[SOLVED] Grub 2 Installation Issues

synchlavier · 02-21-2017, 04:40 AM

I recently attempted to install Debian on a stick from my laptop which runs Windows 7 Professional Edition. During this attempt I decided to install Grub 2 on my native HDD which runs Windows 7. When I rebooted my laptop after installing Grub 2 I was greeted by the Grub rescue prompt. Note - I had a terrible time installing Debian on a stick and gave up on the entire enterprise in the end as it just wouldn't install. I recently installed Linux Mint on a stick and am able to run it on the same laptop after changing BIOS settings to boot from stick. I had great success with Mint as it installed with ease. Mint gives an option to install Grub 2 natively. Can I go ahead and install Grub 2 from Mint to my laptops HDD even though there is a Grub program that has gone into rescue mode on the same laptop ? Will the new installation of Grub 2 bypass my previous installation of Grub 2 which runs in rescue mode and allow me to finally access my laptop ? If not is there a command set I can use in Mint terminal to either fix or remove Grub 2 from my laptop while Mint is running on a stick connected to my laptop. My native HDD is mounted and I can access all my files...I just cannot boot into windows from my native HDD as I'm greeted by the Grub Rescue Prompt. Any solutions ??

colorpurple21859 · 02-21-2017, 05:06 AM

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Can I go ahead and install Grub 2 from Mint to my laptops HDD even though there is a Grub program that has gone into rescue mode on the same laptop ?

Yes, but If you boot without the stick inserted you will still get the grub-rescue prompt.

petelq · 02-21-2017, 05:19 AM

If your hdd is large enough, and you've had success with mint, why don't you install mint on a separate partition on the hdd? You can then set grub to include windows 7 and make windows the default boot system if that's your preference.

synchlavier · 02-21-2017, 05:31 AM

To purple it's baffling why that'd be the case since Grub would be installed on the HDD and not Stick -

synchlavier · 02-21-2017, 05:34 AM

To Petelq - I could do that however, I like Windows 7 Pro very much and I'm worried that this kind of configuration may wreak havoc on my Windows OS down the line. Linux and Windows don't get a long...at least not Windows 7 Professional -

colorpurple21859 · 02-21-2017, 05:47 AM

Some of the files that grub needs to load are located in /boot/grub on the stick and not in the MBR of the hd. If it is a uefi system it is possible to have all the grub boot files on the efi partition, but I don't think Debian does that by default.

synchlavier · 02-21-2017, 05:55 AM

colorpuple is there a tool I can download in Mint that will allow me to remove Grub from the laptops HDD or repair it

colorpurple21859 · 02-21-2017, 06:36 AM

you will need a windows repair disk or maybe be able to boot into windows repair mode from the bios. Here is a how to:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3252...ader-problems/ It is possible to boot the stick install from windows boot loader with grub4dos/wingrub https://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos/

synchlavier · 02-21-2017, 06:54 AM

Colorpurple - I believe Ubuntu has a removal tool - I'd read about it not to long ago that can be downloaded - What's more I also believe Kali has it's own unique set of tools for just such a task -

yancek · 02-21-2017, 07:01 AM

The best way to put windows code in the MBR (if you do have an MBR system?) is with the windows installation DVD. If you don't have that, use the suggestions in the post above.

If you were trying to install Debian on a stick, I'm not sure why you chose to install Grub code to the MBR of the harddrive on which you have windows. Would have been better to install to the MBR of the stick which would have kept them separate. If your install of Debian to the stick would have been successful, you would need to have it attached to boot anything since the code in the MBR of the harddrive would be looking for Grub files on the stick since the code in the MBR is tiny and simply points to the necessary boot files on the Debian partition.

If you have a working install of Mint on a stick, you could boot the laptop with windows 7 on it from the Mint stick and run: sudo update-grub which should add the windows install to the Mint boot menu. This would be a temporary solution which should allow you to boot windows to replace the code in the MBR with windows code.

colorpurple21859 · 02-21-2017, 08:36 AM

Another thing you can do is install grub to stick and boot from bios by pressing esc or something similar when first turning on computer.

synchlavier · 03-11-2017, 11:08 PM

Thank you all for your input - yancek you're quite correct in that Grub would have to be installed stand alone and not as a part of any Linux distribution. I resolved the issue in step # 6 of the supplied hyperlink -

http://askubuntu.com/questions/32653...-for-windows-7

I downloaded and installed the Ubuntu boot repair disk utility to a USB stick and inserted the stick to a USB port on my laptop. In BIOS settings on my laptop I set the machine to boot from USB. I started my laptop & fortunately for me the boot repair disk loaded without flaw. I then selected restore MBR on boot repair. The utility then went to work for a few seconds before prompting me that MBR had been successfully restored. I removed the stick, rebooted my laptop & low and behold after 4 weeks of tireless effort windows successfully loaded and I got my life back. A note to add here - My experience was that in this particular scenario this feat could not be achieved on Linux. Instead it was necessary to download the boot repair disk and install it using a windows machine - in my case I used Win-10 Professional for the task-

yancek · 03-12-2017, 01:45 PM

Quote:

A note to add here - My experience was that in this particular scenario this feat could not be achieved on Linux. Instead it was necessary to download the boot repair disk and install it using a windows machine - in my case I used Win-10 Professional for the task-

Not true at all and in fact, if you actually still had a bootable Mint install, that would have been easier. If Mint was bootable, you would not need to download it and burn it to a CD or put it on a flash drive, you could just add the

pa in Mint and run it from inside Mint.

The important thing is you got it working and learned a little from the experience.

synchlavier · 03-12-2017, 02:42 PM

Quote:

if you actually still had a bootable Mint install, that would have been easier. If Mint was bootable, you would not need to download it and burn it to a CD or put it on a flash drive, you could just add the pa in Mint and run it from inside Mint.

Oh but I did...and it failed miserably although it did give a comprehensive report on the MBR issue - no I had to boot the repair utility separately from from a usb stick

yancek · 03-12-2017, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Oh but I did...and it failed miserably although it did give a comprehensive report on the MBR issue - no I had to boot the repair utility separately from from a usb stick

I don't know why it didn't work for you but many people use the ppa from an installed system as described at the boot repair site below, the '2nd option Install Boot Repair in Ubuntu'. You should have all the options you have on the usb/CD.

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