Boot repair on a live Zorin OS fails

aisajib · 30 January 2025 10:42

A simultaneously interesting and annoying incident took place this morning. I noticed the bootloader/grub was broken on my laptop. I can't tell what caused it.

The last thing I remember doing was removing Ubuntu from Windows subsystem for Linux (I think it was wsl --uninstall that I ran on Win11).

I didn't think doing so would cause any damage to the laptop's actual bootloader/grub. But it may have?

This is what it showed if I tried booting into anything other than Windows:

In any case, using Ventoy, I booted into Zorin OS' live environment and ran boot repair.

Unfortunately, it failed. I chose not to upload the results to pastebin and thought I should try this from Ubuntu instead. I booted into the latest Ubuntu (non-LTS) and, to my surprise, found that boot repair wasn't even installed.

I installed and ran boot-repair via the Terminal. Showing similar error messages, it failed again.

I was further annoyed when I saw it somehow broke Ventoy as well. I don't remember the exact wording, but I could no longer boot into Ventoy. It showed "Ventoy isn't properly installed" or something similar, with three options to choose from: 1. Exit Grub, 2. Reboot, 3: Shut down.

I had to flash Ventoy again and copy all the ISOs back into my USB disk. I booted into Zorin Pro once again and tried boot repair.

Unfortunately, it failed again. I took some pictures this time.

Here's what the partitions look like in case it's relevant:

Frustrated, I decided to give Linux Mint one last try before resorting to a complete reinstall. I'm not a Linux Mint fan; I think the UI is quite dated. But I'll give it credit for being quite stable and regularly updated.

To my surprise, the boot repair tool (the same one I used on Ubuntu and Zorin OS) inside Linux Mint succeeded.

I'm not sure how, but that truly worked. I can now boot into Zorin without any issues.

My problems are solved, but I'm curious about these if you have any thoughts:

What might have caused the boot problem in the first place?
Why did boot repair work from Linux Mint but not from Zorin OS or even Ubuntu (which spectacularly broke Ventoy, too)?

Ponce-De-Leon · 30 January 2025 11:01

Maybe on Mint is a newer Version of Boot Repair?

And why that happens ... Maybe the uninstall of Ubuntu from Windows Subsystem has in any Way affect the EFI Grub File and damaged it.

aisajib · 30 January 2025 11:10

Quite possible, though I installed boot-repair on Ubuntu, so it should have downloaded the latest version. The boot repair tool on Zorin also wanted me to connect to the internet (which I thought would be used to download an update if required).

It would be an irritating thing. I couldn't find any info after a quick Googling.

applecheeks37 · 30 January 2025 14:26

I'm wondering if this was maybe why the boot-repair on the ubuntu side failed. Since Linux Mint is based on 24.04, I wonder if that would have caused the ubuntu version to work? Although I'm not 100% sure to be honest. I would be curious to learn more about this, but in order to learn more things need to be broken again lol.

zabadabadoo · 30 January 2025 16:11

From your (Linux Mint) Boot Repair screenshot, it still warns of "Locked-NVram...."
Are saying that is not giving you any further problems?

aisajib · 30 January 2025 16:44

You mean it might have worked had I tried the LTS version of Ubuntu? Yeah, that’s quite possible, though interesting that older version works but not the newer one.

Yup. I saw the warning but I’m not facing any issues. Everything appears to be working fine. I can boot into both and all apps/files work as they should.

StarTreker · 30 January 2025 18:34

Your issue was certainly above my pay-grade. I would have recommended you to run boot-repair though, which you already did with Mint.

If I had to take a quick guess, I'd guess that when you removed that Ubuntu component, it had your Grub boot information in it, so once removed, you got the dreaded black screen.

Its like you said, please boot the computer HAL. And then it returned with, "I'm sorry Dave, I just can't do that."

Just know, I've done the same sort of thing many times when I was younger, I'd delete the wrong files, thinking I am removing all the fat, then suddenly, system no boot.

But this is how we learn, from making mistakes. And as long as everything is backed up, making mistakes is ok. The problem is when we make a mistake, but nothing was backed up. Thats way worse!

Glad things are working again for you, solid troubleshooting work too BTW. Thanks for posting your report and solution, as I know it will help other's who are in the same predicament.

aisajib · 30 January 2025 20:53

Haha thanks! I'm just glad someone at work recommended Ventoy. Having to flash those ISOs before each try would have made me temporarily go mad.