[Bug 610898] Re: grub-pc upgrade renders computer unbootable when Wubi is installed to partition other than Windows

[Colin Watson]

While I'm here, @bcbc: I did some work on the ext4 problem you
mentioned.  In fact, when I tried to set up a test case, I found that
wubildr.mbr hung for me on an ext3 filesystem, never mind ext4.  This
turned out to be due to lack of support for inode sizes other than 128,
and I've backported a patch for this to ntldr-img which should be used
in future Wubi builds:

grub2 (1.99-8) unstable; urgency=low

  [ Robert Millan ]
  * Avoid buggy versions of libgeom-dev (see #630107).  Closes: #630197
  * Fix grub-probe detection for ATA devices using `ata' driver on kFreeBSD 9.
    - kfreebsd-9_ada_devices.patch

  [ Colin Watson ]
  * Update ntldr-img from grub-extras:
    - Handle ext3 inode sizes other than 128.

  [ Debconf translations ]
  * Kazakh (Baurzhan Muftakhidinov). Closes: #630915

 -- Colin Watson <cjwatson at debian.org>  Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:10:10 +0100

Once I'd fixed this, wubildr.mbr had no problem with my test ext4
filesystem.  I therefore suspect that perhaps your ext3 filesystem
predated the change of the default inode size to 256?

It would be worth testing Oneiric Alpha 2 when it's released (using a
fresh install, since upgrades don't replace wubildr.mbr) to find out
whether it fixes this problem for you too.  If it doesn't, I'd
appreciate a separate bug report.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/610898

Title:
  grub-pc upgrade renders computer unbootable when Wubi is installed to
  partition other than Windows

Status in Release Notes for Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in Wubi, Windows Ubuntu Installer:
  Fix Released
Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in “lupin” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “grub2” source package in Lucid:
  Fix Released
Status in “lupin” source package in Lucid:
  Fix Released
Status in “grub2” source package in Maverick:
  Fix Released
Status in “lupin” source package in Maverick:
  Fix Released
Status in “grub2” source package in Natty:
  Invalid
Status in “lupin” source package in Natty:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Users with wubi 10.04 are running the latest grub-pc updates, and it's
  installing the grub2 bootloader to their drive MBR, rendering their
  computers unbootable.

  Users are reporting that the computer boots straight to a grub rescue
  prompt, with the error 'no such device xxxxxxx'. They cannot boot
  windows or access their system restore utilities. Grub2 is in the MBR
  pointing to partition #256.

  I first reported this on the #grub IRC channel, in the following bug
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/576724, and now
  here as it's probably correct to create a new bug (an there's been no
  response yet).

  Here are the links to the ubuntuforums.org threads...
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1538228
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1537956
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1538170
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1482621 (this is an older thread, but a new user (softis) added to it and has the same issue).
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1540744
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1540772
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1539672

  I suspect, but cannot be certain, that it may be related to another
  bug in the lupin-support overrides of grub, that fails to identify a
  wubi installed ubuntu, when it has been installed to a partition other
  than the main windows partition.
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lupin/+bug/604417

  Although not conclusive, it seems that the most affected users
  reported installing wubi to a partition other than windows.

  
  =====================
  FOLLOW UP: Aug 13 2010
  =====================
  I ran a new 10.04 wubi install on two computers. On the first wubi was installed on the same partition as windows. On the second it was installed on an external drive. 

  After installing, I booted wubi on both, connected to the internet and immediately downloaded all updates. When the grub-pc screen was presented, I clicked Forward (without checking the box) and then proceeded to select ALL devices presented to install grub.
  On the WUBI on the same partition as Windows, this had no effect (verified with Bootinfoscript)
  On the WUBI on a different partition than Windows, this installed grub to the MBR of both drives, with grub looking in partition #256.

  ===========
  CONFIRMED:
  ===========
  This only affects WUBI installs on a partition other than windows, therefore, is probably a duplicate of bug 604417.

  
  Side note:
  On both computers, Wubi would not start upon reboot after completion of updates. When I clicked on Ubuntu under the Windows Boot Manager, both computers rebooted. (This is totally unrelated to the MBR issue). To fix I had to boot each wubi install from a grub command line (from a direct ubuntu install),  and then run "sudo update-grub", after which I was able to boot normally into the wubi install using the Windows Boot Manager.  I'm not sure how a user with just wubi would do this!? Chroot from a live CD!?

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