Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader? SOLVED!!! Thanks

[EzRydr]

Hello All,

I'm a new Linux user and I'm hoping you can help.

I have a new Fantom 1 TB USB GreenDrive that I've partitioned and installed Kubunti 8.04 on. The problem is with the GRUB boot loader.

When the external drive is plugged in and turned on Grub comes up and I can boot into Kubuntu (on the USB HDD) or Windows (on my internal HDD). However, if the USB HDD is off or unplugged, GRUB displays error code and Windows will not load.

How can correct this? Is there a way to have Linux only boot when the USB HDD is connected?

Many thanks,
Bryan

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Welcome!

It's extensive, but a wealth of useful information concerning grub: HOW TO: GRUB Methods - Toolkit

[Fintan]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Hmmm...snowhogs link will give you a lot of information and help.

If the following aplies:
- windows only on internal HD
- linux only on external HD

My guess is that you have borked the windows boot manager on the internal HD.

To fix that (and if you are using xp with the xp DVD):

Boot from the WinXP CD, select "recovery console".

It will dump you at a command prompt, and you just type "fixmbr" and it will rewrite the WinXP boot sector.

Reboot into WinXP goodness.

If you do not have a xp dvd then this may be of use:
http://www.blogmanno.com/?q=node/9

If you are using vista you may find this helpfull:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...r+from+the+DVD

Once you have your windows mbr fixed then you may have to edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst on your external Kubuntu.
Booting windows from the external might just work though

You all find all the info you will need on snowhogs link.

I hope this helps.

[andre_orwell]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Hey welcom to the club

Sounds like you have the grub loader installed on your internal drive. It is expecting to find its menu on the external drive and dies if its not plugged in. You need to restore the master boot record (MBR) to your internal drive as suggested above. Then you have to work out a way to boot your external drive. Some bios' will do that and some won't. If yours will then you may only need to install grub on the MBR of your external drive.

For both these tasks, SuperGrubDisk is your friend: http://www.supergrubdisk.org/.

This is a copy from part of the thread on the ubuntu forum... such helpful people in this community:

one of the best resources for learning Grub is actually not the Grub manual, but Herman's website:

http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p15.htm

Totally agree - a real gem! It is hard to learn something like grub by experimenting. It's great the way Herman explains exactly what is going on with each command. The SuperGrubDisk also looks invaluable when combined with the instructions at http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzo...bDiskPage.html

[Qqmike]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Every possibility (combination) is covered in my how-to that Snowhog referenced.
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...pic=3081671.15
Reply #21:
Dual-boot Windows and Kubuntu: Special Situations
This covers two special situations:
----- How to avoid installing GRUB to the Master Boot Record of your Windows XP drive
----- Two drives, a Windows drive and a Kubuntu drive, GRUB is in the Windows MBR, but sometimes you must remove the Kubuntu drive and Windows won’t boot when you do

However, it is then true that after selecting your strategy, you'll have learn the GRUB mechanics so you can implement your plan. You can use the how-to and/or Herman's stuff; and to get a bird's eye view of GRUB, keep the official GRUB manual handy.

[EzRydr]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Thanks for the kind welcome, all!

Alright I got GRUB loaded on the USB HDD (sdb1) but now when it loads and I choose Kubuntu from the GRUB menu I get error 17: Cannot mount.

Any ideas?

[andre_orwell]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Is that all it says? Does it tell you what drive it can't mount?

[Fintan]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Alright I got GRUB loaded on the USB HDD (sdb1) but now when it loads and I choose Kubuntu from the GRUB menu I get error 17: Cannot mount.

Can you post the /boot/grub/menu.lst form your kubuntu?

[EzRydr]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader? SOLVED!!!!

Thanks everybody for all your help. It seems I've blundered around and fixed it myself - though I'm not sure how or why.

I decided to start fresh and repartition and format the USB HDD then reinstall Kubuntu. This time I found out how to install GRUB to the USD drive (hd1) during the install. Everything seemed to work fine until GRUB showed Error 17: could not mount again.

I edited the line in GRUB from (hd1,0) to hd(0,0) and everything boots fine off the USB drive. Two questions, however:

1) Does this work because each primary partition is seen as a separate drive, so partition 1 is hd(0,0)
2) How do I get the change to stay permanently so I don't have to edit on every boot?

Many thanks,
Bryan

[Qqmike]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

(2) Easy: Edit the boot menu (i.e., /boot/grub/menu.lst)
How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0

--- HOW To: Change the Default Operating System (Also: Changing the timeout, boot menu, and other tips) Reply #1

(1) I'm not sure exactly what you are asking, but ...
The drive--ANY drive be it internal, external, or USB--that your PC boots from is seen (by BIOS and by GRUB) at the time of that booting session as the first hard drive, called hd0. Thus, since the PC will be booting from the external HDD when you want it to boot from the external HDD, when it does so, any and all references to Kubuntu on that drive must refer to Kubuntu being on hd0 and some partition of hd0. The notation (hd0,0) means the first hard drive (as seen by BIOS and by GRUB), the first partition, indicated by the zero to the right of the comma. If Kubuntu were on the second partition of the external HDD, it would be (hd0,1). GRUB counts drives and partitions starting from zero.

You started with (hd1,0) during and after the installation of Kubuntu to the external HDD because the installer--which your PC booted from at the time--saw the external HDD as hd1. So, hd1 was used in all references to the external HDD. But after installation, and when the PC actually boots from the external HDD, the external HDD is then seen as hd0 (by BIOS and by GRUB) during that booting session. Thus, after installation, you have to manually go into your boot menu (/boot/grub/menu.lst) in your Kubuntu (on the external) and change every hd1 to hd0.

For GRUB notation and GRUB how-to-do's, see this and the references given at the end of it, including, notably, Hermans @ bigpond and the GRUB manual for 0.97:
How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
(oops -- same as above ... )

[EzRydr]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Qmike,

Thanks for the information - exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks also to everyone else for helping me get to this point and making me feel welcome along the way.

Can someone mark this as Answered / Solved or tell me how?

[Qqmike]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

I didn't see it mentioned above, so in case we didn't, here's another that you can rip through and pick up some facts and tips about how external USB devices are seen by BIOS and GRUB (e.g., the "hd0" stuff mentioned above):

How To Make GRUB Thumb Drive
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081748.0

(scan all the posts following the original post)

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu on USB HDD without boot loader?

Can someone mark this as Answered / Solved or tell me how?

Return to you initial post in this thread, click the modify button and add SOLVED to the subject line.