora of downloadable .exe tools that will achieve this in W10.
Ultimately easily bringing in viruses and rootkits via sketchy uncurated programs was one of things I hated most about windows. I wish Windows had a program to do these tasks so I can avoid downloading. BUT----I am seeing ways to accomplish this in CMD---but CMD is nowhere as forging** as the linux terminal for me.

As you said, Tom, I have the 1 (Solus) and 2 (W10) boot orders set so maybe I will be fine if I have success later.
Talk to you soon.
edit **forgiving

brent As you said, Tom, I have the 1 (Solus) and 2 (W10) boot orders set so maybe I will be fine if I have success later.

Yes, and if your computer runs okay the way it is currently set up, with Linux Boot Manager first, Windows Boot Manager second, and a mess of other bootloaders down the list, it might make sense to just leave it alone. Don't fix what isn't broken, and all of that. I wouldn't feel any pressure to clean up the bootloaders unless/until you need to do so. I'm a bit nuts about running the cleanest build possible on every computer (too many years in IT, most likely), and it is probably overkill to spend much time trying to clean up bootloaders if the computer is working okay.

brent BUT----I am seeing ways to accomplish this in CMD---but CMD is nowhere as forgiving as the linux terminal for me.

If you haven't used it in a while, it can seem forbidding. But it isn't rocket science.

In Windows 10, here is what you do:

(1) Right-Click on the "Start" button.
(2) From the menu that opens, select "Windows PowerShell (Admin)".
(3) Windows will ask you if you want to give PowerShell rights to make changes to your computer. Click "OK".
(4) When the PowerShell window opens, type "bcdedit /enum firmware".
(5) That will give you a list of your bootloaders.
(6) To delete a bootloader, run this command: "bcdedit delete {identifier}" (the squiggle brackets are important).
(7) Repeat as needed, running "bcdedit /enum firmware" after each delete to refresh the list.

This is a sample from my Solus dual-boot computer. It has two bootloaders -- Linux Boot Manager and Windows Boot Manager.

Please note that the "Firmware Boot Manager" has a ""displayorder" entry. That lists all of the installed bootloaders in order of call. In my case there are only two, but in your case there should be many. After the "Firmware Boot Manager" section, you will see a series of sections describing each bootloader listed in the "displayorder" entry, not necessarily in any recognizable order (I think that the sections are ordered by date of creation, but I'm not sure).

I've highlighted the "identifier" for Windows Boot Manager and the Linux Boot Manager as well as the "description" of each boot manager. You could also just take the identifiers off the "displayorder" list in the "Firmware Boot Manager" if you want to do that. The "identifier" might be a short description like {bootmgr} or a long string of letters and numbers or a grub entry. Each will be unique.

The only trick to this in your case is to leave the Linux Boot Manager, and Windows Boot Manager untouched.

brent If I understand you correctly, both Windows Powershell /enum firmware and Solus efibootmgr --verbose show identical UEFI/EFI bootloaders, but your BIOS shows additional bootloaders. I'm not sure what the reason for this might be, but perhaps the additional bootloaders are not UEFI/EFI bootloaders. I just don't know.

Of the bootloaders listed above, {bootmgr} is the current Windows Boot Manager.

I think that the last entry -- identifier {9d47e795-7c05-11ec-8ca0-448a5bd1fd6d} -- is an old Windows Boot Manager from the original Windows 10 installation on the computer, but I am not sure about that. It is entirely possible that it is a repeat of {bootmgr} although I don't think so. I would not remove it and take the chance of bricking your Windows installation.

The others -- {7c330c4e-7b87-11ec-a13f-448a5bd1fd6d}, {7c330c4d-7b87-11ec-a13f-448a5bd1fd6d}, and {7c330c4c-7b87-11ec-a13f-448a5bd1fd6d} -- all seem to be related to the computer's system components that you use at present.

The displayorder shows that the computer will try to boot from the various bootloaders in this order:

(1) {bootmgr} -- Windows Boot Manager (current)
(2) {9d47e795-7c05-11ec-8ca0-448a5bd1fd6d} -- (probably the original W10 bootloader)
(3) {7c330c4e-7b87-11ec-a13f-448a5bd1fd6d} -- Hard Drive (the drive connected to the SATA 0 slot)
(4) {7c330c4d-7b87-11ec-a13f-448a5bd1fd6d} -- CD/DVD Drive
(5) {7c330c4c-7b87-11ec-a13f-448a5bd1fd6d} -- UEFI: Built in EFI Shell

In other words, the computer will look down the list until it finds something that is bootable, and then it will boot from that ...

If it were my computer, I would leave well enough alone at this point -- that is, don't delete any of them.

And since (a) neither Windows Powershell /enum firmware nor Solus efibootmgr --verbose show any of the other bootloaders that BIOS shows, and (b) you can't get at them through BIOS settings, I think you will just have to live with them.

In short, put your Solus drive back into the computer, set the boot order (using BIOS) so that Linux Boot Manager is at the top of the list, Windows Boot Manager is second on the list, and the rest fall where they may, and start enjoying your dual-boot computer.

Thank you for working with me this long discussion. It has been interesting and I've learned from the discussion and from you.