URGENT: Microsoft overwrites boot loader!

[Don Wilde]

On 7/17/20 1:34 AM, Manish Jain wrote:
>
>
> On 2020-07-17 13:57, Don Wilde wrote:
>>
>> On 7/16/20 7:40 PM, Manish Jain wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2020-07-17 01:49, Don Wilde wrote:
>>>> The [deleted] ones in Redmond have done it again. My multi-OS GRUB2 
>>>> boot loader is gone, and in its place is a 500M partition called 
>>>> 'Windows boot loader'.
>>>>
>>>> The purpose is to force us to look at MS' new version of Edge. All 
>>>> my old boot files are gone.
>>>>
>>>> It's taken me much of the morning to get underneath this, since on 
>>>> this unit my only OS (other than Doze 10) with a WM and GUI is Ubuntu.
>>>>
>>>> That's the last time I will allow this, and I'm calling those 
>>>> [deleted]s tomorrow to give them a piece of my mind. After that I 
>>>> will erase every vestige of that obscene OS from my disk.
>>>>
>>>
>>> If I understand correctly, it's just that your Grub boot-loader is 
>>> gone.
>>>
>> Yes, exactly.
>>
>>
>>> That should not be much of a problem if your system is MBR+BIOS.
>>>
>> Unfortunately, it's GPT under EFI. I can access all my files through 
>> the F12 key on this Dell tower, be it Windows, Linux or FreeBSD, but 
>> if I allow it to boot with the Doze HDD in the system, it boots to 
>> that one.
>>> If your system is MBR+BIOS, the following should work.
>>>
>>> Boot with your FreeBSD CD/DVD/memstick, and write out boot0 to all 
>>> your disks:
>>>
>>> boot0cfg -B /dev/<disk0>
>>> boot0cfg -B /dev/<disk1>
>>> boot0cfg -B /dev/<disk2>
>>>
>>> Next, boot with your Ubuntu CD/DVD/memstick, and write out Grub to 
>>> your Ubuntu / partition. If Ubuntu / is /dev/sdb2 :
>>>
>>> sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt
>>> sudo grub-install --force --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdb2
>>>
>>> Reboot. When booting Ubuntu the first time, first press 'e' at the 
>>> Grub loader menu to edit the configuration, delete the complete 
>>> if..fi block, check that your line beginning with 'linux' is 
>>> accurate and then press F10. Once the system  has booted, run 'sudo 
>>> update-grub'.
>>>
>> I appreciate the good data, Manish. I'm going to make sure I've 
>> gotten all my files off the Doze partition and then wipe it 
>> completely. FreeBSD is going to be my primary host OS and I'll keep 
>> my other drive for whatever flavors of Linux I need to work with for 
>> work. Based on what I've hseen on these threads, MS is still saddled 
>> with a number of bad legacy architectural choices as well as poor 
>> management choices, and both of those contribute to the challenges 
>> the use of their OS brings.
>>
>> I simply won't accept any contract that requires me to work with 
>> Windows. I've survived well enough without that skill set and I see 
>> no problem going forward.
>>
>
> Hi Done,
>
> It is further my sincere suggestion to use MBR+BIOS. GPT+UEFI is 
> problem-prone, with one of the problems being that you won't be able 
> to boot FreeBSD.
>
I've already seen that one on my 'mule' machine. This tower (a 2007 
machine) will boot FreeBSD directly even in UEFI-BIOS mode; I just need 
to set it up so that FreeBSD also hosts the boot-loader for the other OSen.

To use one of my favorite phrases, "We'll get there!" :D

-- 
Don Wilde
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