How to Install Grub2 on USB from Windows. The following covers the process of installing Grub2 on a USB Flash Drive from within Windows. We will be using the grub-install.exe that ships with the grub-for-windows zip file. Upon completion of these bootloader instructions, your USB flash drive should be Grub2 bootable from UEFI or BIOS on all computer systems.
You can also use this method to replace or update the syslinux chainloaded Grub2 version that comes with YUMI-UEFI.
Installing Grub2 on USB from Windows
Note: Grub2 for BIOS (i386-pc) can be installed on a exFAT, NTFS, or Fat/Fat32 partition. While Grub2 UEFI (i386-efi/x86_64-efi) will only install on a Fat/Fat32 formatted partition. Though you can still chainload and run files from NTFS, exFAT partitions.
1. Download the grub-2.06-for-windows.zip and extract (unzip) its contents to your Windows desktop. Alternately, you can use a1ive’s modified Grub2 version which includes extra features.
As seen below, you should end up with a grub-2.06-for-windows folder. This folder will contain grub-install.exe amongst several other files.
2. You’ll need to use a command line to run grub-install.exe
To Open a Command Prompt;
1.) From the Windows ‘⌕ Type here to search’ box, type cmd.exe
2.) Then click Run as administrator
3. Next, to change to the grub-2.06-for-windows directory,
Type the following into the Command Prompt and then press Enter.
cd %UserProfile%Desktopgrub*for-windows
4. Now you’ll want to open Windows Disk Management Tool so that you can determine your USB drive letter and its related disk number.
To do this type the following, then press Enter.
diskmgmt.msc
5. From the Disk Management Window, make a note of which Disk Number and Volume Drive Letter belongs to your USB device.
6. Back at the Command Prompt,
To install Grub2 for BIOS, type or copy the following,
(replacing X with your drive letter and # your Disk number),
and then press Enter.
grub-install.exe --force --no-floppy --target=i386-pc --boot-directory=X:boot //./PHYSICALDRIVE#
7. Then, to install Grub2 for UEFI 32 bit,
grub-install.exe --force --removable --no-floppy --target=i386-efi --boot-directory=X:boot --efi-directory=X:
8. Finally, to install Grub2 for UEFI 64 bit,
grub-install.exe --force --removable --no-floppy --target=x86_64-efi --boot-directory=X:boot --efi-directory=X:
If all went well, you should now be able to boot from your USB Flash drive into a running Grub2 environment. Your USB device can now UEFI and BIOS boot from 32-bit or 64-bit systems. Supporting all three i386-pc, i386-efi, and x86_64-efi architectures.
If you used this tutorial on a YUMI-UEFI prepared drive, the Syslinux bootloader should have been directly replaced with Grub 2.
You are here: Home / Windows / How To Install Grub Bootloader In Windows 10? – Complete Guide
Plenty of users have dual boot in their PCs. Most Ubuntu users have a Grub bootloader for booting. However, many users have recently reported that a Windows update overrides their Windows Boot Manager. This prevent users from booting in Ubuntu after updating Windows.
In this article, I have discussed how to install Grub bootloader in Windows 10 after a Windows update overrides it. By following the steps in this article, you will be able to fix Grub after Windows 10 upgrade.
Also learn how to convert MBR to GPT using MBR2GPT Windows 10 tool from here.
Contents
- 1 How To Install Grub Bootloader In Windows 10 After A Windows Update?
- 1.1 1) Faulty Windows Boot Manager
- 1.2 2) Repair Faulty Grub File
- 2 Wrapping Up
It is nuisance that a Windows update overrides the Windows Boot Manager to default boot using NT bootloader. After the Windows Boot Manager is overridden, it cannot recognize Ubuntu and thus cannot boot into it. Not only Windows update, but installing Windows after Ubuntu also does the same thing.
There is another case why your PC won’t boot into Ubuntu and that’s due to a faulty Grub file. In this case, you will have to repair Grub in order to fix this problem. I have given steps for both the cases below. Follow them carefully and you should be able to fix Grub after Windows 10 upgrade, fresh install, or a faulty Grub file.
1) Faulty Windows Boot Manager
The first case is the faulty Windows Boot Manager that occurs due to a Windows update or fresh Windows installation. To fix this issue, you will have to repair Grub from Windows. To do that, follow the steps given below:
- Boot into Windows 10.
- Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run utility.
- Type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt.
- Now, type the following command and press Enter:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path EFIubuntugrubx64.efi
- After you run the above command, it will change the bootloader back to Grub.
- Restart your PC and you should be greeted with the Grub Menu.
However, there is a chance that after following the above steps you get the “System Bootloader not found” error. To fix this, you will have to disable the secure boot through UEFI firmware. To do it, follow the steps given below:
- Reboot the PC.
- Press the F2 or F10 key to open the Firmware settings during the boot screen.
- Disable the secure boot. This option will differ for each system as the firmware settings will be different.
After you have disabled the secure boot, you should now boot into the Grub menu. From there you can boot into Ubuntu.
2) Repair Faulty Grub File
Sometimes a faulty Windows Boot Manager is not responsible for the Grub bootloader not working. It can also be due to a faulty Grub file. If the above step doesn’t allow you to use the Grub boot loader, it is likely for this reason. Now to fix it, you will have to use the Boot Repair. To use it, you will have to boot into Ubuntu, which you cannot do currently.
So, you will need a bootable USB or Ubuntu live CD. Download the Ubuntu ISO image from here and use any Bootable USB software to flash the image on your USB. Now, plug in the bootable USB or enter the Ubuntu live CD and restart your computer. After the computer restarts, follow the steps given below:
- After you restart, select the Try Ubuntu without installing option in the booting screen to boot into Ubuntu.
- Once, you boot into Ubuntu, open the Command line.
- Type the following command and press Enter after finishing it:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
This command will add all the Boot Repair tool’s repositories and also update them. - Now, type the following command and press Enter to download the Repair tool:
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair - Once the boot-repair file is downloaded, type the following command and press Enter to run it:
boot-repair
The above steps will run the Boot Repair tool and it will automatically scan the disks in your system. After the scan is finished, the Boot Repair dialog will provide you with two options. Click on the Recommended repair option. Follow the on-screen information to complete the process. Once the repair tool is finished running, restart your PC.
Wrapping Up
That’s it. Now you know how to install Grub bootloader in Windows 10 after a Windows update. The above steps should do the job. If you have any questions related to this article, ask them in the comment section below.
How do I chainload GRUB from Windows boot.ini
Contents
- 1 Other titles for this same problem.
- 2 Advice
- 3 Neogrub lazy solution
- 4 Classical solution
- 5 Advanced solution
- 6 Problematic solution
- 7 GRUB solution (on its own)
- 8 GRUB solution (Linux shell)
- 9 GRUB2 solution (on its own)
- 10 GRUB2 solution (Linux shell)
- 11 Common Final Solution
- 11.1 Windows Vista (with easybcd help)
- 11.2 Classical Final Solution
- 11.2.1 Windows XP/Windows 2000/NT/Windows
- 11.2.2 Windows Vista (manually)
- 12 Rescatux
- 13 Tecnical explanation
- 14 One thing you should know
- 15 TIP
- 16 Similar problems
- 17 External resources
Other titles for this same problem.
- GRUB is a great but I prefer not to install it on my mbr.
- How do I chainload GRUB from Windows Vista
- I have Linux in my second hard disk and I follow other howto instructions but I cannot get it to be chainloaded from Windows.
- Is there a safe way to access Linux on the external drive and have xp on the internal drive while being able to disconnect the external drive from pc at any time? ([b]You should run Fix Boot of Windows[/b] for your internal hard disk before these steps.)
Advice
adrian15 advice for this kind of task is #Classical solution
Neogrub lazy solution
TODO: Talk about Neogrub that it is included with EasyBCD I think.
Classical solution
- Super Grub Disk (WITH HELP) :-)))
- English Super Grub Disk
- Windows
- Windows (Advanced)
- Windows chainloads Grub!
- Select the partition where GRUB it is found (i.e. stage1 is found).
Please continue reading at: Common Final Solution
Advanced solution
SITUATION WHEN GRUB FILES AND BOOT SECTOR ARE NOT THE SAME PARTITION
Problematic solution
TODO EXPLAIN THE USE OF LIVESWAP WHEN DETECTED HARD DISK ORDER IS NOT OK.
