Why GNU/Linux Rocks

[lxskllr]

Also lx, on both my Arch machine and my Fedora box using GRUB2, update-grub or update-grub2 return command not found. Same goes for grub-update or grub2-update, in case you mixed it up. Perhaps it's one of those patches I hear Debian likes applying in order to keep things working just as they used to. Don't know.

That could be. I've only used it on Debian based systems.

[shikitohno]

The ArchWiki might look like Arabic now, but learning how to read technical instructions is part of becoming proficient and self-sufficient with linux. For grub2 installation, start here and you can stop at visual configuration, unless you want to do some extra tweaking. All the commands will work for you, save the pacman -S ones. For those, you can replace pacman -S with 'sudo apt-get install whatever.' You can also skip the "Create a GRUB2 Standalone UEFI Application" section. Otherwise, that's the way to get things going again that doesn't involve reinstalling everything. It may look like quite a bit, but it's not as hard as it seems. And the chroot article is pretty much exactly what you'd need to do in order to successfully use chroot, though you don't have to use /mnt/arch, you could make it /mnt/pr0n if you really wanted. Anyway, that's just how I would do it. I'd also recommend this because I'm pretty sure reinstalling won't pull down grub2-uefi by default, so you'll wind up unable to boot again unless you can select grub2-uefi as a package to install during the installation and have it configured then.

Also lx, on both my Arch machine and my Fedora box using GRUB2, update-grub or update-grub2 return command not found. Same goes for grub-update or grub2-update, in case you mixed it up. Perhaps it's one of those patches I hear Debian likes applying in order to keep things working just as they used to. Don't know.

[lxskllr]

Do it from the terminal in the liveCD fdisk -l will show where everything is, and you can be sure you're speaking the same language since that's where you'll be doing the work.

Edit:
/dev/sdb is assuming that's where Ubuntu is. Use fdisk to determine that, and use whatever it gives you, but omit any numbers at the end.

[sgreger1]

Alright, I'm just gonna go with it. I'm not backing this up with any web information, so do it at your own risk. Your data partitions should be fine, and the absolute worst thing that'll happen is you lose boot to both O/Ss. That can be fixed, but you have to be prepared to do it. Boot to the LiveCD, and check the partition you have Ubuntu on. There should be a folder in there called boot. If that's the case, open the terminal, and do the fdisk -l deal just to confirm the device Ubuntu is on(/dev/sdb). I believe shikitohno's right, but it always pays to check first. Assuming that's right, do the commands above...

sudo grub-install /dev/sdb
update-grub

then reboot. hopefully it'll put you at the GRUB boot menu, but I'm not 100% sure that it will :^/

Jesus Christ. I don't have a Win7 OS CD so if I lose both of them I am completely screwed. Oh well, here goes nothing.

Edit: Wait, why am I installing to dev/sdb if it is on the first drive, can you confirm that I should be doing it on the sdb?


Here is a breakdown of my partitions btw:




It seems to have shrunk it, see the larger version here: http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/z...Partitions.jpg

[lxskllr]

Alright, I'm just gonna go with it. I'm not backing this up with any web information, so do it at your own risk. Your data partitions should be fine, and the absolute worst thing that'll happen is you lose boot to both O/Ss. That can be fixed, but you have to be prepared to do it. Boot to the LiveCD, and check the partition you have Ubuntu on. There should be a folder in there called boot. If that's the case, open the terminal, and do the fdisk -l deal just to confirm the device Ubuntu is on(/dev/sdb). I believe shikitohno's right, but it always pays to check first. Assuming that's right, do the commands above...

sudo grub-install /dev/sdb
update-grub

then reboot. hopefully it'll put you at the GRUB boot menu, but I'm not 100% sure that it will :^/

[sgreger1]

The worst thing that'll happen AFAIK is you'll end up with 2 bootloaders; 1 on each drive. Imo, that's a desirable outcome. That way if one goes bad, you can switch to the other drive to rescue the broken one. That's assuming you're using 2 physical drives. I forgot how you set things up.

Yah I have two physical drives in my computer case. one is C: and one is X:

By installing it onto my first one, that's /dev/sda correct? And the second 3TB one is refered to as /dev/sdb? I installed all of this onto my first drive so I am assuming it is on /dev/sda.

[lxskllr]

The worst thing that'll happen AFAIK is you'll end up with 2 bootloaders; 1 on each drive. Imo, that's a desirable outcome. That way if one goes bad, you can switch to the other drive to rescue the broken one. That's assuming you're using 2 physical drives. I forgot how you set things up.

Edit:
You just clarified the drive issue for me.

