Without fail..

This is what made me switch to Linux full-time. I'm not surprised this is still a thing 10+ years later

Oh that's why my Linux instance suddenly stopped working. I will have to look into this

Windows, not even once
- I wish it could be so, I need both for work. I have always required a laptop with two separate hdd slots, but Windows tends to mess up everything anyway, and then Linux get the blame for being unstable. I also have a fun thing where the RTC becomes out of sync because win and Linux handle time differently. This can mess up 2FA among other things, so that's great😅
  I think Windows will have to go on a VM instead because it is so unstable.
Yup! Windows did an update and hosed your boot record. I don't even use the same partition for the Windows and Linux boot sectors and Windows still breaks it occasionally. My solution was to just not log into Windows anymore.
- Same here. I tried the dual boot life for a while but eventually I gave up. On Windows, of course.
- I was dual booting because of rocket League.
  The well epic did an epic and so I stopped. My computer is set to boot to the kubuntu drive. I have to make it boot to windows if I need that drive.
  I miss drinking and tanking my MMR with buddies.. but windows. :/ lol
  Good to know I'm saving myself a pain in the ass

I've almost filled a dual boot SSD and I've got an NVME drive sitting there waiting to be installed and I haven't done it yet because I wanted to move just the Linux partitions onto the NVME and leave the windows on the SATA SSD and its just complicated enough and fraught with just enough danger that it's not fun.
For the life of me I've no idea why, I literally can't remember the last time I booted into windows, certainly not since the last shenanigans with fusion 360.

I have in fact never had or seen this problem, and I'm quite bewildered by so many people having it. Do your normal windows updates do it? Or transition between major Windows versions? Or is it just a Win 11 problem?

I've pretty much always used a dual boot Win/Linux laptop, since around Vista, and I'm on 10 now (but only use it for a few games; all important things in Linux).

I'm not sure how it is now, but when I was still dual booting I had the same problem until I got a separate drive for Linux instead of just using different partitions of the same drive.
- Funny enough, I think the only time I've run into bootloader problems on a single drive, it ended up being Linux that broke my Windows boot. Typically Windows leaves my EFI partition well enough alone during updates.
I'm rather inexperienced with Linux, so between Windows and I, my computer's bootloader is always messed up. I really need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Do your normal windows updates do it?
They can. As Windows does updates it typically checks to make sure everything is working. This includes making sure it will boot after an update.
Or transition between major Windows versions?
If it's not a feature enablement update, then yes it can happen. In place upgrades actually reinstall Windows. This includes boot.
Or is it just a Win 11 problem?
Happens with 8, 10 and 11. Since these are UEFI compatible.
The problem starts with how you install. If you do Windows first and then Linux when sharing an EFI partition, Windows doesn't like this. A feature of Windows is PCR7. Since Secure Boot is a requirement now for Windows 11, this is more of a problem than it was. PCR7 binding happens when the entire boot chain has been authenticated using Microsoft's CA. This can interfere with BitLocker automatic encryption for Home. If it's already been enabled before you install Linux, you could lock yourself out of the Windows install if you don't know where to retrieve your recovery key. People typically install Windows first and then Linux because majority of Linux installers are smart. They detect Windows and create an entry so as to preserve booting.
When an update or upgrade takes place and Windows does its checks, it may decide "I don't like this EFI configuration" and then completely "repair" it. Not realising that it was that way on purpose.
The solution I've found is to manually create boot files for each, and then use rEFInd. Writing a manual configuration that simply loads the bootloaders on the Linux and Windows partition. That way neither are aware of the other.
- So I'm a recent Linux user (as I created a duelbooting system this week for the first time) and I did as you said in this comment and downloaded rEFInd. Is that all you have to do or is there more to the part "manually create boot files for each"? If so would you mind giving me a brief rundown on how to do the same?
Ditto.
I’ve never had this issue either. I’ve had GRUB and other bootloader variants “lose” windows when setting up a dual-boot, but nothing wrecked the actual partition.
I've never seen it with EFI. Used to happen with the old MBR disk format & BIOS, but with GPT disks and UEFI it leaves the ESP alone and the EFI picks the bootloader to use from that.
Usually people have issues with this when they don't create the partition free space for the linux partition inside windows first
- Ah, that could be it. It's a long time since I used to resize Windows from Linux; now on a new laptop I always (...I think?!) resize from Windows to make space, unless it's a friend's laptop with extra D/E/etc partitions I can delete or resize one.
Windows update went way further than deleting Grub on my laptop. It completely wiped my Linux partition, and I'm not alone in having Microsoft blow up my system:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-update-delete-linux/

I'm a bit offended by Linux beeing in a wheelchair, implying it can't run, even if one wheel wasn't stolen 😤

Instead, it should be 8 legged and run the web 😉

I agree. I won't lie: it's a stolen meme too. I'm the worst!
You underestimate the amount of critical infrastructure still running on Windows Server. It's a nightmare.

