Post install Grub on separate partition

[stan]

I am mindful of the fact that you have only about 10 GB left in Home, so we can look at the options on your tomorrow.

Chris, what do you think of moving Mike's /home to his 4TB backup drive as a temporary fix to the storage shortage? Or are you thinking more to move forward with a full install of 20.04 over the 18.04?

 

[mike_linux]

Hi guys, it is late here because I had reinstalled 18.04. again (all these stuff got me a headache). I followed the suggestion of @stan and created only the / partition. All went good . BTW as you can see the screenshot of gparted now shows gpt for the partition table . I have left 99GB for the backup of timeshift only. I will look for the rest tomorrow because I am about to fall onto my keyboard for fatigue.

SCREENSHOT 1 - NEW UBUNTU 18.04. PARTITION TABLE

Good night for today folkes.

 

[stan]

Nice work, Mike! Sleep well. That is definitely a nice clean Ubuntu installation.

And tomorrow's first question (from me) will be: Did the new Ubuntu install detect Windows so that you can now use GRUB to boot both OS'es? I hope so, but I guess I'm doubtful because GRUB still may be conflicted between UEFI Ubuntu and MBR Windows.

 

[LorenDB]

Before we do anything else, I want to take a look at something Stan said:

Do not attempt to change your "msdos" partition table to "gpt" on either of your drives.

And also:

Now, in the real world, I doubt that you want to reinstall Windows.

Out of curiosity, I did a quick search on Bing and found this article. Apparently, you can convert a MBR drive to GPT. (This must be the only thing that Windows is good for.) Full documentation of the mbr2gpt command can be found on Microsoft's website.

@mike_linux, following the steps in the article should convert your Windows drive to GPT (although I'd suggest taking a backup of Windows first, just in case). Keep in mind, however, that you should probably use the first method listed in the article.

Since your Ubuntu drive is now GPT, you don't have to worry about the Ubuntu drive anymore.

I'd assume that this could be an extreme help in getting GRUB to work. @stan, @wizardfromoz, what do y'all think?

 

[stan]

Out of curiosity, I did a quick search on Bing and found this article. Apparently, you can convert a MBR drive to GPT. (This must be the only thing that Windows is good for.) Full documentation of the mbr2gpt command can be found on Microsoft's website.

Nice! And news to me! (I fall further behind every day, it seems.)

 

[stan]

I'd assume that this could be an extreme help in getting GRUB to work. @stan, @wizardfromoz, what do y'all think?

I think you're right! That would beat the heck out of a re-install if it all goes smoothly. But if there is any hiccup in the process, a re-install might be required. Gotta have a good Windows backup ready... and hope for the best but prepare for the worst. And gotta have some time available in case of disaster. The article looks pretty straightforward, and the /validate option helps to give confidence in the tool before committing to it. Excellent find, @LorenDB!

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day all

First up, Mike's been catching his well-earned zzzz's, but by my watch it's now 9:20am his time and he has perhaps had his freshly-strained yoghurt, honey, bread, cheese and seasonal fruits and be ready to have at it.

So let's first hear if

1. he has a Grub Menu.
2. his machine boots directly into Ubuntu by default, or whether it is through BIOS

That being said, GOOD FIND, Loren

I know of a number of articles for converting MBR to GPT and vice-versa without data loss, but have yet to try one (always go GPT) and am unsure if they included dual-boot with Windows, without revisiting them.

Later

Wizard

 

[LorenDB]

Presumably, if and when @mike_linux switches Windows to GPT, he can use rEFInd instead of Grub, if Grub still won't work.

Did the new Ubuntu install detect Windows so that you can now use GRUB to boot both OS'es?

Stan has a good point here: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (Unless you're an engineer, in which case the saying goes: If it ain't broke, fix it.) That being said, there are certain benefits of using GPT instead of MBR.

 

[mike_linux]

Hi to you all guys and @LorenDB thank you very much for the article and your help. I will look after maybe at the weekend because I have a lot to do in parallel .

Nice work, Mike! Sleep well. That is definitely a nice clean Ubuntu installation.

THX @stan, creating only the / partition fixed a lot of issues . BTW without your support guys, I would not match that .

First up, Mike's been catching his well-earned zzzz's, but by my watch it's now 9:20am his time and he has perhaps had his freshly-strained yoghurt, honey, bread, cheese and seasonal fruits and be ready to have at it.

