Dual Boot Install Problem with Windows 8.1 Open SUSE 15.1 Leap (GRUB Stuck on USB!)

NuxIT · 05-26-2020, 09:10 AM

I made the mistake of allowing Open SUSE 15.1 Leap use the default settings when I was installing it from USB key today. It selected the 109 GB unallocated space I have highlighted below which is exactly where I did want to install in.
I installed it with Pen Drive Linux utility that allows you to install / test drive multiple OS's. I was reading a guide from 2015 that mentioned using expert partition mode to make sure to edit the GRUB. It also used the BTRFS file system.

I took a screen shot of my partitions before installing this and I can see them if I use boot-repair tools gparted that I have on USB key. Also, boot-repair tools does not work. I tried multiple times and it will just hang in the middle of scanning partitions. But, I can still see all the partitions for the drive in gparted under sda as showing in picture.

Partitions before install:

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gparted screen shot

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The boot loader configuration that's built into OpenSUSE (wondering if I should delete /dev/sdb? I need to tell it to load GRUB to /dev/sda like it should have in the first place! I don't know why the installer thought it was a good Idea to set the USB as the GRUB boot device!

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I cloned the Disk to an external Hard drive prior to starting this but I can't figure out how to boot off USB so I might have to just end up putting the original mechanical drive where I cloned Windows 8.1 to prior to attempting this install. So, if worse comes to worse I'm going to try re-installing the original drive that I used to clone my Windows 8.1 to before starting this whole mess!

From what I read it said that GRUB2 did the following so I figured it would put grub2 on my sda drive and add Windows 8 correctly.
This is what I read up on about GRUB2 > "Automatically searches for and generates boot entries for other kernels and operating systems, such as Windows."
This is where I installed GRUB2
Installing GRUB2 to>
Status Location: /dev/sda (MBR)

After I booted it it defaulted to booting off the USB key again and would not boot without the USB drive that had Pen Drive linux with the Open SUSE installation I used. It appears that GRUB was written to sdb where the USB driver for the Pendrivelinux utility! The reason I say this is because that's the only way I can get to the GRUB menu where it shows an option to boot SUSE or Windows. If I attempt to boot Windows 8 or the Windows Recovery I just get a blinking cursor and nothing happens and I have to reset. So, I can't get to Windows at all right now.

I still see my 540 GB Samsung EVO SSD in BIOS but I don't see any of the original partitions or disk anywhere!

I also created a Windows 8.1 recovery USB boot disk and that didn't help recover. I've never been stuck in such a nasty BIOS boot loop where I can't see any of my original partitions from with the BIOs anywhere.

I have listed my grub.cfg output and my fdisk -l output that shows grub is set to boot on >
/dev/sdb1 which is a partition it the defaul installation for SUSE created on my USB Key/LinuxPendrive utility that I originally used to install this from which might of been a mistake but I've had success in the past using this utility to install OS's.

I'm hoping to be able to repair this so I can get GRUB2 on the correct boot record to allow me to boot into Windows 8.1 or OpenSUSE 15.1 Leap.

I would love to get this corrected so I can actually boot my laptop without having to have the original USB key I used to install this.

I also confirmed the installation did go to the correct 108 GB partition I have highlighted above.

fdisk -l output (notice where grub is set to boot from) > /dev/sdb1 * 8192 60604415 60596224 28.9G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Quote:

linux-1fn2:/boot/grub2 # fdisk -lDisk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 860
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: EBF7F462-1D85-11EA-BEDD-9DAB636FD0BA

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 1845255 1843208 900M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda2 1845256 2459663 614408 300M EFI System
/dev/sda3 2459664 2721815 262152 128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4 2721816 354340327 351618512 167.7G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5 504841704 749918151 245076448 116.9G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda6 354340864 354357247 16384 8M BIOS boot
/dev/sda7 354357248 358551551 4194304 2G Linux swap
/dev/sda8 749918208 976773134 226854927 108.2G Linux filesystem

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

Disk /dev/sdb: 28.9 GiB, 31029460992 bytes, 60604416 sectors
Disk model: USB DISK 3.0
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 8192 60604415 60596224 28.9G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb4 29385024 37308735 7923712 3.8G 0 Empty

Disk /dev/sdc: 59.9 MiB, 62783488 bytes, 122624 sectors
Disk model: SD
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1 39 122623 122585 59.9M 1 FAT12
linux-1fn2:/boot/grub2 #

grub.cfg (note > OMMITED some TEXT since it was TOO LONG FOR THREAD.

Code:

linux-1fn2:/boot/grub2 # cat grub.cfg#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub2-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
set btrfs_relative_path="y"
export btrfs_relative_path
if [ -f ${config_directory}/grubenv ]; then
  load_env -f ${config_directory}/grubenv
elif [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi


if [ "${env_block}" ] ; then
  set env_block="(${root})${env_block}"
  export env_block
  load_env -f "${env_block}"
fi


if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   if [ "${env_block}" ] ; then
     save_env -f "${env_block}" next_entry
   fi
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="${saved_entry}"
fi


if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi


export menuentry_id_option


if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi


function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    if [ "${env_block}" ] ; then
      save_env -f "${env_block}" saved_entry
    else
      save_env saved_entry
    fi


  fi
}


function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}


if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod btrfs
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 --hint='hd0,gpt8'  ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub2/unicode.pf2"
fi


