Boot-Repair-Disk : THE 'must-have' rescue CD !

[gmcauley]

Is there some way to use boot-repair without an internet connection?

I just tried the 'Recommended Repair' and a message pop-up saying if I continued with repair without an internet connection, the system would be un-bootable.

I installed 12.04.2 LTS alongside Windows7 and could but I could not get a network connection during the installation, and the system is booting directly into Windows.

[oldfred]

Yann answered here on Internet connection issue:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...0#post12679630

[gmcauley]

Yann answered here on Internet connection issue:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...0#post12679630

Thanks @oldfred. I was confused by the similarity of the threads.

[Catbells]

I downloaded the iso and copied it to a memory stick. My laptop didn't automatically boot from it. Your link to a tool to check the md5sum didn't help me very much. A Windows 8 upgrade has put my GRUB out of use and I can't run any linux software until I've persuaded Boot Repair to run. It would be wonderful, if I could put my memory stick in a USB slot, start up my laptop and, instantly see Boot Repair pop up.

(I don't think I have a BIOS because the computer support man who I paid to create my dual boot system said I had UEFI but he found something called Legacy and, I think I saw somewhere on the Internet that UEFI replaces BIOS. My user manual said that my BIOS would appear if I pressed F2 during start up. I tried that and a DOSy box asked me to enter my password. The manual didn't tell me what my password was. @_@ )

Hi SES1,
first check the md5sum of the ISO you downloaded, you can find the md5 by clicking on the (i) icon of this page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/files/, and the tool to check the md5 here.
If it is correct, please burn the CD with a slow speed..

[oldfred]

Legacy/BIOS/CSM all are the UEFI booting in the old BIOS boot mode.
New UEFI systems can be set for either BIOS or UEFI. And how you boot install media is how it installs.

You can also boot Ubuntu and easily add Boot-Repair to the Ubuntu flash drive or DVD installer. Best to boot in same mode as install, but you do not have to just to run BootInfo report, so we can see details of your system.

Also instructions for DVD or USB flash drive
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
Write image or burn image not copy ISO as one large file to flash or DVD.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/US...lation%20Media
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

[Catbells]

Thank you OldFred, I understand better about UEFI now.

I went to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/US...lation%20Media and got as far as:-

You should see a new file called ldlinux.sys in the root directory of your flash drive. (Note that it is a hidden file, you might not see it in Windows Explorer; try dir /a F: from a command prompt). Now you can boot from your USB drive

The difficulty is that my new laptop (the would-be dual-boot one) didn't boot from my USB drive. Boot Repair didn't start.

[oldfred]

You just about have to be able to go into BIOS to make or change settings. If password has been set you need that. Otherwise I just about have to assume this is not your computer.

[Catbells]

I'm in! Thank you for your help, Oldfred. Boot-Repair encountered problems which I have e-mailed to boot.repair@gmail.com. If I don't get a reply, I'll be asking for help again.

In the meantime, I have tips for other users for whom a Windows upgrade has overwritten their GRUB menu. Try an internet search to download winMD5sum to check the MD5 and unetbootin to make your USB flash drive bootable (syslinux didn't seem to work for me, but Boot Repair gives it a mention as though its the preferred one) both worked in my Windows 8.1. My BIOS offered a way to set its choice of key (my BIOS wanted F12) to press at the start of boot to choose where to boot from. I also enabled boot from disk but, don't know whether that was strictly necessary.

[oldfred]

Post BootInfo link here.
Yann got a job and had a baby, so he is not as available as he once was. I have not seen him in Forum for ages.

[Catbells]

It's wonderful of you to take an interest, Oldfred. This is what I e-mailed Yann.

Boot Repair told me:

"Locked-ESP detected. You may want to retry after creating a /boot/efi partition (FAT32, 100MB~250MB, start of the disk, boot flag). This can be performed via tools such as gParted. Then select this partition via the [Separate /boot/efi partition:] option of [Boot Repair]."

I didn't really understand it and, did as I was told - or tried to. I hoped it would make more sense when I looked at gParted. I found the Boot Repair Menu and its gParted menu item. Only it didn't open, I tried twice. Then I typed gparted in XTerm. It said something about root privileges. I tried "sudo gparted" gParted wouldn't start because there was a segmentation fault and I shutdown my laptop. It occurred to me that Boot Info might be useful so I booted into Boot Repair 64 bit again. Boot Info said to e-mail you http://paste.ubuntu.com/7227472/. Hope you are able and willing to help. I mentioned the different sessions in case you were expecting to see the gParted in the Boot Info text.

Boot Repair was booted from a USB flash drive which also had an old Ubuntu Live CD on it. I used syslinux on it to make it bootable. It worked in that I was able to boot a trial of Ubuntu but not Boot Repair. I deleted everything except the syslinux and boot-repair-disk-64bit.iso. Boot Repair wouldn't boot. I used unetbootin to make it bootable and, it worked, hope this isn't what prevented Boot Repair working.