Linux Mint 16 GRUB not booting

[medwatt]

Hello,
Yesterday I tried to install Ubuntu and it didn't go successfully because I got an error message that GRUB2 cannot install. I tried Mint 16 and everything installed without any warning or error message. However GRUB2 never booted and I always boot directly into win 7. I have uploaded a screenshot of my disks in case that helps. Also I tried reinstalling GRUB and got this message.

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sudo grub-install /dev/sda3

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Path `/boot/grub' is not readable by GRUB on boot. Installation is impossible. Aborting.

Your help is appreciated.

[kukamuumuka]

You need to install grub to the MBR (master boot record = /dev/sda).
Are you sure that your BIOS is capable to boot that far from the beginning of disk (BIOS limit)?

PS. If you install grub via liveDVD/USB, it goes like this:

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sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda
sudo umount /mnt

[medwatt]

Thanks for the reply. One thing I noticed that might help during the installation process was that Mint Installer failed to detect the presence of Windows 7 which is odd since all other versions of Mint and other linux distros never failed to do so.
I was wondering whether the fact that Windows 7 does not occupy the first partition on the disk causes Mint not to detect it. The 100+MB partition space is created by the Win 7 installer by default so I guess the blokes who create Linux distros are well aware of that fact.

[medwatt]

Another thing. When I boot from Mint 16 USB I don't see the traditional menu:
1. Live CD
2. Install Mint
. . . so on

But because I know they're there, I just hit 'Enter' and Mint loads.

Why can't I see the menu ?

[medwatt]

You need to install grub to the MBR (master boot record = /dev/sda).
Are you sure that your BIOS is capable to boot that far from the beginning of disk (BIOS limit)?

PS. If you install grub via liveDVD/USB, it goes like this:

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sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda
sudo umount /mnt

When I tried this I got:
Tried :

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sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda

Got :

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grub-probe: error: failed to get canonical path of /cow.

[austin.texas]

What I would do is try the installation again. That is probably the easiest option.
This time making sure that the bootloader (GRUB) is installed to sda.
administrollaattori's question "Are you sure that your BIOS is capable to boot that far from the beginning of disk (BIOS limit)?" could be very important.

[karlchen]

Hello, medwatt.

Tried :

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sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda

Got :

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grub-probe: error: failed to get canonical path of /cow.

You never continued the thread. But at the time of writing this reply what I found matches this better and matches here better than your new thread GRUB doesn't install. Therefore I will post what I have found here.

Note:
Before anybody complains that Mint 16 reached the end of it supported life in July 2014, let me stress 2 things:
+ by now we are talking about Linux Mint 17
+ technically it does not make a difference whether you encounter the reported error message on Mint 16 or Mint 17.

Potential solution:

I came across this post. Translated to your device names the instruction should read like this:

• You boot the the Linux Mint 17 live system and open a terminal window.
• You execute each of the following commands in the given order and exactly as they are typed here.
• As your Mint 17 installation has been placed on /dev/sda3, the steps of preparation are these:

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  sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
  sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev 
  sudo mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts 
  sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
  sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys

• Now we chroot to this environment.

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  sudo chroot /mnt

• This is the central part: re-installing Grub to /dev/sda and refreshing the configuration files inside /mnt/boot:

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  sudo grub-install /dev/sda
  sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
  sudo update-grub

  No error messages should occur. If any error occurs, please, post the messages here.
• Reverting the chroot and returning to the live system:

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  exit
  sudo umount /mnt/dev
  sudo umount /mnt/dev/pts
  sudo umount /mnt/proc
  sudo umount /mnt/sys
  sudo umount /mnt

  Provided the central part above has not given any error messages, you should be ready to reboot from the internal harddisk and see the Grub menu which should allow you to boot either to Windows or to Linux Mint.

Keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Karl