GRUB Bootloader not showing up

Skunkfoot

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I recently reinstalled the new version of Parrot Sec OS to dual boot with my Windows installation. However, instead of the normal GRUB bootloader loading and allowing me to select which OS I want to boot into, I get a limited GRUB command line interface. I can boot with a live USB, or I can boot into either OS with a Super GRUB2 Disk Live USB. What can I do to fix this?

#uname -a
Linux parrot 4.18.0-parrot8-amd64 #1 SMP Parrot 4.18.6-1parrot8 (2018-09-07) x86_64 GNU/Linux

#lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 1.8T 0 disk ---------------------(Parrot Sec OS/Windows Storage Partitions)
├─sda1 8:1 0 267.7G 0 part ------------(NTFS/Basic Data Partition {Windows Storage})
├─sda2 8:2 0 238.4G 0 part / -----------(Parrot Sec OS Root Partition)
├─sda3 8:3 0 59.6G 0 part [SWAP] ----(Parrot Sec OS SWAP Partition)
└─sda4 8:4 0 1.3T 0 part /home --------(Parrot Sec OS Home Partition)
sdb 8:16 1 3.6G 0 disk ------------------(Super GRUB2 Disk Live USB)
├─sdb1 8:17 1 78K 0 part
├─sdb2 8:18 1 2.8M 0 part
└─sdb3 8:19 1 12.1M 0 part
nvme0n1 259:0 0 477G 0 disk --------------------(SSD/Windows Partitions)
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 499M 0 part -------------(NTFS/Basic Data Partition)
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 99M 0 part /boot/efi ----(FAT32/EFI System Partition)
├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 16M 0 part ---------------(Unknown/Microsoft Reserved Partition)
└─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 476.3G 0 part -----------(NTFS/Basic Data Partition)

Any help would be much appreciated, let me know if there’s any additional sysinfo you need from me. Thanks.

–Skunkfoot
 


Define

I get a limited GRUB command line interface

Does that make reference to eg grub> or grub rescue> ?

(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke)

Hi @Skunkfoot and welcome to linux.org :). Regrets on the time it has taken for someone to respond.

I am an Aussie so you'll see me at different times.

From your use of eg uname and lsblk (as root) - and thanks for the output, BTW - I'd reckon this is not your first time with Linux.

Can you fill in the gaps a little on your knowledge?

I have had Parrot on before, but not currently. I often run 60 - 80 Linux spread over a couple of computers. But I am not expert in its pen testing features.

Did you get a good download, ie did you verify a shasum hashcheck, whatever?

Perhaps take a pic of what Startup looks like with your phone and provide us with a screenshot?

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
... and as a BTW postscript - tell me you are not really running a Swap sized at 60GB, lol
 
Define



Does that make reference to eg grub> or grub rescue> ?

(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke)

Hi @Skunkfoot and welcome to linux.org :). Regrets on the time it has taken for someone to respond.

I am an Aussie so you'll see me at different times.

From your use of eg uname and lsblk (as root) - and thanks for the output, BTW - I'd reckon this is not your first time with Linux.

Can you fill in the gaps a little on your knowledge?

I have had Parrot on before, but not currently. I often run 60 - 80 Linux spread over a couple of computers. But I am not expert in its pen testing features.

Did you get a good download, ie did you verify a shasum hashcheck, whatever?

Perhaps take a pic of what Startup looks like with your phone and provide us with a screenshot?

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

Chris,

Thanks for the response. First things first, I'm getting a GRUB> command line. I'm familiar with basic Linux command line usage and how the OS works, but definitely not an expert with some of the in-depth knowledge and troubleshooting that stuff like this requires. The OS works fine, I'm on it right now. I've already updated and upgraded and some other minor things that are typical with a new OS install, but the GRUB won't update appropriately. It may have something to do with the Windows boot partition being on my SSD, while Parrot is on my main HD. This is definitely doable, I had it running fine a couple weeks ago, but with this new install something just isn't clicking for some reason.

This is what my screen looks like:
figuur1.gif


Thanks again for trying to help me!

--Skunkfoot

>New ... and as a BTW postscript - tell me you are not really running a Swap sized at 60GB, lol

Yeah I am, just put a random number in there. It's easy enough to resize if I want to shrink it. I have more than enough disk space for 60 GB, but as I understand it, after something like double the amount of RAM, swap space has diminishing returns. If there's an actual negative to having that large of a swap partition let me know and I'll fix that too!
 
That's a seriously big Like I just put :)

You might think about slipping over here https://www.linux.org/forums/member-introductions.141/ and saying Hi. You'll get to meet a few of the gang, and I am hopeful you will enjoy yourself here :D

I have been here since 1 May 2017, a week after our re-org, and I have had a ball, and still am.

Business.

On the recalcitrant Grub Menu -

Have a read of this, good advice is to print it out, I always carry a hard copy

https://www.linux.com/learn/how-rescue-non-booting-grub-2-Linux

Stan (you'll meet him, he is @atanere ) and I refer people to it when needed.

Carla's article, albeit over 4 years old, is still relevant. I used it the other day, just to check.

