SB42 regenerate grub menu entries (remove Windows entry)

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1

Hello,
Few days ago I updated my F41 to F42 and yesterday I decided to remove Windows from EFI partition, because I didn’t boot Windows for 2+ years. I deleted EFI/Microsoft folder and tried:
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
but it looks like it’s unsupported anymore. I see error related to “composefs”. How can I regenerate grub entries now?

2

Please do not use grub2-mkconfig on Atomic Desktops.

The GRUB config is now a static GRUB config, so you should be able to directly edit /boot/grub2/grub.cfg to remove the Windows entries.

3

Thanks for your help.

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4

Can someone please show me how to add my windows install, located on a separate drive, to the static grub menu. I’m using Fedota 42 Kinoite. When I upgraded from Kinoite 41, Windows did not automatically get added.

I am a relatively newbie so some more detailed instructions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

5

The recommended path is to not add it to the GRUB menu. Select the Windows boot entry from your EFI firmware instead.

6

You need to either use systemd-boot which does this automatically (without issues; Just Works), or create a manual entry as per the UAPI Boot Loader Spec (BLS).

You can of course use the EFI firmware menu, but if that’s complicated, the 2 options I said are possible.

7

I was able to modify the menu by adding these lines to /boot/grub2/user.cfg, replacing the respective <MENU-UUID> for each entry:

# Add Windows 11 Pro Menu Entry as First Menu Item
menuentry 'Windows 11 Pro' --class windows {
        search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root <MENU1-UUID>
        chainloader (${root})/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

# Add WinPE 11 Menu Entry as Second Menu Item
menuentry 'WinPE 11' --class windows {
        search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root <MENU2-UUID>
        chainloader (${root})/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

# Set Third Menu Item as Default
set default=2
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8

Great… Thanks, finally…

BTW, /efi succeeding (${root}) shoule be /EFI just in case some unwanted case-sensitivity switch is misconfigured (Yes, this is a possibility with the linux vfat driver during mount, IDK GRUB).

Let me disclaim that while the BLS spec is more supported and, well, portable to systemd-boot, you might like to still use user.cfg for the one menuentry of windows.
This is because systemd-boot natively supports an automatic entry if the /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi file exists. (Your manual entry will override that, so no actual issues if you still use BLS)

If you still want to follow the BLS like I’d like to,
$(bootctl -p)/loader/entries/windows-11.conf:

title Windows 11 Home Pro whatever
efi /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

$(bootctl -p)/loader/entries/winPE-11.conf:

title WinPE 11 or whatever
efi /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
# BUT this is same EFI as previous... Why is it needed IDK;
# I don't use this... just the above one

AND let GRUB do it’s own thing with the entries…

PS $(bootctl -p) outputs /efi or /boot/efi whichever is in use, I assume here that shared ESP is used. (Assumption I derive from the GRUB user.cfg using (${root}))
$(bootctl -x) refers to the XBOOTLDR where the misc GRUB config files, linux kernel+initrd sets etc… exist. Kindly don’t confuse yourself.

I have a small silly doubt, since I have never tinkered with GRUB configs directly… What is the menu UUID?

9

Sorry, <MENU-UUID> refers to the respective partition UUIDs.

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10

If you do “search --fs-uuid” the UUID should be the file system UUID and not the partition UUID. These are different. You can run lsblk -f -o +PARTUUID to demonstrate the difference.

Other than that, your message no 9 should be the solution.

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11

Yes you are correct about the UUID, my mistake.

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