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Bootloader question with the default “Install ubuntu along Windows” option

rated 0 times [ 2] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 8972 / 2 Years ago, fri, june 17, 2022, 6:18:16

After using virtual machines and wubi for the last few years I finally took the time to install ubuntu in a dual boot.

I read a ton of tutorials, but they all recommended different things.
So I figured that the option "Install ubuntu along windows" would be a pretty safe and solid choice else it shouldn't be offered. I already had a second partition for my data, so there was no need for that.

Now after a succesfull installation (not really sure about, hence my question), I get the grub bootloader on startup and I have an option to also boot windows.

Is this the preferred setup? I read a lot that grub should be installed on a different partition and that windows should take care of booting. Is this true? Will windows updates break my installation?

After some searching I found that I could use easybcd as seen on http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu to use the windows boot loader. Won't it overwrite the GRUB in MBR?

Thank you in advance

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ormlai

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2 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago corsee · Accepted Answer

GRUB should be in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the first hard drive. This is usually /sda (not to a partition within the drive, such as /sda1 etc.).

The above works for pre-UEFI / Windows 8 systems. For details of installing on UEFI/Windows 8 system see: Installing Ubuntu Alongside a Pre-Installed Windows with UEFI.

I have used this default GRUB setup for many years and never had any problem with it. In particular, Windows Updates did not mess up GRUB. However, if you need to reinstall Windows, then you will have to reinstall GRUB after installing Windows. This is easy to do. The Ubuntu installation stays unharmed by Windows installation process, unless you format the whole drive by mistake.

If you upgrade Windows, say from Vista to 7 or 7 to 8 that will erase GRUB as well. You can just install GRUB form a Live USB/DVD.

I have never used Windows installer instead of GRUB. Leaving GRUB out of the picture is not a good idea as it allows booting different kernels from the same Ubuntu installation. This is very useful if a kernel update in Ubuntu breaks something. Then you can boot to the previous kernel using GRUB and uninstall the kernel update.

Hope this helps.