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So I had a Dual-Boot system. Then I deleted Windows and also decided to use a software called DBAN which erases everything that it can on your hard drive. So I did that (picked the option "Quick erase" which makes the values to a 0).

Then I installed Ubuntu 20.10 and it worked. But 2 days later I couldn't boot into Ubuntu anymore. I tried to reinstall it with a flash drive, didn't worked. Tried to change the priority for booting in the BIOS, didn't worked. Tried to install Ubuntu and then use boot-repair but that didn't helped either. I can remember that it did had an effect, but Ubuntu was still unusable.

So I looked at my partitions and found that the swap and boot partitions aren't there anymore. I'm a noob when it comes to Ubuntu and partitions but I remember that if you would manually install Ubuntu you would make a /swap and /boot partition (and a /home partition or something). But I don't know how that exactly works, I mean when I installed Ubuntu the first time after using DBAN it worked...but then it didn't...Here is a Screenshot of Gparted, only Ubuntu 20.10 installed. Maybe you guys know what's missing and how to fix it

Could anyone please help me? Is there something missing? I now think that it has to be the boot partition because when I try to boot my laptop, it only turns on and off the screen like when you don't have an OS installed, however when I try to install Ubuntu again it says that I already have Ubuntu so it must be that my Laptop doesn't find the /boot, right? But I've also read that Ubuntu doesn't make an extra boot partition anymore since Ubuntu 11 I believe. So I'm clue less now...

Thanks for reading

1 Answers1

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Boot-Repair when it is run from a live USB will create a EFI System Partition on UEFI computers if there isn't one, and also add the existing Windows OS to the grub boot menu. A swap file has been created by default on new Ubuntu installations since 17.04 instead of a swap partition, so please ignore the obsolete advice that told you to create a swap partition.

Now you have the right partitions, but Ubuntu is not always compatible with the boot partition that Boot-Repair created. Test the results of Boot-Repair by booting each of the two OSs in the dual boot. If the results of Boot-Repair are successful then you are done. If you reinstall Ubuntu it will overwrite the bootloader that Boot-Repair created and everything will be OK.

✅ After enabling UEFI in the BIOS in order to use Boot-Repair it showed the GRUB boot menu which had gone missing before.

If you are reinstalling Ubuntu please consider installing Ubuntu 20.04 instead of Ubuntu 20.10. Optional free Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) support is available for Ubuntu 20.04 until April, 2030 and for Ubuntu 22.04 until April, 2032. As your laptop that was manufactured in 2012 gets older, it will get harder and harder to install the latest version of Ubuntu on it.

karel
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  • I'm sorry but what is UEFI? Seen it multiple times but I have no clue. How do I know whether my computer is an UEFI one? (very stupid question I know lol)

    edit: don't have Windows installed, but it's still the same way to fix it right? It will just not show in the grub boot menu?

     –  Dec 02 '20 at 06:36
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    @The1Jaf Most recent computers manufactured after the start of 2014 are UEFI instead of legacy BIOS. Enter the firmware setup utility when booting the computer by following the instructions in this answer and check there. – karel Dec 02 '20 at 06:39
  • Ok thank you! Mine was built in 2012...let's see –  Dec 02 '20 at 06:40
  • I kind of didn't figure out about the UEFI. But I know that when I tried using boot-repair yesterday it did said that I need to enable UEFI or something. I enabled UEFI in the BIOS (think this means that my PC is UEFI, right?). So then it worked...should I just follow your advice?

    edit: what I mean by saying "it did worked" is that boot-repair did it's thing, said that everything should be fine now, but I still had trouble booting...btw I have HDD and Ubuntu as boot priorities? Even when Ubuntu is removed, I still do have that option so I don't know...maybe I'm booting wrong

     –  Dec 02 '20 at 06:47
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    UEFI has been around for a long time. If Boot-Repair says that you need to enable UEFI, then by all means do it. If Windows is installed in UEFI mode then Ubuntu must be installed in UEFI mode too or else it's possible that Ubuntu will not boot. Please take a look at this screenshot. – karel Dec 02 '20 at 06:48
  • Thank you so much! It helped. I just enabled UEFI in BIOS so I can use Boot-Repair and out of nowhere it showed me the GRUB boot menu. Really weird that that wasn't the case before...And thank you for the screenshot, helps me to understand the difference between them. Now I just need to delete Ubuntu as a boot option in the BIOS –  Dec 02 '20 at 08:12
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    Before you delete anything in the BIOS please write down the existing settings or take a snapshot with your phone, so you can restore back to the old settings in case anything goes wrong with the new settings. – karel Dec 02 '20 at 08:15
  • Oh, yeah, thank you for the tip. That would have helped me to prevent this issue that I had. Can't thank you enough :D –  Dec 02 '20 at 08:32