boot-repair interview questions
Top boot-repair frequently asked interview questions
I installed Windows 7, which ate Ubuntu's boot file. When starting up the computer, it now goes straight to Windows, without giving me the option of booting Ubuntu.
How can I get Ubuntu back?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Accidental BIOS mode install
I have Intel 64-bit hardware with UEFI setup utility. Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS was installed as the only operating system on the only drive attached. Accidentally Ubuntu was installed in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode.
Convert to UEFI
While later on learning about UEFI, the goal is to change this existing Ubuntu installation to (quicker) boot via EFI/UEFI. I do still want to have some kind of - 2 seconds displayed - boot menu that allows me to enter the UEFI setup utility. Therefore I think I do need use Grub (can't use an EFI boot stub) and GOP support requires Grub version 1.99 or higher. I have already re-partitioned the drive using a Live CD and inserted a 200 MiB EFI partition in the beginning of the drive and marked that fat16 formatted partition as type id 0xEF.
Before:
# fdisk -l /dev/sda
...
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 108478463 54238208 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 108480510 125044735 8282113 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 108480512 125044735 8282112 82 Linux swap / Solaris
After:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 411648 108478463 54033408 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 108480510 125044735 8282113 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 2048 411647 204800 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda5 108480512 125044735 8282112 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition table entries are not in disk order
No boot-repair please
The Ubuntu community wiki suggests to use boot-repair to Converting Ubuntu into EFI mode. I don't want to use a GUI, or install any extra packages, and I don't want any data being accidentally sent to pastebin.com and because I do want to know what will be changed exactly, I don't want to use Boot-repair.
Under the hood
Trying to figure out what boot-repair actually does, I found this snippet:
Boot-Repair will convert a BIOS install to UEFI by uninstalling grub-pc, and installing grub-efi, if gpt partitioned.
source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295&p=12657352#post12657352
UEFI mode install comparison
A clean Ubuntu 14.04.1 installation in UEFI mode creates a 512 MiB Fat32 formatted EFI partition. That partition contains one directory /EFI/ubuntu, containing 4 files: grub.cfg, grubx64.efi, MokManager.efi and shimx64.efi. The grub.cfg contains:
search.fs_uuid 7d843e47-3917-4114-8725-55dfa1fbe002 root hd0,gpt2
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg
Search.fs_uuid points to the UUID of the Linux installation partition, in this comparison UEFI installation Linux is installed partition /dev/sda2 (versus sda1 in BIOS mode installation).
No potential Asrock firmware issues found
Having CSM still disabled in firmware and using the clean UEFI mode Ubuntu installation. Resizing the 512 MiB EFI partition to 200 MiB using a Live CD and gparted results in that its formatting changes from FAT32 to FAT16. The Asrock firmware P1.50 (incorrectly called BIOS by AMI in boot message "BIOS date") is still able to boot into UEFI mode Ubuntu: UEFI+FAT16 = ok.
Converting the partition table from GPT to MBR (msdos) using the same Live CD terminal command gdisk and its commands r g p w also results in a UEFI bootable Ubuntu on an MBR partitioned drive: UEFI+MBR = ok.
Question
Does this mean that the only commands I do need to execute - from the legacy Ubuntu install and in this order - are:
# apt-get install grub-efi
# apt-get remove grub-pc
? Or is more needed to be done?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I've just upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 on my partitioned laptop that has Ubuntu 14.04 installed. Grub no longer appeared on boot so I ran boot-repair from an Ubuntu liveUSB. This didn't seem to have any effect. I've checked and secure boot is still disabled.
Log from boot-repair: http://paste.ubuntu.com/11972534/
So what's next?
Update: I've attempted to use chroot to update grub from my Ubuntu partition. update-grub runs successfully finding both linux and windows boot manager but the process still doesn't have any effect. grub-install complains that it cannot find EFI directory (but I have mounted everything correctly).
Update2: Just discovered that running efibootmgr after chroot into ubuntu shows ubuntu as not being in the boot order at all. I manually changed the order and rebooted to discover that the bootorder was reset. I run in windows: bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi But this has no effect either even after reporting 'Operation Successful'.
Source: (StackOverflow)
After upgrading Ubuntu 13.10 to 14.04, grub failed to load Ubuntu and threw the error symbol 'grub_term_highlight_color' not found. I followed the solution offered in the Bug Report but this failed for me, throwing the error failed to get canonical path of /cow.
Now, I'm trying to install Boot-Repair to fix this problem on a live pen-drive, using these commands.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && (boot-repair &)
But after adding and updating the repositories, it shows ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair 404 Not Found error.
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu/dists/trusty/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found
Is this problem solvable or is there an alternative PPA for Boot-Repair?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I am using Ubuntu 14.04.
On 23 August 2014 I ran in terminal sudo apt-get update. Then I rebooted the system. And now I see:
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/xxxxxxxxx does not exist. Dropping to a shell
initramfs:_
I can't boot up LIVE Ubuntu from USB flash drive. Yes, I double checked BIOS setup and the USB flash drive is OK and runs on another machine. Right now I am going to buy a DVD and burn a Live DVD from another laptop.
sudo blkid gives me:
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: UUID="xxxx" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sr0: LABEL="Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS i386" TYPE="iso960"
/etc/fstab has the same UUID="xxxx" and there is line where is written:
errors=remount-ro 0
I have this after running boot-repair: Boot-repair log.
