Only windows loader appears in the GRUB menu

Ask Fedora
, , ,
1

I tried to install fedora 44 KDE desktop x86_64 alongside windows 11 on the same SSD a few times and every time, it didn’t appear in the GRUB menu.

I left unallocated space while installing windows for that. I installed another distro before fedora though so its not completely clean. The general sequence of actions is here:

  1. I confirm using diskmgmt that there are only 4 partitions for windows (UEFI, reserved space, main space and recovery partition) and the rest of the disk is unallocated, and that USB flash drive has only 1 partition

  2. I clean UEFI using bcdedit, then mount UEFI partition and remove everything distro-related (EFI/fedora directory, directories in the root, loader/systemd, etc)

  3. I burn fedora image to the USB flash drive using rufus (I tried both ISO and DD modes)

  4. I plug USB into the laptop and load into the boot menu. I confirm that the only options are windows, Fedora flash drive and Linpus flash drive (for some reason, there was no fedora option when I used DD mode)

  5. I boot using fedora option for ISO mode or linpus for DD mode and open LIVE version

  6. I connect to my wifi network and set kwallet password

  7. I install fedora as usual on that unallocated space. The installer complains that UEFI partition is smaller than recommended (200 mb) but lets me procees regardless. I don’t choose disk encryption

  8. The installer asks me to restart the system so I turn it off, remove the USB flash drive and turn it on

  9. I see a GRUB 2.12 loader with only 2 options: windows loader and UEFI settings

If I load into the UEFI boot menu, I see 2 fedora options, but they have same names and seem to behave the same way. Also, less importantly, if I load into GRUB from UEFI boot menu, the cursor quickly moves right and downward line by line as if you were quickly typing spaces with line wrapping, and the menu does not respond until a bit later

2

I tried to use super grub2 disk, it managed to find 2 fedora configurations at /efi/fedora.grub.cfg and /EFI/fedora.grub.cfg, but they dont load, the system shows “press any key to continue” and then returns to the menu. Partitioning seems to be correct

IMG20260630193634
IMG202606301936341920×1440 365 KB

3

Seems to be solved - I burned image to USB using GPT instead of MBR and enlarged EFI partition to 1gb. Not sure what exactly helped, but Fedora boots fine now