MX linux 23 Grub Menu overriden by another distro's grub menu [Solved]

[dotw]

I have multiple distros installed on my PC. But the latest one that I installed is MX linux. I logged into Sparkylinux 7.1 today for the first time after the installation of mx linux but since then everytime i restart the pc it logs into sparkylinux boot menu. But the problem with that is Sparkylinux boot menu can't detect any distros other than itself and thus I have to press F9 immediately after restarting and then boot into MX linux.
N.B: I did not mess with the Grub customizer

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System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-12-amd64 [6.1.52-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-12-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23_x64 Libretto July 31  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pro 3330 MT v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
    Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Foxconn model: 17A0 v: 2.10 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: AMI v: 8.09
    date: 10/22/2013
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i3-3240 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ivy Bridge gen: core 3 level: v2
    built: 2012-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3A (58) stepping: 9 microcode: 0x21
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache: L1: 128 KiB
    desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1610 high: 1634 min/max: 1600/3400 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 1596 2: 1634 3: 1596 4: 1615 bogomips: 27135
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB
    filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-7 process: Intel 22nm built: 2012-13 ports: active: HDMI-A-1
    empty: DP-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0152 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22") s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 model: Acer KA222Q H serial: <filter> built: 2023
    res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 102 gamma: 1.2 size: 478x260mm (18.82x10.24") diag: 544mm (21.4")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.2 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 2500 (IVB GT1)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 6
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1c20 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-12-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 606.46 GiB used: 17.71 GiB (2.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST500DM002-1BD142 size: 465.76 GiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
    rev: HP74 scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Lexar model: SSD NS10LT 120GB size: 111.79 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0.2 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: Lexar model: USB Flash Drive size: 28.91 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: PMAP scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 41.08 GiB size: 40.14 GiB (97.71%) used: 17.71 GiB (44.1%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb7 maj-min: 8:23
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 477 MiB size: 476 MiB (99.80%) used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sdb5 maj-min: 8:21
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 1.91 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sdb6
    maj-min: 8:22
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: 2297 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2270 libs: 1195 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 27
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
    1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
Info:
  Processes: 220 Uptime: 0m wakeups: 1 Memory: 7.64 GiB used: 1.77 GiB (23.2%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12 Client: shell wrapper
  v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[MadMax]

It's normal that the last grub installation always takes over the bootloader. Since you installed Sparky last, its bootloader is now your "main" one. Grub has a feature to detect foreign operating systems called os prober. In recent years distros started to disable os prober by default (I don't know the specific reasons for that), maybe Sparky does it like that as well.

You can control the function in the grub config file at /etc/default/grub

The option looks like this:

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GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

Comment it out with a # at the beginning or set it to false and then run:

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sudo update-grub

Some distros (like MX) source some grub options from a different configuration file. The link to that should also be within /etc/default/grub. It's not very long, so you should be able to find it easily.

[dotw]

Since you installed Sparky last, its bootloader is now your "main" one.

I installed MX linux the last, sparky was installed approximately 1 month ago

[baldyeti]

Perhaps your firmware (BIOS) has an option to select the default UEFI bootloader (and it somehow became Sparky i/o MX) ?

[dotw]

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GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

Comment it out with a # at the beginning or set it to false and then run:

It was like the picture by default, still it cant detect any other OS, not even windows

[dotw]

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GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

Comment it out with a # at the beginning or set it to false and then run:

It was like the picture by default, still it cant detect any other OS, not even windows

this SS is also from sparky

[Charlie Brown]

On Sparky also check whether the file is still executable:

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ls -la /etc/grub.d/*prob*

You can chmod +x if needed. I.e. on MX (in other words: normally) it is:

-rwxr-xr-x


Also:

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efibootmgr

[Charlie Brown]

... It was like the picture by default, still it cant ...

Edit as root or:

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sudo nano /etc/default/grub

and remove the # , save, close then sudo update-grub.


It should be exactly as:

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GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

[Stevie 57]

I've just been having a similar problem, not with Sparky but another distro. Only the other distro appeared in the boot menu. My first thought was to run MX boot repair, so I did that and MX reappeared in the menu. Thing is the other distro had vanished! When I checked mine already said GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=FALSE. So I ran update-grub anyway and both distros are now in the boot menu. Really don't know what was going on.

This is first time I've come across this issue, never been a problem in the past. So someone somewhere, in their infinite wisdom, has now made booting 2 Linux distros "awkward". I would love to know what the thinking was behind this.

Every now and again I come across something in Linux that leaves me baffled, and this is certainly such a case.

[dotw]

and remove the # , save, close then sudo update-grub.

following the step solved the problem, sparky grub now detects other distros