How do I stop PC booting the wrong partition ?[SOLVED]

[ron_h]

I didn't realise I could use Gparted when I went looking for partition clone/copy software, I assume it would need to be Gparted from a Live medium ? Since Clonezilla website made very clear you can only clone to a partition of equal (or greater) size, it seemed like a good idea to make the partitions of identical size.

Ron

[ron_h]

OK, done that, it's still wrong.

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grep vmlin /boot//grub/grub.cfg
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro  quiet splash
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro single 
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro quiet splash
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro single

Ron

[Spearmint2]

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cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg |grep UUID; sudo blkid & sudo fdisk -l & sudo parted -l

copy and paste into terminal and run. Post results. It's past 1am so I may not be back till tomorrow to see it.

for a bit of twist on yours, try this instead;

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grep generic /boot//grub/grub.cfg

[WharfRat]

From the same place

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sudo -i

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mount /dev/sda8 /mnt

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egrep '^UUID|^/dev' /mnt/etc/fstab

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umount -l /dev/sda8

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exit

Just paste back the grep results.

[ron_h]

Looks like I stuffed up the other day ....

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sudo -i
[sudo] password for ron: 
baby-2 ~ # mount /dev/sda8 /mnt
baby-2 ~ # egrep '^UUID|^/dev' /mnt/etc/fstab
UUID=newuuidhere	/	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	1
UUID=afc6dcda-65ea-446d-9c95-4d355a03debc	swap	swap	sw	0	0
baby-2 ~ # umount -l /dev/sda8
baby-2 ~ # exit
logout

That 'newuuidhere' shouldn't be there ... i remember I got that command wrong when I first tried it

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sed -i.bak 's/c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa/newuuidhere/1' /etc/fstab

So I reran it ... and it looks like that wasn't good enough

Ron

[WharfRat]

Looks like I stuffed up the other day ....

Yup

I was always under the impression that grub used blkid or tune2fs to retrieve the UUID for the partition, but now I see it doesn't.

So I reran it ... and it looks like that wasn't good enough

It's a good thing nothing happened given the substitution string wasn't there otherwise you would have messed up the sda6 system.

Get back to where you were before, meaning boot and open the terminal

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sudo -i

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mount /dev/sda8 /mnt

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sed -i.bak 's/newuuidhere/015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff/1' /mnt/etc/fstab

Double check that the substitution worked and if so update grub

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grep 2b2b889acdff /mnt/etc/fstab

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/usr/sbin/update-grub

Then check the grub.cfg file

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grep vmlin /boot//grub/grub.cfg

That should do it.

[ron_h]

Sadly, no

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ron@baby-2 ~ $ sudo -i
[sudo] password for ron: 
baby-2 ~ # mount /dev/sda8 /mnt
baby-2 ~ # sed -i.bak 's/newuuidhere/015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff/1' /mnt/etc/fstab
baby-2 ~ # grep 2b2b889acdff /mnt/etc/fstab
UUID=015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff	/	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	1
baby-2 ~ # /usr/sbin/update-grub
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.11-2-amd64
  No volume groups found
Found Windows Recovery Environment (loader) on /dev/sda1
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda3
Found LMDE Cinnamon Edition (1) on /dev/sda8
done

[127]baby-2 ~ # grep vmlin /boot//grub/grub.cfg
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro  quiet splash
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro single 
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro quiet splash
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro single

Ron

[ron_h]

It seems to me that using Clonezilla to create a clone on a partition on the same hard drive was not a good decision on my part. Even if this thread ends up SOLVED, I won't be doing things the same way ever again. So I'm starting a new thread to detemine how I should have done it

Ron

[WharfRat]

It seems to me that using Clonexzilla to create a clone on a partition on the same hard drive was not a good decision on my part. Even if this thread ends up SOLVED, I won't be doing things the same way ever again. So I'm starting a new thread to detemine how I should have done it

Ron

Mount the partition or make sure it's mounted and

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cat /mnt/boot/grub/i386-pc/load.cfg

[ron_h]

sda6 is mounted, it's the running system. I also mounted sda8

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ron@baby-2 ~ $     cat /mnt/boot/grub/i386-pc/load.cfg
cat: /mnt/boot/grub/i386-pc/load.cfg: No such file or directory

The only subdirectory in /mnt/boot/grub is /locale, and there is no load.cfg file in /mnt/boot/grub or in /mnt/boot/grub/locale

Ron

[ron_h]

I can't find load.cfg at all

Ron

[WharfRat]

I can't find load.cfg at all

Ron

Well, that's strange. If this is a clone of sda6 then it should be there. I've never touched that file, even when I rsync clone my running system to a flash and the flash to another computer.

