Comments on: Reinstall Ubuntu Grub Bootloader After Windows Wipes it Out

By: md imran

md imran — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:47:29 +0000

Hi.
I have installed Ubuntu 9.04 as windows application long back using wubi.
Now when i restart my PC its giving the menu to select either windows or ubuntu.But when i cliked on ubuntu its giving the following error “Cannot find GRLDR”. Please tell me how to get out of this issue.Atleast how to get the ubuntu data backup.

when i tried
sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage1 its saying no file found.

Since Ubuntu is not installed in separate external partition i am unable to get the backup..

By: gal

gal — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:06:17 +0000

Works like a charm. i’m with opensuse and windows kept overwriting my MBR. thanks a lot

By: mjt

mjt — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:50:00 +0000

I failed to mention that if you ONLY want to restore the MBR itself,
then the “dd” command should be:

# dd of=/dev/hda if=mbr.bin bs=446 count=1

If you execute “dd” as I explained in my previous post, the
partition table will be restored, in addition to the MBR. So,
if you’ve done any partitioning during the Windows install,
you’ll *not* want to execute “dd” as in:

# dd of=/dev/hda if=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

I always recommend doing the partitioning in Linux BEFORE
you install Windows.

mjt – author, “Inside Linux”.

By: mjt

mjt — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:42:23 +0000

The *best* solution for restoring the MBR after a Windows install
is to backup the MBR *before* the Windows install. The tried and
true method is to use the “dd” command on the Linux side. I’ve
been doing this for years – saving the binary file to my gmail acct.

To backup the MBR, jump to a CLI and:
# dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

The result is a file (in this example), “mbr.bin” – save that off to
a safe place …. its size is 512 bytes. Ensure you have a Live CD
or original Linux install CD at hand. Also, the device name path
for the hard drive will need to be adjusted – for example, you might
have to specify “if=/dev/sda” instead of “hda”.

Do the Windows install – then to restore your saved binary image,
simply boot your Live CD or Linux install CD, jump to a CLI and:

# dd of=/dev/hda if=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

Be sure you specify the fully-qualified path to “mbr.bin”

mjt – author, “Inside Linux”.

By: rhy

rhy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:35:22 +0000

Yah it works but if you are sure what number of (hd) “heard disk” you installed windows Xp or Vista.

type in this command:

first – sudo grub

second – root (hd0,0) # the number of your heard disk #

third – setup (hd0,1) # frot he boot start up #

By: samg

samg — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:34:33 +0000

Here’s a link to Ubuntu community discussion which may help you out.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

By: shan

shan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:06:28 +0000

ok my situation here is i have ubuntu 9.04 installed (no partition) and i want to reinstall XP so i can run cubase

but my xp backup disk is not being accepted by the computer

i think full ubuntu install precludes that

any suggestions?

ta shan

By: Venus

Venus — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:49:27 +0000

Thanks Mr.”Jonathan vz”…Mine was “hd(0,5)”..i did never expected it’ll be upto 5..And i struck for about 20 minutes by just a small mistake, i didn’t give space after the “find” !!!…

By: John

John — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:42:24 +0000

This work perfectly. I had Ubuntu 9.05 and Windows XP Pro working in dual boot when I decided to complicate things by installing the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Of course Windows assumed it was the only OS on the drive and schwanked grub.

I read the entire thread including helpful comments, found the windows partitions on my drive and was up and running in a few minutes. I was unable to find /boot/grub/menu.lst to make sure windows was in it. So I took a chance and rebooted without this step. Grub showed windows 7 as XP, but that is a minor detail I can fix easily.

Thanks for the help!

By: bastr

bastr — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:47:39 +0000

i see other way >>>
sudo fdisk -l
sudo mount /dev/hda2 /mnt
sudo grub-install –root-directory=/mnt /hda

hint: hda2 mean where linux install
thank you