New install Dual Boot MBR Grub2 not showing

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Haven’t been active in the forum for quite some time. No real issues until now.

Going from 13.1 to 13.2 doing a clean install. I think the install takes, but Grub2 does not show up. So I am guessing I am choosing the wrong options somewhere along the line. Anybody set up similar to me have a successful install?

My desktop is dual boot with a physical hard drive for Windows and a physical hard drive for Suse.

Set up:

Bios – Legacy Boot (MBR)

Hard Drive 1 (sda) used for Windows 7 Home Premium

Hard Drive 2 (sdb) used for Suse (previously had 13.1)

External Hard Drive (sdc) used for certain backup data

Options used in 13.2 x64 Install:

Create Partition Setup:

  1. Hard Drive /dev/sdb
  2. Use Entire Hard Drive

Expert Partitioner:
sdb1:

  1. Do not format Partition
  2. File System ID: 0x00 Bios Grub
  3. Do not mount partition
  4. Size – 7.84 MiB
    sdb2:
  5. Format Partition
  6. Mount Partition – swap
  7. Size – 2.01 GiB
    sdb3:
  8. Format Partition – Ext4
  9. Mount Partition - /
  10. Size – 40.00 GiB
    sdb4:
  11. Format Partition – Ext4
  12. Mount Partition - /home
  13. Size – 889.49 GiB

Booting:
Boot Loader – GRUB2
Boot From Master Boot Record – Unchecked
Boot From Root Partition – Checked
Set active Flag in Partition Table for Boot Partition – Checked
Write generic Boot Code to MBR – Checked
Protective MBR flag – remove
Boot Loader Installation Details:
Disk Order - /dev/sdb, /dev/sda, /dev/sdc (external drive)

#2

Post output of:

fdisk -l

and also:

parted -l

You can do that from the Rescue option of the install DVD.

#3

Your using a bios_grub partition in a legacy MBR setup? Odd?

bios_grub is necessary if it’s GPT and EFI

For legacy mbr that you quote, I always set grub to mbr / and extended if it exisits. Belt and Braces

#4

Not quite right. bios_grub is needed if the disk is GPT partitioned but using legacy BIOS booting.

We don’t know, as far as I can see, that “/dev/sdb” is not GPT. At a 1T capacity, it might have been partitioned that way.

If it is GPT, then booting from “/” probably won’t work. Best to boot from the MBR of that disk.

#5

Yes…

We need more information, output by the system instead of related 3rd hand, in order to know how to proceed.

#6

How do I post the results of fdisk and parted? I found some Windows utilities that show Disk 0 / sda is MBR and Disk 1 / sdb is gpt.

#7

Here is the stuff from windows.

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: WINDOWS13

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

Disk 0 Online 931 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 931 GB 0 B *

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset

Partition 1 Primary 100 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 302 GB 101 MB
Partition 0 Extended 629 GB 302 GB
Partition 3 Logical 629 GB 302 GB

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset

Partition 1 Unknown 1024 KB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 2061 MB 2048 KB
Partition 3 System 40 GB 2063 MB
Partition 4 Primary 889 GB 42 GB

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info

Volume 0 F DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 G DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 2 System Rese NTFS Partition 100 MB Healthy System
Volume 3 C NTFS Partition 302 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 4 D NTFS Partition 629 GB Healthy
Volume 5 E RAW Partition 2061 MB Healthy
Volume 6 H RAW Partition 889 GB Healthy
Volume 7 RAW Partition 40 GB Healthy Hidden

#8

That already explains why you are having problems.

Boot from the MBR. If you still leave the disk order as “/dev/sdb, /dev/sda, /dev/sdc” then that means the MBR of your second disk (/dev/sdb). It won’t interfere with Windows. You probably have to tell the BIOS to boot your second disk in order to boot opensuse that way.

#9

Thank you.

The only changes I had to make were in:

Booting:
Boot From Master Boot Record – Checked
Boot From Root Partition – Unchecked

Boot Loader Installation Details:
Disk Order - /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc (external drive)