So let's first hear if

1. he has a Grub Menu.
2. his machine boots directly into Ubuntu by default, or whether it is through BIOS

The day yesterday @wizardfromoz was very stressful, but today the cold beer in the afternoon, provided me some power again .

And tomorrow's first question (from me) will be: Did the new Ubuntu install detect Windows so that you can now use GRUB to boot both OS'es? I hope so, but I guess I'm doubtful because GRUB still may be conflicted between UEFI Ubuntu and MBR Windows.

The startup occurs without displaying the Grub menu because I believe that as mentioned in post #26 the grub menu is disabled (I had not much time now to fix that, but will do soon). Should I do the same steps for the Grub downloader as mentioned by @wizardfromoz in post #30 (bu the way is there any option in the forum where you can switch back and forth to the post you want because this scroll up and down makes me crazy )?.

 

[stan]

today the cold beer in the afternoon, provided me some power again

Mmmmm, beer.

I don't think Wizard's instruction in post #30 will do anything further for you, Mike. It was basically just reinstalling GRUB to your /dev/sdb drive, and that all seems fine. But as you remember from post #26, you can sudo nano /etc/default/grub to make the timeout changes needed so that you force GRUB to show at boot time. After making changes, you have to run sudo update-grub for them to take effect, and if you don't see any output about Windows, then you are still stuck with using the BIOS boot menu to select which OS to start for awhile longer.

is there any option in the forum where you can switch back and forth to the post you want because this scroll up and down makes me crazy

Yes, and we're glad you asked. It's always nice when folks take an interest in better utilizing the capabilities of the forum software, especially using the [CODE] [/CODE] and [ICODE] [/ICODE] (INLINE CODE) tags. This is INLINE code. So, anyway, each post # is a clickable link. Right-click on it to copy the URL, and when you are replying in the editor screen, click the "Insert Link" icon (looks like 2 links of a chain, or you can use CTRL-K). Paste the post # URL on the top line, and you can use free form text to be the link, such as post #26, or you can paste the whole URL on both lines if you want that to be visible to users. You have already discovered the "Smilies" and "Insert Image" options in the editor, and the "three dots" option to the right of "Smilies" provides some of the other things to insert.

This is the [CODE] [/CODE] tags in use below:

sudo os-prober
sudo update-grub

If you have a "wall of text" like the output from sudo lshw, the "Spoiler" tags work great, as shown here: (click the button again to collapse it)

