Installing MultiBoot distros on SSD

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akastudio

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I want to install Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu Studio in my SSD drive along with Windows.

So I have created two partitions in my disk successfully installed both distros but after installing the second distro in the grub menu I see the three OS windows, ubuntu and studio. Windows boots fine but when trying to boot any of the ubuntu i face 'busybox v1.30.1' error.

Are you able to tell me what I am doing wrong and how to solve it? Thank you in advance
 


I did but I do not understand how it can help me, sorry but I am pretty new to linux and i do not understand what i am reading :confused:
 
Did you already have windows installed, or did you install it last?
 
I would hazard a guess that the "usual" has happened. Windows has installed an update, and has gone & done what it always does in this situation.......overwritten the bootloader with a 'Windows-only' bootloader. AGAIN.

This is the biggest down-side of dual-booting on the same machine, where Windows is part of the equation. They CAN co-exist on the same computer, but there's nothing harmonious about it, and Windows always wants to be in control. Which is why the recommendation usually is to run Windows and Linux on separate machines, if you MUST have the Redmond "beast" in your life (for whatever reasons).

There's nothing wrong with using both OSs. It's not an admission of failure; it's a known fact that Windows is better at some things, and Linux is much better at others. But by applying a bit of fore-thought, & taking advice from those with the experience of doing the same, the whole experience can become so much more pleasant.


Mike. ;)
 
Easy but expensive is something called (cannot recall exact name but sounds like) ezbcd, shoukd OP want quick and dirty. Search engine is our friend.
 
Brickwizard said:
Did you already have windows installed, or did you install it last?
Click to expand...
I have a Dell Latitude E5430 with Win10 installed since I own it, where I am trying to install both Ubuntu 20.04.5 and Ubuntu Studio 20.04.1 alongside with Win10 so I have flashed the ISO in my SD and proceed with the installation as shown in this video:


and everything works fine... The problems are when I install the second dist after I install it and restart I get the 'busybox v1.30.1' error when trying to launch any of the two Ubuntu

I have not tried any fix myself "but I guess the problem is with the two boot loader having a conflict"

I ma really considering to switch completely to Linux but I want to try them first so I thought about installing them along with windows
 
Last edited:
www.howtogeek.com

How to Repair GRUB2 When Ubuntu Won’t Boot

Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions use the GRUB2 boot loader. If GRUB2 breaks—for example, if you install Windows after installing Ubuntu, or overwrite your MBR—you won’t be able to boot into Ubuntu.
www.howtogeek.com www.howtogeek.com
 
BTW, I have a Dell Inspiron and have tri-booted successfully. I've had Windows, Fedora and Ubuntu on the 1 box so you should be able to as well.
 
G'day @akastudio and welcome to linux.org :)

Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 is supported until April 2025, but you should note the following on Studio

The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu Studio 20.04, code-named “Focal Fossa”. This marks Ubuntu Studio’s 27th release. This release is a Long-Term Support release and as such, it is supported for 3 years (until April 2023).
Click to expand...

So only 3 months left. You will be better advised to install 22.04 on both counts.

I have more for you but I have to go out for a bit, when I'm back I will resume.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
First up, I should say that that video you linked to is very good, I may bookmark that fellow, and see what other useful material he has. So thanks :)

The vid has also given you a headstart to some of the concepts I was going to mention. That includes the Something Else method of installing, to have control over your partitioning, the Windows ESP (EFI System Partition), and the Windows Disk Management utility.

I can put together a blow by blow plan for you, with a lot of text and a few screenshots, and I hope you can take it in, read it twice or more if necessary, and ask any questions. I will give you a general idea of what I will be suggesting next, and follow it with a few questions which, when answered by you, will enable me/us to help you better.

Broadly speaking, I will be suggesting that you
  • Have a Windows Recovery Plan in place, so that you can restore your Windows if need be.
  • If you still have a BalenaEtcher-driven USB stick that has one of the Ubuntu isos on it, use that to safeguard any information/data you created on the (once working) Ubuntu, by moving it from Point A to Point B.
  • Use Windows Disk Management to blow away the existing two or more partitions containing the non-working Ubuntus.
Once that is done, you can look at
  • Install your choice of the Ubuntus first, I would suggest Ubuntu Desktop, using Something Else and half the empty space allocated to it
  • Reboot and see that it runs - it should generate a Grub Menu at start which features Ubuntu followed by Winows (listed as Windows Boot Manager), and then if that succeeds, in your Ubuntu
  • Install Timeshift (it is in their Repositories, or else in your Software Centre), and take a snapshot
  • Once that is effected, you can then look to install the other Ubuntu
You currently have an ESP which will be visible in your Windows Disk Management tool - it could be 100 MB, 300 MB, 500 MB, or even 1GB. It will be either FAT32 or perhaps vfat.

As the situation stands, it will contain a Folder for your Windows and one to two Folders for Ubuntu. We may need to tweak that.