Let me give it some thought, and get back

[sgreger1]

No longer an option for grub2, lx. And I say /dev/sdb because I know this is a drive that he recently added, and I'm assuming he's got windows on /dev/sda. Chroot will look imposing, but in actuality, it'll probably only take about 10 minutes from start to reboot.

Ah, in light of that, I'd guess /dev/sda would be the right one. Did you install it over your old install of Windows sgreger? If you did, first I hope you know all your data on that drive is gone for good. Second, reinstall Windows before you do anything else with linux. It's much easier to install WIndows and then linux compared to the other way around.

Um, no I am in windows now and everything seems to be right where I left it. I guess what I am saying is that it gave me the option of installing to to my 1st hard drive or the second one. I chose the first since the 2nd (3TB) one wouldn't let me. I created new partitions and it doesn't appear to have destroyed anything.


I would like to add that I really can not afford to lose all of my data so if at any point in this process I am at risk of wiping my drive please let me know so I can not d that. Is it impossible to have ubuntu and windows on the same hard drive?

[sgreger1]

No longer an option for grub2, lx. And I say /dev/sdb because I know this is a drive that he recently added, and I'm assuming he's got windows on /dev/sda. Chroot will look imposing, but in actuality, it'll probably only take about 10 minutes from start to reboot.

Oh really, so what Lx recommended won't work? ****.

Well it's installed on my /dev/sba. Windows is also on this drive. I just couldn't ge tit to make the necessary partitions on /dev/sbd so I had to go with /sba.

So I have to use CHROOT?


Edit: Archwiki looks like i'm reading Arabic. Not beginner friendly. If I try what Lx says is there any possibility of it messing anything up?

[lxskllr]

No longer an option for grub2, lx.

How's that? I've done that a couple times now on the Debian install I'm using on a thumb drive. I haven't used GRUB1 since 2010.

[sgreger1]

That looks like it would work. What I would do is boot to the liveCD, open a terminal, and type...

fdisk -l

Check the output so you know where Ubuntu's installed. Assuming it's /dev/sda then...

sudo grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub

Does that work? Damned if I know, but that's what I'd try :^D

Gonna try this now. I installed it on my master HD (in slot 1) so it should be /dev/sda.

I'll try this now and let you know how it works!

[shikitohno]

No longer an option for grub2, lx. And I say /dev/sdb because I know this is a drive that he recently added, and I'm assuming he's got windows on /dev/sda. Chroot will look imposing, but in actuality, it'll probably only take about 10 minutes from start to reboot.

Ah, in light of that, I'd guess /dev/sda would be the right one. Did you install it over your old install of Windows sgreger? If you did, first I hope you know all your data on that drive is gone for good. Second, reinstall Windows before you do anything else with linux. It's much easier to install WIndows and then linux compared to the other way around.

[sgreger1]

Pretty sure if you do that, you'll bork your Windows boot, as you'll install a new MBR over the current Windows one. Like I said, you probably want to install to the 3TB drive, which will likely be /dev/sdb, as that's where your /boot partition is. The option I'd suggest is looking up chroot on the ArchWiki. Pop in the disk you installed off of and when it boots and you're in the live environment, hit ctrl+alt+F3. Then follow the instructions on how to enter chroot on the wiki. Once you've mounted your hard drive and changed into it, you should be able to do a "sudo apt-get install grub2-uefi" and then follow the steps to install a UEFI-compatible grub install. If you need specifics, again the Arch Wiki is your friend. Although it's written with Arch in mind specifically, a great deal of what's on it is broadly applicable to linux in general.

It would not let me create the /root, /boot etc partitions on my 3TB hard drive so I installed it on the master 1.5tb drive (the one that came with the computer). That's fine though so I will just be using that since I have at least gotten this far.

I will check out the arch wiki and get back with what i've learned.

[lxskllr]

That looks like it would work. What I would do is boot to the liveCD, open a terminal, and type...

fdisk -l

Check the output so you know where Ubuntu's installed. Assuming it's /dev/sda then...

sudo grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub

Does that work? Damned if I know, but that's what I'd try :^D

[shikitohno]

Pretty sure if you do that, you'll bork your Windows boot, as you'll install a new MBR over the current Windows one. Like I said, you probably want to install to the 3TB drive, which will likely be /dev/sdb, as that's where your /boot partition is. The option I'd suggest is looking up chroot on the ArchWiki. Pop in the disk you installed off of and when it boots and you're in the live environment, hit ctrl+alt+F3. Then follow the instructions on how to enter chroot on the wiki. Once you've mounted your hard drive and changed into it, you should be able to do a "sudo apt-get install grub2-uefi" and then follow the steps to install a UEFI-compatible grub install. If you need specifics, again the Arch Wiki is your friend. Although it's written with Arch in mind specifically, a great deal of what's on it is broadly applicable to linux in general.