HOWTO: migrate wubi install to partition

[Praetor77]

I´m actually reading up on all the problems when upgrading to grub2, but it seems a patched wubildr found in comment #90 here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x?comments=all

Fixes the boot problem when upgrading grub-legacy to grub2. Still, will not trry it yet, though I might read up some more and go ahead and do it, since I really need to move my wubi to dedicated partition soon, actually VERY soon.

Cheers!

[bcbc]

So how should I proceed if I have grub-legacy? Is there any way to upgrade grub to grub2 before proceeding with scripts?

Thanks in advance....

Try this. The following is only for wubi installs with grub-legacy.

I used it to migrate a Jaunty (9.04) wubi install. It's a vanilla install (with all updates applied) and so I make no guarantees - not tested on 9.10/10.04. Also, since the commands are manual you have to be very careful. Take backups before hand, especially the wubi files (the \ubuntu directory).

Also, note, I do not try and use grub-legacy on the migrated install as a matter of preference - I remove and replace it with grub2 (grub-pc), and this behaves differently depending on the version. With Jaunty it's version 1.96 and it's very different to the version on 10.04 (I'll describe the differences you might see).

Following example migrates a wubi install to an external drive (/dev/sdb) - root is /dev/sdb10 and swap is /dev/sdb7 - change as appropriate before cut-and-pasting (as you can easily paste a newline and then the command executes immediately).

sudo -i
mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb10

mkdir /tmp/wubimove
mount /dev/sdb10 /tmp/wubimove
rsync  -av --exclude=/host --exclude=/mnt/* --exclude=/home/*/.gvfs   --exclude=/media/*/* --exclude=/tmp/* --exclude=/proc/*  --exclude=/sys/*  / /tmp/wubimove
      
mkswap /dev/sdb7
echo "RESUME=UUID=$(blkid -o value -s UUID /dev/sdb7)" > /tmp/wubimove/etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume

sed -i 's:/.*[\.]disk .*::' /tmp/wubimove/etc/fstab    
sed -i 's:/.*/disks/boot .*::' /tmp/wubimove/etc/fstab
echo "UUID=$(blkid -o value -s UUID /dev/sdb10)    /    ext3    errors=remount-ro    0    1" >> /tmp/wubimove/etc/fstab
echo "UUID=$(blkid -o value -s UUID /dev/sdb7)    none    swap    sw    0    0" >> /tmp/wubimove/etc/fstab
      
mkdir /tmp/wubimove/host
cp /etc/resolv.conf /tmp/wubimove/etc
for i in dev proc sys dev/pts host; do mount --bind /$i /tmp/wubimove/$i; done
chroot /tmp/wubimove
dpkg-divert --local --rename --add /sbin/initctl
ln -s /bin/true /sbin/initctl
apt-get -y remove lupin-support
apt-get -y purge grub grub-common
mv /boot/grub /boot/grubold

#... continues below

This part installs grub2 - if you are on 10.04 it will automatically generate grub.cfg and prompt you where to install the bootloader. If you are on 9.04 and probably 9.10 you have to do it yourself (lines in italics).

apt-get -y install grub-pc grub-common
update-grub
grub-install /dev/sdb

rm /sbin/initctl
dpkg-divert --local --rename --remove /sbin/initctl
exit
for i in host dev/pts dev proc sys; do umount /tmp/wubimove/$i; done
rmdir /tmp/wubimove/host
umount /dev/sdb10

update-grub
exit
exit

[Praetor77]

It kinda worked! I got a grub rescue console, booted up with a Live USB, did:

sudo mount /dev/sda6 / mnt (I moved my wubi installation to an ext4 sda6 partition)
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

reboot and done! will post again after sudo update-grub and reboot...

[bcbc]

It kinda worked! I got a grub rescue console, booted up with a Live USB, did:

sudo mount /dev/sda6 / mnt (I moved my wubi installation to an ext4 sda6 partition)
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

reboot and done! will post again after sudo update-grub and reboot...

OK... if you have problems, you just need to reinstall the windows bootloader and you should be back where you started. It's strange you got grub rescue - that means you installed grub but it couldn't find the Ubuntu partition when you booted! Unless you did this by accident from the wubi install - not in chroot - then it's unusual.

PS. The reason I used ext3 is that wubi installs prior to 9.10 were on ext3.

[Praetor77]

Thanks for everything, worked perfectly. I had a 9.10 installation, but had grub-legacy for some reason, I suppose I upgraded from 9.04, don't really remember.

Thanks again!

[bcbc]

Thanks for everything, worked perfectly. I had a 9.10 installation, but had grub-legacy for some reason, I suppose I upgraded from 9.04, don't really remember.

Thanks again!

OK cool. Glad it worked out!

[elrics_fate]

Would like to pop in to say thank you very much for the script. Worked great and with a little bit of work on the Windows 7 side I managed to transition smoothly. Keep up the awesome work.

[bcbc]

Would like to pop in to say thank you very much for the script. Worked great and with a little bit of work on the Windows 7 side I managed to transition smoothly. Keep up the awesome work.

Great I appreciate the feedback... enjoy!

[rneuls]

Worked like a charm. I used your script

[bcbc]

Worked like a charm. I used your script

Great

Yeah I expect most people would use the script. The manual commands are good if you want to know what the script is doing without having to wade through all the bumph (additional error checks, decision making, variable substitution) that makes it hard to read.