So my questions at this point are
  1. Can you provide a screenshot from Windows Disk Management of the State of The Nation currently?
  2. What is the size/capacity of the SSD, and is it M2. or NVMe?
  3. Do you have any other drives, internal or external, besides the SSD?
There may be more questions, but if you can answer those 3 and be patient (I am in Australia), we can start with a good foundation.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
Avagudweegend
 
I am glad you found the video useful SavvyNick is great :)

Thanks a lot to all of you for the great support and advises in the end I solved the problem by installing both distros using the "Something else" option

so now the three OS (Windows, UbuntuStudio 22.04.1 and Ubuntu 20.10) share the EFI partition, then they are installed in three different partitions.

It looks like they are running great and smooth, also I have disabled SECURE BOOT not sure that might have been the reason for the "Busybox" error before.

Here is how my disk look like now:

screenshot.png


  • sda4 is my C local disk in Win10
  • sda8 is a common partition that the 3 OS share, to be easier to share file across all of them
  • sda5 has Ubuntu 20.10 installed
  • sda7 has UbuntuStudio 22.04.1 installed
In answer to @wizardfromoz questions:
2. my SSD is 500GB I don't know if it is M2. or NVMe
3. I do not have any other drives

As I mentioned I am very new to linux and I'd like to learn can you please tell me what a snapshot with Timeshift does? is it like a snapshot in VirtualBox?

Thank you
 
MikeWalsh said:
I would hazard a guess that the "usual" has happened. Windows has installed an update, and has gone & done what it always does in this situation.......overwritten the bootloader with a 'Windows-only' bootloader. AGAIN.

This is the biggest down-side of dual-booting on the same machine, where Windows is part of the equation. They CAN co-exist on the same computer, but there's nothing harmonious about it, and Windows always wants to be in control. Which is why the recommendation usually is to run Windows and Linux on separate machines, if you MUST have the Redmond "beast" in your life (for whatever reasons).

There's nothing wrong with using both OSs. It's not an admission of failure; it's a known fact that Windows is better at some things, and Linux is much better at others. But by applying a bit of fore-thought, & taking advice from those with the experience of doing the same, the whole experience can become so much more pleasant.


Mike. ;)
Click to expand...
When the bootloader is overwritten by Windows does the Linux user have to repair Grub each and every time?
 
akastudio said:
...can you please tell me what a snapshot with Timeshift does?
Click to expand...

@akastudio Nice work, by the way, on the above news. :)

I'll give you a snippet of text I show to people new to Timeshift

REFERENCE URLs

Tony George pages

https://github.com/teejee2008/timeshift

https://github.com/teejee2008/Timeshift/releases

OTHER GUIDES

https://itsfoss.com/backup-restore-linux-timeshift/

https://www.fosslinux.com/34377/how-to-backup-and-restore-ubuntu-with-timeshift.htm

https://www.fossmint.com/backup-restore-linux-with-timeshift/

and this from Linux Lite Help Manual, and MX-Linux

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/tutorials.html#timeshift

https://mxlinux.org/wiki/applications/timeshift/

or read about it and ask questions at my Thread here​

Click to expand...

The two top ones give you a background from author Tony George's (now archived) presence at GitHub, where software is disseminated.

There is no longer a need to use the PPA (Personal Package Archive) to install it on Ubuntu, it is in their Software Centre or at Terminal

Code: 
sudo apt install timeshift

My Thread at the bottom (needs an overhaul) is where you can go to here if you need help.

In your circumstances, it is not really ideal to store the snapshots on the SSD, they are best used for speed, not Data Storage, so it is worthwhile for you to consider whether you have the cash to invest in either of an external HDD (500 GB would do), or a 64 GB USB stick. Timeshift does not use compression, it is 1:1, so between your two Ubunus currently, you would need to cover about 30 GB.

@Alexzee , Alex on

Alexzee said:
When the bootloader is overwritten by Windows does the Linux user have to repair Grub each and every time?
Click to expand...

I used to use a laptop with one 1TB drive, which had Windows 8.1 on it when it shipped. I used Windows Disk Management to shrink Windows by half (all it would allow), and then populated the freed 500 GB with about 20 Linux - did not ever have a problem with having to reset Grub. That being said, the weight of anecdotal evidence from people who have suffered problems is not something I would want to dispute.

Cheers

Wizard
 
Not all Windows updates will break the grub, some will re-initiate windows quick-start, yes a pain in the rear, but just one of those things lots of info on the net, search "windows broke my Linux"
 
Alexzee said:
When the bootloader is overwritten by Windows does the Linux user have to repair Grub each and every time?
Click to expand...
I believe it's the usual recourse. My memory is somewhat hazy on this, 'cos I'm recalling back to my first few months with Linux, when I was still distro-hopping.....before settling down with "Puppy" for the last decade.

Puppy uses its own highly-modified, still-maintained 'fork' of the old Grub4DOS, though we've been experimenting with variants of GRUB in recent years.


Mike. ;)
 
MikeWalsh said:
I believe it's the usual recourse. My memory is somewhat hazy on this, 'cos I'm recalling back to my first few months with Linux, when I was still distro-hopping.....before settling down with "Puppy" for the last decade.

Puppy uses its own highly-modified, still-maintained 'fork' of the old Grub4DOS, though we've been experimenting with variants of GRUB in recent years.


Mike. ;)
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
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