GRUB solution (on its own)
This method is only valid when you want to boot a Linux partition that it is found in the same hard disk as the windows one (i.e. the first hard disk).
This installs Stage1 of Grub to the first sector of partition containing the Grub folder.
To get started we need to identify the partition containing the Grub folder. (Usually the same as the Linux partition) Say it is (hd0,3) (Usually, but not always, identified in Linux as: /dev/sda4).
Boot with your grub disk or with your already installed grub.
Press ‘c’
At the grub> prompt type:
- root (hd0,3)
- setup (hd0,3)
- quit #(With Linux working)
- reboot #(From grub disk)
Please continue reading at: Common Final Solution
GRUB solution (Linux shell)
This installs Stage1 of Grub to the first sector of partition containing the Grub folder. We will use the «device» function of the grub-shell to ensure that Grub uses the correct map between the bios drives and linux devices, and also to ensure that Grub uses the hard drive numbers.
To get started we need to identify the partition containing the Grub folder. (Usually the same as the Linux partition) Say it is (hd2,3) and /dev/sdb4.
(The (hd2,3) must be how grub sees the partition during boot-up)
Open a terminal in Linux and type
- su #(use sudo -i in Ubuntu)
- grub
and at the «grub>»prompt
- device (hd2) /dev/sdb
- device (hd0) /dev/sdb
- root (hd2,3)
- setup (hd0,3)
- quit
Please continue reading at: Common Final Solution
GRUB2 solution (on its own)
As long as I know GRUB2 cannot install itself on its own.
GRUB2 solution (Linux shell)
This installs first part of Grub2 to the first sector of partition containing the Grub folder.
Let’s suppose that you know that your Linux partition is /dev/sda3
What you need to to is run:
Open a terminal in Linux and type
- su #(use sudo -i in Ubuntu)
- grub-install —force /dev/sda3
Please continue reading at: Common Final Solution
Common Final Solution
As a final solution we need somehow Windows to chainload our Linux partition. If we use easybcd we can avoid having to copy a file from a live cd to our Windows partition and setting up the boot. If we are geeks and classical we will have to edit boot.ini or the new Vista file manually in order to make
things work.
Windows Vista (with easybcd help)
- Download and run EasyBCD 1.7.2(or any version i think)
- If program ask for boot drive just select your windows partion
- Choose Add/remove Entries
- At «Add an Entry» select «Linux»
- Change Type to «Linux»
- Enter Name box with any name u want
- At Drive Select Your Ubuntu Partion
- Click «Add Entry»
- Click «Save»
- Restart, you have done ^ ^
Classical Final Solution
Once grub has been installed to a partition we need to get its boot sector to a file in order to boot it from Windows.
Let’s boot with a live cd and open a terminal.
Identify the partition containing the grub folder. (Usually the same one as the Linux partition)
In this example the identified grub partition is sda3.
Plugin your pendrive and open it.
Identify your plugged pendrive associated folder.
In this example:
Pendrive mount point is: /media/disk
From a terminal (Aplications -> System -> Terminal) please run:
- sudo -i | su
(When prompted enter your current user password or your root password in non-sudo systems such as Debian. If you do not know how to type | symbol please only type sudo -i)
- dd if=/dev/sda3 of=/media/disk/linux.bin count=1 bs=512
- sync
- Right Click on your pendrive icon in your desktop and click on umount or extract.
Now let’s boot into Windows.
Plug in your pendrive and copy the linux.bin file into c: folder.
Windows XP/Windows 2000/NT/Windows
Now let’s edit boot.ini and add this line at its bottom:
c:linux.bin="Linux"
Windows Vista (manually)
TODO
Now when rebooting if you boot windows you will get a Windows menu with two options: Windows and the new Linux option which will chainload GRUB.
Finally there is an optional step that it is removing grub so that it chainloads Windows menu in the first place automatically at boot.
Rescatux
This feature is not yet available at the Rescapp program. It is available at the Super Grub Disk included with Rescatux. If you want to have this feature at the Rescapp program please complain at the super grub disk mailing list.
Tecnical explanation
One thing you should know
- These methods only restore GRUB successfully if a stage1,stage2 (and optionally a stage1_5 file) is found. If you have deleted these files the GRUB solution (Linux shell) might help although it might be better to reinstall GRUB from a chroot environment got from a live cd.
If your Linux filesystem has errors GRUB might not be able to find its files even if they are there. So sometimes is advised to try to run the:
fsck -yc /dev/DEV
command as root where DEV is your linux partition device.
fsck -yc /dev/sda3
will fix the third partition from an scsi or sata first disk (Although it might not actually be the first one).
- OpenSolaris GRUB cannot be restored to a partition which this method. You need to boot Linux and then use the install-grub command. See man install-grub for more info.
TIP
If you cannot get to restore grub this way you can always try to boot Linux and then use the Grub Solution (on its own) method or the Grub Solution (Linux shell) method.
Similar problems
External resources
TODO
- Главная
- Форум
- Загрузчики.
- GRUB 2
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Последний раз редактировалось: Ttron27 (2019-01-09 16:40), всего редактировалось 2 раз(а) |
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 09:18
(спустя 37 минут)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 09:18
(спустя 37 минут)
vovan1982 |
|
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 09:32
(спустя 13 минут)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 09:32
(спустя 13 минут)
Ttron27 |
60768
Ttron27, непонятно зачем весь это Копенгаген, все это уже давно есть на форуме, Conty9 уже года 2 назад выкладывал готовый вариант, 3-й спойлер сверху Два раздела на флешке — зачем это нужно и реализация такой возможности с помощью UTmake Приму к сведению, про китайскую доработку не знал. Про разделы не совсем понял , пока не наблюдаю ухода от разделения дисков. Но тему по ссылке покурю |
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 10:38
(спустя 1 час 6 минут)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 10:38
(спустя 1 час 6 минут)
Ander_73 |
|
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 11:17
(спустя 38 минут)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 11:17
(спустя 38 минут)
stea.61 |
60768
это уже давно есть на форуме vovan1982, Ander_73, Ttron27, Последний раз редактировалось: stea.61 (2019-01-08 11:25), всего редактировалось 1 раз |
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 11:25
(спустя 8 минут)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 11:25
(спустя 8 минут)
Joker-2013 |
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Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 11:33
(спустя 8 минут)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 11:33
(спустя 8 минут)
Ttron27 |
60774
stea.61, Спасибо, действительно еще зеленый и судя по тому что скинули выше есть куда расти еще ого го. |
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 15:03
(спустя 3 часа)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 15:03
(спустя 3 часа)
BalAngel |
нас интересует файл grub-2.02-for-windows.zip …. на флешке … Приму к сведению, про китайскую доработку не знал… И даже название темы от puhpol созвучно: GRUB 2 установка под Windows. … IMHO Последний раз редактировалось: BalAngel (2019-01-09 09:45), всего редактировалось 1 раз |
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 15:35
(спустя 31 минута)
Отправлено: 08-Янв-2019 15:35
(спустя 31 минута)
Ttron27 |
Касательно Debian, было бы интересно узнать, как его установить в среде Windows Если я не ошибся, в windows 10 с этим может помочь PowerShell(по крайней мере эмуляция linx у меня отрабатывала отлично, а эмуляцией ubuntu ставлю прошивки Padavan ) ну или виртуалка с пробросом порта с usb устройства. Пишут, что grub-2.02-for-windows не поддерживает UEFI enabled Secure Boot Если я не ошибся тут на форуме был такой метод UTmake — не китайская доработка (или у китайцев другое название?) Нет, я не знал про 0 сектора, про программу пока ничего не скажу . Флешка. Тут уже ответили. Все сборки разместить на FAT32, на раздел NTFS — только сборки с VHD и большие файлы. Полностью согласен, но моя специфика работы не дает носить такой( а по факту их надо штуки 3 мне, да и с питанием у некоторых проблемы еше на usb2 не говоря про то где я юзаю да и не у всех есть деньгипотребности. А флешки сейчас то же разные . Но я вас понял. буду ковырять дальше |
Отправлено: 09-Янв-2019 10:14
(спустя 18 часов)
Отправлено: 09-Янв-2019 10:14
(спустя 18 часов)
BalAngel |
эмуляция linx у меня отрабатывала отлично …. Если я не ошибся тут на форуме был такой метод … моя специфика работы не дает носить такой( а по факту их надо штуки 3 мне, да и с питанием у некоторых проблемы еше на usb2 не говоря про то где я юзаю ag да и не у всех есть деньгипотребности … linx — посмотрю когда-нибудь |
Отправлено: 09-Янв-2019 16:56
(спустя 6 часов)
Отправлено: 09-Янв-2019 16:56
(спустя 6 часов)
BalAngel |
|
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 15:13
(спустя 22 часа)
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 15:13
(спустя 22 часа)
Ttron27 |
60825
Установка Grub-2.02 UEFI+Grub4dos-0.4.6a из под Windows Читаю все и внимательно , сейчас вы озадачили вопросом Secure Boot, насколько знаю , не отключаемый Secure Boot есть только на планшетах на ARM с предустановленной Windows, а в остальном его можно отключить и это вроде как не беда. Возможно данное инфо окажется полезным , в любом случае поковыряю в свободное время unix системы и если что то есть интересное попробую реализовать. |
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 16:40
(спустя 1 час 26 минут)
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 16:40
(спустя 1 час 26 минут)
vovan1982 |
|
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 17:27
(спустя 47 минут)
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 17:27
(спустя 47 минут)
KottoSOFT |
configfile /KSFT/BOOT/GRLDR/menu.lst Сделать основным загрузчиком bootmgr а уже в BCD прописать путь для запуска GRUB4DOS |
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 17:50
(спустя 23 минуты)
Отправлено: 10-Янв-2019 17:50
(спустя 23 минуты)
Ander_73 |
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The three interfaces of Grub functions at various levels. The menu interface consists of the list of kernels or the operating systems.
