grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

shams · 04-21-2017, 06:56 AM

I installed the ubuntu 17.04 on /dev/sda6 and the option for grub2 installation was as well /dev/sda6, because i boot to the ubuntu with EasyBCD from windows 10, which is installed in the same hard disk, every thing was woking with ubuntu 16.10 and EasyBCD boot the ubuntu.
But in the ubuntu 17.04 the EasyBCD boot the /dev/sda6 and there is only a black screen with the blinking hyphen (-).
I boot the ubuntu 17.04 from another grub2 which is installed in the external hard disk and run the command to reinstall the grub to the /dev/sda6 but got this error:

Code:

# grub-install /dev/sda6
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

While making partition /dev/sda6 i left 10mb free space before it.

yancek · 04-21-2017, 07:15 AM

I'm not sure why you would re-install Grub to the Ubuntu partition when you already did that during the installation. Your problem could be that you are not getting to the Ubuntu Grub because you have installed a new system with new files/kernels and if you are using the windows software EasyBCD, have you changed the entry in the EasyBCD menu to reflect that? I haven't used EasyBCD for years so I'm not sure how it works but if it is a simple chainload, it should have worked. Might need more details.

Also, the command you posted for installing Grub to sda6 is incorrect. See the link below under Section 2.2.2

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

It would also be helpful if you indicated which windows you are using and whether this is an MBR or UEFI machine. If you can't resolve the problem try getting and running the boot repair software from the link below.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

syg00 · 04-21-2017, 07:34 AM

It used to be (and probably still is) that you could over-ride the blocklist warning with "--force". I have, and it worked - some time ago though.

I too have not used EasyBCD in a while. Win7 and certainly not in UEFI in my case.

shams · 04-22-2017, 11:38 AM

Thanks for replies, EasyBCD is configured correctly, EacyBCD boot the /dev/sda6 and leaving the rest of work to the grub2 to start the ubuntu, EacyBCD doing this, but grub2 can't load in /dev/sda6 boot sectore. I run the grub-install with --force command but the same above problem now it get a very loud noisy beep.

Code:

# grub-install --force /dev/sda6
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
Installation finished. No error reported.

tofino_surfer · 06-14-2017, 08:50 PM

If you need to install to a partition syslinux works much better than grub2 with legacy MBR partitions. Syslinux always installs its second stage to a partition's Volume Boot Record and doesn't complain about embedding. Since you are using an extn filesystem you would use extlinux from the syslinux family.

There are two ways to use syslinux in your case. You could use it to directly load your kernel and initrd instead of grub2 or you could chainload grub2 if it is installed on the same partition. The second approach would be slower but would allow you to use the same grub.cfg files which are updated by grub2-mkconfig when a new kernel is added. You can do both by having two targets in your syslinux conf file.

The Arch Wiki has a fairly good guide for syslinux.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/syslinux

To install:

Code:

# mkdir /boot/syslinux
# cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/*.c32 /boot/syslinux/ 
  ## copy ALL the *.c32 files from /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/, DO NOT SYMLINK
# extlinux --install /boot/syslinux/

To boot:

Code:

/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
...
LABEL arch
         MENU LABEL Arch Linux
         LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
         APPEND root=/dev/sda2 rw
         INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
...

To chainload Grub2:

Code:

/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
...
 LABEL grub2lnx
        MENU LABEL Grub2 (lnxboot)
        LINUX ../grub/i386-pc/lnxboot.img
        INITRD ../grub/i386-pc/core.img
...

This problem you are having only occurs with legacy MBR partitioning. With legacy BIOS and newer GPT partitions a separate 1 MiB BIOS Boot Partition is used which contains the grub2 core.img so there is no need for embedding.

Sparkz71au · 10-26-2017, 01:33 AM

I had a similar problem. Now I can multi boot - Windows 7/10 or Ubuntu/Debian.

Code:

/dev/sda1 - Windows 7/10 boot/recovery partition. Primary
/dev/sda2 - Windows 7. Primary
/dev/sda3 - Windows 10. Primary
/dev/sda5 - Ubuntu. Logical (assigned root partition during installation via USB)
/dev/sda6 - Debian. Logical (assigned root partition during installation via USB)
/dev/sda7 - swap.

Grub2 was installed on (sda5 & sda6) during Ubuntu & Debian installation respectively.

Initially, I used EasyBCD & selected Type -> Grub2 -> Drive -> Partition 4 (sda5). I rebooted & got a (grub4dos?) Grub prompt.
I changed EasyBCD to use Type->SysLinux for booting sda5 & sda6.

I rebooted into Ubuntu & it suggested I run e2fschk -p & then e2fschk -b xxxxxxx.
The same thing with Debian.
Maybe my HDD is the problem?
Either way, I refreshed EasyBCD to boot Ubuntu & Debian with Syslinux & it works!