Re: [PLUG] Can't boot to new dual boot
Rolling back to the beginning of this conversation since I noticed several things missing from this attempt to configure dual boot. Whenever you set up a multi-boot system, there are several things you have to outline BEFORE you make any changes to your system. These really are not optional, there are so many different ways to set up bootloaders that if you don't define these first then you WILL get confused. It also makes it near impossible to ask for help because you don't know what exactly to ask for help with, resulting in random tidbits of advice from the internet. If you really want to dual boot Xubuntu and Debian, start by answering the following 3 questions. Once you have these figured out, you can start to configure it piece by piece. 1) Do you want to use UEFI or Legacy boot mode? This is a bios option and which one you pick will set the stage for everything else 2) Which OS do you want to designate as your "Master" OS? This is the OS you use to configure the bootloader and boot menu. Ideally this is whatever you are most comfortable with so you aren't completely lost when something breaks. 3) Do you want a custom menu? Trying to install a second OS without answering the above questions will create more problems than anyone needs. It's also easier for us to recommend solutions once we know what tools you are working with. -Ben --- Original Message --- On Monday, September 18th, 2023 at 9:39 AM, John Jason Jordan wrote: > Xubuntu is on a three-year-old 1TB M.2 card and it has worked well for > years. I think I want to change to Debian, so I downloaded the Xfce > flavor of the Debian 12 ISO and burned it to a USB drive. Then I went > out and bought a new 2TB M.2 drive and installed it in the computer in > a spare, unused slot. I booted to the flash drive and went through the > installation, specifying the new 2TB drive, creating a 200GB partition > for / and 1800GB for /home. At the end the installer stopped and said > it had found the Xubuntu installation, and did I want to create a dual > boot? I answered 'yes,' and it said that upon booting I would have the > choice of which OS to boot to. After the installation completed and I > rebooted it went straight into Xubuntu; no option to boot to Debian, > like the new drive wasn't even installed. While in Xubuntu I noted that > the / and /home partitions on Debian had been mounted, so I looked at > them and all the files appeared to be in the partitions. > > The BIOS has a feature where you can choose which disk drive you want > to boot to; all you have to do is hold down F12 and you will get a > menu. I did so, and there was the new M.2 drive in the list, so I > selected it. Unfortunately it did not boot. Instead, a few minutes later > I was staring at a black screen with a flashing underscore in the upper > left corner. The keyboard was inactive, and there was no mouse. > > I had one more trick up my sleeve - go to the the BIOS directly. In the > BIOS I swapped the boot order of the drives so the new M.2 drive would > be first to boot. But when I booted it still wouldn't boot Debian; all I > got was the same black screen and flashing underscore. > > I've been reading up on how to get this to work and I haven't found the > answer yet. Both drives have a separate partitions for / and /home, and > each of them has a /boot/grub/grub.cfg file in the / partition. At the > top of the menu entries, the one in the Debian drive has Debian and > Debian-Alternative followed by 80 (believe it or not) menu entries for > Xubuntu. On the Xubuntu drive the file has menu entries only for > Xubuntu, although only about 20 of them. Methinks some serious tidying > up is overdue, but that can wait. Maybe a command to update grub is the > right way to do it. > > This would probably be easy to fix, if I only knew how. I'm anxiously > looking for suggestions so I can look at Debian 12 on the new drive. :)
Re: [PLUG] Can't boot to new dual boot
On Mon, 18 Sep 2023 12:26:22 -0500 Bill Barry dijo: >> This would probably be easy to fix, if I only knew how. I'm anxiously >> looking for suggestions so I can look at Debian 12 on the new drive. >I had a similar problem after I did an update yesterday. Only one of >my systems was bootable. It turned out there was a line in the file >/etc/default/grub >like this >GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false >which was commented out with a # in front of it. >Uncommenting it then running update-grub fixed the problem. At this point I'm pretty disgusted with the whole install process. As I write this I have started over and reinstalled Debian 12 eight times. Once I actually got the dual boot working so I could easily boot into Debian 12 or Xubuntu 22.04.3. I spent several hours in Debian fixing everything, except HDHomeRun wouldn't even launch, so I left that problem for later. I was in the middle of uninstalling the 172 Thai fonts (Why?), when Synaptic screwed me up. I had a bunch of fonts selected to remove, and when I hit the Apply button I watched in horror as Synaptic spent 15 minutes removing half the OS. Synaptic needs an 'Undo' button. The result was so bad that it wouldn't even boot. I had to do a fresh install and start over from scratch. After several more installations that ended in non-functional boot loaders, I decided to take MX Linux for a spin. I downloaded the MX Linux ISO and burned it to a flash drive, then booted to it. I spent an hour trying to get it installed, but I have a 4K screen and the default fonts are too tiny to read without a magnifying glass. In the desktop GUI I changed things so it looked reasonable, but when I clicked on the Install button it popped up a tiny window, complete with unreadable fonts. Evidently the Install utility bypasses the desktop and uses base settings that can't be changed. I might have been able to install it, but MX Linux wasn't worth the effort of spending hours trying to read unreadable text; instructions that are hard to follow even if you can actually read them. I wasn't very excited about MX Linux anyway, because of their small user base, so I'm giving it a pass. The most recent installation of Debian 12 is still there, and the Grub menu comes up and offers it, but it won't boot. I can select Ubuntu and that works, but I'm evidently not smart enough to understand the Debian install utility boot options.
