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A while ago I installed Ubuntu on a separate drive. I've been booting it from this separate drive ever since. Now I'd like to install Ubuntu on a dedicated partition of my laptop main drive. I've extracted the relevant iso content into my usb drive ready to re-install Ubuntu but unfortunately the installation does't boot up. I thought it was because of the grub terminal I get to see every time I turn on my laptop without inserting the separate drive I've mentioned before, so I researched how to get rid of it and I found and followed a guide that will take you to the win 10 safe mode terminal to run the bootrec/ bootsectcommands. I've run both of the commands but yet my laptop still boots with the grub terminal screen and the usb drive still doesn't load the Ubuntu installation.

My goal is to install Ubuntu on my main drive and will probably end up re-installing the grub; what can I do to achieve my goal (whether it will take to remove the current grub effectively or not)?

Please help it's urgent.

n1nsa1d00
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2 Answers2

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Probably the option to boot from usb drive is disabled in the BIOS, try checking it in the boot section of your BIOS, you can access it by pressing F2 or F10 or Del on your keyboard while your pc is booting

Nicola Galluccio
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  • Checked end Everything is fine there (including the boot order). – n1nsa1d00 May 29 '17 at 14:15
  • Strage... How did you burnt the ISO file in the USB? – Nicola Galluccio May 30 '17 at 06:15
  • First I used a tool called `unetbootin` and then I mounted the iso virtually and copy/paste content into the usb drive (both thing didn't work).. I've poste my isse on Askubuntu and I'm learning that I have UEFI firmware so I need to try to boot a UEFI linux iso. – n1nsa1d00 May 30 '17 at 07:19
  • Yup, then that's the problem, you need to install the UEFI version – Nicola Galluccio May 30 '17 at 07:27
  • But strangely enough that iso was the same iso I use to install ubuntu on a separate hdd and everything worked back then.. I don't think that installation changed my firmware did it? So why it is not working now? Well I'm about to find out.. – n1nsa1d00 May 30 '17 at 07:31
  • No, the installation of ubuntu doesn't change the firmware of the BIOS, maybe try to update it downloading the BIOS update from the laptop manufacturer website, that worked for when I was trying to install Windows 10 on an Asus laptop, before the update it didn't want to boot form USB – Nicola Galluccio May 30 '17 at 07:40
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The symptoms you describe (getting a grub> prompt if you try to boot with the external disk disconnected) are caused by the weird way Ubuntu configures GRUB, in conjunction with your external-disk installation. In particular, the main GRUB binary resides on the EFI System Partition (ESP), which in your case is on the internal disk; but this program relies on configuration files in the /boot/grub directory, which in your case is on the external disk. When GRUB can't read its configuration file, it presents a grub> prompt; and exiting from GRUB will then launch whatever's next in the EFI's boot order. This boot-time quirk will go away when you install Ubuntu to your internal disk; but if you wanted to keep Ubuntu on the external disk, you could work around the problem in various ways, such as by moving Ubuntu's /boot directory to a small dedicated /boot partition on the internal disk or by switching to another boot program that doesn't split its configuration file off in the way GRUB does.

Finally solved. My issue was EFI-related as @Rod Smith explains in this post:

https://askubuntu.com/a/920184/694422

n1nsa1d00
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