Wubi 9.10 + upgrade ubuntu = sh:grub>

[mmlinx]

after an update in Ubuntu 9.10 last night.
I always install Ubuntu beside Windows but i haven't had this luxury on my cdrom less notebook. So i tried Wubi. Now after three months i do an update in Ubuntu and im screwed. not so impressed with Wubi anymore or is it a grub issue?

"No wubildr" it shows this for a split second before going to sh:grub>

Who can tell me what files i need to recover to c:\ubuntu\disks\grub (if that is the answer..)
and how to do this with the grub command line or in Win xp?

What i allready tried:

chkdsk /r in XP command prompt. This is the only answer the wubi faq talks about...
This did not work for me.


After hitting tab in grub i get some options reader.rescue seems interesting.
Who can help me out here ?

Reinstalling Wubi doenst seem like an option to me. Seems to Windoisch for me.
Getting blue screen of death? just reinstall Windows and the problem goes away...

edit: Just booted in XP. this is how the folders look like.
c:\ubuntu\disks\boot\grub\ (empty)
c:\wubildr.mbr
c:\wubildr (file)
c:\ubuntu\disks\swap.disk and root.disk
c:\ubuntu\disks\winboot (contains wubildr (file), wubildr.cfg and wubildr.mbr)

[darkod]

Sorry to hear this. I can't help much with the error but just to let you know that you can install Ubuntu from usb stick too, that's how it's done on all netbooks. You can even install like that on a desktop with cdrom, doesn't matter.
Wubi is not a proper full install of ubuntu and you are aware of that. I saw another thread yesterday with the same problem. Because wubi is somehow,a combination of linux working inside windows, and is still dependent on windows, it seems doing some updates in it brakes it.
My personal opinion is that the Ubuntu team went step too far with wubi. They wanted to create easy way for windows users to try ubuntu without actually installing it, but instead they created many potential problems because it's not easy to combine linux inside windows. And these problems only give ubuntu bad name.
The CD has the Try Ubuntu option and that should have been the only and preferred option to try it without changing your computer. Not wubi.
If you like it and you feel ready for dual boot, consider removing wubi from Add/Remove programs and installing proper dual boot. That way you can add software, do updates, work with ubuntu, and most of the tutorials and help are written for such full install. Most of them won't apply for wubi.

PS. Check in C:\boot.ini if the windows bootloader has wubi at the correct path. Don't know if you can try anything else. I'm not even sure if the error is from windows bootloader or the "virtual" grub from wubi install.

[mmlinx]

thanks for your answer darkod
I was aware that i could install ubuntu with an USB stick. The Wubi way was just easy at the time because i did not have an usb stick @ the moment i got my notebook

I really thought Wubi was stable that's why i did it that way.
I allready installed all my favourite Linux apps.
installed and fully configured my lamp-server, tomcat6 server, mysql databases and so on.
so im pretty upset this happened.
So that's why im trying to save everything.

I will try to play with grub2, just found this link with allot of info on grub2:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

if i don't get this to work ill have to save my /etc /var/lib/mysql, home/user files
So i won't have to start @ 0 when i install ubuntu again.

This is frustrating. Wubi makes it sound so cool to fast install Ubuntu on your system.
ill be deleting my blog praising Wubi i guess.

ill update this post later to let others know what i did to "solve" it.

[darkod]

Sorry I couldn't help more. With all the stuff you have installed wubi was not really an option for you. Have a read about the grub2 but most of the things in that article I suspect only work with ubuntu install not so much with wubi. But look around definitely, I'm not experienced with wubi so maybe I'm wrong.

[phillw]

thanks for your answer darkod
I was aware that i could install ubuntu with an USB stick. The Wubi way was just easy at the time because i did not have an usb stick @ the moment i got my notebook

I really thought Wubi was stable that's why i did it that way.
I allready installed all my favourite Linux apps.
installed and fully configured my lamp-server, tomcat6 server, mysql databases and so on.
so im pretty upset this happened.
So that's why im trying to save everything.

I will try to play with grub2, just found this link with allot of info on grub2:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

if i don't get this to work ill have to save my /etc /var/lib/mysql, home/user files
So i won't have to start @ 0 when i install ubuntu again.

This is frustrating. Wubi makes it sound so cool to fast install Ubuntu on your system.
ill be deleting my blog praising Wubi i guess.

ill update this post later to let others know what i did to "solve" it.

There is a proposed work-round for wubi here -->

Re: sh:grub > desperation
WUBI Installs Only

I tried wubi when it first came out a few years ago but am no longer familiar with exactly how it works. There were enough problems recently that I rearranged my laptop's partitions so I could once again install wubi. Once I got wubi installed, I experimented until I could boot from a grub prompt.

This is how I am able to manually boot from the Grub 2 prompt in wubi. My Windows partition is on sda1, which would be fairly standard.

Lines starting with a # are explanatory only. Do not type them.