You have the option to select a particular operating system with the help of the arrow keys and you can boot it with the Enter key.
All the Commands in Grub are displayed in the menu entry editor interface. You can change the commands before you load the Operating System.
The Command-Line interface is the basic interface that provides the user with the utmost control. You can execute any command with the help of it.
You may sometimes encounter how to install a grub bootloader in windows 10 issues raised by the corrupted boot directory or the partition.
Contents
- 1 Restore Grub After Windows Install
- 1.1 Solution 1: Setting The Correct Partition
- 1.2 Solution 2: Resetting the BIOS Settings
- 1.3 Solution 3: Using the Automatic Repair and restoring the Boot Sector Code
- 1.4 Solution 4: Clean Installation Of Windows 10
- 1.5 Solution 5: Rebuilding BCD With The Help Of Windows 10 Automatic Repair
- 1.6 Solution 6: Replace The Hard Drive
- 1.7 Winding Up
Restore Grub After Windows Install
The Grub Bootloader is particularly important as you cannot start the Operating System without it.
While you switch on the program, this is the first program that gets started. Then the Bootloader transfers the control it has to the Operating System Kernel.
When you are stuck with how to install a grub bootloader in Windows 10, you can go for a clean installation of Windows 10 or reset your BIOS settings. These may help you to resolve the problem.
You also have other options to fix it like rebuilding the BCD or simply replacing your damaged hard drive.
Through this article let us address the possibilities to fix the Grub related problem effectively.
Solution 1: Setting The Correct Partition
If the correct partition gets deactivated somehow, you face this grub related problem and need to go for restoring grub after windows install.
This happens as the boot loader gets initiated by the BIOS from the active partition.
We suggest you verify whether the active partition is incorrect. Then you will have to get the proper partition activated.
This process works wonder to fix the grub related issues swiftly. Follow the steps mentioned below to execute the process:
Step 1: First of all you need to connect a DVD or USB Flash Player bootable media to your PC.
Step 2: Then give your system a fresh restart to execute the Automatic Repairing Process.
Step 3: Select to Troubleshoot and go to the Advanced options. Now, launch Command Prompt and enter diskpart and hit the Enter button.
Step 4: Input the commands mentioned below one after another:
- list disk: This will give you the list of all your hard drives
- select disk n: n denotes the disk where you have installed the operating system.
- list volume: All the Volumes on Disk 0 will be enlisted here.
- select volume n: he will give you the number of system partitions
- active: this will show you the active system partition. Identify the specific partition from the displayed list that ought to be active.
Step 5: Now, enter the commands given below and after inputting each one, press the Enter Key.
- select partition d
- active
- quit
Step 6: After you have finished the above step give your Computer a fresh restart.
Check whether your Grub related problem is solved this way.
Solution 2: Resetting the BIOS Settings
Resetting BIOS is another effective way to fix grub after windows 10 upgrade.
Here I am providing you a complete guideline to execute the task. Follow the steps:
Step 1: Turn off your computer and wait for a couple of minutes, then give it a fresh restart.
Step 2: Now, press F2 and repeat the process till you see the System Screen Window.
The function key may vary from system to system. Give it a check while you start your system.
Step 3: Now with the help of the Right Arrow Key go to the Exit menu bar. Then move on to the Load Optimized Defaults.
Step 4: After you pressed the Load Optimized Device option, hit the Enter button.
After you accomplished the entire procedure check whether this has helped. You also have the option to flash the BIOS of your computer to fix the issue.
Solution 3: Using the Automatic Repair and restoring the Boot Sector Code
You may use your automatics repair system provided by Windows 10 and run are repairing process for restoring grub after windows install.
The boot sector code may be damaged and this may create the problem. So, you need to restore the boot sector code so that the grub rescue error is not prompted.
For this, I am describing the process that you are required to follow meticulously.
Step 1: Give your PC a fresh restart for repeated times and then select to Troubleshoot. From the displayed panel, choose Advanced and from there move on to Start-up Repair.
Step 2: Now, the repairing process will commence. Wait till the procedure gets completed.
We recommend you not to proceed for any operation in between. After that check, if that was good enough to address your problem.
Step 3: You have another option to use DVD or USB Flash Drive for resting the boot Sector Code.
For this, connect the bootable USB or DVD to your PC give your computer a fresh restart to go to the Automatic Repair Mode.
Step 4: Now proceed to Troubleshoot and then go to the Advanced Tab.
Step 5: Now Enter cmd to launch Command Prompt. Input the given commands in the Command Prompt. Do not forget to hit the Enter button after you type them.
diskpart
select disk 0
list volume
This way you will get all the volumes displayed. In the Type section, you will get to see DVD-ROM.
Make sure to remember the letter for the drive of the DVD or USB Flash Drive that you have connected to your Device. Like D or E.
Step 6: Now, enter the commands that I am providing below and click Enter.
Exit
D: or E:
CD Boot
Dir
Step 7: Scrutinize whether there is bootsect.exe file in the provided list. On finding it input the given command and then hit the enter button.
bootsect /nt60 SYS /mbr
Exit
Step 8: Now reboot your Computer and hope this will solve the problem you are muddling with.
Solution 4: Clean Installation Of Windows 10
To repair grub from windows, install Windows 10 afresh so that the installations done previously completely get removed.
For this, you will have to download the ISO file of Windows 10 on another device and get it burned on a DVD. You may also proceed with creating a USB drive that you can boot.
You may take the help of a third-party utility or you may also fix the boot related error if you create a bootable media.
That will automatically help you launching the program, selecting the proper partition, etc.
Solution 5: Rebuilding BCD With The Help Of Windows 10 Automatic Repair
If you cannot find bootsect.exe file, then you may need to rebuild BCD to combat your Grub issue.
Many users have reported that by using this rebuilding BCD technique they could easily fix the Grub related issue.
Follow the given process described below to rebuild the BCD:
Step 1: First of all you will have to connect bootable USB Flash Drive DVD to your system.
Step 2: Then reboot your PC and go to the Automatic Repair Mode.
Then from the advanced window choose Command Prompt for initiating BCD Files.
Step 3: Enter the below-given commands in the Command Prompt and when you have finished press Enter:
- Bootrec /Fixmbr
- Bootrec /Fixboot
- Bootrec /Rebuildbcd
Step 4: When you complete the process, exit from Command Prompt and then give your device a fresh restart.
