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Help! my computer dosen't have anything but a grub script. How can i boot into ubuntu? It says i am in secure boot. "minimal bash like editing is supported." i need to get into a operating system. I have a bootable flash drive with linux mint.

Liam McIntyre
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  • Was your computer working before? Did something break? Or you want to install Ubuntu? – Karsus Apr 07 '17 at 23:57
  • It was working fine before, but i updated it and then it went to a screen. It said GNU Grub- Minimal bash like editing is supported. i can't get into the operating system now. – Liam McIntyre Apr 08 '17 at 01:54

1 Answers1

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Edit: I don't know why I didn't realize you can load up mint...
I assume you're operating a dual-boot system. My understanding is that there are some circumstances under which Windows won't operate if you turn off Secure Boot, and if you want to turn it back on later, maybe your computer has to be reset to factory (sounds ugly). I read somewhere that what works for a dual boot is to have CSM disabled and Secure Boot enabled.

That said, being as you were previously running fine and, following an upgrade, you're getting Secure Boot, I'm thinking you upgraded your kernel as well (?). So, what follows is based on this assumption.

From your live usb (or cd if it came down to it), open a terminal (ctrl-alt-t) and type 

sudo fdisk -l

To be sure, that's a lower case "L".

This will list your devices, marking root with an asterisk (*).
It should look something like this: 

Device     Boot    Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *        2048 50857983 50855936 24.3G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       50860030 52426751  1566722  765M  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       50860032 52426751  1566720  765M 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Now do: 

 sudo mkdir mnt
 sudo mount /dev/sda1 mnt
 sudo mount --bind /dev mnt/dev
 sudo mount --bind /proc mnt/proc
 sudo mount --bind /sys mnt/sys
 sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf mnt/etc/resolv.conf
 sudo chroot mnt

At this point, it should change your prompt to something like:

root@ubuntu:/#

do:

apt-get install linux-image-generic

It's possible this is part of the problem, so maybe you need to install linux-signed-image-generic instead

And for good measure: 

update-grub
exit  
sudo umount mnt/sys 
sudo umount mnt/proc 
sudo umount mnt/dev 
sudo umount mnt

That last set of "umount" commands is important. Don't forget to un-mount things you've manually mounted.

Now reboot (remember to remove your live media).

As with kernel, you may need a signed grub. Shim is a program that's designed to chain-load signed bootloaders, so maybe shim is the thing you need to install/update/kiss on the forehead and check it's temperature. Generally, I've seen updating grub work, without having to install a new image. When it comes to shim or a signed operating system, I'm frankly a little further out of my depth.

Secure boot generally means your system is trying to load something that doesn't have the signatures it's looking for.

If you're loading to the grub command line, and not the grub rescue command line (the latter literally says "grub rescue" at the prompt), try typing exit to see how that goes. If it gives you a normal grub screen, you'll be able to load up the operating system. If you're able to do that, open a terminal and do sudo update-grub. I can't promise this is your solution, though.

Another thing you can try (mind you, this could present a security risk) is opening up your BIOS and turning off "Secure Boot".

Here's an article on how to load your root file system from the grub command line. Again, no promises, but it gives you something to try.

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