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The hardware involved is a HP Spectre x360 laptop (running windows 10 - at least it was :[ ) and 1TB WD Passport Ultra External Hard drive.

Scenario:

I am attempting to create a external hard drive with a portable Ubuntu (no ties to the hard drive of the laptop). Visiting the forum pages and attempting the suggested solutions have led me to a computer that no longer recognizes Ubuntu on my external hard drive or the windows 10 OS on the laptop HD apparently.

Steps that have led down the dark and lonely path:

  1. I created a bootable USB with Universal USB installer using Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS iso.
  2. I then booted from the USB and chose the option to "try ubuntu without installing".
  3. I then plugged in my external hard drive (lets call it EHD) and double clicked on the desktop icon to install Ubuntu.
  4. I chose my language and clicked "continue".
  5. I was connected to the internet, power source, and I had enough drive space.
  6. I chose to download updates while installing and install 3rd party software.
  7. I then chose installation type => "Something Else".
  8. I then chose /dev/sdc My Passport(1TB) for the device for boot loader installation.
  9. Under /dev/sdc/ I created three partitions from "free space":
    • 1st: 50GB, Primary, Beginning of this space, Ext4, "/"
    • 2nd: 15GB, Logical, Beginning of this space, swap area
    • 3rd: 500GB, Logical, Beginning of this space, Ext4, "/home"

  10. I then pushed install now and then shutdown the system and removed the USB when the installation was finished.

  11. Now, with the EHD plugged in, the purple screen appears giving me options to boot windows or ubuntu and both options work great.

  12. I shutdown, removed EHD usb (thinking I won!), and start up the laptop. It goes to the black GNU GRUB v2blahblahblah screen with the grub> command terminal. Hmm, first I tried changing boot order with Grub Customizer, that didn't work. Forums then lead me to believe that the bootloader was installed on the laptops hard drive (though I don't think I did - see Step 8). So I tried to follow this Dual-boot computer won't boot without external hard drive.
  13. So I got Rescatux on a bootable USB to attempt to repair the windows MBR, and ran the program choosing the first sda partion options (it appeared "common sensical"). But now regardless of if the EHD is plugged in or not I get a friendly message saying "Boot Device Not Found".
  14. I soldiered on though, hoping that I could at least get the EHD working. So I booted from the live USB and ran boot-repair. It seemed to function normally giving me the warning of requiring internet access. I had access so I said yes and it performed its stuff (i think it said Updating) but then after a few minutes the process started over warning of internet access again. It did that a couple more times after which I said heck with it and quit boot-repair.
  15. I then shutdown, removed the live USB and booted the system with and without the EHD plugged in. Regardless it goes to the black HP Boot Error screen (though it will still recognize the live USB and let me boot from that).
  16. That brings me to where I am now. I have a laptop and EHD that won't boot Windows or Ubuntu. I would greatly appreciate your help in the following:
    • Fix my laptop so it boots to Windows 10 OS like it should. I don't want dual boot. Just 'ol windows.
    • Fix my EHD so when I plug it into my laptop, desktop, etc. I can boot to Ubuntu.

Much obliged for all your help in advance.

UPDATE #1:

The link to the boot-repair info is http://paste.ubuntu.com/15338181. If you could interpret the results and proper solution I would appreciate it. Unsurprisingly there does appear to be some shenanigans going on.

The sda is my laptop hard drive (laptop came with windows 8.1 and then I moved to windows 10 when it was released), sdb is the live USB, sdc is the EHD.

UPDATE #2:

I tried to do a clean install with windows 10 and it wouldn't work. So I tried with windows 8.1 (since that is what came with the computer originally) by deleting each partition except one that had an OEM description (deleting that seemed a bit scary if I did't have to). It seemed to work but on restart after everything was done I once again got the boot error screen no OS found. This is the new boot-repair info http://paste.ubuntu.com/15340916 (the EHD is not attached so it doesn't showup this time). I looked at the hard drive in gparted and the partition sda3 says unknows (it was like this before the clean install as well). Suggestions on how to proceed?

Community
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Scott G
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  • But may be best to see details: Post the link to the Create BootInfo summary report. Is part of Boot-Repair: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info If Windows 10 pre-installed then it is UEFI boot, and your partitioning on external looks like a BIOS boot install. – oldfred Mar 09 '16 at 20:07
  • I have added the boot-repair info above. As I indicated my internet connection was a little unstable so I think that messed up giving me the url. I can regenerate that if it is helpful. The laptop is less than a year old and came with windows 8.1 which I then updated to windows 10 (so yes it should be UEFI). Sigh, I thought I read the instructions correctly and was doing a UEFI partitioning... – Scott G Mar 09 '16 at 21:07
  • Does not look like full script, better to post link it provides, so we can see the entire thing. But you have installed BIOS boot loaders to MBR of sda, and do not have ESP - efi system partition on sdc. But with HP you have another issue. Sony, HP & others: http://askubuntu.com/questions/486752/dual-boot-win-8-ubuntu-loads-only-win/486789#486789 and: https://askubuntu.com/questions/597052/can-not-boot-anymore-after-a-boot-repair and: Uses rEFInd on HP with 2 drives http://askubuntu.com/questions/721867/dual-boot-ubuntu-14-04-3-lts-with-win-10-on-separate-hard-drives – oldfred Mar 09 '16 at 22:44

2 Answers2

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I did find a solution to my problem but unfortunately not the elegant one I had hoped. Perhaps it would have been possible near the beginning but things went down hill after trying Rescatux... shame on you Rescatux! :) jk, jk

Anyways, the final solution after Update #2 above was to:

  1. I recorded what I believe is my windows key using the Ubuntu live USB terminal and entering the line below just in case things went south(...er):

sudo xxd /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

  1. I then did a clean install again within Windows 8.1 but this time I also deleted the OEM marked partition as well (I didn't delete that one before). Everything worked fine then and I was able to complete the install, upgrade to Windows 10, and reinstall the necessary drivers. For whatever reason not having deleted that OEM marked partition was preventing the clean install from functioning correctly.