Spoiler: Stan's LSHW output

[email protected]:~$ sudo lshw
[sudo] password for stan:
hp
description: Desktop Computer
product: NY549AA-ABA p6230y (NY549AA#ABA)
vendor: HP-Pavilion
serial: CNX9361SXF
width: 64 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.6 dmi-2.6 smp vsyscall32
configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop family=103C_53316J sku=NY549AA#ABA uuid=2C8A405A-1C99-DE11-9F59-5E1D049040B8
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: ALOE
vendor: FOXCONN
physical id: 0
version: X3
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
physical id: 0
version: 5.00
date: 08/03/2009
size: 64KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: isa pci pnp upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification netboot
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 810 Processor
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 4
bus info: [email protected]
version: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 810 Processor
slot: CPU 1
size: 800MHz
capacity: 2600MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 200MHz
capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt hw_pstate vmmcall npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save cpufreq
configuration: cores=4 enabledcores=4
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1-Cache
size: 512KiB
capacity: 512KiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies
configuration: level=1
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2-Cache
size: 2MiB
capacity: 2MiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies
configuration: level=2
*-cache:2
description: L3 cache
physical id: 7
slot: L3-Cache
size: 4MiB
capacity: 4MiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies
configuration: level=3
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 10
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 8GiB
*-bank:0
description: DIMM Synchronous 1066 MHz (0.9 ns)
product: 16JTF25664AZ-1G4F1
vendor: Micron
physical id: 0
serial: 5BFA59D8
slot: DIMM0
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1066MHz (0.9ns)
*-bank:1
description: DIMM Synchronous 1066 MHz (0.9 ns)
product: 16JTF25664AZ-1G4F1
vendor: Micron
physical id: 1
serial: C9F359D8
slot: DIMM1
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1066MHz (0.9ns)
*-bank:2
description: DIMM Synchronous 1066 MHz (0.9 ns)
product: 16JTF25664AZ-1G4F1
vendor: Micron
physical id: 2
serial: 63FA59D8
slot: DIMM2
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1066MHz (0.9ns)
*-bank:3
description: DIMM Synchronous 1066 MHz (0.9 ns)
product: 16JTF25664AZ-1G4F1
vendor: Micron
physical id: 3
serial: C4F359D8
slot: DIMM3
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1066MHz (0.9ns)
*-pci:0
description: Host bridge
product: RS880 Host Bridge
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 100
bus info: [email protected]:00:00.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]:00:01.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
resources: ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:fe800000-fe9fffff ioport:d0000000(size=268435456)
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: RS880 [Radeon HD 4200]
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 5
bus info: [email protected]:01:05.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=radeon latency=0
resources: irq:18 memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:c000(size=256) memory:fe9f0000-fe9fffff memory:fe800000-fe8fffff memory:c0000-dffff
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 5)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: a
bus info: [email protected]:00:0a.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm pciexpress msi ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:24 ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:fea00000-feafffff ioport:fdf00000(size=1048576)
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: [email protected]:02:00.0
logical name: enp2s0
version: 03
serial: 00:24:81:f0:37:42
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw ip=192.168.1.56 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=1Gbit/s
resources: irq:18 ioport:d800(size=256) memory:feaff000-feafffff memory:fdffc000-fdffffff memory:feac0000-feadffff
*-storage
description: SATA controller
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 11
bus info: [email protected]:00:11.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage pm ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ahci latency=64
resources: irq:22 ioport:b000(size=8) ioport:a000(size=4) ioport:9000(size=8) ioport:8000(size=4) ioport:7000(size=16) memory:fe7ffc00-fe7fffff
*-usb:0
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 12
bus info: [email protected]:00:12.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:16 memory:fe7fe000-fe7fefff
*-usbhost
product: OHCI PCI host controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb3
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub slots=3 speed=12Mbit/s
*-usb
description: Keyboard
product: HP USB Multimedia Keyboard
vendor: CHICONY
physical id: 3
bus info: [email protected]:3
version: 1.00
capabilities: usb-2.00
configuration: driver=usbhid maxpower=100mA speed=2Mbit/s
*-usb:1
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 12.1
bus info: [email protected]:00:12.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:16 memory:fe7fd000-fe7fdfff
*-usbhost
product: OHCI PCI host controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb4
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub slots=3 speed=12Mbit/s
*-usb:2
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 12.2
bus info: [email protected]:00:12.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:17 memory:fe7ff800-fe7ff8ff
*-usbhost
product: EHCI Host Controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ehci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb1
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-2.00
configuration: driver=hub slots=6 speed=480Mbit/s
*-usb
description: Mass storage device
product: USB2.0-CRW
vendor: Generic
physical id: 5
bus info: [email protected]:5
logical name: scsi6
version: 51.95
serial: 20060413092100000
capabilities: usb-2.00 scsi emulated scsi-host
configuration: driver=usb-storage maxpower=500mA speed=480Mbit/s
*-disk:0
description: SCSI Disk
product: Compact Flash
vendor: Generic-
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sdb
version: 1.00
capabilities: removable
configuration: logicalsectorsize=512 sectorsize=512
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sdb
*-disk:1
description: SCSI Disk
product: SM/xD-Picture
vendor: Generic-
physical id: 0.0.1
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.1