Solution 6: Replace The Hard Drive
Sometimes you may face several issues with your hard drive. Your hard drive may get damaged somehow and this may lead to the Grub rescue issue along with other burning issues for your system.
In case you discover that your hard drive is damaged, we suggest you replace it immediately.
Hard Drives are available on your manufacturer’s website or from the retail sites then replace your drive and clean install Windows 10 to get rid of the Grub related problem.
Winding Up
Hope the resolutions provided could give you the answer to how to install grub bootloader in Windows 10.
If you still have queries or issues with the related files, feel free to intimate us in the comments section or may shoot us a mail.
We always look forward to hearing back from you.
Related articles
- Arch boot process
- Master Boot Record
- GUID Partition Table
- Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
- GRUB Legacy
- /EFI examples
- /Tips and tricks
- Multiboot USB drive
GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) is a boot loader. The current GRUB is also referred to as GRUB 2. The original GRUB, or GRUB Legacy, corresponds to versions 0.9x. This page exclusively describes GRUB 2.
Note: In the entire article esp
denotes the mountpoint of the EFI system partition aka ESP.
UEFI systems
Note:
- It is recommended to read and understand the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, Partitioning#GUID Partition Table and Arch boot process#Under UEFI pages.
- When installing to use UEFI it is important to boot the installation media in UEFI mode, otherwise efibootmgr will not be able to add the GRUB UEFI boot entry. Installing to the fallback boot path will still work even in BIOS mode since it does not touch the NVRAM.
- To boot from a disk using UEFI, an EFI system partition is required. Follow EFI system partition#Check for an existing partition to find out if you have one already, otherwise you need to create it.
- This whole article assumes that inserting additional GRUB2 modules via
insmod
is possible. As discussed in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface/Secure Boot#shim with key and GRUB, this is not the case on UEFI systems with Secure Boot enabled. If you want to use any additional GRUB module that is not included in the standard GRUB EFI filegrubx64.efi
on a Secure Boot system, you have to re-generate the GRUB EFIgrubx64.efi
withgrub-mkstandalone
with the additional GRUB modules included.
Installation
Note:
- UEFI firmwares are not implemented consistently across manufacturers. The procedure described below is intended to work on a wide range of UEFI systems but those experiencing problems despite applying this method are encouraged to share detailed information, and if possible the workarounds found, for their hardware-specific case. A /EFI examples article has been provided for such cases.
- The section assumes you are installing GRUB for x86_64 systems. For IA32 (32-bit) UEFI systems (not to be confused with 32-bit CPUs), replace
x86_64-efi
withi386-efi
where appropriate..
First, install the packages grub and efibootmgr: GRUB is the boot loader while efibootmgr is used by the GRUB installation script to write boot entries to NVRAM.
Then follow the below steps to install GRUB to your disk:
- Mount the EFI system partition and in the remainder of this section, substitute
esp
with its mount point. - Choose a boot loader identifier, here named
GRUB
. A directory of that name will be created inesp/EFI/
to store the EFI binary and this is the name that will appear in the UEFI boot menu to identify the GRUB boot entry. - Execute the following command to install the GRUB EFI application
grubx64.efi
toesp/EFI/GRUB/
and install its modules to/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/
.
-
-
Note:
- Make sure to install the packages and run the
grub-install
command from the system in which GRUB will be installed as the boot loader. That means if you are booting from the live installation environment, you need to be inside the chroot when runninggrub-install
. If for some reason it is necessary to rungrub-install
from outside of the installed system, append the--boot-directory=
option with the path to the mounted/boot
directory, e.g--boot-directory=/mnt/boot
. - Some motherboards cannot handle
bootloader-id
with spaces in it.
- Make sure to install the packages and run the
-
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --bootloader-id=GRUB
-
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface/Secure_Boot#sbctl
After the above installation completed, the main GRUB directory is located at /boot/grub/
. Read /Tips and tricks#Alternative install method for how to specify an alternative location. Note that grub-install
also tries to create an entry in the firmware boot manager, named GRUB
in the above example – this will, however, fail if your boot entries are full; use efibootmgr to remove unnecessary entries.
Remember to #Generate the main configuration file after finalizing the configuration.
Tip: If you use the option --removable
then GRUB will be installed to esp/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
(or esp/EFI/BOOT/BOOTIA32.EFI
for the i386-efi
target) and you will have the additional ability of being able to boot from the drive in case EFI variables are reset or you move the drive to another computer. Usually you can do this by selecting the drive itself similar to how you would using BIOS. If dual booting with Windows, be aware Windows usually places an EFI executable there, but its only purpose is to recreate the UEFI boot entry for Windows. If you are installing GRUB on a Mac, you will have to use this option.
Note:
--efi-directory
and--bootloader-id
are specific to GRUB UEFI,--efi-directory
replaces--root-directory
which is deprecated.- You might note the absence of a device_path option (e.g.:
/dev/sda
) in thegrub-install
command. In fact any device_path provided will be ignored by the GRUB UEFI install script. Indeed, UEFI boot loaders do not use a MBR bootcode or partition boot sector at all.
See UEFI troubleshooting in case of problems. Additionally see /Tips and tricks#UEFI further reading.
Secure Boot support
Grub fully supports secure boot utilising either CA keys or shim, the installation command however is different depending on which you intend to use.
To make use of CA Keys the command is
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --bootloader-id=GRUB --modules="tpm" --disable-shim-lock
To make use of shim-lock the command is
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --bootloader-id=GRUB--modules="normal test efi_gop efi_uga search echo linux all_video gfxmenu gfxterm_background gfxterm_menu gfxterm loadenv configfile tpm"
After installation see Secure Boot for instructions on implementing it
Warning:
- Incorrectly configuring Secure Boot can render your system unbootable. If for any reason you cannot boot after enabling secure boot then you should disable it in firmware and reboot the system.
- Loading unnecessary modules in your bootloader has the potential to present a security risk, only use these commands if you need them.
BIOS systems
GUID Partition Table (GPT) specific instructions
On a BIOS/GPT configuration, a BIOS boot partition is required. GRUB embeds its core.img
into this partition.
Note:
- Before attempting this method keep in mind that not all systems will be able to support this partitioning scheme. Read more on Partitioning#GUID Partition Table.
- The BIOS boot partition is only needed by GRUB on a BIOS/GPT setup. On a BIOS/MBR setup, GRUB uses the post-MBR gap for the embedding the
core.img
. On GPT, however, there is no guaranteed unused space before the first partition. - For UEFI systems this extra partition is not required, since no embedding of boot sectors takes place in that case. However, UEFI systems still require an EFI system partition.
Create a mebibyte partition (+1M
with fdisk or gdisk) on the disk with no file system and with partition type GUID 21686148-6449-6E6F-744E-656564454649
.
- Select partition type
BIOS boot
for fdisk. - Select partition type code
ef02
for gdisk. - For parted set/activate the flag
bios_grub
on the partition.
This partition can be in any position order but has to be on the first 2 TiB of the disk. This partition needs to be created before GRUB installation. When the partition is ready, install the boot loader as per the instructions below.
The space before the first partition can also be used as the BIOS boot partition though it will be out of GPT alignment specification. Since the partition will not be regularly accessed performance issues can be disregarded, though some disk utilities will display a warning about it. In fdisk or gdisk create a new partition starting at sector 34 and spanning to 2047 and set the type. To have the viewable partitions begin at the base consider adding this partition last.
Master Boot Record (MBR) specific instructions
Usually the post-MBR gap (after the 512 byte MBR region and before the start of the first partition) in many MBR partitioned systems is 31 KiB when DOS compatibility cylinder alignment issues are satisfied in the partition table. However a post-MBR gap of about 1 to 2 MiB is recommended to provide sufficient room for embedding GRUB’s core.img
(FS#24103). It is advisable to use a partitioning tool that supports 1 MiB partition alignment to obtain this space as well as to satisfy other non-512-byte-sector issues (which are unrelated to embedding of core.img
).
Installation
Install the grub package. (It will replace grub-legacyAUR if that is already installed.) Then do:
# grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdX
where i386-pc
is deliberately used regardless of your actual architecture, and /dev/sdX
is the disk (not a partition) where GRUB is to be installed. For example /dev/sda
or /dev/nvme0n1
, or /dev/mmcblk0
. See Device file#Block device names for a description of the block device naming scheme.
