no /boot/grub; system won't boot

[Member bozonius]

I installed anti-X 17 to a virtualbox VM, following the (net install ISO) procedure with default responses. I used a MSDOS partition table. I did not do anything fancy, choosing one ext4 filesystem for the entire system. I chose to install grub to the disk not the root partition. The installer spent a lot of time installing grub, with a few messages saying it was doing so.

The system will not boot from “disk” (i.e., the vbox virtual disk), only telling me it cannot find a bootable system.

I was able to boot from the same CD I used to install with, and mounted the target file system. Snooping around, I see there is no /boot/grub directory. The rest of the system seems to be correctly installed, from a quick cursory look.

[Member bozonius]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Has anyone replicated this?

[Forum Admin Dave]

Helpful

Up

0

::

No…
But iirc there is a grub repair in the control centre that you can use from the live cd to fix this issue.

Otherwise manually
Boot live cd.
Mount install: mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
Install grub: grub-install –boot-directory=/mnt/sda1/boot /dev/sda
Mount proc, sys, dev:
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/sda1/dev
mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sda1/sys
mount -o bind /proc /mmt/sda1/proc
Load install: chroot /mnt/sda1
Update grub.cfg: update-grub
Exit: exit
Unmount proc, sys, dev:
umount /mnt/sda1/dev
umount /mnt/sda1/sys
umount /mmt/sda1/proc
Unmount install: umount /mnt/sda1
Reboot removing cd: shutdown -r now

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Nice explanation, including the steps to install the master boot record Dave!

Thanks!

--
Brian Masinick

[Member bozonius]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Thanks. I tried the install several times, and it did not create the /boot directory every time. It’s a bit odd that I seem to be the only one running into this — googling it showed nothing. I’d think after months of release of anti-X 17, someone would have encountered it.

[Member fatmac]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I once had a problem with an install, a while back, not sure the version number, but what I found that solved the problem was to create the partition & format it before making the installation; may or may not work for you.

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Maybe the iso you used is faulty. Did you check the md5sum?

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Author]

Posts