logical name: /dev/sdc
version: 1.00
capabilities: removable
configuration: logicalsectorsize=512 sectorsize=512
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sdc
*-disk:2
description: SCSI Disk
product: SD/MMC
vendor: Generic-
physical id: 0.0.2
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.2
logical name: /dev/sdd
version: 1.00
capabilities: removable
configuration: logicalsectorsize=512 sectorsize=512
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sdd
*-disk:3
description: SCSI Disk
product: MS/MS-Pro
vendor: Generic-
physical id: 0.0.3
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.3
logical name: /dev/sde
version: 1.00
capabilities: removable
configuration: logicalsectorsize=512 sectorsize=512
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sde
*-usb:3
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 13
bus info: [email protected]:00:13.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:18 memory:fe7fc000-fe7fcfff
*-usbhost
product: OHCI PCI host controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb5
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub slots=3 speed=12Mbit/s
*-usb:4
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 13.1
bus info: [email protected]:00:13.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:18 memory:fe7fb000-fe7fbfff
*-usbhost
product: OHCI PCI host controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb6
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub slots=3 speed=12Mbit/s
*-usb:5
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 13.2
bus info: [email protected]:00:13.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:19 memory:fe7ff400-fe7ff4ff
*-usbhost
product: EHCI Host Controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ehci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb2
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-2.00
configuration: driver=hub slots=6 speed=480Mbit/s
*-serial
description: SMBus
product: SBx00 SMBus Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 14
bus info: [email protected]:00:14.0
version: 3c
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ht cap_list
configuration: driver=piix4_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:0
*-ide
description: IDE interface
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 14.1
bus info: [email protected]:00:14.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide msi isa_compatibility_mode_controller__supports_both_channels_switched_to_pci_native_mode__supports_bus_mastering bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pata_atiixp latency=64
resources: irq:16 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:ff00(size=16)
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 14.2
bus info: [email protected]:00:14.2
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=64
resources: irq:16 memory:fe7f4000-fe7f7fff
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 14.3
bus info: [email protected]:00:14.3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
configuration: latency=0
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 14.4
bus info: [email protected]:00:14.4
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master
resources: ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:feb00000-febfffff
*-firewire
description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
product: VT6306/7/8 [Fire II(M)] IEEE 1394 OHCI Controller
vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
physical id: 6
bus info: [email protected]:03:06.0
version: c0
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm ohci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=firewire_ohci latency=64 maxlatency=32
resources: irq:20 memory:febff800-febfffff ioport:e800(size=128)
*-usb:6
description: USB controller
product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
physical id: 14.5
bus info: [email protected]:00:14.5
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
resources: irq:18 memory:fe7fa000-fe7fafff
*-usbhost
product: OHCI PCI host controller
vendor: Linux 5.4.0-54-generic ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]
logical name: usb7
version: 5.04
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub slots=2 speed=12Mbit/s
*-usb
description: Keyboard
product: USB Receiver
vendor: Logitech
physical id: 2
bus info: [email protected]:2
version: 12.07
capabilities: usb-2.00
configuration: driver=usbhid maxpower=98mA speed=12Mbit/s
*-pci:1
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 101
bus info: [email protected]:00:18.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:2
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Address Map
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 102
bus info: [email protected]:00:18.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:3
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 103
bus info: [email protected]:00:18.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:4
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 104
bus info: [email protected]:00:18.3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=k10temp
resources: irq:0
*-pci:5
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Link Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
physical id: 105
bus info: [email protected]:00:18.4
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-scsi:0
physical id: 1
logical name: scsi0
capabilities: emulated
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: Samsung SSD 850
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: 2B6Q
serial: S2RANX0J622348T
size: 465GiB (500GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 logicalsectorsize=512 sectorsize=512 signature=7d29b5a2
*-volume
description: EXT4 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 1
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
logical name: /
version: 1.0
serial: bac269d2-c154-49b8-9055-0bb3b18489c1
size: 465GiB
capacity: 465GiB
capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink 64bit extents ext4 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2020-08-15 12:10:48 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/ modified=2020-11-27 07:40:45 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,noatime,errors=remount-ro mounted=2020-11-26 16:15:31 state=mounted
*-scsi:1
physical id: 2
logical name: scsi1
capabilities: emulated
*-cdrom
description: DVD-RAM writer
product: DVD-RAM GH40L
vendor: hp
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: [email protected]:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/dvdrw
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: RB0A
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
[email protected]:~$

