Unable to choose between Windows 10 and F35

When I start my computer I am unable to have the option to choose between WIndows 10 and Fedora 35. Instead I get an error that says this:

error: …/ …/grub-core/commands/loadenv .c:216:sparse file not allowed

What can I do to be able to choose Windows 10 again?

I am currently stuck with Fedora 35 as my only working OS.

Would you like to check to your bios on part boot list. If your bios using UEFI, there should be Windows/Microsoft boot list available there. Make it as first boot.

You can power to fedora 35
Then try with
Configur grub and try if it solves

sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /etc/grub2.cfg

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/GRUB_2

1 Like

I have no way to move the Windows boot around. It just isn’t there to begin with. Everything is on my C Drive which isn’t there. Everything is Fedora related.

I think it’s too risky anyway and I don’t want to move anything around.

Just did that and nothing happened. I get the same error.

Please provide the output of sudo fdisk -l and lsblk so we can see the drives and partitions.

Here you go.

sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for overanyerrain: 
fdisk: cannot open fdisk: No such file or directory
[overanyerrain@fedora ~]$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda      8:0    0 298.1G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   100M  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0 249.2G  0 part /run/media/overanyerrain/Mica
├─sda3   8:3    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda4   8:4    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0  48.3G  0 part /
sdb      8:16   0 117.4G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0 116.9G  0 part /run/media/overanyerrain/Local Disk
└─sdb2   8:18   0   520M  0 part 
sdc      8:32   1  28.9G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   1  28.9G  0 part /run/media/overanyerrain/6FEC-A121
sdd      8:48   1   3.8G  0 disk 
└─sdd1   8:49   1   3.8G  0 part /run/media/overanyerrain/FEDORA-WS-L
sde      8:64   0   3.6T  0 disk 
└─sde1   8:65   0   3.6T  0 part /run/media/overanyerrain/Quartz
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
zram0  252:0    0   7.7G  0 disk [SWAP]

Something seems wrong in how you cannot access many normally used commands. Please post the output of echo $PATH as your regular user.

We also can do the fdisk command with the full path, as sudo /usr/sbin/fdisk -l

typed those two commands in and got these results:

[overanyerrain@fedora ~]$ echo $PATH
/home/overanyerrain/.local/bin:/home/overanyerrain/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
[overanyerrain@fedora ~]$ sudo /usr/sbin/fdisk -l
[sudo] password for overanyerrain: 
Disk /dev/sda: 298.09 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Disk model: Hitachi HTS54503
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x99540982

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1            2048    206847    204800   100M  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848 522737663 522530816 249.2G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3  *    522737664 523786239   1048576   512M  6 FAT16
/dev/sda4       523786240 625141759 101355520  48.3G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       523788288 625141759 101353472  48.3G 83 Linux


Disk /dev/sdb: 117.38 GiB, 126035288064 bytes, 246162672 sectors
Disk model: SanDisk SDSSDP12
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x87179d9a

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1            2048 245092060 245090013 116.9G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb2       245092352 246157311   1064960   520M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE


Disk /dev/sdc: 28.91 GiB, 31042043904 bytes, 60628992 sectors
Disk model: USB DISK 3.0    
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xcd92d406

Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1        2048 60628991 60626944 28.9G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Disk /dev/sdd: 3.77 GiB, 4051697664 bytes, 7913472 sectors
Disk model: Rocketfish      
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E566A87E-FB73-4276-8E51-A8FA65E3F3F3

Device     Start     End Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdd1   2048 7913438 7911391  3.8G Microsoft basic data


Disk /dev/zram0: 7.69 GiB, 8259633152 bytes, 2016512 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/sde: 3.64 TiB, 4000752599040 bytes, 7813969920 sectors
Disk model: My Passport 25E2
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 2D8E040F-B200-4E07-8177-CC54B20AF258

Device     Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sde1   2048 7813967871 7813965824  3.6T Microsoft basic data

Yeah it’s weird how many of these commands are not working for me. I’m not sure what the reason is exactly but I’m speculating here on how it could be the way I installed F35.

Initially I wanted it to go on one USB stick but I overwrote another one by accident, which is where I backed up my files from the old one. Because of this, the commands may not be working as they should be. It could also be from the partitioning of my hard drive too. For some reason I have two hard drives that are partitioned. which are both internal hard drives.

You said that /dev/sda (HDD) and /dev/sdb (SSD) are internal plus that info tells me that /dev/sde is an external 4TB drive. Process of elimination then says /dev/sdc is a microsoft partitioned drive so /dev/sdd seems to be a linux install live device.

However, it is fairly easy to see the problem.
/dev/sda is dos (MBR) partitioned, so windows was installed in legacy boot mode. It seems you installed fedora in uefi mode as seen by the fat 16 boot partition /dev/sda3, and by the fact that /dev/sdd and /dev/sde are both GPT partitioned.

Since fedora is booting uefi it is not possible for grub to boot windows in MBR. The only way for both to reside and function together is if both were installed the same way, either both uefi or both mbr boot.

Complicating the fix is the fact that windows will only boot uefi on a GPT partitioned disk and both the internal drives are MBR partitioned…

Would it be possible to move all the data from /dev/sdb to /dev/sda in the microsoft area? Even moving all your personal data from the microsoft drives C:, D:, (the internal drives) to the passport drive would make things a lot easier. Then a reinstall/repair of windows to convert windows from MBR boot to UEFI boot would work, followed by a reinstall of linux in the same mode.

EDIT:
Note that at present the only way you can select windows or linux would be through the bios boot menu, if that will even work for you.

There are some tools available to convert mbr to gpt you can use that to make mbr to gpt so reinstall is not required for that try search web for.

Thanks for your input. I’m surprised by the level of knowledge and detail you go into.

The thing about this is I tried out every option in the bios boot menu and they lead me back to F35.

I have already moved all my data onto an external hard drive so everything I need is backed up.

Right now I have no idea how to reinstall windows and I do not know how to access a MBR boot.

I looked into this a bit but it seems like it is impossible to convert mbr to gpt if you have a partitioned drive, which I do have. This is only on my D Drive though and not my C drive. I have 2 internal hard drives.