Now you must generate the main configuration file.
If you use LVM for your /boot
, you can install GRUB on multiple physical disks.
See grub-install(8) and GRUB Manual for more details on the grub-install
command.
Configuration
On an installed system, GRUB loads the /boot/grub/grub.cfg
configuration file each boot. You can follow #Generated grub.cfg for using a tool, or #Custom grub.cfg for a manual creation.
Generated grub.cfg
This section only covers editing the /etc/default/grub
configuration file. See /Tips and tricks for more information.
Note: Remember to always generate the main configuration file after making changes to /etc/default/grub
and/or files in /etc/grub.d/
.
Warning: Update/reinstall the boot loader (see #UEFI systems or #BIOS systems) if a new GRUB version changes the syntax of the configuration file: mismatching configuration can result in an unbootable system.
Generate the main configuration file
After the installation, the main configuration file /boot/grub/grub.cfg
needs to be generated. The generation process can be influenced by a variety of options in /etc/default/grub
and scripts in /etc/grub.d/
.
If you have not done additional configuration, the automatic generation will determine the root filesystem of the system to boot for the configuration file. For that to succeed it is important that the system is either booted or chrooted into.
Note:
- The default file path is
/boot/grub/grub.cfg
, not/boot/grub/i386-pc/grub.cfg
. - If you are trying to run grub-mkconfig in a chroot or systemd-nspawn container, you might notice that it does not work:
grub-probe: error: failed to get canonical path of /dev/sdaX
. In this case, try using arch-chroot as described in the BBS post.
Use the grub-mkconfig tool to generate /boot/grub/grub.cfg
:
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
By default the generation scripts automatically add menu entries for all installed Arch Linux kernels to the generated configuration.
Tip:
- After installing or removing a kernel, you just need to re-run the above grub-mkconfig command.
- For tips on managing multiple GRUB entries, for example when using both linux and linux-lts kernels, see /Tips and tricks#Multiple entries.
To automatically add entries for other installed operating systems, see #Detecting other operating systems.
You can add additional custom menu entries by editing /etc/grub.d/40_custom
and re-generating /boot/grub/grub.cfg
. Or you can create /boot/grub/custom.cfg
and add them there. Changes to /boot/grub/custom.cfg
do not require re-running grub-mkconfig, since /etc/grub.d/41_custom
adds the necessary source
statement to the generated configuration file.
Tip: /etc/grub.d/40_custom
can be used as a template to create /etc/grub.d/nn_custom
, where nn
defines the precedence, indicating the order the script is executed. The order scripts are executed determine the placement in the GRUB boot menu. nn
should be greater than 06
to ensure necessary scripts are executed first.
See #Boot menu entry examples for custom menu entry examples.
Detecting other operating systems
To have grub-mkconfig search for other installed systems and automatically add them to the menu, install the os-prober package and mount the partitions from which the other systems boot. Then re-run grub-mkconfig. If you get the following output: Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions
then edit /etc/default/grub
and add/uncomment:
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
Then try again.
Note:
- The exact mount point does not matter, os-prober reads the
mtab
to identify places to search for bootable entries. - Remember to mount the partitions each time you run grub-mkconfig in order to include the other operating systems every time.
Windows
For Windows installed in UEFI mode, make sure the EFI system partition containing the Windows Boot Manager (bootmgfw.efi
) is mounted. Run os-prober
as root to detect and generate an entry for it.
For Windows installed in BIOS mode, mount the Windows system partition (its file system label should be System Reserved
or SYSTEM
). Run os-prober
as root to detect and generate an entry for it.
Note: For Windows installed in BIOS mode:
- NTFS partitions may not always be detected when mounted with the default Linux drivers. If GRUB is not detecting it, try installing NTFS-3G and remounting.
This article or section is out of date.
Reason: Since Windows 7, bootmgr
is placed in the system partition which is not encrypted. (Discuss in Talk:GRUB)
- Encrypted Windows partitions may need to be decrypted before mounting. For BitLocker, this can be done with cryptsetup or dislockerAUR. This should be sufficient for os-prober to add the correct entry.
Additional arguments
To pass custom additional arguments to the Linux image, you can set the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX
+ GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
variables in /etc/default/grub
. The two are appended to each other and passed to kernel when generating regular boot entries. For the recovery boot entry, only GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX
is used in the generation.
It is not necessary to use both, but can be useful. For example, you could use GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=UUID=uuid-of-swap-partition quiet"
where uuid-of-swap-partition
is the UUID of your swap partition to enable resume after hibernation. This would generate a recovery boot entry without the resume and without quiet
suppressing kernel messages during a boot from that menu entry. Though, the other (regular) menu entries would have them as options.
By default grub-mkconfig determines the UUID of the root filesystem for the configuration. To disable this, uncomment GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
.
For generating the GRUB recovery entry you have to ensure that GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY
is not set to true
in /etc/default/grub
.
See Kernel parameters for more info.
By default, grub-mkconfig sorts the included kernels using sort -V
and uses the first kernel in that list as the top-level entry. This means that, for example, since /boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts
is sorted before /boot/vmlinuz-linux
, if you have both linux-lts and linux installed, the LTS kernel will be the top-level menu entry, which may not be desirable. This can be overridden by specifying GRUB_TOP_LEVEL=path_to_kernel"
in /etc/default/grub
. For example, to make the regular kernel be the top-level menu entry, you can use GRUB_TOP_LEVEL="/boot/vmlinuz-linux"
.
LVM
This article or section is a candidate for merging with #Installation.
Notes: grub-mkconfig is capable of detecting that it needs the lvm
module, specifying it in GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES
is not required. Move warning to #Installation & #Installation_2 or create a Known issues section and document it there. (Discuss in Talk:GRUB)
Warning: GRUB does not support thin-provisioned logical volumes.
If you use LVM for your /boot
or /
root partition, make sure that the lvm
module is preloaded:
/etc/default/grub
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="... lvm"
RAID
This article or section is a candidate for merging with #Installation.
Notes: grub-mkconfig is capable of detecting that it needs the mdraid09
and/or mdraid1x
modules, specifying them in GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES
is not required. Summarize the double grub-install in a note and move it to #Installation; move set root
stuff to #Custom grub.cfg. (Discuss in Talk:GRUB)
GRUB provides convenient handling of RAID volumes. You need to load GRUB modules mdraid09
or mdraid1x
to allow you to address the volume natively:
/etc/default/grub
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="... mdraid09 mdraid1x"
For example, /dev/md0
becomes:
set root=(md/0)
whereas a partitioned RAID volume (e.g. /dev/md0p1
) becomes:
set root=(md/0,1)
To install grub when using RAID1 as the /boot
partition (or using /boot
housed on a RAID1 root partition), on BIOS systems, simply run grub-install on both of the drives, such as:
# grub-install --target=i386-pc --debug /dev/sda # grub-install --target=i386-pc --debug /dev/sdb
Where the RAID 1 array housing /boot
is housed on /dev/sda
and /dev/sdb
.
Note: GRUB supports booting from Btrfs RAID 0/1/10, but not RAID 5/6. You may use mdadm for RAID 5/6, which is supported by GRUB.
Encrypted /boot
GRUB also has special support for booting with an encrypted /boot
. This is done by unlocking a LUKS blockdevice in order to read its configuration and load any initramfs and kernel from it. This option tries to solve the issue of having an unencrypted boot partition.
Tip: /boot
is not required to be kept in a separate partition; it may also stay under the system’s root /
directory tree.
Warning: GRUB 2.06 has limited support for LUKS2. See the #LUKS2 section below for details.
To enable this feature encrypt the partition with /boot
residing on it using LUKS as normal. Then add the following option to /etc/default/grub
:
/etc/default/grub
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y
This option is used by grub-install to generate the grub core.img
.
Make sure to install grub after modifying this option or encrypting the partition.
Without further changes you will be prompted twice for a passphrase: the first for GRUB to unlock the /boot
mount point in early boot, the second to unlock the root filesystem itself as implemented by the initramfs. You can use a keyfile to avoid this.
Warning:
- If you want to generate the main configuration file, make sure that
/boot
is mounted. - In order to perform system updates involving the
/boot
mount point, ensure that the encrypted/boot
is unlocked and mounted before performing an update. With a separate/boot
partition, this may be accomplished automatically on boot by using crypttab with a keyfile.
