'GRUB isn´t installed to MBR/bootsector' box, and ext4 format

M

mrjag

Member
Congratulations and many thanks for EasyBCD, an excellent and easy program!

I have a couple of questions or doubts regarding my current dual boot with Vista installed before, then Ubuntu 9.10 with Grub 2 installed to Ubuntu ext3 partition, with the help of the tutorial http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu. my first experience with dual booting, partitioning and Linux.

- I used EasyBCD 2.0 beta, selected 'Add/remove entries', 'Add an entry', 'Linux/BSD' 'Type:', 'GRUB 2', 'Save' and left unchecked 'GRUB isn´t installed to MBR/bootsector', thinking that the following boot could be unsuccessful dual (not recognizing ubuntu, since the box was unchecked), but was great, no problem at all, and so has been ever since.

- Now, I intend to add Linus Mint 8 for triple boot, and would like to know:
1) if EasyBCD 2.0 beta could recognize Mint 8's GRUB 2, if I install it to the Mint partition as ext4 (rather than ext3) file system, and
2) what about the unchecked box, should I leave it that way? For my current ubuntu as well as intended Mint.

Any help would be highly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
You shouldn't have any issues I don't believe. CG's been working to make sure NeoGrub is compatible with ext4 but if you do just let us know and we'll try to work with you to get it working if we can.
 
Thank you very much for your reply.

I installed Mint twice, assigning the swap partition to the same existing one and the Grub to the ext4 Mint partition, but not being able to triple boot so far, only to my previous dual.

Using the same method with EasyBCD as I did for Ubuntu, now for Mint I don't see any other suitable option to choose but 'GRUB 2'. If I select 'GRUB 2', only get Ubuntu twice to the Windows multi-boot menu, also ticking 'GRUB isn´t installed to MBR/bootsector' box.

From Ubuntu, following Mint installation, viewed one single 62.6 GB Ubuntu file system (33% used), then I unmounted Mint partition and the Ubuntu file system was viewed as 28.4 GB (64% used). Also viewed 3 GB used on Mint partition.

Here is my current layout: (as seen by using another Ubuntu tool, that's why the size difference with above)

/dev/sda Hard disk
/dev/sda1 7.7 GB, Ntfs (Vista recovery partition)
/dev/sda2 70 GB, Ntfs (Vista)
/dev/sda3 Extended
/dev/sda5 10 GB, Ntfs (my data)
/dev/sda6 1.4 GB, Swap (intended to be common for Linux distros)
/dev/sda7 25 GB, Ext3 (Ubuntu 9.10), description: Partition 7 (Linux (0x83)), /dev/sda7 mounted at /
/dev/sda8 35 GB, Ext4 (Mint 8), description: Partition 8 (Linux (0x83)), /dev/sda8 mounted at /media/76cba1fc6-....
or, when unmounted: Partition 8 (Linux (0x83)), /dev/sda8

Many thanks again for your assistance.
 
Last edited:
Here's what happens when you use the checkbox: EasyBCD will search your hard drive for a GRUB2 bootloader, and interface with it.

Now since you have *two* GRUB2 loaders, it won't work. EasyBCD will just keep finding the same loader over and over and over again - each time giving you Ubuntu instead of Mint.

What you need to do is integrate the Ubuntu and Mint boot menus. From Ubuntu, merge the menu.conf/grub.conf or whatever it is that the GRUB2 menu is called these days together for Mint and Ubuntu into the Ubuntu menu.
 
Thank you so much for your explanation, it gave me a very good picture about the situation. Finally, Mint was added to the Ubuntu menu by running the command: sudo update-grub.

Now I am enjoying my triple boot, and very grateful for all the help received.

Cheers.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top