if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_gpt
insmod btrfs
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 --hint='hd0,gpt8'  ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
fi
insmod gfxmenu
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/DejaVuSans-Bold14.pf2
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/DejaVuSans10.pf2
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/DejaVuSans12.pf2
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/ascii.pf2
insmod png
set theme=($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/theme.txt
export theme
if [ x${boot_once} = xtrue ]; then
  set timeout=0
elif [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=8
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=8
fi
if [ -n "$extra_cmdline" ]; then
  menuentry "Help on bootable snapshot #$snapshot_num" {
    echo "Select the default entry of the snapshot boot menu."
    echo "Examine the snapshot, and if it's OK,"
    echo "   run 'snapper rollback' and reboot."
    echo "See 'System Rollback by Booting from Snapshots'"
    echo "   in the manual for more information."
    echo "  ** Hit Any Key to return to boot menu **  "
    read
  }
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_tuned ###
set tuned_params=""
set tuned_initrd=""
### END /etc/grub.d/00_tuned ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'openSUSE Leap 15.1'  --class opensuse --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8' {
        load_video
        set gfxpayload=keep
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod btrfs
        set root='hd0,gpt8'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 --hint='hd0,gpt8'  ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux 4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default ...'
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default root=UUID=ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8  ${extra_cmdline} splash=silent resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_S598NE0M929477H-part7 mitigations=auto quiet
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /boot/initrd-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default
}
submenu 'Advanced options for openSUSE Leap 15.1' --hotkey=1 $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8' {
        menuentry 'openSUSE Leap 15.1, with Linux 4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default' --hotkey=2 --class opensuse --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default-advanced-ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8' {
                load_video
                set gfxpayload=keep
                insmod gzio
                insmod part_gpt
                insmod btrfs
                set root='hd0,gpt8'
                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 --hint='hd0,gpt8'  ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
                else
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
                fi
                echo    'Loading Linux 4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default ...'
                linux   /boot/vmlinuz-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default root=UUID=ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8  ${extra_cmdline} splash=silent resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_S598NE0M929477H-part7 mitigations=auto quiet
                echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
                initrd  /boot/initrd-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default
        }
        menuentry 'openSUSE Leap 15.1, with Linux 4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default (recovery mode)' --hotkey=3 --class opensuse --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default-recovery-ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8' {
                load_video
                set gfxpayload=keep
                insmod gzio
                insmod part_gpt
                insmod btrfs
                set root='hd0,gpt8'
                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 --hint='hd0,gpt8'  ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
                else
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8
                fi
                echo    'Loading Linux 4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default ...'
                linux   /boot/vmlinuz-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default root=UUID=ee287876-03bb-4048-a37c-544b5e6d5fb8  ${extra_cmdline} 
                echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
                initrd  /boot/initrd-4.12.14-lp151.28.48-default
        }
}


### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###


### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows Recovery Environment (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-0428443F284431CA' {
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod ntfs
        set root='hd0,gpt1'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1 --hint='hd0,gpt1'  0428443F284431CA
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0428443F284431CA
        fi
        drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
        chainloader +1
}
menuentry 'Windows 8 (on /dev/sda4)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-E4CE1801CE17CB26' {
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod ntfs
        set root='hd0,gpt4'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt4 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt4 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt4 --hint='hd0,gpt4'  E4CE1801CE17CB26
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root E4CE1801CE17CB26
        fi
        drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
        chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

smallpond · 05-26-2020, 09:44 AM

Sorry, not at all knowledgeable about OpenSUSE, but I recently had to fix a non-booting CentOS drive and was unable to do it by booting from a USB with a different distro. What worked was that I mounted the CentOS root filesystem, chroot'ed to it, and then did grub2-install from the chroot. I think the issue was that grub on the USB was confused by my XFS root filesystem. so it was:

Code:

mount dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage
chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub2-install /dev/sda

Anyway, using the native grub2-install fixed my boot problem.

NuxIT · 05-26-2020, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallpond

Sorry, not at all knowledgeable about OpenSUSE, but I recently had to fix a non-booting CentOS drive and was unable to do it by booting from a USB with a different distro. What worked was that I mounted the CentOS root filesystem, chroot'ed to it, and then did grub2-install from the chroot. I think the issue was that grub on the USB was confused by my XFS root filesystem. so it was:

Code:

mount dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage
chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub2-install /dev/sda

Anyway, using the native grub2-install fixed my boot problem.

Hey smallpond, Appreciate this suggestion! It sounds like a feasible solution. I would try it but I'm getting some good traction in a thread I posted on SUSE forums. So, I'm going to proceed with attempting the repairs by modifying things with partioner tool.

Basically I screwed up by using a Non UEFI Legacy Grub install system that was part of the pendrive linux utility I used. I am making some modification in hopes of recovering and using the UEFI direct boot USB thumb drive with SUSE Leap 15.1 on it. Hopefully all goes well and I can get my Win 8.1 back and have Suse dual boot option.

NuxIT · 05-28-2020, 08:08 AM

Hey smallpond,

It turns out what the Moderator suggested in SUSE forums did not work. I'm thinking of trying your method next. Can you confirm if this would be the correct syntax to mount my OS load and write grub2?

Per my fdisk output my SUSE Linux is on /dev/sda8

/dev/sda8 749918208 976773134 226854927 108.2G Linux filesystem

So, would I change your line 1 to the following?

mount /dev/sda8 /mnt/sysimage

Thanks for any confirmation or suggestions!