Only option to selected /dev/sda during uefi install for grup

jsluk

Hi all. First post here. I iust installed Solus Budgie 4.1 on hdd /dev/sde. I have 5 disks in my PC. I installed Solus on that entire disk. However, the only issue I encountered came when selecting where to install grup. Only /dev/sda could be selected. Now, for me to boot Solus, I have to use bios to select Solus. I tried to use grup but it takes me to a terminal which I don't know what to type to start Solus. If I type exit in terminal, Solus will boot after a short wait.
Is there an easy way to move grup from /dev/sda to /dev/sde? If not, do I need to manually created the uefi FAT32 partition before the install process? Thanks.

sgvd

I am not sure what's the best way to fix your issue after having it installed to the wrong disk. But I have a note in my notebook exactly for this issue in case you want to try again:

"Note: During installation you cannot select another bootloader location, the install program will always list only the first one it encounters. To choose a different bootloader, simply 'deactivate' the other bootloaders by removing the boot/ESP flags from those partitions. Then only the bootloader you actually want will be recognised for installation."

My note is from a year ago, so maybe not that relevant anymore if this is actually a different issue than what I experienced at the time.

jsluk

sgvd Thanks for your reply. This seems really odd that the Solus install process stops at the first bootloader that it encountered. Of the 5 drives in my system, four of them each have their individual bootloader. I guess I could disconnect them and re-install Solus. Perhaps someone could join the discussion and show me how to easily disable the other bootloaders.

WetGeek

jsluk four of them each have their individual bootloader.

I've always thought the whole point of a "unified" bootloader was to have just one that handles all the bootable drives (or partitions) in a computer. Seems a lot better than having to go to the BIOS or EFI to select a drive to boot.

Have I been missing something? The only time I ever did a dual-boot setup, GRUB even handled Windows along with SUSE.

sgvd

WetGeek
Another topic also discusses this. There are some use-cases where different partitions are preferable:

When moving disks between computers
When dual booting the same OS, which leads to duplicate entries without knowing which is which.

Also it just makes it very decoupled, use the BIOS for booting the OS, then use the bootloader to boot a different version than the default. It makes it easier to remove as well. Just format/remove the bootloader partition when you remove the OS. No need to find it how to remove only the entries of the OS you just removed from the shared bootloader partition. Saves some hassle. Of course, if you're not a distrohopper this is not really that beneficial, but still 🙂

jsluk
There is no need to physically remove the disks to force the installer to recognize your wanted bootloader partrition:

Boot the live USB
open up the partition manager (Disks, Gparted, etc.)
Remove the boot/esp flags of all bootloader partitions you do not want to install to
Install Solus
Reboot in new install
Put flags back to the bootloader partitions.

This does not fix your current grub, but if you reinstall this should force the installer to only see your wanted bootloader partition.

jsluk

WetGeek Thanks for your reply. I am not an expert linux nor Windows 10 user. I am on my second PC build. It is 7 years old. The windows 8 later updated to Windows 10 was installed on a SSD with MBR boot. At the time, I did not even know there were options like UEFI boot. Wanting to use linux, I took the old Western Digital Raptor HDD's from the first build and put separate linux distributions on them. The other distros always let me choose where to put the Fat 32 EFI partition except for Solus.

I guess what I need now is someone with knowledge of grub so that I could edit that file so that I don't have to rely on the BIOS to pick the proper distro to boot. Perhaps you could give me specifics or point me to directions on how to do this? Best regards.

WetGeek

jsluk I'd like to help more, but I've only created a dual-boot once, and in fact, I believe it was long enough ago that it was probably LILO, not GRUB. (More recently, I've just created multiple VMs instead.)

The distro I was installing back then (probably SUSE at that time) gave me a choice during the installation whether to install next to Windows or to replace Windows. I chose to install next to Windows, and the Linux installer handled shrinking the Windows partition and creating another for Linux. In the end, it created the boot-loader to include options to start one or the other.

I know that LILO's replacement, GRUB, can be edited to allow you to select which partition to boot, but so far I've had no reason to investigate that any further. Most of my computers have only one OS installed (Solus). My development machine allows me to hot-swap two SSDs, so I can make it a Windows machine (drives C and D) or a Solus machine or something else just by swapping in the appropriate drives.