And then I still can't login to Ubuntu.
I don't want to reinstall Ubuntu, because I have a lot of data there.
Do you have any advice how this can be solved?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I hope someone here might be able to help me.
I've just purchased a new Acer Aspire V3-771G laptop which came pre-installed with windows 8.
I shrunk the main windows partition and installed ubuntu 12.10. I then had to run boot-repair to be able to boot to ubuntu. Here's the paste url:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/5698647/
This worked and I could now boot ubuntu and it provided me with 3 other entries which should supposedly allow me to boot back to windows 8. However when trying these menu entries I get the following errors:
Windows UEFI bkpbootmgfw.efi
/EndEntire
file path: /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)
/HD(2,c8800,96000,fe030bf1430a6047,9a,9a)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot)
/File(bkpbootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
Windows Boot UEFI loader
/EndEntire
file path: /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)
/HD(2,c8800,96000,fe030bf1430a6046,9a,9a)/File(\EFI\Boot)
/File(bkpbootx64.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
EFI/OEM/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
/EndEntire
file path: /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)
/HD(2,c8800,96000,fe030bf1430a6046,9a,9a)/File(\EFI\OEM\Boot)
/File(bootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
I have looked in the /boot/efi partition and the .efi files listed in grub are there but I always get this error.
I would be very greatful of any suggestions on how to get windows 8 to boot.
Many thanks,
Tom
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have an HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14 laptop that I have installed Ubuntu 12.10 dual boot with the original windows 8. I used boot-repair to get set up to boot into grub.
My issue is that I have not been able to get it to boot straight off the new efi file that was created. I have looked around the boot options in the bios screen, but it does not give me a choice for Ubuntu. The only way I can boot into Ubuntu is to press F9 when I power the system on and then manually navigate to the ubuntu efi file. This works but if I am not paying close attention, it will boot into windows.
After I finished running boot-repair, it told me to boot from sda2/EFI/ubuntu/shimx64.efi
I have seen some suggestions that I should move this file in place of the windows bootmgfw.efi, but I am concerned that I will break things and not be able to boot the windows 8 installation. While I already dislike win8 even more than win7, I do need it from time to time for a couple tasks...
The details of my boot-repair are here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1418009/
Source: (StackOverflow)
After installing Ubuntu, Windows didn't boot so I installed boot repair to fix this problem. But I am getting the message displayed below.
I tried to make a new partition with unformatted file system but still receiving the same message.
How do I fix it?
Source: (StackOverflow)
This question already has an answer here:
I've just bought a new Toshiba laptop, on which Windows 8 is preinstalled. I've installed Ubuntu Gnome 13.10 and GRUB2 correctly detects Ubuntu and Windows. But the strange problem is that when I try to boot Windows 8, it appears the following error:
/EndEntire
file path:/ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknwnMessaging(12)/HD(2,200800,82000,a8d996409dcfe211,a8,59)/File(\EFI|Microsoft\Boot)/File(bootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
I've tried to solve using boot-repair, using the auto-correction. But never has changed. Here is the log generated by boot-repair: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6426642/
How can I fix this?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Since I updated Windows to 8.1 my Grub menu disappeared. I ran Ubuntu using Live USB, I used Boot-Repair but something went wrong. If I click on Reccomended repair I get this error:
GPT detected. Please create a BIOS-Boot partition (>1MB, unformatted filesystem, bios_grub flag). This can be performed via tools such as Gparted. Then try again. Alternatively, you can retry after activating the [Separate /boot/efi partition:] option.
So I tried to set my sda9 (I think that it's the Ubuntu system partition, since it's ext4) with the bios_grub flag and then to run Boot-Repair again. It didn't work.
I don't know what to do. My Grub was working fine (using UEFI) before I updated Windows.
I removed the bios_grub flag. Then I used fsck and it didn't find any error. So I tried again with Boot-Repair but it always gives me the "GPT detected" error. My boot is on UEFI mode, Secure Boot is "off".
When I boot my PC with SecureBoot OFF, I can reach the GRUB menu. But it's empty (the only voice is "System Setup").
I mounted my Ubuntu system disk:
sudo mount /dev/sda9 /mnt
and the other things:
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
I logged on the system with chroot:
sudo chroot /mnt
I re-installed grub:
grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub2
But it still doesn't work.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a laptop with Ubuntu 14.04 installed in BIOS (Legacy mode).
sudo dmidecode
BIOS Information
Vendor: Dell Inc.
Version: A16
Release Date: 12/05/2013
...
System Information
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: Latitude E6410
Instead of upgrading, I tried to install new Xubuntu 16.04 in UEFI mode.
Switched BIOS boot from Legacy to UEFI and disabled the RAID for SATA.
