Grub error after fresh install

jwegier · 23 February 2018 16:38

Hello,

my previous system was:

1 TB drive with Windows 7 (partitioned into C: and D:)
2 TB drive with Ubuntu Mate 17.10

from yesterday my new setup is:

250GB SSD with Windows 10
1 TB drive (the previous Windows 7 drive) for files, movies, etc…
2 TB drive on which I installed Ubuntu Mate 17.10

I first installed Windows 10 on the 250 GB SSD drive (while the 2 TB drive with Ubuntu Mate 17.10 was disconnected) After the installation, I booted into Windows 10 to check if everything was OK and then deleted the ex-Windows 7 install from the 1 TB drive.

To be sure to make no error, I disconnected the SSD and also the 1 TB drive and then I made a fresh installation of Ubuntu Mate 17.10 on the 2 TB drive and rebooted to check if the install was OK and then reconnected the SSD drive and the ex ‘Windows drive’. Windows 10 is booting automatically.

From BIOS, I booted into Ubuntu Mate and ran “sudo update-grub” and then change the priority order in BIOS so it would search into Ubuntu Mate drive first. On reboot, grub appears but instead of Windows 10 and Ubuntu Mate options, I get Windows 7 and Ubuntu Mate. And of course, right now I cannot boot into Windows 10 from grub but from BIOS.

Do you have any idea about what went wrong? Maybe something during the installation/partitioning of the Ubuntu Mate drive, so there is still traces of Windows 7 in grub?

Thank you very much.

pavlos_kairis · 23 February 2018 17:19

There is a grub-customizer package that may help you configure grub to ‘see’ win10 and 17.10
Just a thought …

jwegier · 23 February 2018 17:43

Thanks, I will try this.

I still would like to understand why the name Windows 7 still appears in grub after I deleted all the partitions of the previous Ubuntu Mate installation and made a fresh install?

jwegier · 23 February 2018 20:29

I checked grub-customizer and Windows 10 does not appear there!

pavlos_kairis · 23 February 2018 21:57

If I understood correctly, win10 wrote its bootloader on its own ssd. Ubuntu wrote its own bootloader on the 2TB drive. Two different bootloaders on different devices. As for win7, you mentioned you deleted win7 from the 1TB but kept the disk b/c of files, movies, etc. No idea why win7 shows up.

If you go into BIOS and select a disk (either win10 or ubuntu) it does boot, right? In order for both OSes to be seen on grub, see if the following link helps. https://askubuntu.com/questions/197868/grub-does-not-detect-windows

jwegier · 24 February 2018 04:34

Yes, I deleted and formatted the C: partition where Win 7 OS and programs were installed and only kept the D: partition with files, documents, movies etc.

I have no problem to boot into Windows 10 from BIOS and to Ubuntu Mate from grub…

I will check the link. Thank you very much

wolfman · 24 February 2018 06:35

See also:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing

jwegier · 24 February 2018 08:15

If I understand well, then according to my screenshot from GParted:

the letter of the 2 TB drive with Ubuntu Mate is C, so to repair grub I should run: 'sudo grub-install /dev/sdc '
and then run 'sudo update-grub' ?

jwegier · 24 February 2018 09:47

An other question:

Does this graphical tool do something different than the 'sudo grub-install /dev/sdc ’
and then run ‘sudo update-grub’ method?

Thanks

steven · 25 February 2018 00:39

Yes,

Make sure you have the other two drives connected this time, boot into Ubuntu Mate, then run sudo grub-install /dev/sdc to reinstall GRUB on the hard drive /dev/sdc. Follow this with sudo update-grub to ensure the GRUB menu is up-to-date.

If all goes well, during the installation of GRUB any other operating systems will be detected and will appear in the GRUB menu from that point on.

Reboot and make the necessary changes in your BIOS so that the hard drive /dev/sdc is the first hard drive to boot if you have not done so already.

You may also wish to read the Grub2 Installing documentation before preceeding.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing

Edit: I see @wolfman has already provided you a link to this documentation.

jwegier · 25 February 2018 06:40

I ran 'sudo grub-install /dev/sdc' . The process was 5 seconds only with only two lines:

installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

Then I ran 'sudo update-grub' but on reboot, there is no change in grub. Windows 10 still does not show as an option but Windows 7 still appears.

I installed the Boot Repair program and got this message:

How do I proceed now?

Thanks

aqk · 7 March 2018 02:41

Just one more question- What’s the BIOS on this machine? Is it the old “legacy” BIOS which I am familiar with or the newer UEFI BIOS?
The EFI boot manager list, stored in NVRAM is not a list of partitions, but of boot loader programs.
And it can cause grief if you do not understand it fully.
All my machines are (putting it politely) “dated” and use the old legacy BIOS. I’ve only managed to get a GRUB working properly ONCE on a friend’s new PC. Then he decided he “didn’t like linux. TAKE IT OFF!”