Wow, reading that much boring output can help you sleep at night. That, plus beer.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Morning all

I don't think Wizard's instruction in post #30 will do anything further for you, Mike.

Agreed, stan.

Mike when you are up to it, please give us the content of your file /etc/default/grub

You can use

cat /etc/default/grub

to display the content on Terminal without having to enter the file.

Copy and paste the output into the Codes fields stan has explained above.

It may be a simple matter of adjusting a line or two to get the Grub Menu (if available), but if that does not work, we can look at the content of

/etc/grub.d/30_os-prober

... which a lot of people are unaware can actually countermand/override /etc/default/grub content. That is just speculation at the moment.

To edit the file, you can either use Nano as stan has described above (I use it all the time), which runs under its own shell environment in Terminal, or else you can use a GUI (desktop) utility text editor, which for Ubuntu is Gedit.

NANO

With Nano, you navigate using your arrow direction keys, which can seem cumbersome.

If you use an option -m, such as

sudo nano -m /etc/default/grub

it enables the use of the mouse to click at any point where you want to insert or delete text.

When you have finished editing, use Ctrl-x to start the save and exit. It will ask you if you want to save the Modified Buffer (uppercase Y to confirm), then display the name of the file, that you want to make the changes to (press Enter) and it closes returning you to the usual prompt.

GEDIT

(at least) 2 ways of using this: pkexec, and an "admin" command. Either of these will launch Gedit on the desktop, for you to edit and save a file. However with pkexec, you will likely need to create a policy file, which is a PITA (pain in where the sun don't shine).

So admin (you may need to enter your password twice):

gedit admin:///etc/default/grub

(The admin option can also be used in a File Browser that does not support the option to "open as root" or "open as administrator")

There is a good article on this, including two deprecated commands gksu and gksudo, here

https://itsfoss.com/gksu-replacement-ubuntu/comment-page-7/

but it does not explain the policy kit for pkexec.

Hope this is all not too confusing.

See you later.

Wizard

 

[mike_linux]

Hi folkes, I hope you are doing well .

Yes, and we're glad you asked. It's always nice when folks take an interest in better utilizing the capabilities of the forum software, especially using the ...

Thank you very much @stan because this got me confused.

So let's first hear if

1. he has a Grub Menu.
2. his machine boots directly into Ubuntu by default, or whether it is through BIOS

Unfortunately @wizardfromoz , there is still no Windows entry in the grub bootloader .

The output of my grub config is the following using the sudo nano command:

GRUB CONFIG

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=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 `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

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

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
[email protected]:~$

Maybe I should not try the tutorial suggested by @LorenDB ?

 

[wizardfromoz]

First up, can you give me the output of the following, but just the line I will refer to?

cat /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober

The line I am interested in is at or near the bottom.

If it says

#adjust_timeout

then delete the hash, save the file and then run

sudo update-grub

Then reboot the computer and let us know any change/s.

Thanks

Wizard

 

[mike_linux]

Hi folkes, @wizardfromoz I have depicted the output you need, but the # wasn't there. Nevertheless, I executed the command sudo update-grub, but nothing happened .

OUTPUT - 30_os-prober:

menuentry '$(echo "${LONGNAME} $onstr" | grub_quote)' --class hurd --class gnu --class os \$menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnuhurd-/boot/gnumach.gz-false-$(grub_get_device_id "${DEVICE}")' {
EOF
      save_default_entry | grub_add_tab
      prepare_grub_to_access_device ${DEVICE} | grub_add_tab
      grub_device="`${grub_probe} --device ${DEVICE} --target=drive`"
      mach_device="`echo "${grub_device}" | sed -e 's/(\(hd.*\),msdos\(.*\))/\1s\2/'`"
      grub_fs="`${grub_probe} --device ${DEVICE} --target=fs`"
      case "${grub_fs}" in
    *fs)    hurd_fs="${grub_fs}" ;;
    *)    hurd_fs="${grub_fs}fs" ;;
      esac
      cat << EOF
    multiboot /boot/gnumach.gz root=device:${mach_device}
    module /hurd/${hurd_fs}.static ${hurd_fs} --readonly \\
            --multiboot-command-line='\${kernel-command-line}' \\
            --host-priv-port='\${host-port}' \\
            --device-master-port='\${device-port}' \\
            --exec-server-task='\${exec-task}' -T typed '\${root}' \\
            '\$(task-create)' '\$(task-resume)'
    module /lib/ld.so.1 exec /hurd/exec '\$(exec-task=task-create)'
}
EOF
    ;;
    minix)
      cat << EOF
menuentry "${LONGNAME} (on ${DEVICE}, Multiboot)" {
EOF
         save_default_entry | sed -e "s/^/\t/"
         prepare_grub_to_access_device ${DEVICE} | sed -e "s/^/\t/"
     cat << EOF
    multiboot /boot/image_latest
}
EOF
    ;;
    *)
      # TRANSLATORS: %s is replaced by OS name.
      gettext_printf "%s is not yet supported by grub-mkconfig.\n" "  ${LONGNAME}" >&2
    ;;
  esac
done

adjust_timeout
[email protected]:~$

 

[wizardfromoz]

That's fine, Mike - thanks

It was worth checking, because a lot of people are unaware that the content of 30_os-prober can actually override the content of /etc/default/grub

In this case, it does not, so that's about me down for the count.