It deals with both grub> and grub rescue> so focus, for you on the grub> part but read the whole thing in context.

In extremely technical terms, it sounds like your Parrot install has gone a little "wonky" :D:eek::rolleyes:

... so this might do the trick. If not, a reinstall of either Parrot or another Distro would be in order. An Ubuntu MATE or a Linux Mint (any DE - desktop environment) is always a safe as houses bet. You have the space.

Try it out, and if you need more hands-on attention to fix the (lovely) coloured bird, we've got your back.

On Swap - (giggle) I'll tell you a funny story some time about me and the "twice your RAM" theory.

Use GParted to shrink it to eg 4GB, and see if you find any harm from it. You'll have to Swapoff, then resize, then reboot is best.

Cheers, gotta fly

Wizard
 
Thanks Wizard.

Sorry for the late reply, been busy with work the last couple of weeks. I did stop in and introduce myself like you suggested though!

Unfortunately, the article doesn't seem to work for me. I had actually tried that same article before, which is what led me to the Super GRUB2 live rescue disk in the first place. I'm not sure how much it matters, but the article refers to things like (hd0,1), whereas in my case, the partitions are labeled as (hd0,gpt2), etc. I'm not sure that really makes any difference, I can still find the /boot/grub folder and find the vmlinuz and initrd.img files, but after setting everything according to the article, booting into Parrot and updating and installing grub, it still boots into the grub> cli. I've installed grub to /dev/sda, which is the partition my Parrot OS is on, but could my pc be prioritizing my other hard drive instead?

EDIT: Nevermind, figured it out by playing around with the BIOS settings some more. Here's what I did in case anyone else comes across this issue:

BIOS > Boot > UEFI Hard Disk Drive BBS Priorities:

Previous configuration:
Boot Option #1: [Ubuntu (Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512 GB)]
Boot Option #2: [Windows Boot Manager (Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512 GB)]
Boot Option #3: [kali]
Boot Option #4: [parrot]

Changed it to:
Boot Option #1: [parrot]
Boot Option #2: [Windows Boot Manager (Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512 GB)]
Boot Option #3: [kali]
Boot Option #4: [Ubuntu (Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512 GB)]​

This allows the grub I actually installed to /dev/sda using Wizard's article to be the boot priority. Hopefully that helps. Now I just have to figure out why the Wi-Fi won't work and why it freezes on shutdown commands and I'll be good to go haha. Thanks again Wizard!
 
Last edited:
Hey @Skunkfoot - Mate if you wish to deal with those issues on Wi-Fi and slow/freeze on shutdown, we can do them here in this Thread.

"Getting Started" gives us broad scope, somewhat, to dealing with what gets you up and running fully. If it starts to get too complex, we'll ask you to start a different Thread.

If you agree, I'll ask you to provide some outputs from your Parrot. The first would involve "inxi" which is in your Repositories but in Parrot needs installing.

Code:
sudo apt-get -y install inxi

# followed by

inxi -Fxs

It's quite lengthy, but give us the lot unless you want to delete the Mac address alpha-numeric sequences and replace then with x'es or something.

You can use The Spoiler if you wish, (behind the Plus sign on your toolbar in the reply pane. Here's mine from Parrot:

┌─[chris@parrot]─[~]
└──╼ $inxi -Fxs
System:
Host: parrot Kernel: 4.18.0-parrot10-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
v: 7.3.0 Desktop: MATE 1.20.3 Distro: Parrot GNU/Linux 4.3
base: Debian stable
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5770 v: N/A
serial: <root required>
Mobo: Dell model: 0XH3XD v: A00 serial: <root required> UEFI: Dell
v: 1.1.8 date: 08/15/2018
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 39.9 Wh condition: 39.9/42.0 Wh (95%)
model: SMP DELL Y3F7Y6B status: Full
CPU:
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 8192 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 31880
Speed: 600 MHz min/max: 400/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 643 2: 644
3: 660 4: 645 5: 646 6: 692 7: 693 8: 635
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: AMD Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265 / M340/M360 / M440/M445]
driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: amdgpu,ati,modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2)
v: 4.5 Mesa 18.1.7 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus ID: 00:1f.3
Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.18.0-parrot10-amd64
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus ID: 02:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: 54:bf:64:2a:af:78
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 74:40:bb:37:65:df
Device-3: Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 1-7:5
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 5.69 TiB used: 15.73 GiB (0.3%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST2000LM007-1R8174 size: 1.82 TiB
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Micron model: 1100 SATA 256GB size: 238.47 GiB
ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD My Book 25EE
size: 3.64 TiB
RAID:
Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
v: 3.0 bus ID: 00:17.0
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 84.12 GiB used: 15.65 GiB (18.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc15
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: 45.0 C sodimm: 45.0 C gpu: amdgpu
temp: 51 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Info:
Processes: 248 Uptime: 10m Memory: 15.57 GiB used: 814.2 MiB (5.1%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.2.0 clang: 6.0.1-9 Shell: bash
v: 4.4.23 inxi: 3.0.26

Cheers and

Avagudweegend

Wizard
 

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