Re: [PLUG] Can't boot to new dual boot
On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 2:58 PM John Jason Jordan wrote: > > On Mon, 18 Sep 2023 12:26:22 -0500 > Bill Barry dijo: > > >> I've been reading up on how to get this to work and I haven't found > >> the answer yet. Both drives have a separate partitions for / and > >> /home, and each of them has a /boot/grub/grub.cfg file in the / > >> partition. At the top of the menu entries, the one in the Debian > >> drive has Debian and Debian-Alternative followed by 80 (believe it > >> or not) menu entries for Xubuntu. On the Xubuntu drive the file has > >> menu entries only for Xubuntu, although only about 20 of them. > >> Methinks some serious tidying up is overdue, but that can wait. > >> Maybe a command to update grub is the right way to do it. > > >I had a similar problem after I did an update yesterday. Only one of > >my systems was bootable. It turned out there was a line in the file > >/etc/default/grub like this > >GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false > >which was commented out with a # in front of it. > >Uncommenting it then running update-grub fixed the problem. > > I had already done that in both the grub.cfg files, but no luck. > However, I finally kludged together something that got me booted into > the Debian OS, and as you can see, I can reboot into Xubuntu. > > I had noticed that the grub.cfg file in the Debian installation had two > menu entries at the top, which were missing in the Xubuntu file. I had > been spending all my efforts trying to get the BIOS to find the Debian > grub.cfg file, but I finally decided 'fine, if all it can find is the > Xubuntu file, the all I need to do is add the Debian menu entries to > the top of the Xubuntu file.' It took some finagling because of dealing > with two files owned by root, but eventually I got the whole two menu > entries from the Debian file pasted into the top of the Xubuntu menu > entries. As I rebooted I was telling myself 'there is no way this is > going to work, surely the computer won't boot to anything.' I had made > a copy of the Xubuntu file, and I had visions of having to find a > Knoppix disk or something to use so I could put the copy back, but > guess what! It booted straight into Debian 12! > > Just before it booted I saw what looked like a Grub menu flash by in > the upper left corner of my screen. It was gone way too fast to read, > but it looked like there were eight lines in tiny text, text that > happens on a 4K screen before it gets to a GUI. From past experience > each distro in the menu probably had a main line, then a recovery line, > followed by a couple lines for memtest. After I shut down Debian to > come back here I remembered that hitting Esc after the BIOS gets you > the Grub menu, so that's what I did to get back here. > > I never did get the BIOS to boot to the Grub folder in the new Debian > drive. But at least it's working, and all I need to do is figure out > how to get the Grub menu into a readable font, and make it come up > always, without having to remember to hit Esc. > > Being a Linux user for years has accustomed me to using fudges and > pokes to get things to work. Today was proof of that. :) In my Debian installation grub.cfg is a file you should not edit. You should edit /etc/default/grub and then run update-grub. That then edits grub.cfg for you. Bill
Re: [PLUG] Can't boot to new dual boot
On Mon, 18 Sep 2023 12:26:22 -0500 Bill Barry dijo: >> I've been reading up on how to get this to work and I haven't found >> the answer yet. Both drives have a separate partitions for / and >> /home, and each of them has a /boot/grub/grub.cfg file in the / >> partition. At the top of the menu entries, the one in the Debian >> drive has Debian and Debian-Alternative followed by 80 (believe it >> or not) menu entries for Xubuntu. On the Xubuntu drive the file has >> menu entries only for Xubuntu, although only about 20 of them. >> Methinks some serious tidying up is overdue, but that can wait. >> Maybe a command to update grub is the right way to do it. >I had a similar problem after I did an update yesterday. Only one of >my systems was bootable. It turned out there was a line in the file >/etc/default/grub like this >GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false >which was commented out with a # in front of it. >Uncommenting it then running update-grub fixed the problem. I had already done that in both the grub.cfg files, but no luck. However, I finally kludged together something that got me booted into the Debian OS, and as you can see, I can reboot into Xubuntu. I had noticed that the grub.cfg file in the Debian installation had two menu entries at