Ubuntu update kills boot loader

[Thomas Richter]

Hi,

I had the Windows 7 bootloader configured to dual boot either Windows 7 or Ubuntu 10.04.
The Grub2 bootloader was installed to the Linux (ext4) partition while the Windows bootloader was installed to the MBR and first primary partition.
Everything worked fine for about 5 weeks, i.e. in the Windows bootloader I could select either Windows or Linux. When selecting Linux, it would chain-load grub and boot into Ubuntu.

Now I allowed Update Manager for the first time to update Ubuntu and guess what: it now boots into Ubuntu right away. The boot menu does not appear. Apparently the grub update has overwritten the MBR.

WTF!! (Sorry, but this is really incredible!)

br

Tom

P.S. This were all fresh installations on a newly built machine.

[Javier López (javier-lopez)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in 'grub-pc'. If you believe that I have chosen the wrong package, please change your bug to the correct one.

In the meantime, you can look at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2 to find out a way to boot your old system.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Please show me the output of:

  debconf-show grub-pc

[Mohamed Amine Ilidrissi (ilidrissi.amine)]

Marking as Incomplete per the last comment.

[Thomas Richter (tomricht)]

Here is the printout. BTW, the latest grub update killed the MBR again.

br Tom

$ sudo debconf-show grub-pc
  grub-pc/kopt_extracted: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline:
* grub-pc/install_devices: /dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD103SJ_S246J90Z207883
  grub-pc/postrm_purge_boot_grub: false
  grub-pc/disk_description:
* grub2/linux_cmdline:
  grub-pc/install_devices_empty: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline_default: quiet
  grub-pc/partition_description:
  grub-pc/install_devices_failed: false
  grub-pc/install_devices_disks_changed:
* grub2/linux_cmdline_default: quiet splash
  grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: true
  grub-pc/hidden_timeout: false
  grub-pc/timeout: 0
$

[Thomas Richter (tomricht)]

Ooops you did it again!
MBR killed; had to boot from my Windows DVD to restore the Windows bootloader.
Is nobody reading this?
Does anybody care?

Tom

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

If you don't want it to overwrite the MBR on update, then run 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc', deselect the MBR, and select the partition where you want GRUB to be installed.

Does this resolve your problem?

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Closing due to configuration error, with fix posted years ago and no response.