Installing Windows via Grub if USB boot is blocked


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This guide will be helpful if you have a computer, laptop, or other computing device that currently has an operating system (OS) installed which uses GRUB as its boot menu. With this guide, you will be able to boot from a Windows USB stick even if USB boot is disabled or the boot menu is locked.

Requirements:

• Windows 8 or newer
• USB-Stick (at least 8 GB)
• Windows 10 or 11 ISO
• Rufus

Step 1:

Download the Windows iso via the official webpage from Microsoft.

Step 2:

Download the newest version of Rufus form rufus.ie.

Step 3:

Start the rufus exe file you downloaded.
image of rufus after start

Step 4:

Plug in your USB Stick and select it in rufus.
image of rufus after the usb drive is selected
Make sure the USB drive dose not have any important data on it, as all data on the drive will be wiped!

Step 5:

Select the Windows ISO you downloaded.
image of rufus after the iso file is selected

Step 6:

Change the Partition scheme to MBR and press Start to start the flashing of the USB Drive.
image of rufus with part sceam changed to MBR

Step 7:

After the flashing has finished, unplug the usb drive and plug it in to the device you want to install Windows on.

Step 8:

Start the Computer and press ESC until you see a command line like this:
grub command line

Step 9:

You can enter the command:
ls
to see all possible drives and partitions.

Step 10:

Select the boot partition on the Windows USB drive. Its will be named something like (hd[NUMBER],msdos[NUMBER]). You can select a partition with the command:
set root=(hd0,msdos1)
The part after the root= shudt be your Windows boot partition on the USB drive. If you have multiple options you have to try all of them.

Step 11:

Select the boot file:
chainloader /efi/Boot/bootx64.efi
If this command fails you might have to try a different partition.

Step 12:

Enter the command:
boot
to boot the selected Windows install.

Step 13:

Install Windows like normal.