Lets just manually adjust grub and see if it boots. Use your text editor to change the UUID entry in grub.cfg. Just make a copy first.

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sudo cp -a /boot/grub/grub.cfg /boot/grub/grub.cfg.bak

I forget if mentioned your desktop or not, but your editor is either pluma, gedit or kate/ So

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sudo youreditor /boot/grub/grub.cfg&

Change the UUID's for the last two vmlinuz lines with sda8's to read:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff ro quiet splash
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff ro single

Save the file and reboot.

[ron_h]

I made the backup then started gedit (I'm using Cinnamon) for grub.cfg. In your example code, do I have to specify the & that is at the end of the file ID ?

I have NOT yet made the changes. This is what I see for entries 5 and 6 in the grub menu, which do indeed boot the wrong partition !

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menuentry "LMDE Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.11-2-amd64 (/dev/sda6) (on /dev/sda8)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos8)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro quiet splash
	initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.11-2-amd64
}
menuentry "LMDE Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.11-2-amd64 (/dev/sda6) -- (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda8)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos8)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa ro single
	initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.11-2-amd64

For the entries 1 & 2 in the menu, all UUID references are to the sda6 UUID

[WharfRat]

do I have to specify the & that is at the end of the file ID ?

No, but if you do it will put the editor in the background freeing-up the terminal in case you need to get into it.

You can change the menu options to

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menuentry "LMDE Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.11-2-amd64 on /dev/sda8)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {

menuentry "LMDE Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.11-2-amd64 recovery mode (on /dev/sda8)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {

and the kernel lines to

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linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff ro quiet splash

linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.11-2-amd64 root=UUID=015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff ro single

You can just copy and paste the lines.

[ron_h]

Many thanks again. I did copy/paste the lines, although I changed LMDE to LMDETEST which looks better (to my eyes) in the GRUB menu.

I confirm that I can now boot to the LMDE system or the LMDETEST system, which is what I started this thread for.

As long as I don't run update-grub or grub-mkconfig, or install another system in a different partition, I assume grub.cfg will remain unchanged. However, if I do any of those things, would I be right to assume that grub.cfg will become incorrect again with respect to sda8 ? If so, then I think I need to reinstall LMDETEST but not by a cloning method, rather by a filesystem copy method such as fsarchiver. That however is a whole different exercise, beyond the scope of this thread.

Ron

[WharfRat]

As long as I don't run update-grub or grub-mkconfig, or install another system in a different partition, I assume grub.cfg will remain unchanged. However, if I do any of those things, would I be right to assume that grub.cfg will become incorrect again with respect to sda8 ? If so, then I think I need to reinstall LMDETEST but not by a cloning method, rather by a filesystem copy method such as fsarchiver. That however is a whole different exercise, beyond the scope of this thread.

Ron

It appears likely that an update to the kernel or initrd will mess up the grub file again. You can check with

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sudo /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig

It will dump the new menu to the screen so you can take a look at it.

You can always save the grub file and just copy it back with changes to the kernel and initrd versions to reflect the new entries. I use symlink references in grub so I don't have to modify the grub file, just adjust the symlinks in /boot.

Also since this is LMDE and not the main edition, you might want to try posting your experience to the LMDE forum. Maybe there's a grub bug with this edition.

I've cloned my running system to a flash drive using rsync several times, chrooted and made the same modifications I had you do without any problems.

Whatever you decide to do good luck with it

[austin.texas]

Boot into Mint on sda6 and edit the /etc/fstab file on sda8.
Change from:
UUID=c456e7bd-e79e-496c-93a1-5c522359fdaa / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 1
to:
UUID=015fac40-f127-11e3-ad5a-2b2b889acdff / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 1
Then run: sudo /usr/sbin/update-grub putting the new Mint on the GRUB menu.
When you boot into Mint on sda8, run sudo /usr/sbin/update-grub again there.

[Spearmint2]

and this is why some like to use boot partitions where multiple systems may reside.

[ron_h]

I am sure it is as a result of the fact that sda8 started life as a clone of sda6 but when I looked at fstab on sda8, it showed the right UUID for sda8 but pointed to sda6 rather than sda8. It would appear that the referenced partition is then what ends up being booted in spite of the fact that the UUID does not match the one in the fstab. I have corrected the fstab on sda8 to point to sda8. Hopefully everything is now kosher and I have 2 boot partitions where everything internally cross references correctly. I will run an update-grub but (I'm chicken) not now. Later today maybe.

I started this thread in Newbie Questions in Main Edition, it is now in LMDE Newbie Questions as someone has moved it.

Many thanks to all who've helped me get to this stage.

Ron

[WharfRat]

Ron,

This will not write to the grub.cfg file, it will just dump to the terminal so you can see if that problem will persist.

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sudo /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig