Dual-Boot and Grub 2 problems fix

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Written by:

vidtek

Score: 14
votes: 19
Format: Article

If you are struggling with dual-boot problems and Grub 2 this may help.

1) Boot from cd or flash drive with the same architechture ie. 32 or 64-bit as your missing o/s

2) Get to a root console prompt

3) type: blkid

this gives you a listing of all your partitions with newer sata drive hardware

or type: fdisk -l

for older ata style machines.

4)locate the operating system partition eg. sda1 sdb2 sdc3 etc.

5) mount this partition type: mount /dev/sd** /mnt

(** whatever partition your o/s is on - discovered from the blkid command)

6) Create a chroot environment,

type: mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev

mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts

mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys

mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc

7) type: chroot /mnt

you are now using your previously unbootable operating system.

Edit: sometimes this may exit with an error, if this happens, change the command to : chroot/mnt /bin/bash

8) type: grub-install /dev/sd*

(* whatever drive - not the partition your o/s is on - discovered from the blkid command eg. /dev/sda)

9)type: update-grub

this should list all the o/s's grub can find and install to the mbr (master boot record) of the boot drive.

10 type: cntl+d (control key and letter d) this exits the chroot environment and brings you back to the cd/flash drive system

11) exit gracefully by unmounting type: umount /mnt/dev/pts

umount /mnt/dev

umount /mnt/sys

umount /mnt/proc

umount /mnt

12) reboot

you should now have a restored and working grub boot loader.

Good luck to all, Tony

Tags: Dual-Boot grub2
Created: 4 years ago.
Last edited: 1 year ago.
Reviewed: 4 years ago.
Read 0 times.

Comments
1 year ago	Rebel450	Thanx, a good tutorial; promoted. But a novice user will probably struggle already at "4)" - if so: I recommend an optional solution; check out: http://www.supergrubdisk.org/rescatux/ .. and READ the instructions before you act, it's easy to understand - then you will succeed.
4 years ago	lsatenstein	I have a problem in that Mint 16 cinnamon`s grub does not recognize Fedora20's grub and vice-versa. I think it has to do with mbr differences. If I power on the system from a cold start, I can boot any Linux on the system (3 hard drives). Once I use Fedora 20 on /dev/sdc, I can no longer boot mint, Debian or Fedora 19, (on the other two drives). But if I use Mint first, I cannot see the Fedora 20 drive. Grub is where the problem lies
4 years ago	irrienberith	thanks a lot!
4 years ago	jahid_0903014	just learning few codes helps me get rid of the 320MB boot repair disk.great.. promoting..

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