This is the truest meme I've ever seen.

This just happened to me on my laptop like a week ago. I can still Systemd boot into Pop!_Os so I haven't looked into fixing it yet.
- You just need to boot from a live USB, chroot into the OS, and rebuild the boot sector. Pop has a great document on how to do it. It takes maybe 5 minutes.

Is that Prince Andrew stealing the wheel?

That's His Majesty King Charles III, tyvm.
- About time!
No, Charlie is being cheeky again
No, it's Charles.
But only so Andy can catch the underage girl in the wheelchair without having to break into a sweat.
No it's Joe
- That's his majesty Genocide Joe, tyvm

Image Transcription: Meme

[An image of King Charles III stealing a wheel from a wheelchair. A person on the wheelchair is angry. They are labeled as such:]

King Charles: Windows Update
Wheel being stolen: UEFI Boot partition
Person on wheelchair: Linux

I am a human volunteer who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on programming.dev and you could be one too! !transcribing@programming.dev

High time to get rid of Windows, then.

perfect

I don't even use Linux but this meme is hilarious

That's why you should only have a Linux partition. Most things Windows cam be done with WINE, Proton, or, in absolute necessity, a VM.

I still have Windows dual booted because I just can't figure these things out. Literally just now spent an hour trying to get Topaz Gigapixel working in Bottles and it just crashes, freezes, or sometimes doesn't launch. Installed vcredist dependencies only to have vague messages of "Failed to Install" Even tried ditching Bottles and just going through Steam and it failed there too. It's better than it was 10 years ago, but I'll have to keep a dual boot.
- These days with how good KVM is, running Windows in a VM is a pretty good option.
  Not that I'm against dual booting, but depending on how many programmes you're actually needing to boot into Windows for it can be a more convenient option.
  On the other point, if you're struggling to get things working in Wine/Bottles/etc. when the internet tells you they should work, you could try looking into CrossOver by Codeweavers. It's a paid-for product from the company that does most of the development on Wine and Proton. Not everything can and will work in Wine/etc., but CrossOver has a free trial so it can't hurt to give it a go.
i quit dual booting years ago (because of a different issue i didn't want a repeat of). use separate systems and network them.
I have exactly one program i need and that just won't run in Linux. It's the proprietary scan software that came with my scanner. It lives on a Windows VM and only gets fired up once a week.
- That's one of the two? things left that are keeping me on Windows. Photoshop being the other one that I can remember.
  I've got hundreds of old photos to scan, and a trial of lots of scanning software on Linux showed that the Windows software is currently superior. If I wasn't using Photoshop too I could probably use a VM. Seeing as I need to be in Windows anyway, I'm sticking with that setup until the photos are scanned.
  For anyone wondering, I found that scanning under Linux left the colours slightly 'off'. It's easy to fix, but has to be done individually, so doing it for that many photos would add way too much time to the project. It's faster to stick with Windows until they're scanned.
I used to have a dual boot but realized I hadn't used my Windows installation in months and nuked it.

Debian is also able to do this after an update, as it disables the os-prober by default. You have to manually re-enable it (prevent it from being disabled).

Yeah but in that case it isn't nuking the boot files required to boot Windows, it's just clearing the boot entry list and reenabling os-prober and updating grub is enough to fix it. It's like a 1 minute process tops.
Windows is capable of permanently nuking your Linux boot partition, overwriting it entirely and you'd have to boot into a live iso and take several more steps to fix it unless you keep a backup of your boot partition.

I had to set up Grub2Win in order for these shenanigans to stop. Never had problems with dual booting again afterwards

For others who were interested in this like I was.
Be aware that systems with secure boot enabled are not supported and the author has stated will likely never be supported due to the hassle of getting it signed by a trusted authority.
not a huge issue but, still an annoyance
- To be fair, Secure Boot is actively hostile toward dual-booting in the first place. Worst of all, it might seem to work for a while then suddenly start causing errors sometime later.

This is why I stopped dual-booting

Can Linux not boot from UEFI boards then?

Linux boots fine under UEFI but windows tends to break/destroy alternative OS partitions.
- Wilfried Just protects the user from accidentally selecting the wrong bootloader by conveniently removing them.
It absolutely can.

As a new duel booting Linux user this meme has instilled a fear in me I didn't need