Although this worked, it was kind of the sledgehammer approach by turning the initial Ubuntu problem into a pure Windows problem. Hopefully when I try to make the external Ubuntu hard drive again I won't climb down this rabbit hole again.

UPDATE #1:

Still needing an EHD I repeated steps 1-11 and part of 12 (up to and including unplugging the EHD and getting the black gnu grub screen). For whatever reason, Ubuntu puts boot files onto my internal hard drive see boot-info before and after ubuntu install. So to get to Windows without the EHD attached type "exit" in the grub terminal and Windows will boot... Now to get rid of that pesky GNU GRUB screen and make sure the EHD behaves properly.

Scott G
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  • Well, after all that work, a congratulations is in order. So...congratulations :P – x__x Mar 12 '16 at 04:19
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    Ha. Yeah now ive got to figure out how to not get that gnu grub screen (step 12) when i remove the ehd. Ubuntu puts boot files on my internal hard drive no matter what i do. But thats another post perhaps. This is causing much more trouble than it should. But i shall not loose heart! – Scott G Mar 12 '16 at 12:46
  • And when you have successfully figured out the answer, do update the answer. There could be many people who could benefit from it. Cheers. :D – x__x Mar 12 '16 at 14:23
  • By the way, I forwarded your question to reddit. Here. There are some pretty good experts who could help understand your situation. :) – x__x Mar 12 '16 at 15:14
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First of all, disable secure boot in the BIOS. If you want to repair your laptop to atleast boot into Windows 10, put in a Windows 10 install USB, select your language, select to Repair the computer, and then go to Command Prompt. Once in command prompt, run these commands bootrec.eexternalxe/FixMbr, bootrec.exe/FixBoot and bootrec.exe/RebuildBCD These commands should repair the bootloader for Windows only booting.

Regarding your Ubuntu installation on EHD, I don't know why its not working. I have proceeded in the exact same manner in the past and it always worked for me. I suspect it is because you did not disable Secure Boot or because the tool you used did something. But, I am not sure.

I suggest checking from the live USB that you did not damage/change any of the partitions of the laptop using GParted. Confirm if /dev/sdc is your EHD and /dev/sda is your internal hard drive. If all okay, then I would recommend installing Ubuntu again on the EHD using the exact same procedure as you did (install bootloader in /dev/sdc and install Ubuntu in /dev/sdc).

x__x
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  • I attempted the fix mentioned using a Windows 10 USB and then finding the command promp from the repair option and using the following commands bootrec/fixmbr, bootrec/fixboot, and bootrec/rebuildbcd. These did not fix the windows system. I still get the same Boot error. I also attempted to completely reinstall windows and regardless of how I attempted to do I got the unhelpful error basically stating something went wrong and the only option you are given is "Cancel". – Scott G Mar 10 '16 at 00:31
  • I seriously hate that "Something went wrong" bullshit that Windows installer gives. You cannot even know what went wrong! Anyways, I think the boot partition is seriously damaged. The Windows 10 installer often goes into unforeseen problems. Since you have already tried installing Windows 10, I would recommend the following: 1. Try to run the Windows 10 install disc automatic repair (who knows, might fix the problem) 2. If that does not work, try installing Windows 7 (drivers here) – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 02:43
  • Report back with what happens. I will try to help you as much as I can. – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 02:45
  • Since windows 10 didnt work I decided to try windows 8.1 since that was what originally came with the computer. See "Update #2" for that. What do you make of it? – Scott G Mar 10 '16 at 12:31
  • First, back up any data you need from the laptop (all the partitions). Now try this: Install Windows 8.1 again (Damn, you must be getting really tired of this). But this time, when you are installing it, in the screen where you had to select which partition to install it to, delete ALL the partitions (not format, DELETE). And then install Windows 8.1 in a single partition. (If it tells to create additional partitions blah blah, let it, my point is you tell the installer to install Windows 8.1 in a giant single partition) – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 13:16
  • Long suffering... thats the attribute I'm working on this week :p When I did the Windows 8.1 install I did delete every partition... except one that was about 16 GB and had an OEM description. I was worried that it deleting that one would be a bad idea. – Scott G Mar 10 '16 at 13:17
  • Also, it is possible that the unknown partition is actually a recovery partition. If so, is there any way to access recovery from the boot up screen of the laptop? (Just a possibility that came to my mind). – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 13:19
  • Since I do not have an HP laptop, I can't really help. Try looking at these videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3wkwYB75bg and https://youtu.be/1ncR9ROPMqQ – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 13:27
  • Also this resource http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01443463 – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 13:32
  • Throwing in the towel huh? :) That's ok. Thanks for trying to help. If I get this figured out I'll be sure to post what I did. The irony of all this was that a primary reason for doing the EHD was to avoid tampering with my computer... "Men make plans and God laughs"... Not quite turning out how I planned. Anyways, have a very nice day. – Scott G Mar 10 '16 at 13:40
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – x__x Mar 10 '16 at 13:44