(SoftRAID/FakeRAID corrupt the GPT table backup in the end of disk, on each boot)
Booted using USB key in UEFI mode & resized and converted partition table from MBR to GPT.
- Booted again using USB key in UEFI mode and installed Xubuntu. Created a new boot EFI (FAT32) partition.
On reboot, There is a Ubuntu entry in UEFI menu but selecting it raise a BIOS error message about no boot media.
Tried multiple things but no success:
- Boot-repair.
- Change EFI partition to FAT16.
- Reinstalled Xubuntu.
sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sda
label: gpt
label-id: 4A4481B5-0322-411E-8D05-552FBE6189AC
device: /dev/sda
unit: sectors
first-lba: 34
last-lba: 976773134
/dev/sda1 : start= 4194304, size= 127924224, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=F1D50A87-ACB2-4868-B1EA-66C3D5223EA4, name="Linux filesystem"
/dev/sda2 : start= 874115072, size= 98463744, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=C96E6320-18EA-40B2-BA46-79FC66407917, name="Linux filesystem"
/dev/sda4 : start= 2048, size= 409600, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=BCB6E471-44F7-4C42-81EC-B276F1D6B6E6, name="EFI"
/dev/sda5 : start= 154339328, size= 715456512, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=AEBBA3F2-F8B6-40C0-ABFE-9F530FC5F641, name="Linux filesystem"
/dev/sda6 : start= 136513536, size= 17825792, type=0657FD6D-A4AB-43C4-84E5-0933C84B4F4F, uuid=515C9B77-B282-4007-8F1A-B0C5D908591E, name="Linux swap"
Source: (StackOverflow)
I installed Ubuntu on a pc with Windows 8 preinstalled.
After installation Grub showed Ubuntu entries and Windows 8 Boot Manager (or something similar), selecting it I got:
/EndEntire
file path /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)/HD(2,e1800,82000,963b540a6178e211,8d,38)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot)/File(bootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
After that I run boot-repair with the default options.
This is the file it generated: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6005571
And this grub entries:
- Ubuntu
- Advanced options for Ubuntu
- Windows UEFI bkpbootmgfw.efi
- Windows Boot UEFI loader
- EFI/toshiba/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
- Windows Boot Manager (UEFI on /dev/sda2)
- System setup (Bios menu)
The four about Windows 8 all give a similar error message:
Windows UEFI bkpbootmgfw.efi
/EndEntire
file path /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)/HD(2,e1800,82000,963b540a6178e211,8d,38)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot)/File(bootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
Windows Boot UEFI loader
/EndEntire
file path /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)/HD(2,e1800,82000,963b540a6178e211,8d,38)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot)/File(bkpbootx64.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
EFI/toshiba/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
/EndEntire
file path /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)/HD(2,e1800,82000,963b540a6178e211,8d,38)/File(\EFI\toshiba\Boot)/File(bootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
Windows Boot Manager (UEFI on /dev/sda2)
/EndEntire
file path /ACPI(a0341d0,0)/PCI(2,1f)/UnknownMessaging(12)/HD(2,e1800,82000,963b540a6178e211,8d,38)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot)/File(bootmgfw.efi)/EndEntire
error: cannot load image.
How can I fix this?
Update:
Following Rod Smith answer I tried wit rEFInd from an USB flash drive.
It shows two Windows icons, one of which work (the other gives an error, it's the one that says Probabbly Grub).
The working one is: Boot Microsoft EFI boot (Boot Repair backup) from 256MiB FAT Volume
So I was able to boot into Windows, now how can I fix this so that I don't have to use rEFInd?
And how can I remove rEFInd from my pc (it shows also after removing the usb flashdrive from the pc)?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Summary:
I keep getting the error: no such device grub rescue, after installing 12.04 (erasing an old 12.04 installation beforehand, but using the old /home mount, from a different HDD)
I have two HDD 80 GB (used for /) and 250 GB (used for /home)
I have tried Boot error > no such device: grub rescue and also using live cd then installing boot-repair, none of them solves the problem.
Details from boot-repair: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/1155292/
Question:
I have tried a fresh install several time, and during these times, the two HDD mounted differently. I mean sometimes the 80 GB mounted as sda, sometimes as sdb. is this normal?
Do you good guys at the Ask Ubuntu have any other way?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have SONY VAIO SVF15319SNB laptop with Windows-10.
I re-partitioned the disk to install Ubuntu 14.04.
Installation was fine but after restarting the system, I am not able to get the dual boot options. System is starting with default Windows.
I tried the 2nd option mentioned in below link: install Boot-repair in Ubuntu.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
It worked fine for first time, but once I re-booted the system and started the windows then again restarting the system, its not showing ubuntu option and starting in Windows.
I have the pastebin while trying to repair using the above mentioned option:
http://paste2.org/hnW6xV2W
Please help me on this.
Source: (StackOverflow)
When the bootloader (GRUB) is broken, I cannot access neither Ubuntu nor Windows.
I heard that an easy solution to fix this is to use the Boot-Repair tool from an Ubuntu liveCD (or liveUSB).
What are the steps to do this?
Source: (StackOverflow)