Grub Not Found...

...An Easy Fix

Ubuntu uses the GRUB2 boot loader/manager and has since version 9.10  If you like to play around with the most recent Linux Distro's, as I do, then you may from time to time have a need to re-install the GRUB2 boot loader. It is quite simple to do, all you need is a live CD/DVD of a Ubuntu release 9.10 or newer... or for that matter any live disk that uses GRUB2 boot loader.

Fire up the terminal once the disk finishes loading (Ctrl, Alt + T) and enter the following commands:

I) Lets find the specifics as to where Ubuntu is installed on your Hard Disk:

sudo fdisk -l

(the return from this command should look something like this)

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2048 167456767 83727360 83 Linux

/dev/sda2 167458814 234440703 33490945 5 Extended

/dev/sda5 226107392 234440703 4166656 82 Linux swap / Solaris

As you can see above, my Ubuntu partition is /dev/sda1 (it has the asterisk under Boot).

II) Armed with this information, we can now mount the Ubuntu partition:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

III) Now we can install the GRUB2 boot loader:

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

NOTE: That's /dev/sda – the hard disk itself, NOT the Ubuntu partition /dev/sda1.

IV) Unmount the Ubuntu partition:

sudo umount /dev/sda1

V) If you have more than one OS installed, re-detect OS's like so:

sudo update-grub

VI) Restart the computer:

sudo reboot

That's it!  You will now be greeted by the familiar GNU GRUB boot menu.