Grub Upgrade - Dangerous Direction Screenshot

[MikeB007]

Symptom:

initiated update. Grub update required user input. The 'help' message is incorrect. Attached is a .jpg of a Grub message during the upgrade.

Question:

how does this get corrected? I would post an alternative wording but honestly, I have no idea what is appropriate direction to a user at this point.

[quixote]

This is officially a type of bug; user-interface bug, but still a bug. So you would report it on the lucid section of launchpad. That involves setting up a launchpad account. It's a bit of a bother first time around, but it's the only way ubuntu can get better.

First, search on a few key words to make sure the bug wasn't already filed.

Also, explain what the bug is. I take it your grub was NOT on an unexistent drive even though the help popup said it was?

[MikeB007]

Thank you. i'll head over and do as you suggest.

The bug is the recommendation to install grub on all partitions eg. sdb, sdb1, sdb2, ... That isn't a good thing (at least for a dual boot sys) as i learned first hand.

Cheers.

[kansasnoob]

I filed this bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/576724

This is a horrible way to file a bug report and I'm aware of that, but this needs to be considered.

Throughout various upgrade and/or update procedures in Ubuntu and it's variants the user gets a display asking where to install grub(2). There is a suggestion that if in doubt to install to the mbr of all drives.

Unfortunately most new (and some old) users have no idea how drives/partitions are designated in Ubuntu, and they're clueless as to what an mbr is!

So basically you see a screen that says, "if in doubt select all", and you do so. Now, I'm aware those are not the exact words but I've been following (and trying to help folks fix) these problems since Lucid was released.

It's particularly troublesome when someone installs grub2 to an NTFS partition with a Win OS so I'd at least suggest making grub installation to an NTFS (or any FAT) partition very difficult.

Honestly I'm not sure what the solution should be, but I know Colin Watson deals with a lot of these grub2 issues and I've come to trust his judgment. Consider the following options:

#1: Display nothing but drives, that is "sda", "sdb", etc, and NO individual partitions. But create another "advanced" tab/option to allow installation to a partition.

#2: Increase the amount of text explaining the difference between drives and partitions, why it's a bad idea to install to a partition etc. IMHO that's a horrible option. (The more text the less likely a new user is to read it.)

#3: Figure out a way to always have grub(2) install itself where it was to begin with. (maybe a bad idea if the original install was wrong.)

While I think option #1 is great I have no idea how complicated that would be.

Does any of that make sense?

I'd be glad to test any potential "fixes" :^)

So I would suggest changing the status of that bug report from new to confirmed, and adding any comments you feel appropriate.

Note: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar! So always be polite at Launchpad no matter how much you disagree with the devs, it's OK to state your disappointment, try to express why you feel you're right, but once the language becomes tense all action basically comes to an end.

[kansasnoob]

Oh, and don't expect action real soon. UDS-M is coming up and then Maverick Alpha1, I already have the toolchain up.

[quixote]

I didn't even catch the fact that it could be suggesting to install to all drives. Sheesh. Bug, indeed! I'll head on over to Launchpad and second it.

[nomansland]

As a noob trying to upgrade a multiboot system (WinXP, Ubuntu 9.10, and Mepis 8.0 and 8.5), I didn't know what to do with this and followed the advice in the help screen, resulting in the loss of ability to boot into WinXP (even though the grub screen has that option available, but it jut goes into a black screen with blinking cursor). I believe I have something similar to the setup in the screen grab (sda with Win only, sdb with partitions for the linux distros) and it worked fine before the upgrade (which actually was using the grub installed previously with my 9.10 install and currently with the last Mepis install).

Any suggestions on how I should try to fix this, or if I should just reinstall 10.04 from CD (all really important files are on a separate NAS, so no biggie here, except I don't want to reinstall WinXP and required programs - that would be a major pita; wish I didn't need Autocad and some other engineering software to make a living and could just move to linux, but ...)? If reinstall is the right answer, how should the grub be setup for a dual drive arrangement?

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

[arpanaut]

I filed this bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/576724

Thanks, kansasnoob, I added my two-bits.
I knew that this was going to be a train wreck, but Lucid final had "left the station" by the time I noticed.

@nomansland: I don't think that a re-install will be necessary, but your Windows boot will need to be fixed before re-installing grub will be effective in being able to boot windows from grub. Search around many possible fixes for Win. boot. Wish I knew the definitive answer.

[kansasnoob]

As a noob trying to upgrade a multiboot system (WinXP, Ubuntu 9.10, and Mepis 8.0 and 8.5), I didn't know what to do with this and followed the advice in the help screen, resulting in the loss of ability to boot into WinXP (even though the grub screen has that option available, but it jut goes into a black screen with blinking cursor). I believe I have something similar to the setup in the screen grab (sda with Win only, sdb with partitions for the linux distros) and it worked fine before the upgrade (which actually was using the grub installed previously with my 9.10 install and currently with the last Mepis install).

Any suggestions on how I should try to fix this, or if I should just reinstall 10.04 from CD (all really important files are on a separate NAS, so no biggie here, except I don't want to reinstall WinXP and required programs - that would be a major pita; wish I didn't need Autocad and some other engineering software to make a living and could just move to linux, but ...)? If reinstall is the right answer, how should the grub be setup for a dual drive arrangement?

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

Slow down! Reinstalling Ubuntu will do no good if this is the problem:

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...ms:Boot_Sector

If you're unsure and need additional help please start a new thread and include the output of the Boot Info Script as described here:

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

[coffeecat]

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

If you installed grub to the boot sector of the Windows partition, this link may help:

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...ms:Boot_Sector

It may be useful to run the Boot Info Script first to see whether grub is really in your Windows partition boot sector. Link here:

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

Re-installing 10.04 won't help to repair the boot sector in a Windows partition. You need the Windows tools or testdisk as described in the first link above.

Edit: kansasnoob beat me to it with exactly the same links. Great minds clearly think alike.