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I tried dual booting Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.04 on different hard drives, but messed up the installation of Ubuntu (It seems like I didnt create a partition for Ubuntu and installed it on the whole second drive). I can still access Windows and want to repeat the installation, but one thing is really weird for me:

When I first tried to access Ubuntu after installing it, it entered grub rescue mode. I unplugged the drive with the Ubuntu files (It is not a USB drive, just a removable one) and restarted. When I tried to access Windows, it still entered grub rescue mode, isnt grub just a linux thing?

However, I got Windows to work with the installation disk, but now I am not sure if it is safe to just replace the drive with another one and repeat the installation, or if this will mess things up.

Help would be appreciated!

pion
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    Does this answer your question? How to remove Ubuntu and put Windows back on? – Mark Kirby Oct 24 '21 at 14:29
  • The hardware does not know your intent; it loads the GRUB bootloader in order to offer you a choice between Ubuntu and Windows. If you choose Windows, GRUB then launches the Windows bootloader. The Windows bootloader cannot launch Ubuntu (if it could, you wouldn't need GRUB). – user535733 Oct 24 '21 at 14:35
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    Grub's default install location is the first drive seen, usually a Windows drive if you have two or more drives. If UEFI you should always be able to directly boot Windows from UEFI boot menu. Grub only boots working Windows & the part of grub that starts boot, needs the rest of the install to fully boot grub. http://askubuntu.com/questions/743095/how-to-prepare-a-disk-on-an-efi-based-pc-for-ubuntu Also any second drive https://askubuntu.com/questions/16988/how-do-i-install-ubuntu-to-a-usb-key-without-using-startup-disk-creator & https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379 – oldfred Oct 24 '21 at 14:45
  • Sorry, the post doesnt really answer my question: to put it simply, can I just remove the Ubuntu Drive and install a new one to repeat the installation? – pion Oct 24 '21 at 14:45
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    You do not need new drive, just use Something Else and reinstall But best to have an ESP on second drive, so you can have Windows & Ubuntu totally separate, but not required. And Ubuntu's Ubiquity installer will still default to Windows drive's ESP, see bug report (old but still valid). – oldfred Oct 24 '21 at 14:49
  • Ok, thanks. But could I technically use a second one in my case(I already have another one so I dont need to buy a new one)? – pion Oct 24 '21 at 14:56
  • Why do you think you need to replace or buy another drive? You can format/erase it. It's not like installing Ubuntu made the drive unusable – Nmath Oct 24 '21 at 18:01
  • If it will not cause further complications, I will format it, thanks – pion Oct 24 '21 at 19:03
  • Hard drives are not like single use CDs... Sectors can be reused and overwritten thousands and thousands of times. Formatting a disk removes the partition table and file systems so the drive is functionally empty and then you can create a new partition(s) or file system(s). The "Disks" application run from a live session (Try Ubuntu) can do these tasks and is user-friendly and easy-to-use – Nmath Oct 24 '21 at 19:37
  • For your second drive, put partitions on it for a 300MB FAT EFI, your root (50MB+ EXT4), and optionally swap and home. The bug report 1396379 gives workarounds for getting the grub/shim bootloaders onto that drive (easiest to unplug/disable the first drive during install). Then you may put the new drive as first in boot-order, and select ubuntu or windows in grub. Without the second disk, the Windows bootloader should run. And do add yourself to the bug's "Does this affect me?" list. – ubfan1 Oct 24 '21 at 19:53
  • Thanks for your responses, one last thing: I currently have grub installed on my C: Drive with Windows on it. If I format the second Harddrive and install the grub bootloader on it while grub is also on the C drive, will this break things? – pion Oct 25 '21 at 09:46
  • Important: I have legacy BIOS, not UEFI – pion Oct 25 '21 at 11:58
  • GRUB is not on the same drive as your Windows installation. You must be mistaken. Anytime you install operating systems, there is a chance you can break things, especially if you are inexperienced. Always have backups. MBR/legacy is not conducive to dual-boot configurations due to the strict partition limit of 4 partitions. If I were you, I'd format (erase) all disks using GPT/UEFI and reinstall both operating systems. – Nmath Oct 25 '21 at 17:05
  • Ok, however, grub is installed on the Windows drive as seen in the third comment on this post. I think I have found a way to delete it using cmd, so I will do that and format my Ubuntu drive. I dont really want to reinstall both OS, I only have two drives so I will be good with only 4 partitions, I found some tutorials detailing the Ubuntu installation with legacy bios, that should work for me. I have also made backups, just in case – pion Oct 25 '21 at 17:20

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