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Recently, I decided to install the loved Linux Mint. I made sure I had space for a partition, and installed it. I am currently on the "trial" part, where it has "Install Linux Mint" on the desktop. I have installed it, and it even has a partition saying "Linux Mint 16 Petra". Yet, when I boot it from HDD/SSD, there is no option to boot to Mint, only my old, broken, ubuntu distro and of course, the dreaded Windows.

I am not sure why this is happening, can anyone do any explaining? I have googled it but haven't found any answers.

Note: After doing fdisk l I got the following message:

`Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd2f26588

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048     3074047     1536000   27  Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2         3074048   599508991   298217472    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       599508992   625141759    12816384   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 4000 MB, 4000317440 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 486 cylinders, total 7813120 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *         128     7813119     3906496    b  W95 FAT32`

Note: I am zach, I recently just remembered my old account.

EDIT: I forgot to show you guys what I got for the answer:

mint ~ # grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdb
grub-probe: error: failed to get canonical path of /cow.
Path `/mnt/boot/grub' is not readable by GRUB on boot. Installation is impossible. Aborting.

mint ~ # mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
mount: /dev/sdb1 already mounted or /mnt busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdb1 is mounted on /cdrom

EDIT2: After performing Graeme's updated answer, No serious errors are there. Now what should I do?

user3146876
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  • hi and welcome to Stack Exchange! bumps are frowned upon here. there's a group of core users that regularly checks the front page; when we do, we'll see your question and take a look. even if bumping pushed your question to the top of the front page (which it doesn't), it doesn't really accomplish anything and just makes us annoyed. – strugee Mar 16 '14 at 23:10
  • @strugee I apologize! ouo – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:11
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    Looks like @strugee just bumped the question :) – Graeme Mar 16 '14 at 23:14
  • no problem. just to clarify the edit I just made, while the "linux" and "linux-mint" tags are OK in this context, usually you wouldn't need them. we only like to add the "linux" tag if the answer couldn't apply to another UNIX (e.g. FreeBSD). similarly, we only like to apply distro tags if the question only applies to that distro. (here, it's OK because this may be specific to the Mint install process.) – strugee Mar 16 '14 at 23:15
  • You have 'I am currently on the "trial" part, where it has "Install Linux Mint" on the desktop.', then a jump to ' I have installed it'. You did do the "Install Linux Mint" part, right..? – Graeme Mar 16 '14 at 23:16
  • Strugee's teasing. This does look like a grub problem which might be solvable manually but...have you tried a re-install? When you installed, what did it say/did you decide about where to put grub? Do you want to get rid of the ubuntu partition? Add as many details as you can. – goldilocks Mar 16 '14 at 23:17
  • @Graeme, Yes, that is what installed it. Infact, after trying to install it again (because i couldn't boot it) It showed the partition there. – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:18
  • Is there an install log for Linux Mint? If so, it would be a good idea to post part of it. – Graeme Mar 16 '14 at 23:18
  • @goldilocks I do want to get rid of the ubuntu partition; yet I don't see any partition saying ubuntu in the partition menu of the installation. There's only Windows 7 and Linux Mint, which I don't know how to boot. – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:20
  • Since you can boot Ubuntu, post the output of sudo fdisk -l and df in Ubuntu. Which partition is Mint installed on? – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Mar 16 '14 at 23:24
  • @GIlles It is on an unallocated partition I just made. In Ubuntu, it just loads to a GRUB bootloader. I try to load it but there is nothing to load, no kernels, no nothing, just a GRUB console. should I just do sudo fdisk -l and df in the console anyways? – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:27
  • What Gilles said, + If you can can get access to both linux partitions (via ubuntu or a live CD), look for a file called /boot/grub2/grub.cfg in each partition and add the content of both of them to your original post (via the edit button bottom left). – goldilocks Mar 16 '14 at 23:27
  • Infact, there are no ubuntu partitions. – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:28
  • I.e. you either boot windows or a grub console? – goldilocks Mar 16 '14 at 23:29
  • Ah, ok. Your question is difficult to understand. Boot from a recovery CD, then. If Mint's recovery CD has a “repair bootloader” option or similar, try that. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Mar 16 '14 at 23:29
  • @goldilocks I remember windows was the thing that destroyed my ubuntu. It went to a weird error thing, "fixed" a bunch of crap, then it broke. – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:29
  • I will be posting all the necessary information in this comment.

    First, I have used the linux mint "install" program, and it "successfully" installed it. I can not boot the partition.

    Second, I have an old ubuntu partition, broken by windows, that only loads a GRUB loader.

    Info: I am on a USB boot on the linux "trial".

    Third, Ubuntu has worked for me.

    Fourth, I have no ubuntu partition, only my Linux Mint partition that won't load.

     – user3146876 Mar 16 '14 at 23:33
  • Please edit the question to add extra information. – Graeme Mar 16 '14 at 23:36
  • Looking at your fdisk output, it looks like Mint is on /dev/sda3. This is a small partition though, only ~6GB. This may be the root of your issue. Generally you want at least 10GB, ideally 20+GB. You can find the free space available with sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt; df -h /mnt (provided it hasn't been mounted by another program). Also the link in the above comment is a much more detailed version of my answer, there is no harm in trying that. – Graeme Mar 17 '14 at 00:51
  • @Zach you may want to click "contact us" in the site footer to get your user accounts merged. – strugee Mar 17 '14 at 00:55
  • Your only Linux partition is /dev/sda3, you need to use this in the commands as I said. Blindly copying from the internet is a good way to break your computer. – Graeme Mar 17 '14 at 01:17
  • No serious errors? If there was any error you should add it to your question. What about free disk space? Do you even have any? – Graeme Mar 17 '14 at 09:47

1 Answers1

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This is the basic process for re-installing/updating grub on a partitions. You can run this from your Ubuntu system or your live Mint CD. Assumes the system is installed on /dev/sdbx? (not a real partition), you can find your partition by looking at the output of fdisk -l or parted -l. If there is an install log, there should be a record of the system trying something like this and hopefully some useful error messages. If not, you can always try this. It must all be run as root, so do sudo -s first

mount /dev/sdx? /mnt

grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdx  # <--note no partition number

mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
chroot /mnt update-grub
umount /mnt/proc /mnt/sys /mnt/dev

If it doesn't work, please post the output.

Graeme
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