Fixing Dual Boot Issues with Kali Linux 2025 and Windows 10/11 (UEFI) on HP Laptops

Dual-booting Kali Linux 2025 alongside Windows 10/11 on modern UEFI systems can be frustrating — especially when your system refuses to boot from USB or fails to detect Windows after installation.

After running into this exact issue on an HP laptop, I found a reliable fix that not only restores GRUB properly but also ensures your system always has a working fallback boot path.

Here’s a clean, step-by-step solution.

The Problem

After installing Kali Linux:

• GRUB loads, but Windows doesn’t appear
• Selecting the USB installer sometimes fails to boot
• System may loop back to BIOS or ignore boot selections

This usually happens because:

• os-prober is disabled by default
• UEFI boot entries are missing or broken
• No fallback EFI bootloader exists

The Solution

1. Enable OS Detection in GRUB

Kali (and many modern distros) disable OS detection by default.

Open the GRUB config file:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Find this line:

#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

Uncomment it so it becomes:

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

Save and exit.

2. Update GRUB

Now regenerate the GRUB menu:

sudo update-grub

This should detect:

• Windows 10
• Windows 11

3. Create a UEFI Fallback Bootloader (Critical Fix)

This is the step that makes the setup robust.

Navigate to your EFI partition (usually mounted at /boot/efi) and ensure the following structure exists:

EFI/
 ├── Boot/
 │    └── BOOTX64.EFI
 ├── kali/
 │    └── grubx64.efi
 ├── Microsoft/
      └── Boot/

If EFI/Boot/BOOTX64.EFI does not exist:

1. Create the folder:

sudo mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/Boot

1. Copy GRUB as the fallback bootloader:

sudo cp /boot/efi/EFI/kali/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Boot/BOOTX64.EFI

Why This Works

• os-prober allows GRUB to detect Windows installations
• update-grub rebuilds the boot menu with proper entries
• BOOTX64.EFI acts as a universal fallback bootloader that UEFI firmware always checks

Even if your BIOS boot entries break or disappear, your system will still boot into GRUB.

BIOS Settings (HP Users)

For best results on HP systems:

Secure Boot:

• Try Enabled first (UEFI mode)
• If issues persist, disable it.

Legacy Support:

• Keep Disabled unless necessary

USB Boot:

• Ensure it’s enabled

Key Takeaways

• Modern Linux distributions don’t automatically detect Windows anymore
• UEFI systems rely heavily on correct EFI file placement
• Creating a fallback BOOTX64.EFI can save your system from boot failures

Final Result

After applying this fix:

• GRUB properly lists Windows and Kali
• USB boot works reliably
• System remains bootable even if firmware resets

Closing Thoughts

This approach turns a fragile dual-boot setup into a stable, production-ready configuration. If you’re working on Kali + Windows in a UEFI environment — especially on HP hardware — this method can save you hours of troubleshooting.

If you’ve run into similar issues or have improvements, feel free to share your experience. kindly dm me.

Happy hacking