OS Selector? Installed a Linux distro on second hdd but grub was written to hdd 0 and

now instead of Acronis' OS Selector appearing in the first screen Ubuntu has taken
first place in boot. I'm looking for someone who can walk me through (rewriting the MBR?)
so that the OS Selector is in first place. That of course is just a guess at what is wrong.
I have Acronis True Image 10 installed if that makes any difference.

Solid experience and knowledgeable advice appreciated

nic'd

 

One thing I have always disliked about Ubuntu is the boot loader. Every install I have done has been problematic. It is one bug that has plagued every version.

When you installed Ubuntu you needed to specify the root partition to install grub to. By root (/), I mean the partition where you installed Ubuntu to, if you wanted to continue using OS selector. This does not always work with Ubuntu and you may have to repeat the grub install process or do a grub-install from the install cd.

On a dual boot scenerio installing grub to the mbr as you did is the accepted procedure. Does Grub not show or boot your windows operating system? Why bother with OS selector? Unless you planning to multiboot there is no need for OS selector.
But to get back to your question. Simply reinstall/reinstate OS selector. You will not be able to boot Ubuntu however until you get grub installed to root.
I have used OS Selector and found it lacking. I currently multiboot six operating systems. I install all linux boot loaders to their respective root partitions and I boot everything with GAG installed to MBR. This setup has worked very well for me in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, not all linux distros give you the option of installing boot loaders to root and this creates further challenges.

http://gag.sourceforge.net/

 

If I'm not mistaken (which I may be, not having touched Ubuntu), to install grub to its bootsector with Ubuntu, you'll need the 'alternate' install cd.
I've wondered why they didn't put this option in the normal install dvd, but of course the linux geeks didn't care much about this kind of problem.

And indeed, although OSS have some nice features, it can be problematic some times, and getting official support is annoying (when was the last time official acronis support posted in this forum? ).
Forget oss if possible, stay with grub.

And thanks for that GAG link, didn't know about that one.

 

You are welcome Nuljet. I'm always installing/uninstalling distros and I never have to fool with GAG. If you do accidentally overwrite GAG its easy to setup again. Great, free universal boot manager.

I did hear something about an alternate install cd for "experts".
I tried, recently, to install Mint linux. This distro is mostly the Ubuntu live cd with proprietary extras. There is an option to install Grub elsewhere if you click the box showing the default location - its a little tricky to notice and many people are missing it. Didn't really matter, Grub absolutely refuses to install to root period. I could not even do it via command line. Why Ubuntu is so popular is just ......... unfair.

 

As is obvious I'm fairly new to all this; that was the only reason I tried using OS Selector (thought I could get away with not having to know how it worked in order for it to work) I wanted to set up My secondary harddrive for Linux Distro's, I'm not sure I actually got Ubuntu to install on the first primary partition on the second drive but that was the plan. I do remember the question/screen(?) bout where to put the grub but I believe I chose the auto process and strapped myself in for the ride. I do believe that it flashed across the screen that the boot grub was installed on the first drive.
As to whether or not grub will let me boot windows I guess I'm not sure how to actually access it to find out. All I can say at that when powered up there are no choices given.

I only have a few moments here to compose my thoughts, and there is much to
consider in your replies. I will get back momentarily.

Again thanks

 

Ok. If you chose the auto install options Grub should have been written to the mbr. Obviously something has went haywire and I did mention Ubuntu and Grub having its problems earlier. If everything had gone right you should have powered up to Grub first with Ubuntu and Windows as choices to boot.

Grub should have no problem recognizing or booting operating systems on the second hard drive.

You can try reinstalling grub. Go to the link and follow Wersnt's directions. If this dosn't work or you have trouble try another Ubuntu install but remember to specify MBR as the place to install Grub.

Don't get frustrated. If you keep having trouble try another distro. Most of the live cds with install options are very easy. Mepis and Pclos being very good ones.

Good luck and get back to us on how you fare.

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-24113.html

 

When I installed Ubuntu on my laptop the same thing happend. The normal dvd install does not let you select where to install grub and since I had OSS installed, grub did not find my windows installation. As a result, grub only listed Ubuntu in its menu.

I assume that to have grub find the windows install that OSS would have to be uninstalled prior to installing grub.

Anyway, I just worked around it by reactivating OSS and then installing grub manually into its own /boot partition. Then I used OSS OS detection wizard to find the /boot partition and add it to the menu list.

 

Re: OS Selector? Installed a Linux distro on second hdd but grub was written to hdd 0

Just installed Ubuntu on my machine, dual boot with xp-pro, and had no problems with grub, install went smooth as silk for me.