the top, which were missing in the Xubuntu file. I had been spending all my efforts trying to get the BIOS to find the Debian grub.cfg file, but I finally decided 'fine, if all it can find is the Xubuntu file, the all I need to do is add the Debian menu entries to the top of the Xubuntu file.' It took some finagling because of dealing with two files owned by root, but eventually I got the whole two menu entries from the Debian file pasted into the top of the Xubuntu menu entries. As I rebooted I was telling myself 'there is no way this is going to work, surely the computer won't boot to anything.' I had made a copy of the Xubuntu file, and I had visions of having to find a Knoppix disk or something to use so I could put the copy back, but guess what! It booted straight into Debian 12! Just before it booted I saw what looked like a Grub menu flash by in the upper left corner of my screen. It was gone way too fast to read, but it looked like there were eight lines in tiny text, text that happens on a 4K screen before it gets to a GUI. From past experience each distro in the menu probably had a main line, then a recovery line, followed by a couple lines for memtest. After I shut down Debian to come back here I remembered that hitting Esc after the BIOS gets you the Grub menu, so that's what I did to get back here. I never did get the BIOS to boot to the Grub folder in the new Debian drive. But at least it's working, and all I need to do is figure out how to get the Grub menu into a readable font, and make it come up always, without having to remember to hit Esc. Being a Linux user for years has accustomed me to using fudges and pokes to get things to work. Today was proof of that. :)
Re: [PLUG] Can't boot to new dual boot
On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 11:39 AM John Jason Jordan wrote: > > Xubuntu is on a three-year-old 1TB M.2 card and it has worked well for > years. I think I want to change to Debian, so I downloaded the Xfce > flavor of the Debian 12 ISO and burned it to a USB drive. Then I went > out and bought a new 2TB M.2 drive and installed it in the computer in > a spare, unused slot. I booted to the flash drive and went through the > installation, specifying the new 2TB drive, creating a 200GB partition > for / and 1800GB for /home. At the end the installer stopped and said > it had found the Xubuntu installation, and did I want to create a dual > boot? I answered 'yes,' and it said that upon booting I would have the > choice of which OS to boot to. After the installation completed and I > rebooted it went straight into Xubuntu; no option to boot to Debian, > like the new drive wasn't even installed. While in Xubuntu I noted that > the / and /home partitions on Debian had been mounted, so I looked at > them and all the files appeared to be in the partitions. > > The BIOS has a feature where you can choose which disk drive you want > to boot to; all you have to do is hold down F12 and you will get a > menu. I did so, and there was the new M.2 drive in the list, so I > selected it. Unfortunately it did not boot. Instead, a few minutes later > I was staring at a black screen with a flashing underscore in the upper > left corner. The keyboard was inactive, and there was no mouse. > > I had one more trick up my sleeve - go to the the BIOS directly. In the > BIOS I swapped the boot order of the drives so the new M.2 drive would > be first to boot. But when I booted it still wouldn't boot Debian; all I > got was the same black screen and flashing underscore. > > I've been reading up on how to get this to work and I haven't found the > answer yet. Both drives have a separate partitions for / and /home, and > each of them has a /boot/grub/grub.cfg file in the / partition. At the > top of the menu entries, the one in the Debian drive has Debian and > Debian-Alternative followed by 80 (believe it or not) menu entries for > Xubuntu. On the Xubuntu drive the file has menu entries only for > Xubuntu, although only about 20 of them. Methinks some serious tidying > up is overdue, but that can wait. Maybe a command to update grub is the > right way to do it. > > This would probably be easy to fix, if I only knew how. I'm anxiously > looking for suggestions so I can look at Debian 12 on the new drive. :) I had a similar problem after I did an update yesterday. Only one of my systems was bootable. It turned out there was a line in the file /etc/default/grub like this GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false which was commented out with a # in front of it. Uncommenting it then running update-grub fixed the problem. This however may not be your problem as there are many things that can cause this problem. Bill
