Since I was unable to install F18, I would like to revert back to F17 that I have restored from backups, the following partitions:
/ (root) /dev/sda10 /boot /dev/sda9
What I have left to do is to restore the MBR on /dev/sda9 /boot partition.
I have a separate MBR installed on /dev/sda drive which is the master MBR for multiboot OS, which is working fine.
What steps can I use to accomplish this?
Dan Thurman wrote:
Since I was unable to install F18, I would like to revert back to F17 that I have restored from backups, the following partitions:
/ (root) /dev/sda10 /boot /dev/sda9
Did you make a physical backup of the partitions with dd or just back up the files on them? Yes it makes a difference in recovery...
What I have left to do is to restore the MBR on /dev/sda9 /boot partition.
MBR isn't on a partition, that may be your issue.
I have a separate MBR installed on /dev/sda drive which is the master MBR for multiboot OS, which is working fine.
MBR means "Master Boot Record," so "master MBR" seems like something from the department of redundancy department. And if it's working fine I really don't understand your problem.
What steps can I use to accomplish this?
Could you clarify "this" a bit, in terms of what you hope to accomplish, rather than how you are trying to do it? I'll try to help, and there are at least two people on this list who are better at boot issues than I am, so you can probably get a solution once we have an idea what you are trying to do.
On 04/08/2013 11:02 AM, Bill Davidsen wrote:
Dan Thurman wrote:
Since I was unable to install F18, I would like to revert back to F17 that I have restored from backups, the following partitions:
/ (root) /dev/sda10 /boot /dev/sda9
Did you make a physical backup of the partitions with dd or just back up the files on them? Yes it makes a difference in recovery...
I use rsync to save a backup of both partitions on another drive (both / and /boot), then I reformatted the sda9/10 in prep for F18. Having failed to install F18, I then rsync from sdb9/10 back into sda9/10. I just forgot how to use Grub2 exactly in order to restore MBR on sda9. I have done MBR installs many times before but it has been awhile for grub2!
What I have left to do is to restore the MBR on /dev/sda9 /boot partition.
MBR isn't on a partition, that may be your issue.
That is exactly the issue. I need the proper setup to mount, chroot & grub2-install in order to install MBR onto sda9 to make the partition(s) "seen" by grub.
I have a separate MBR installed on /dev/sda drive which is the master MBR for multiboot OS, which is working fine.
MBR means "Master Boot Record," so "master MBR" seems like something from the department of redundancy department. And if it's working fine I really don't understand your problem.
Right. You can install MBR onto a partition as well as the whole drive.
What steps can I use to accomplish this?
Could you clarify "this" a bit, in terms of what you hope to accomplish, rather than how you are trying to do it? I'll try to help, and there are at least two people on this list who are better at boot issues than I am, so you can probably get a solution once we have an idea what you are trying to do.
As I barely recall, for OSes using grub2, for F17, I have to boot LiveCD or DVD, mount the F17 (root & boot) partitions, chroot to the mount point, and then run grub2-install with the correct arguments. These are the details I am looking for.
For example, If one is using grub1 based partitions, it is a simple task:
# To find your GrubX boot partitions: grub1
grub1> find /grub/stage1 ### to locate grub-1 boot partitions (hd0,4) ### This partition is the "MBR" for the drive, sda (this is my master grub list) (hd0,6) ### This partition is the "MBR" for F13 (shows grub kernels)
grub1> find /grub/grub.cfg ### to locate grub2 partitions [hd0,8] ### This partition is the "MBR" for F17 (is missing cuz it is not yet setup) (hd0,10) ### This partition is the "MBR" for Ubuntu-10
# To setup Grub-1 "MBR": grub1> root (hd0) ### sda (whole drive) grub1> setup (hd0,4) grub1> root (hd0,4) ### sda5 partition grub1> setup (hd0,4) grub1> root (hd0,6) ### sda7 partition grub1> setup (hd0,6)
grub1> quit
But one cannot use grub1 to install grub2 based partitions as explained above.
I hope this is clear (as mud?) ;)
On 04/08/2013 09:06 AM, Dan Thurman wrote:
Since I was unable to install F18, I would like to revert back to F17 that I have restored from backups, the following partitions:
/ (root) /dev/sda10 /boot /dev/sda9
What I have left to do is to restore the MBR on /dev/sda9 /boot partition.
I have a separate MBR installed on /dev/sda drive which is the master MBR for multiboot OS, which is working fine.
