Ubuntu – Repairing Grub – Separate Partition – Dual Boot Windows

boot-repairdual-bootgrub2partitioning

I am attempting to repair grub on separate /boot partition without removing Windows Boot Loader.

  • I installed Ubuntu 12.04 after Windows 8 on 250GB SSD drive.
  • Grub installation failed during Ubuntu Install on separate /boot partition (I chose to skip grub install after this happened)
  • However, Grub does seem to be installed on that separate /boot partition. However, grub command line is loaded when I boot to it. I don't think there are any OS entries.
  • I created a entry in Windows Boot Loader directly to Ubuntu OS partition, but it does same thing: grub command line.
  • I am following instructions here with Live USB:

I'm worried that this command will overwrite MBR and Windows Boot Loader:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

I tried this, but it tells me that installing grub to a partition is not recommended:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda3

  1. Do I even need to do an install?
  2. Do I just need to update config with OS entries?
  3. I've seen chroot mentioned.

Here is my fdisk -ls:

Device    Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      718847      358400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          718848   439648255   219464704    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       439648256   440135679      243712   83  Linux
/dev/sda4       440137726   488396799    24129537    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       440137728   480583679    20222976   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       480585728   488396799     3905536   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Any help is much appreciated!

Best Answer

I ended up just re-installing Ubuntu and did not include a separate /boot partition this time. Grub installed to my Ubuntu partition and and Windows boots to that.