I'm sure there are GRUB experts here though, and I'm pretty sure one of them will take over from here. 😀

jsluk

WetGeek Thanks for your thoughts on the subject. I do hope someone will reply on modifying grup . For now, I just keep hitting the F8 key after a reboot to select Solus. Else, I will disconnect the other drives and do a reinstall.

p.s. I like your idea of hot swapping SSD's. What computer case do you use to do this? Best regards.

WetGeek

jsluk What computer case do you use to do this?

I think it's a CoolerMaster. It's lasted for my last 4 or 5 builds. There's a little device shown here:
that fits into an empty 3.5" bay. Not much use for 3.5" floppies anymore, so this is a perfect use for that.

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to paste a link here. But if you go to Amazon and look for:

Kingwin SATA Internal Hard Drives, SATA Tray-Less Hot Swap Mobile Rack for Dual 2.5” SSD/HDD. Hard Drive Backplane Enclosure, Support SATA I/II/III & SAS I/II 6 Gbps

you'll see what I'm using.

jsluk

sgvd Thanks for jumping in on this discussion. I just starting doing the distrohop thing on separate drives and I really like the Budgie DE.

sgvd Remove the boot/esp flags of all bootloader partitions you do not want to install to
Install Solus
Reboot in new install
Currently, the bootloader for Solus installed on dev/sda where I have MX Linux. If I remove the boot/flag, will I loose the ability to boot MX? Utlimately, I want to put the bootloader for Solus on dev/sde.

I searched the web and found this command.

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Will this fix my grup problem? Right now, Solus boots up to a terminal where I have to issue the exit command. Then Solus will boot up to the greetings / log on screen.

Here is another thought. What if I use the USB installer for MX and try the boot repair option there?
Best regards.

sgvd

jsluk
There are two solutions, and I only know for one of them what to do:

Repairing the current Solus install by moving the Solus bootloader through that grub command to the dev/sde partition.
(assuming that grub command actually does that. I do not know)
Reinstalling Solus completely with the bootloader in dev/sde
This will probably leave some nonfunctional Solus entries in the dev/sda (MX Linux) bootloader.

I have little knowledge on moving an existing grub, so I am solely talking about (2) a new Solus install. This is also the easiest, depending on how much you lose by reinstalling Solus. 😁

Just to make the steps more specific with the locations you gave:

Boot the Solus live USB

open up the partition manager (Disks, Gparted, etc.)

Format partitions on dev/sde (failed solus install)
(If not present, create boot partition on dev/sde: Fat32, 512Mb, boot/esp flags)

Remove the boot/esp flags from dev/sda (and other bootloaders I do not know about)
(MX Linux may be unbootable after this)

Install Solus to dev/sde; the dev/sde bootloader should be selectable now.

Reboot in Solus now installed on dev/sde

Open partition manager

Re-add the boot/esp flags to dev/sda
(MX Linux should work again)

jsluk

sgvd (MX Linux should work again)

Thanks to all who participated in the discussion. I booted into MX one more time and used their boot repair tool. Hopefully, that efi partition is back to normal without the Solus stuff added to it. I think what I will do at the point is to do another fresh install and see if I could put the Solus boot loader in its own proper efi partition.

Justin

https://getsol.us/articles/troubleshooting/boot-management/en/ to add boot parameters.

Justin

jsluk put the Solus boot loader in its own proper efi partition

This is always recommended.

aquasp

@Justin#28986 I was trying to dual boot with windows 10, but I could only select win10 boot manager, even creating a new fat 32 with 1024mb in gparted. I really prefer different partitions to efi. Is there anyway to do it with solus?
Thanks

Justin

aquasp What do you mean? If you want to boot via EFI you need an EFI partition. Otherwise you'll need to use legacy (BIOS) boot.

aquasp

Justin

I mean, I want to install solus in another EFI partition, but I was able to select only /dev/sda (the EFI of windows).

Justin

aquasp Ah OK. I've seen this before. If you remove the esp flag from that partition before running the installer it won't detect it. Then you can add it back after.

aquasp

Justin

I will try it, thanks!

Is there some possibility of solus installer being able to install on any fat32 partition? Thanks

Justin

aquasp Why would you want to install on FAT32? It can't even handle a file larger than 4GB.

aquasp

Justin
Oh, my bad.
I was talking about the solus boot manager, not the OS.
I mean, I need to do this thing of disabling the flags of windows boot manager to be able to select another fat32 partition to install the boot manager, but in ubiquity for instance you can install in any adequate partition