wont boot, freezes at purple screen, cant use terminal to fix at all. tried it already

Question

installed ubuntu on a External HDD, wont boot

first time installation ran after installing it to the HDD from windows and restarted.

but it wont boot after that, it freezes at a purple screen.

i tried to do those update commands in Terminal but i cannot for the life of me get them to work, it keeps saying i dont either have permission to do it, or have permission to write to disk. additionally ive tried to put it in safe GFX mode, ive tried turning networking on but it fails to boot the networking modem.

Please help.

possible duplicate of My computer boots to a black screen, what options do I have to fix it? — Panther, Apr 04 '15 at 23:56
i used the program included on the CD, i dont have any CD's to burn it physically onto, and it wont let me do it from a USB, so i had to run the windows installer for it. — Daggerfella, Apr 04 '15 at 23:57
i didnt i did sudo apt-get update (or however they worded it) and it said i dont have permission. — Daggerfella, Apr 05 '15 at 00:01
i'd be careful running those commands as they are probably not for ubuntu installed through windows. again, that method is not recommended. It would be best just to wait until you have some blank disks to work with so you can do it right. — mchid, Apr 05 '15 at 00:01
is there a version i can get that boots like a live CD that is 14.0.4 LTS desktop that i can run from a external hdd or flashdrive? — Daggerfella, Apr 05 '15 at 00:02
cuz i tried to find one on the download page of the ubuntu site and cannot find it at all — Daggerfella, Apr 05 '15 at 00:04
you can install it to USB but you said the box won't let you so.... — mchid, Apr 05 '15 at 00:04
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ — mchid, Apr 05 '15 at 00:05

mchid · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-13T18:28:28.250

1

Using WUBI is not recommended and it is recommended you install using the CD.

if you installed ubuntu to an external hdd, you probably just need to go into bios and make the external drive the first on the boot order or select boot menu during startup and select the hdd from there

it won't boot because the bootloader (grub) is most likely installed to the hdd instead of the main hard drive so it is not running when you boot. choosing the external hdd as a boot option or setting it first on the bootloader list in bios will fix this problem.

edited Apr 13 '15 at 18:28

answered Apr 05 '15 at 00:10

mchid

43,546
8
97
150

1

ok ill try it, thx – Daggerfella Apr 05 '15 at 00:15
which version of ubuntu appears? the one installed on the external device or the one installed using windows? – mchid Apr 05 '15 at 00:15
@Rcj8993 most computers let you press one of the F buttons to access a boot menu during startup. – mchid Apr 05 '15 at 00:17
1

it worked.i just had to install it through the cd and not windows. – Daggerfella Apr 05 '15 at 03:49
@mchid: he was using wubi... Could you please [edit] your answer and strongly suggest no one uses wubi any more and use a CD/DVD/USB install??? Please??? (I'll come back and upvote if you leave a comment @ Fabby) ;-) – Fabby Apr 10 '15 at 09:28

wont boot, freezes at purple screen, cant use terminal to fix at all. tried it already

1 Answers1