Quote:
# Add the ntfs module
insmod ntfs
# Set root (normally would be sda1, or hd0,1 Change as necessary
set root=(hd0,1)
loopback loop0 /ubuntu/disks/root.disk
# Yes, set root for a second time. I don't know why...
set root=(loop0)
# Set the kernel. You can (and should) use Tab (twice) to complete entries such as the kernel when possible - type vml and then TAB twice and it will autocomplete to the point where there are two possibilities. Tab complete ensures the path/file names as typed exist. Additionally, if you suspect the new kernel is the problem, you might want to select an earlier one. vmlinuz.... should be a complete kernel entry such as "vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic-pae" *
linux /boot/vmlinuz.... root=/dev/sda1 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
# Set the initrd image - complete or tab to get the full name Example: "/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic-pae"
initrd /boot/initrd/initrd.img...
# Boot.
boot


* If this line scrolls off the screen as you type it, due to its length: To make it easier type "linux root=/dev/sda1 /ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro" and then cursor back before "root=" to type/tab in the kernel name.


If you successfully boot, run "sudo update-grub". Also inspect your /etc/default/grub file, which contains menu timeout and default kernel selections and determine if there is a problem with the menu.
__________________
GRUB2 : G2-Tweaks G2-Basics
G2-Tasks DiskSpace
Expand / SUM
Last edited by drs305; 1 Hour Ago at 06:24 PM

It may get your Wubi back running for you.
Please post how you get on.

Regards,

Phill.

[mmlinx]

thanks phillw,

# Set root (normally would be sda1, or hd0,1 Change as necessary
set root=(hd0,1)

this is (hd0,2) for me. hd0,1 looks like the notebooks recovery dir for windows

I get stuck at:

root=/dev/sda1 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro

with tab the sda1 is not available but i see sdp1, is this one i should use?

thanks in advance.

[mmlinx]

Just to update how i 'Solved' this.
Tried to save the Wubi but couldn't.
Then i Started thinking. Is Wubi something i really want?
Ubuntu installed in Windows. It just did not sound right to me.

So this is what i did:

Burned a Mint7 Live cd. (on my other laptop that has a cdrom burner) I Like this more than Ubuntu because of the extras that are not standard installed in Ubuntu like compiz-manager, media codecs etc.
And i also like the green much more than the brown, im sorry if i offend people by saying this

I Booted from the fresh Mint Live CD.
Then i installed usb-creator with: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install usb-creator.

Opened usb-creator from the menu and made an Mint 7 Live usb.

Then i used that usb stick to boot into mint7 on my acer one.
After booting i installed Mint 7 on my acer one.

After installation of mint7 i mounted my windows drive with:

sudo mkdir /media/windows_sucks && sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/windows_sucks

Then i mounted the old Ubuntu Wubi root.disk file so i could copy all my files i needed from the old Wubi installation with:

sudo mkdir /media/wubi && sudo mount -o loop /media/windows_sucks/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /media/wubi

And finally copied all the config files, mysql databases etc. i needed from that partition to my newly installed Mint installation.

Now i'm very happy

My next step is to customize the mint usb stick so i can install Mint7 for all my friends when i come over and notice that their stuck on all sorts of windows viruses and scare ware. Dualboot off course. So they can still choose to boot into lame windows if they want to.

[yx2006]

Hi,mmlinx
I have the same problem with u
I install ubuntu with wubi, and last night, I changed the grub menu list, then,when I reboot,

= sh:grub

what I do with the grub menu list are:

__________________________

sudo chmod 744 /boot/grub/grub.cfg

sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg



---------------------------


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="1"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,8)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set b9c8f0c6-f9c5-4eba-bdbb-db509bdea0bf
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,8)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set b9c8f0c6-f9c5-4eba-bdbb-db509bdea0bf
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=b9c8f0c6-f9c5-4eba-bdbb-db509bdea0bf ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
__________________________


I setted " timeout = 10 " to "timeout = 3" , then I saved the file.
After reboot , I got the problem .


__________________________


I will try this



____-
Quote:
# Add the ntfs module
insmod ntfs
# Set root (normally would be sda1, or hd0,1 Change as necessary
set root=(hd0,1)
loopback loop0 /ubuntu/disks/root.disk
# Yes, set root for a second time. I don't know why...
set root=(loop0)
# Set the kernel. You can (and should) use Tab (twice) to complete entries such as the kernel when possible - type vml and then TAB twice and it will autocomplete to the point where there are two possibilities. Tab complete ensures the path/file names as typed exist. Additionally, if you suspect the new kernel is the problem, you might want to select an earlier one. vmlinuz.... should be a complete kernel entry such as "vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic-pae" *
linux /boot/vmlinuz.... root=/dev/sda1 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
# Set the initrd image - complete or tab to get the full name Example: "/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic-pae"
initrd /boot/initrd/initrd.img...
# Boot.
boot

______

[robau]

Looks like you have the ext4 - grub4 loopback bug:

See:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/wubi/+bug/443107

[Dead Pixel]

I just had this problem too, and solved it. Maybe this is a double post for a solution but I want to clarify it.

Solution for Windows ME/XP:

sh:grub>set root=(loop0)
sh:grub>linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
sh:grub>initrd /boot/initrd.img-26.31-14-generic
sh:grub>boot

Open the prompt and type "sudo update-grub2"*[2] after a successful boot. This will solve the problem.

Solution for Windows Vista/7:

sh:grub>set root=(loop0)
sh:grub>linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda2*[1] loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
sh:grub>initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
sh:grub>boot

Open the prompt and type "sudo update-grub2"*[2] after a successful boot. This will solve the problem.


*[1]Notice the change sda2. Because sda1 is used as boot partition under Windows Vista/7.
*[2]Without quotes