Note:
- If you use a special keymap, a default GRUB installation will not know it. This is relevant for how to enter the passphrase to unlock the LUKS blockdevice. See /Tips and tricks#Manual configuration of core image for early boot.
- If you experience issues getting the prompt for a password to display (errors regarding cryptouuid, cryptodisk, or «device not found»), try reinstalling GRUB and appending
--modules="part_gpt part_msdos"
to the end of yourgrub-install
command.
Tip: You can use pacman hooks to automount your /boot
when upgrades need to access related files.
LUKS2
- GRUB 2.06 has limited support for LUKS2. See GRUB bug #55093.
- Argon2id (cryptsetup default) and Argon2i PBKDFs are not supported (GRUB bug #59409), only PBKDF2 is.
grub-install
does not support creating a core image that could be used for unlocking LUKS2. See the comments below or on grub-gitAUR for a workaround.
Tip: You can use grub-improved-luks2-gitAUR that has been patched for LUKS2 as well as Argon support.
- Use
grub-install
as described in the #Installation section to populate the GRUB module directory. Do not forget to edit/etc/default/grub
and rungrub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
, as described above. The generated EFI binary does not support LUKS2 and will be replaced in the next step.
- Create
/boot/grub/grub-pre.cfg
. ReplaceUUID
with the LUKS encrypted device UUID. Uselvm/NameOfVolumeGroup-NameOfLogicalVolume
instead ofcrypto0
if your root drive is on an LVM logical volume inside the LUKS volume, otherwise do not changecrypto0
, this is how GRUB names encrypted volumes.
/boot/grub/grub-pre.cfg
set crypto_uuid=UUID cryptomount -u $crypto_uuid set root=crypto0 set prefix=($root)/boot/grub insmod normal normal
Note: Whenever you make changes to grub-pre.cfg
, you will have to do the following steps again.
Warning: If using Btrfs and /boot/grub
is located on a subvolume, the prefix must include the full path from the top level Btrfs subvolume (subvolid = 5
). For example, if /boot/grub
is located on a subvolume called my_subvolume
(subvolid ≠ 5
), set the line to set prefix=($root)/my_subvolume/boot/grub
. This is true even if you have set my_subvolume
as default with btrfs subvolume set-default
before.
- Add
lvm
if you use LVM. Replaceext2
withbtrfs
or another filesystem module, if needed. Depending on the settings of your key slot, replacegcry_sha256
withgcry_sha512
orgcry_whirlpool
if need be:
$ grub-mkimage -p /boot/grub -O x86_64-efi -c grub-pre.cfg -o /tmp/grubx64.efi luks2 part_gpt cryptodisk gcry_rijndael pbkdf2 gcry_sha256 ext2
If it cannot find grub-pre.cfg
, simply change to -c /boot/grub/grub-pre.cfg
above.
- Copy to ESP:
# install -v /tmp/grubx64.efi esp/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi
If you enter an invalid passphrase during boot and end up at the GRUB rescue shell, try cryptomount -a
to mount all (hopefully only one) encrypted partitions or use cryptomount -u $crypto_uuid
to mount a specific one. Then proceed with insmod normal
and normal
as usual.
If you enter a correct passphrase, but an Invalid passphrase
error is immediately returned, make sure that the right cryptographic modules are specified. Use cryptsetup luksDump /dev/nvme0n1p2
and check whether the hash function (SHA-256, SHA-512) matches the modules (gcry_sha256
, gcry_sha512
) installed and the PBKDF algorithm is pbkdf2. The hash and PBDKDF algorithms can be changed for existing keys by using cryptsetup luksConvertKey --hash sha256 --pbkdf pbkdf2 /dev/nvme0n1p2
. Under normal circumstances it should take a few seconds before the passphrase is processed.
Custom grub.cfg
This article or section needs expansion.
This section describes the manual creation of GRUB boot entries in /boot/grub/grub.cfg
instead of relying on grub-mkconfig.
A basic GRUB config file uses the following options:
(hdX,Y)
is the partition Y on disk X, partition numbers starting at 1, disk numbers starting at 0set default=N
is the default boot entry that is chosen after timeout for user actionset timeout=M
is the time M to wait in seconds for a user selection before default is bootedmenuentry "title" {entry options}
is a boot entry titledtitle
set root=(hdX,Y)
sets the boot partition, where the kernel and GRUB modules are stored (boot need not be a separate partition, and may simply be a directory under the «root» partition (/
)
Tip: These boot entries can also be used when using a /boot/grub/grub.cfg
generated by grub-mkconfig. Add them to /etc/grub.d/40_custom
and re-generate the main configuration file or add them to /boot/grub/custom.cfg
.
For tips on managing multiple GRUB entries, for example when using both linux and linux-lts kernels, see /Tips and tricks#Multiple entries.
For Archiso and Archboot boot menu entries see Multiboot USB drive#Boot entries.
GRUB commands
menuentry "System shutdown" { echo "System shutting down..." halt }
menuentry "System restart" { echo "System rebooting..." reboot }
if [ ${grub_platform} == "efi" ]; then menuentry 'UEFI Firmware Settings' --id 'uefi-firmware' { fwsetup } fi
EFI binaries
When launched in UEFI mode, GRUB can chainload other EFI binaries.
Tip: To show these menu entries only when GRUB is launched in UEFI mode, enclose them in the following if
statement:
if [ ${grub_platform} == "efi" ]; then place UEFI-only menu entries here fi
UEFI Shell
You can launch UEFI Shell by placing it in the root of the EFI system partition and adding this menu entry:
menuentry "UEFI Shell" { insmod fat insmod chain search --no-floppy --set=root --file /shellx64.efi chainloader /shellx64.efi }
gdisk
Download the gdisk EFI application and copy gdisk_x64.efi
to esp/EFI/tools/
.
menuentry "gdisk" { insmod fat insmod chain search --no-floppy --set=root --file /EFI/tools/gdisk_x64.efi chainloader /EFI/tools/gdisk_x64.efi }
Chainloading a unified kernel image
If you have a unified kernel image generated from following Secure Boot or other means, you can add it to the boot menu. For example:
menuentry "Arch Linux" { insmod fat insmod chain search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid FILESYSTEM_UUID chainloader /EFI/Linux/Arch-linux.efi }
Dual-booting
GNU/Linux
Assuming that the other distribution is on partition sda2
:
menuentry "Other Linux" { set root=(hd0,2) linux /boot/vmlinuz (add other options here as required) initrd /boot/initrd.img (if the other kernel uses/needs one) }
Alternatively let GRUB search for the right partition by UUID or file system label:
menuentry "Other Linux" { # assuming that UUID is 763A-9CB6 search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid 763A-9CB6 # search by label OTHER_LINUX (make sure that partition label is unambiguous) #search --no-floppy --set=root --label OTHER_LINUX linux /boot/vmlinuz (add other options here as required, for example: root=UUID=763A-9CB6) initrd /boot/initrd.img (if the other kernel uses/needs one) }
If the other distribution has already a valid /boot
folder with installed GRUB, grub.cfg
, kernel and initramfs, GRUB can be instructed to load these other grub.cfg
files on-the-fly during boot. For example, for hd0
and the fourth GPT partition:
menuentry "configfile hd0,gpt4" { insmod part_gpt insmod btrfs insmod ext2 set root='hd0,gpt4' configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg }
When choosing this entry, GRUB loads the grub.cfg
file from the other volume and displays that menu. Any environment variable changes made by the commands in file will not be preserved after configfile
returns. Press Esc
to return to the first GRUB menu.
Windows installed in UEFI/GPT mode
This mode determines where the Windows boot loader resides and chain-loads it after GRUB when the menu entry is selected. The main task here is finding the EFI system partition and running the bootloader from it.
if [ "${grub_platform}" == "efi" ]; then menuentry "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 UEFI/GPT" { insmod part_gpt insmod fat insmod chain search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root $hints_string $fs_uuid chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi } fi
where $hints_string
and $fs_uuid
are obtained with the following two commands.