What steps can I use to accomplish this?
Are these the instructions I am looking for?
1. Boot the system from an installation boot medium. (live CD/DVD/USB) 2. Type linux rescue at the installation boot prompt to enter the rescue environment. 3. mkdir /mnt/sysimage 4. mount /dev/sda10 /mnt/sysimage 5. mount /dev/sda9 /mnt/sysimage/boot 6. mount --bind /dev /mnt/sysimage/dev 7. mount --bind /proc /mnt/sysimage/proc 8. mount --bind /sys /mnt/sysimage/sys 9. chroot /mnt/sysimage # root partition. 10. grub2-install /dev/sda9 # boot partition. 11. grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg 12. Review the /etc/grub.d/10_linux 13. Reboot the system.
Dan Thurman wrote:
On 04/08/2013 09:06 AM, Dan Thurman wrote:
Since I was unable to install F18, I would like to revert back to F17 that I have restored from backups, the following partitions:
/ (root) /dev/sda10 /boot /dev/sda9
What I have left to do is to restore the MBR on /dev/sda9 /boot partition.
I have a separate MBR installed on /dev/sda drive which is the master MBR for multiboot OS, which is working fine.
What steps can I use to accomplish this?
Are these the instructions I am looking for?
1. Boot the system from an installation boot medium. (live CD/DVD/USB) 2. Type linux rescue at the installation boot prompt to enter therescue environment. 3. mkdir /mnt/sysimage 4. mount /dev/sda10 /mnt/sysimage 5. mount /dev/sda9 /mnt/sysimage/boot 6. mount --bind /dev /mnt/sysimage/dev 7. mount --bind /proc /mnt/sysimage/proc 8. mount --bind /sys /mnt/sysimage/sys 9. chroot /mnt/sysimage # root partition. 10. grub2-install /dev/sda9 # boot partition. 11. grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg 12. Review the /etc/grub.d/10_linux 13. Reboot the system.
A few comments on this:
1 - I am not an expert, I think "experienced" would be a better description.
2 - Google "grub2 install MBR in partition" and note that it has not been uniformly successful. That's my experience, with MBR data not in the MBR part of the disk you are essentially chain loading grub2, and your BIOS and misc other factors may cause this to fail, solidly or when the mood strikes it. That was my experience, and other users' as well. There, I warned you.
3 - your setup looks as good as it gets, I can't see anything wrong, several posts suggested copying resolv.conf to the chroot etc directory, I don't know why, but several posts said it was needed. I suspect it depends on your setup.
4 - I assume there's a good reason to do it this way instead of just putting the MBR in the MBR area, but you are traveling some code which has failed for others. You might consider doing things the more typical way.
5 - I would do grub2-mkconfig and put the result in a temp file, then look at it hard before proceding. I don't think you need all the mount stuff, since you will bind /dev to /chroot/dev anyway.
6 - good luck.
On 04/08/2013 02:47 PM, Dan Thurman wrote:
On 04/08/2013 09:06 AM, Dan Thurman wrote:
Since I was unable to install F18, I would like to revert back to F17 that I have restored from backups, the following partitions:
/ (root) /dev/sda10 /boot /dev/sda9
What I have left to do is to restore the MBR on /dev/sda9 /boot partition.
I have a separate MBR installed on /dev/sda drive which is the master MBR for multiboot OS, which is working fine.
What steps can I use to accomplish this?
Are these the instructions I am looking for?
- Boot the system from an installation boot medium. (live CD/DVD/USB)
- Type linux rescue at the installation boot prompt to enter the rescue environment.
- mkdir /mnt/sysimage
- mount /dev/sda10 /mnt/sysimage
- mount /dev/sda9 /mnt/sysimage/boot
- mount --bind /dev /mnt/sysimage/dev
- mount --bind /proc /mnt/sysimage/proc
- mount --bind /sys /mnt/sysimage/sys
- chroot /mnt/sysimage # root partition.
- grub2-install /dev/sda9 # boot partition.
- grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
- Review the /etc/grub.d/10_linux
- Reboot the system.
Addendum: 1. Step 10: Add --force argument 2. Step 11: Will update grub.cfg, so save the original for comparison, if desired.
Since I used rsync to restore from backups, touch .autorelabel in / and then reboot. Ignore the complaints due to SELinux permissions SELinux will reset the permissions and will reboot.
Fedora 17 boots successfully for me.
-
Bill Davidsen -
Dan Thurman