grub2 fails when being installed in a partition

[X-Bert]

Binary package hint: grub-pc

I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" LTS Desktop Edition in a logical partition (sda10) and chose within the "Advanced Options" to install the boot loader in the same partition, because I wanted to chainload it via another grub. See e.g. the following example image:

http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/extra/LINUX/large/ubuntu1004installation-large_008.jpg

However, after a restart, the boot loader of Ubuntu 10.04 failed. :(

I then booted Ubuntu 10.04 directly via the first grub with the following boot entries:

title Ubuntu Linux 10.04 (sda10)
  root (hd0,9)
  kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda10 ro quiet splash
  initrd /initrd.img

Then I tried to reinstall grub2 within Ubuntu 10.04:

$ sudo grub-install /dev/sda10
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Attempting to install GRUB to a partition instead of the MBR. This is a BAD idea..
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and its use is discouraged..
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: error: if you really want blocklists, use --force.

However, installing grub in a partition instead of the MBR isn't a "BAD idea" per se when using different OSs. I think that it's a good idea to install the boot loader in the same partition as the OS and use a central boot loader to chainload the other boot loaders. There might be problems with blocklists in some cases, but I never had any in several years. So I tried the "force" option:

]$ sudo grub-install --force /dev/sda10
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Attempting to install GRUB to a partition instead of the MBR. This is a BAD idea..
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and its use is discouraged..
Installation finished. No error reported.

As you can see, it just doesn't work. :(

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

There is also a very important use case which fails due to this error: having a full disk encryption installation of Windows with truecrypt and then installing full disk encrypted ubuntu. The grub has to be installed on /boot partition as truecrypt installer has to be in MBR as it is not that flexible as grub.

I was able to install grub to the sda3 when manually running grub-setup with --force on alternate CD, but the grub install is broken as the assets are not found and I have to manually type the kernel and initrd options on minimal grub shell.

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]