So you could either

1. try @LorenDB 's offering at #44, to standardise the formats of the 2 systems OR
2. reinstall 18.04 or fresh install 20.04 in place of the existing 18.04 OR
3. keep booting the individual OSes from BIOS boot order

If you choose Option 2., you would want to totally erase 18.04 from the drive before adding a new install. This could be done either from using GParted on a Live USB stick, or else going into Windows Disk Management and removing the Linux partitions.

Regrets that I cannot give you something more definite.

Cheers

Chris

 

[stan]

Well, Mike, it's been a tough problem. You have a fresh reinstall of 18.04 now, with all the correct partitions and GPT on the drive. If you haven't yet, I would definitely try to enable UEFI booting in your UEFI/BIOS settings, and then see if sudo update-grub will discover Windows. (Sorry, I'm being too lazy to go back and re-read where we are at on that question. )

If that fails, converting the Windows partition to GPT may help so that sudo update-grub will then work. But again, I think you will need UEFI booting enabled, if it isn't.

And it is possible that even with the Windows partition converted to GPT that GRUB will still fail to recognized the other drive. Maybe because it shows as nvme... it is identified differently than the Ubuntu drive using lsblk. I'm not sure why this is, but it is one of the possible issues that may be preventing GRUB from seeing the drive.

Converting Windows to GPT may help. Replacing 18.04 with 20.04 may help. Each step takes your time and effort. And still you may have to use the BIOS Boot Menu to choose between them. Or you might try a third party boot manager, such as rEFInd (mentioned by @LorenDB above) or another one I'm aware of is EasyBCD. I would probably just stick with the BIOS Boot Menu rather than installing another product, but that's just me. Other people love them, and maybe they will interest you if nothing else will work.

 

[mike_linux]

Hi guys,

Regrets that I cannot give you something more definite.

That doesn't matter you all guys helped me a lot in a very friendly manner . I will choose the first option @wizardfromoz mentioned by @LorenDB, but before I will delete my old windows backup and create a new one with Acronis true image. Maybe I will do that tomorrow and inform you how the process ended (hope all will be ok).

If that fails, converting the Windows partition to GPT may help so that sudo update-grub will then work. But again, I think you will need UEFI booting enabled, if it isn't.

Thank you @stan I will check that first. Can you provide me a screenshot of the setting in the UEFI bios to be sure that I have checked the right one?.

And it is possible that even with the Windows partition converted to GPT that GRUB will still fail to recognized the other drive. Maybe because it shows as nvme... it is identified differently than the Ubuntu drive using lsblk. I'm not sure why this is, but it is one of the possible issues that may be preventing GRUB from seeing the drive.

That's what I am concerned about because the nvme partition is different than this of Linux.

Have a nice day and a good night from Greece .

 

[stan]

Can you provide me a screenshot of the setting in the UEFI bios to be sure that I have checked the right one?

They can all look different. You had said you needed to disable UEFI booting for Ubuntu to work, so maybe that will jog your memory which one it is. The setting is most likely in the Boot section of the UEFI/BIOS settings, but you may need to look in a sub-section there to find it. The wording of this setting can vary... here are some examples you might find (all these examples are doing the same thing):

UEFI boot (set enabled)
Legacy Boot (set disabled)
BIOS Boot (set disabled)
CSM Boot (set disabled)
Compatibility Support (set disabled)

At least for now, you probably want to keep Secure Boot disabled. And you may want to disable Fast Boot, if you see a setting for that.

Here are a couple of pics from 2 of my laptops below:

Asus

Lenovo

 

[wizardfromoz]

@stan I am wondering if the following is of any assistance

https://linux.org/threads/grub-and-nmve-disk-problems.29845/post-96339

There, @dos2unix says that the boot order must be regular SSD first, before the NVMe drive.

Cheers

Wiz

 

[stan]

boot order must be regular SSD first, before the NVMe drive

Interesting... set Ubuntu first in boot order, then boot on it, then run sudo update-grub to see if Windows is finally detected by GRUB? Sure can't hurt to try and would not take long.

The OP in that thread sounds like GRUB had already detected Windows though, unless I'm reading it wrong. So when he made Debian boot first, he had both Debian and Windows options. It is a very similar scenario to Mike's, it seems, except Mike lacks Windows option with everything we've tried.