Boot Loader Failed to install. How to proceed

2

I have windows 7 on one partition and was installing LinuxMint on another partition (I also have a 3rd data partition) and towards the end of the installation it said this message: executing grub-install failed.

Now I chose to just continue and restarted. Right now it boots into windows directly.

I would like to know how to proceed i.e. enable the dual booting. I am also assuming that Linux mint installed fine, which might not be the case, and that I just need a boot loader to manage the loading of the 2 OSs.

NOTE: when I had the installation cd there was about 15 volumes or partitions that it recognized. It was basically those 3 partitions I mentioned above just repeated. Not sure if this is an issue or not.

EDIT: I have two disks in raid0

user1253073

Posted 2013-01-29T22:19:34.893

Reputation: 31

Is this a hardware raid or a (so called) fake raid? Are you sure you configured that raid properly? – None – 2013-01-29T23:27:13.523

Answers

1

The problem I had was that I had two drives in raid 0. The ubuntu installer does not detect the drives are in raid and will install anyways. The boot loader however fails to install because of the raid setup.

What is needed is to get the alternate OS installation image and a few additional partition setup steps before it is possible to install ubuntu in raid. So the standard ubuntu installation image will not work in this case.

user1253073

Posted 2013-01-29T22:19:34.893

Reputation: 31

1

You'll have to

  • boot a (live) linux from usb stick or live cd
  • Mount your Mint partition
  • Open a terminal and start manual configuration of grub2

I've done that really frequently. Don't worry it doesn't hurt! Its just the bootloader ;)

This tutorial from Linux Mint might be exactly what you are searching for.

hek2mgl

Posted 2013-01-29T22:19:34.893

Reputation: 703

Question for number 2, first gparted does not have a column with mount point, but i see under file system the one for mint which is of type ext4, now I want to point out 2 things. 1) the path is /dev/mapper/isw_fjadfjejh_volume0p5 , is that normal? – None – 2013-01-29T22:34:33.740

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  • the entry for this in gparted is actually a subentry where the parent entry is /dev/mapper/isw_fjadfjejh_volume0p4. Do I mount the parent or the sub-entry?
    • < – None – 2013-01-29T22:35:36.747

    OK I did it for both, its saying this error: mount: can't find /dev/mapper/isw_fjadfjejh_volume0p5 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab – None – 2013-01-29T22:41:02.993

    wait a sec... will have to read point 2. of that tutorial – None – 2013-01-29T22:41:35.200

    do you know now which /dev/sd? belongs to your mint partition? – None – 2013-01-29T22:48:41.560

    how can I find that out – None – 2013-01-29T22:51:35.310

    @user1253073 Follow the tutorial. They are using gparted – None – 2013-01-29T23:01:10.503

    As I mentioned in the first comment, gparted does not have a column with mount point, so I cannot figure it out using gparted – None – 2013-01-29T23:06:05.813

    My gparted has. Its the first column called 'partition' ;) – None – 2013-01-29T23:07:28.660

    OK then all entries start with this: /dev/mapper/isw_fjadfjejh_volume0p, the one that says ext4 has an extra 5 at the end – None – 2013-01-29T23:12:04.490

    Ok, understood. Need to think about – None – 2013-01-29T23:14:14.117

    You are using LVM? ( a logical volume manager ) ? – None – 2013-01-29T23:15:24.027

    I am only used the installer for mint, and now gparted, also maybe its too late now, but I have two drives in raid0, maybe that is causing some issues. sorry about not mentioning it earlier. – None – 2013-01-29T23:22:22.617

    If you are new to linux (I assume) I would really advice you to start with a basic setup without LVM and or RAID. – None – 2013-01-29T23:24:57.363

    It seems mint does not support raid0. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=112023 big ouch, thanks for your time. Should have checked it in the beginning.

    – None – 2013-01-29T23:28:27.640

    Ok, note that I would not use a pure raid0 system. It can be easily lead to data loss. Also the performance boost isn't significant if it is a so called fake raid controller. Read : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto.

    – None – 2013-01-29T23:33:54.963

    0

    You can boot the live cd, and run this command:

    sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdX

    Where /dev/sdX is your hardrive.

    David Magalhães

    Posted 2013-01-29T22:19:34.893

    Reputation: 101

    I typed the command below, and got failed to get canonical path of cow. The path is what I think is the path for the partition, but it does not start with sd... sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/mapper/isw_fjadfjejh_volume0p5, any help is appreciated. THanks – None – 2013-01-29T22:45:29.410

    its also saying unrecognized option --root. thanks. – None – 2013-01-29T22:49:14.567

    Asked: 2013-01-29T22:19:34.893

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    Active: 2013-02-06T19:27:26.320