The $fs_uuid
command determines the UUID of the EFI system partition:
# grub-probe --target=fs_uuid esp/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
1ce5-7f28
Alternatively one can run lsblk --fs
and read the UUID of the EFI system partition from there.
The $hints_string
command will determine the location of the EFI system partition, in this case harddrive 0:
# grub-probe --target=hints_string esp/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
--hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1
These two commands assume the ESP Windows uses is mounted at esp
. There might be case differences in the path to Windows’s EFI file, what with being Windows, and all.
Windows installed in BIOS/MBR mode
Note: GRUB supports booting bootmgr
directly and chainloading of partition boot sector is no longer required to boot Windows in a BIOS/MBR setup.
Warning: It is the system partition that has /bootmgr
, not your «real» Windows partition (usually C:
). The system partition’s filesystem label is System Reserved
or SYSTEM
and the partition is only about 100 to 549 MiB in size. See Wikipedia:System partition and boot partition for more information.
Throughout this section, it is assumed your Windows partition is /dev/sda1
. A different partition will change every instance of hd0,msdos1
.
In both examples XXXX-XXXX
is the filesystem UUID which can be found with command lsblk --fs
.
For Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10:
if [ "${grub_platform}" == "pc" ]; then menuentry "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 BIOS/MBR" { insmod part_msdos insmod ntfs insmod ntldr search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 XXXX-XXXX ntldr /bootmgr } fi
For Windows XP:
if [ "${grub_platform}" == "pc" ]; then menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP" { insmod part_msdos insmod ntfs insmod ntldr search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 XXXX-XXXX ntldr /ntldr } fi
Note: In some cases, GRUB may be installed without a clean Windows 8, in which case you cannot boot Windows without having an error with bootbcd
(error code 0xc000000f
). You can fix it by going to Windows Recovery Console (cmd.exe
from install disk) and executing:
X:> bootrec.exe /fixboot X:> bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd
Do not use bootrec.exe /Fixmbr
because it will wipe GRUB out.
Or you can use Boot Repair function in the Troubleshooting menu — it will not wipe out GRUB but will fix most errors.
Also you would better keep plugged in both the target hard drive and your bootable device ONLY. Windows usually fails to repair boot information if any other devices are connected.
Using labels
It is possible to use file system labels, human-readable strings attached to file systems, by using the --label
option to search
. First of all, make sure your file system has a label.
Then, add an entry using labels. An example of this:
menuentry "Arch Linux, session texte" { search --label --set=root archroot linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/disk/by-label/archroot ro initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img }
Using the command shell
Since the MBR is too small to store all GRUB modules, only the menu and a few basic commands reside there. The majority of GRUB functionality remains in modules in /boot/grub/
, which are inserted as needed. In error conditions (e.g. if the partition layout changes) GRUB may fail to boot. When this happens, a command shell may appear.
GRUB offers multiple shells/prompts. If there is a problem reading the menu but the bootloader is able to find the disk, you will likely be dropped to the «normal» shell:
grub>
If there is a more serious problem (e.g. GRUB cannot find required files), you may instead be dropped to the «rescue» shell:
grub rescue>
The rescue shell is a restricted subset of the normal shell, offering much less functionality. If dumped to the rescue shell, first try inserting the «normal» module, then starting the «normal» shell:
grub rescue> set prefix=(hdX,Y)/boot/grub grub rescue> insmod (hdX,Y)/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod rescue:grub> normal
GRUB supports pager for reading commands that provide long output (like the help
command). This works only in normal shell mode and not in rescue mode. To enable pager, in GRUB command shell type:
sh:grub> set pager=1
Using the command shell environment to boot operating systems
grub>
The GRUB’s command shell environment can be used to boot operating systems.
A common scenario may be to boot Windows / Linux stored on a drive/partition via chainloading.
Chainloading means to load another boot-loader from the current one, ie, chain-loading.
The other bootloader may be embedded at the start of a partitioned disk (MBR), at the start of a partition or a partitionless disk (VBR), or as an EFI binary in the case of UEFI.
Chainloading a partition’s VBR
set root=(hdX,Y) chainloader +1 boot
X=0,1,2…
Y=1,2,3…
For example to chainload Windows stored in the first partition of the first hard disk,
set root=(hd0,1) chainloader +1 boot
Similarly GRUB installed to a partition can be chainloaded.
Chainloading a disk’s MBR or a partitionless disk’s VBR
set root=hdX chainloader +1 boot
Chainloading Windows/Linux installed in UEFI mode
insmod fat set root=(hd0,gpt4) chainloader (${root})/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi boot
insmod fat
is used for loading the FAT file system module for accessing the Windows bootloader on the EFI system partition.
(hd0,gpt4)
or /dev/sda4
is the EFI system partition in this example.
The entry in the chainloader
line specifies the path of the .efi file to be chain-loaded.
Normal loading
See the examples in #Using the rescue console
Using the rescue console
See #Using the command shell first. If unable to activate the standard shell, one possible solution is to boot using a live CD or some other rescue disk to correct configuration errors and reinstall GRUB. However, such a boot disk is not always available (nor necessary); the rescue console is surprisingly robust.
The available commands in GRUB rescue include insmod
, ls
, set
, and unset
. This example uses set
and insmod
. set
modifies variables and insmod
inserts new modules to add functionality.
Before starting, the user must know the location of their /boot
partition (be it a separate partition, or a subdirectory under their root):
grub rescue> set prefix=(hdX,Y)/boot/grub
where X
is the physical drive number and Y
is the partition number.
Note: With a separate boot partition, omit /boot
from the path (i.e. type set prefix=(hdX,Y)/grub
).
To expand console capabilities, insert the linux
module:
grub rescue> insmod i386-pc/linux.mod
or simply
grub rescue> insmod linux
This introduces the linux
and initrd
commands, which should be familiar.
An example, booting Arch Linux:
set root=(hd0,5) linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda5 initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img boot
With a separate boot partition (e.g. when using UEFI), again change the lines accordingly:
Note: Since boot is a separate partition and not part of your root partition, you must address the boot partition manually, in the same way as for the prefix variable.
set root=(hd0,5) linux (hdX,Y)/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda6 initrd (hdX,Y)/initramfs-linux.img boot
Note: If you experienced error: premature end of file /YOUR_KERNEL_NAME
during execution of linux
command, you can try linux16
instead.
After successfully booting the Arch Linux installation, users can correct grub.cfg
as needed and then reinstall GRUB.
To reinstall GRUB and fix the problem completely, changing /dev/sda
if needed. See #Installation for details.
GRUB removal
This article or section needs expansion.
Reason: Migrating from BIOS booting to UEFI is not the only case where GRUB could be removed. Section needs to either cover how to remove GRUB installed for UEFI booting or it should be removed altogether as too trivial. (Discuss in Talk:GRUB)
In general, in order to remove grub, one has to do the installation steps in reverse order. Perhaps cleaning any left over at the end. However, before doing anything, one has to decide if, and how, the machine will boot after the removal. Assuming one removes grub because they would like to use another boot loader, a safe, though a bit difficult, method is to make sure the other boot loader is working before removing grub.
In any case, even when removing grub before installing another boot loader, for the UEFI case, run:
$ efibootmgr
And verify the other boot loader is listed in the BootOrder
line. If grub was not removed, the other boot loader should be listed before grub. If grub is already removed, grub should not be mentioned in that line. But note this is only a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the machine to boot with the other boot loader. Neither it is a sufficient condition for the full removal of grub.
For both UEFI and non UEFI machines, grub-install
was manually run as part of the installation of grub. One of its jobs for the UEFI case was to run the equivalent of efibootmgr --create
. As part of grub removal, one has to remove the products of grub-install
. The opposite of efibootmgr --create
is efibootmgr --delete-bootnum
, or an equivalent program. One way to obtain the number of the boot entry for the efibootmgr --delete-bootnum
command is from the output of efibootmgr
(with no arguments).
grub-install
creates the /boot/grub
directory that needs to be removed manually. Though some users will want to keep it, should they want to install grub again.
After migrating to GPT/UEFI one may want to remove the MBR boot code using dd:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=440 count=1
Troubleshooting
Unsupported file systems
In case that GRUB does not support the root file system, an alternative /boot
partition with a supported file system must be created. In some cases, the development version of GRUB grub-gitAUR may have native support for the file system.
