Moving Grub2 to install Bootit BM

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junk1
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:56 pm

Moving Grub2 to install Bootit BM

Post by junk1 »

I want to install BiBM on a hard drive that at present contains (1) a small FAT partition (sda1), intended for BiBM, and (2) an extended partition (sda2), with Ubuntu 12.04 installed in the first logical partition (sda5).

I presume that Grub2 is currently installed in the MBR -- given that, when installing Ubuntu, I do not recall choosing any specific location for Grub2. I understand that if I just install BiBM the usual way, it will overwrite the MBR and I may not be able to boot Ubuntu anymore. How should I proceed? Do I need to move Grub2 to sda5 first? Or install BiBM first and then reinstall Grub2 to sda5? Or neither of the above?

Thanks for any help.
TeraByte Support(TP)
Posts: 305
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:22 pm

Re: Moving Grub2 to install Bootit BM

Post by TeraByte Support(TP) »

junk1 wrote:
> I want to install BiBM on a hard drive that at present contains (1) a small
> FAT partition (sda1), intended for BiBM, and (2) an extended partition
> (sda2), with Ubuntu 12.04 installed in the first logical partition (sda5).
>
> I presume that Grub2 is currently installed in the MBR -- given that, when
> installing Ubuntu, I do not recall choosing any specific location for
> Grub2. I understand that if I just install BiBM the usual way, it will
> overwrite the MBR and I may not be able to boot Ubuntu anymore. How should
> I proceed? Do I need to move Grub2 to sda5 first? Or install BiBM first and
> then reinstall Grub2 to sda5? Or neither of the above?
>
> Thanks for any help.

In that situation, Grub2 would have been installed to the MBR (by default), so installing BIBM to that drive will overwrite it. What you can do (before installing BIBM) is to boot normally into Ubuntu, and then run this command (from a terminal window):

sudo grub-install --force /dev/sda5

That will install Grub2 into the boot sector of /dev/sda5. That will still leave the system bootable via the MBR like it is now, but will set it up so that you can later boot Ubuntu from the BIBM boot menu.

Note that the command above will give off a few warnings when you run it, but as long as the last line says "Installation finished. No error reported", that means the command succeeded. The --force parameter is needed, because without it, it won't install Grub to a partition.
junk1
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:56 pm

Re: Moving Grub2 to install Bootit BM

Post by junk1 »

Thanks. That did it.
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