FydeOS Dual-Boot Issue – rEFInd Installed but Firmware Always Boots Windows
Hello FydeOS Support,
I am trying to set up a dual-boot system with Windows 10 and FydeOS, using rEFInd as the boot manager.
Device Information
- Laptop: Acer Aspire E15 E5-575G
- CPU: Intel Core i5 7th Generation
- Dedicated GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
- Operating System: Windows 10
- Windows Version: 10.0.19045.6456
- Boot Mode: UEFI
- Partition Style: GPT
What I did
Before installing FydeOS, I manually created:
- A new 1 GB EFI System Partition
- A new 38 GB partition intended for FydeOS
I then installed FydeOS on the 38 GB partition and selected the option to install rEFInd for dual boot.
The installation completed successfully.
However, after removing the USB installer and rebooting:
- rEFInd does not appear.
- The firmware Boot Menu does not show rEFInd.
- The system goes to Windows Boot Manager instead.
- FydeOS is not shown as a boot option.
EFI partition verification
I mounted the EFI partition in Windows using:
mountvol R: /S
Then checked:
dir R:\EFI
The EFI partition contains:
Microsoft
Boot
fydeos
refind
tools
I also checked:
dir R:\EFI\refind
and confirmed that rEFInd is installed:
refind_x64.efi
refind.conf
icons
drivers_x64
themes
BOOT.csv
Specifically:
R:\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
exists and is approximately 336 KB.
BCD configuration
I created a backup:
bcdedit /export C:\BCD-Backup
Then I tried:
bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
and:
bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" description "rEFInd FydeOS"
Both commands completed successfully.
bcdedit /enum "{bootmgr}" showed:
device partition=R:
path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
description rEFInd FydeOS
However, after reboot, I still get the Windows Boot Manager OS selection screen instead of rEFInd.
Firmware entry verification
I also ran:
bcdedit /enum firmware
The firmware does contain a rEFInd entry:
description rEFInd boot manager
path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
device partition=F:
The rEFInd firmware entry exists, but it is not consistently used as the first boot entry.
I tried changing the firmware display order using:
bcdedit /set "{fwbootmgr}" displayorder {82d49e49-9790-11f1-bdd6-806e6f6e6963} /addfirst
The command succeeded, but after restarting, the firmware boot order reverted back to the previous/default order.
Current behavior
Every reboot results in the Windows Boot Manager screen:
Choose an operating system
- Windows 10
- Windows 10
There is no rEFInd interface.
Also, when I enter the firmware/Boot Menu manually, rEFInd is not shown as a selectable boot option, even though bcdedit /enum firmware shows that the rEFInd firmware application entry exists.
Important details
The FydeOS installation itself appears to be intact because:
R:\EFI\fydeos
exists, and:
R:\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
also exists.
I have not deleted or reformatted the FydeOS partition after installation.
My question
Could you please tell me the correct and permanent fix for this specific UEFI/rEFInd boot-order issue?
It appears that:
- rEFInd is correctly installed on the EFI partition.
- The rEFInd EFI executable exists.
- A firmware rEFInd entry exists.
- Windows/firmware still prefers Windows Boot Manager.
- Any boot-order modification appears to be reset after reboot.
I would like to keep the existing Windows and FydeOS installations and make rEFInd the permanent boot manager without reinstalling FydeOS or deleting the partitions.
Please advise the proper FydeOS-supported method for fixing this.
Thank you.