If GRUB is used with an unsupported file system it is not able to extract the UUID of your drive so it uses classic non-persistent /dev/sdXx
names instead. In this case you might have to manually edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
and replace root=/dev/sdXx
with root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
. You can use the blkid
command to get the UUID of your device, see Persistent block device naming.
While GRUB supports F2FS since version 2.0.4, it cannot correctly read its boot files from an F2FS partition that was created with the extra_attr
flag enabled.
Enable debug messages
Note: This change is overwritten when #Generate the main configuration file.
Add:
set pager=1 set debug=all
to grub.cfg
.
msdos-style error message
grub-setup: warn: This msdos-style partition label has no post-MBR gap; embedding will not be possible! grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and its use is discouraged. grub-setup: error: If you really want blocklists, use --force.
This error may occur when you try installing GRUB in a VMware container. Read more about it here. It happens when the first partition starts just after the MBR (block 63), without the usual space of 1 MiB (2048 blocks) before the first partition. Read #Master Boot Record (MBR) specific instructions
UEFI
Common installation errors
- If you have a problem when running grub-install with sysfs or procfs and it says you must run
modprobe efivarfs
or it returns an error likeCould not prepare Boot variable: Read-only file system
, try mounting the efivarfs. Also see the Gentoo Wiki on installing the boot loader. - Without
--target
or--directory
option, grub-install cannot determine for which firmware to install. In such casesgrub-install
will printsource_dir does not exist. Please specify --target or --directory
. - If after running grub-install you are told your partition does not look like an EFI partition then the partition is most likely not
Fat32
.
Create a GRUB entry in the firmware boot manager
grub-install
automatically tries to create a menu entry in the boot manager. If it does not, then see UEFI#efibootmgr for instructions to use efibootmgr
to create a menu entry. However, the problem is likely to be that you have not booted your CD/USB in UEFI mode, as in UEFI#Create UEFI bootable USB from ISO.
As another example of creating a GRUB entry in the firmware boot manager, consider efibootmgr -c
. This assumes that /dev/sda1 is the EFI System Partition, and is mounted at /boot/efi. Which are the default behavior of efibootmgr
. It creates a new boot option, called «Linux», and puts it at the top of the boot order list. Options may be passed to modify the default behavior. The default OS Loader is EFIarchgrub.efi.
Drop to rescue shell
If GRUB loads but drops into the rescue shell with no errors, it can be due to one of these two reasons:
- It may be because of a missing or misplaced
grub.cfg
. This will happen if GRUB UEFI was installed with--boot-directory
andgrub.cfg
is missing, - It also happens if the boot partition, which is hardcoded into the
grubx64.efi
file, has changed.
GRUB UEFI not loaded
An example of a working UEFI:
# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0000 Timeout: 3 seconds BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002 Boot0000* GRUB HD(1,800,32000,23532fbb-1bfa-4e46-851a-b494bfe9478c)File(EFIGRUBgrubx64.efi) Boot0001* Shell HD(1,800,32000,23532fbb-1bfa-4e46-851a-b494bfe9478c)File(shellx64.efi) Boot0002* Festplatte BIOS(2,0,00)P0: SAMSUNG HD204UI
If the screen only goes black for a second and the next boot option is tried afterwards, according to this post, moving GRUB to the partition root can help. The boot option has to be deleted and recreated afterwards. The entry for GRUB should look like this then:
Boot0000* GRUB HD(1,800,32000,23532fbb-1bfa-4e46-851a-b494bfe9478c)File(grubx64.efi)
Default/fallback boot path
Some UEFI firmwares require a bootable file at a known location before they will show UEFI NVRAM boot entries. If this is the case, grub-install
will claim efibootmgr
has added an entry to boot GRUB, however the entry will not show up in the VisualBIOS boot order selector. The solution is to install GRUB at the default/fallback boot path:
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --removable
Alternatively you can move an already installed GRUB EFI executable to the default/fallback path:
# mv esp/EFI/grub esp/EFI/BOOT # mv esp/EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi esp/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
Invalid signature
If trying to boot Windows results in an «invalid signature» error, e.g. after reconfiguring partitions or adding additional hard drives, (re)move GRUB’s device configuration and let it reconfigure:
# mv /boot/grub/device.map /boot/grub/device.map-old # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-mkconfig
should now mention all found boot options, including Windows. If it works, remove /boot/grub/device.map-old
.
Boot freezes
If booting gets stuck without any error message after GRUB loading the kernel and the initial ramdisk, try removing the add_efi_memmap
kernel parameter.
Arch not found from other OS
Some have reported that other distributions may have trouble finding Arch Linux automatically with os-prober
. If this problem arises, it has been reported that detection can be improved with the presence of /etc/lsb-release
. This file and updating tool is available with the package lsb-release.
Warning when installing in chroot
When installing GRUB on a LVM system in a chroot environment (e.g. during system installation), you may receive warnings like
/run/lvm/lvmetad.socket: connect failed: No such file or directory
or
WARNING: failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
This is because /run
is not available inside the chroot. These warnings will not prevent the system from booting, provided that everything has been done correctly, so you may continue with the installation.
GRUB loads slowly
GRUB can take a long time to load when disk space is low. Check if you have sufficient free disk space on your /boot
or /
partition when you are having problems.
error: unknown filesystem
GRUB may output error: unknown filesystem
and refuse to boot for a few reasons. If you are certain that all UUIDs are correct and all filesystems are valid and supported, it may be because your BIOS Boot Partition is located outside the first 2 TiB of the drive [1]. Use a partitioning tool of your choice to ensure this partition is located fully within the first 2 TiB, then reinstall and reconfigure GRUB.
This error might also be caused by an ext4 filesystem having unsupported features set:
large_dir
— unsupported.metadata_csum_seed
— will be supported in GRUB 2.11 (commit).
Warning: Make sure to check GRUB support for new file system features before you enable them on your /boot
file system.
grub-reboot not resetting
GRUB seems to be unable to write to root Btrfs partitions [2]. If you use grub-reboot to boot into another entry it will therefore be unable to update its on-disk environment. Either run grub-reboot from the other entry (for example when switching between various distributions) or consider a different file system. You can reset a «sticky» entry by executing grub-editenv create
and setting GRUB_DEFAULT=0
in your /etc/default/grub
(do not forget grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
).
Old Btrfs prevents installation
If a drive is formatted with Btrfs without creating a partition table (eg. /dev/sdx), then later has partition table written to, there are parts of the BTRFS format that persist. Most utilities and OS’s do not see this, but GRUB will refuse to install, even with —force
# grub-install: warning: Attempting to install GRUB to a disk with multiple partition labels. This is not supported yet.. # grub-install: error: filesystem `btrfs' does not support blocklists.
You can zero the drive, but the easy solution that leaves your data alone is to erase the Btrfs superblock with wipefs -o 0x10040 /dev/sdx
Windows 8/10 not found
A setting in Windows 8/10 called «Hiberboot», «Hybrid Boot» or «Fast Boot» can prevent the Windows partition from being mounted, so grub-mkconfig
will not find a Windows install. Disabling Hiberboot in Windows will allow it to be added to the GRUB menu.
VirtualBox EFI mode
For VirtualBox < 6.1, install GRUB to the default/fallback boot path.
See also VirtualBox#Installation in EFI mode on VirtualBox < 6.1.
GRUB rescue and encrypted /boot
When using an encrypted /boot, and you fail to input a correct password, you will be dropped in grub-rescue prompt.
This grub-rescue prompt has limited capabilities. Use the following commands to complete the boot:
grub rescue> cryptomount <partition> grub rescue> insmod normal grub rescue> normal
See this blog post for a better description.
Check /etc/default/grub
if GRUB_TIMEOUT
is set to 0
, in which case set it to a positive number: it sets the number of seconds before the default GRUB entry is loaded. Also check if GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE
is set to hidden
and set it to menu
, so that the menu will be shown by default. Then regenerate the main configuration file and reboot to check if it worked.
See also
- Wikipedia:GNU GRUB
- Official GRUB Manual
- Ubuntu wiki page for GRUB
- GRUB wiki page describing steps to compile for UEFI systems
- Wikipedia:BIOS Boot partition
- How to configure GRUB
- Detecting efi files and booting them from grub