The Windows 8 secure boot system, and UEFI in general, are still a headache when it comes to booting Linux. Although Ubuntu has supported the secure boot for several versions now, it still poses problems when installing, reinstalling, or customizing the boot process.

Because of this, Ubuntu 14.04 will come with a Boot Repair [1] app preinstalled. Boot Repair aims to be a very simple tool that will allow you to mend most boot messes with a click of a button. Most of the time, boots can be mended by reinstalling GRUB to the Master Boot Record (MBR), which is what Boot Repair does in its simplest form. The software will also help you back up table partitions, backup bootsectors, create a Boot-Info report (to get help by email or from a forum), or change the default repair parameters: configure GRUB, add kernel options (acpi=off …), purge GRUB, change the default OS, restore a Windows-compatible MBR, repair a broken filesystem, specify the disk where GRUB should be installed, and so on.

You can already grab Boot Repair by downloading the source [2] and compiling it yourself, or by including the PPA [3] in your list of repositories. Be warned that Boot Repair is still under development, and you should use it at your own risk.

Info

[1] Ubuntu Boot Repair announcement: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[2] Boot Repair source code: http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair/

[3] Boot Repair PPA: https://launchpad.net/~yannubuntu/+archive/boot-repair