Windows 11 reinstallation

[Ghardir11]

Hello I used you scripts to installation of Windows 11 everything went Good and Windows worked. But i get some problems after several days so I decided to reinstall. I just booted USB pendrive with Windows next formatted partition and installed Windows again. When instalation done and system rebooted i have no screen just any lines on black background and Windows no load. Steam load perfect. Windows no. Where is the problem? What is reinstallation tutorial ?

[jlobue10]

Can you provide a screenshot of the error that you are talking about? I think I know what's going on, but a screenshot will give more me information.

[Ghardir11]

[Ghardir11]

The dual boot screen with steam icon and Windows working but when i choose Windows i have this

[jlobue10]

Are you able to boot into Windows manually through BIOS? Press the Volume Up & Power button combo, then go to Boot From file and boot from the Windows efi file at /esp/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi. I'm hoping the screen is not garbled if you are able to boot using this method. What you're showing is typically an APU driver or screen resolution mismatch issue with rEFInd and Windows startup.

If you're able to successfully boot into Windows from the efi file manually, please ensure the latest APU driver is installed. Then from here please run either the command prompt command or PowerShell command.

[Ghardir11]

there no Windows but is installed

[jlobue10]

That's the wrong menu. Boot from file is the bottom left option from BIOS. You are looking at EFI entries, not the actual EFI files

[Ghardir11]

which one ?

[jlobue10]

Top one. You have to navigate to /esp/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi and select that efi file to launch.

[Ghardir11]

I have there 2 Windows both not working. Info installation not complete

[Ghardir11]

[jlobue10]

Are you following the instructions from here? It seems the Windows reinstallation did not finish. I recommend disabling rEFInd until Windows reinstallation is finished.

If I were in your situation, I'd probably just delete those Windows partitions after the /dev/nvme0n1p8 /home partition and start with a fresh reinstallation with rEFInd disabled. You will also either want to delete the existing Windows EFI entry or make sure that the existing one is active for reinstallation. I'd probably just delete it though as reinstallation should re-add it properly.

[Ghardir11]

Im totally green can you tell me What i need to do step by step to remove this Windows and install with refind disabled ?

[Ghardir11]

I removed partition atm and make again. How to disable this refind and How to remove old Windows entries?

[jlobue10]

From SteamOS, go to desktop mode and please tell me the output of efibootmgr from a command line. This will help me to tell you exactly what commands to run.

[Ghardir11]

This is after removed Windows partition

[jlobue10]

Can you please run the GUI and click the Sysd Off button? You will need the latest version of the GUI. Then I'd also just run these two commands.

sudo efibootmgr -b 0000 -B
sudo efibootmgr -b 0004 -B

These commands should delete the EFI entries for both rEFInd and Windows. Please show me the output of efibootmgr afterwards.

[Ghardir11]

This one ?

[jlobue10]

Yes. I want to make sure that the rEFInd EFI entry is not re-created automatically on boot until your configuration is fixed. This Sysd Off button will accomplish that. It opens an xterm to run the necessary commands and will require the sudo password.

[Ghardir11]

[jlobue10]

Looks good. You should be good to restart the Windows reinstallation process now.

[Ghardir11]

Still installation not complete because when Windows instalation finished and device rebooted this loaded steam os

[jlobue10]

Can you show me the output of efibootmgr now? It's possible that the deactivated Windows EFI entry wasn't actually deleted.

[Ghardir11]

Now i booted from file and Windows loaded. But i have on blue screen 3 entries How to remove it? And How to start refind now to get dual boot screen

[jlobue10]

This video describes fixing the multiple entries. As for reinstalling rEFInd, please consult the GUI readme. From the steps we've done, I'd re-enable the systemd service (Sysd On) and make sure config is proper and installed. It's probably best to disable the Windows EFI entry again, if it's not already disabled from previous steps.

[Ghardir11]

I dont know why cant add Windows efi

[jlobue10]

Okay, so it looks like the older Windows EFI entry is actually still there and still disabled. This is why the Windows installation seems to not resume where it left off. It needs that entry to be active to pick up where it left off. Please boot from the SteamOS recovery USB and enter this command to reactivate the Windows EFI entry, then resume the Windows reinstallation process.

sudo efibootmgr -b 0004 -a

That's a lower-case 'a' to make it active again. This is a necessary step for the Windows installation to continue.

[Ghardir11]

When I put this command sudo efibootmgr -b 0004 -a

now i have just Windows load. I dont have dual boot icons just Windows loading automatically. What to do now ?

[Ghardir11]

how to make refind start after booting the device?

[jlobue10]

So you were able to finish the Windows reinstallation now? That was the point of re-enabling the Windows EFI entry. Can you boot into SteamOS recovery USB and tell me the output of efibootmgr? If everything is setup properly again, the last step would be to disable the Windows EFI entry so that rEFInd can assume the top boot priority.

[Ghardir11]

I have finished Windows installation now i just need dual boot screen because now Windows loading automatically and cant choose steam os

[jlobue10]

Can you boot into SteamOS recovery USB and tell me the output of efibootmgr? If everything is setup properly again, the last step would be to disable the Windows EFI entry so that rEFInd can assume the top boot priority.

Providing me with this info will help me to help you.

[Ghardir11]

[jlobue10]

Okay. Looks good. We just need to disable the Windows EFI entry again, as I suspected. Perform this command from the SteamOS recovery USB command line.

sudo efibootmgr -b 0004 -A

You should see the asterisk disappear signifying that the Windows EFI entry is indeed disabled. Reboot, and assuming the rest of your rEFInd setup is good, you should be good to go.

[Ghardir11]

Thank you now All working good

[jlobue10]

Happy to help. Closing the issue.