It finally happened to me. Windows disabled my dual-boot setup.
Today as I was setting up to teach somebody else’s online class, EOS obstinately decided not to recognize my Huion graphics tablet. I’ve never had a problem with it before, but now–15 minutes before showtime–no tablet. No biggie. This is a dual-boot laptop so I just booted up Windows 10. Then my Lenovo ThinkPad 3 did something unexpected. A Lenovo (not Microsoft) splash screen announced that I was getting an update. I heard the internal fan spool up to max RPM, then Windows 10 booted, so I taught the morning class without incident. Made me feel kind of gross using Windows though.
On my lunch break I decided to boot up EOS for some graphics tablet troubleshooting only to find that my boot menu is gone! I used the F12 key to access the EFI boot menu and–no option to boot anything except Windows!
I entered the regular EFI settings menu and found that the Lenovo security platform and secure boot were both enabled! I know I turned them off. How did this Lenovo update dick with my user settings?!?! Disabling them again did not restore my boot menu however.
MX to the rescue! I always keep MX on a USB stick in my laptop bag. I booted it up, opened MX Tools Boot Repair, and had it fixed in a few minutes. Dual-boot is back. I still don’t know why EOS ignores my Huion. They’ve been playing nice together for months. But at least I regained control of my boot choices.
My copy of Windows 10 came with the laptop so it is full of Lenovo bloatware. I may blow it out and install stock Windoze or maybe I’ll just flush Windoze altogether. If EOS won’t support my Huion tablet I’m eyeing Fedora 36 Cinnamon.