add boot entry to grub to boot from external drive

androids

New Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2022
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Credits
54
My machine has the first Manjaro installed on the internal SSD drive. There is no Windows on my system, and I don't want it. I am trying to install other Linux distros on external SEGATE Portable Drives. During the installation process I selected the target external drive and used default partition on the external HD. I tried the stable LTS version MX, Mint, Fedora, etc. I wiped out the external drives each time. All installations completed without error. However, when the machine starts there is only the original Manjaro on the Grub boot menu. Appreciate your help.
 


Usually to detect other installations grub has the config: GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false, set in /etc/default/grub. Once that config is set, then the external disks need to be mounted before running the grub update command, so that grub is able to probe all the bootable systems and then offer them in the menu upon booting.
 
Usually to detect other installations grub has the config: GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false, set in /etc/default/grub. Once that config is set, then the external disks need to be mounted before running the grub update command, so that grub is able to probe all the bootable systems and then offer them in the menu upon booting.
Thank you. The GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER is already set to false. In this case I installed Fedora in the same internal drive with Manjaor, and Fedora SilverBlue on the external drive. However, Manjaro boot directly without offering the grub menu. Here are the grub file and fdisk. Happy holidays.

grub:

GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Manjaro"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet resume=UUID=3cd6a1cc-c427-4bc9-9d9e-adcca452aaf6 udev.log_priority=3"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# If you want to enable the save default function, uncomment the following
# line, and set GRUB_DEFAULT to saved.
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true

# Uncomment to disable submenus in boot menu
#GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=y

# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"

# Uncomment to enable booting from LUKS encrypted devices
#GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command 'videoinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto

# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx"
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true

# Uncomment this option to enable os-prober execution in the grub-mkconfig command
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors. Used by normal and wallpaper
# modes only. Entries specified as foreground/background.
GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-gray/black"
GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="green/black"

# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/usr/share/grub/background.png"
GRUB_THEME="/usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt"

# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

# Uncomment to ensure that the root filesystem is mounted read-only so that
# systemd-fsck can run the check automatically. We use 'fsck' by default, which
# needs 'rw' as boot parameter, to avoid delay in boot-time. 'fsck' needs to be
# removed from 'mkinitcpio.conf' to make 'systemd-fsck' work.
# See also Arch-Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fsck#Boot_time_checking
#GRUB_ROOT_FS_RO=true


Fdisk:

Disk /dev/sda: 119.24 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Disk model: SAMSUNG MZNTD128
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: DA735C9C-0BC6-CD48-B16E-48F38C09A6E2

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 4096 618495 614400 300M EFI System
/dev/sda2 618496 133083135 132464640 63.2G Linux file
/dev/sda3 231612852 250067789 18454938 8.8G Linux swap
/dev/sda4 133083136 135180287 2097152 1G Linux file
/dev/sda5 135180288 137277439 2097152 1G Linux file
/dev/sda6 137277440 231612415 94334976 45G Linux file

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

Disk /dev/sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204885504 bytes, 1953525167 sectors
Disk model: Expansion
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 6FD68C73-4753-4F46-ACCF-3073B644EF36

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdb1 2048 1230847 1228800 600M EFI Syste
/dev/sdb2 1230848 3327999 2097152 1G Linux fil
/dev/sdb3 3328000 1953523711 1950195712 929.9G Linux fil
 
Last edited:
G'day @androids and welcome to linux.org :)

Have you run the command to update grub in your Manjaro yet?

Before you do that I would change two lines, but the command is

Code:
sudo update-grub

for Manjaro, as it is for Debian-based distros.

The line I would change first is

GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true

I would change that to false or else put a # at the start of it, it can be a useful feature.

The other is

GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden

change that to

Code:
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu

Once you have done that (or not) run update-grub and on completion, reboot and see if you get a Grub Menu to choose from.

Let us know how you go.

I believe your additional drives are already mounted, but if not, let us know and we can proceed, and I would recommend the use of Gnome Disks (just type disks in start menu) for that, if we need it.

I would also advocate your reading the following Thread, as it is likely you will experience this when you run Distros other than Arch-based ones with Manjaro

https://linux.org/threads/installed...e-other-distro-then-kernel-panic-later.37780/

Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 

Members online


Top