Installing MX-21 over an existing MX-19 installation [Solved]

[Huckleberry Finn]

I'll wait until the bugs are ironed out.

This is not a "bug" and is not caused by MX .. It's caused by "Acer" registration service (and other than that mostly by "Adobe" software being used on Windows) . (They write data in sectors that should be null normally, and Grub decides not to overwrite for it might be something important, not to damage anything).

[Falcon]

I decided to try just executing the first command above and then running the installer again. The installer failed at the same point where it was installing GRUB. (95%). So I terminated the installer and ran MX Boot Repair. I chose to Repair GRUB, rather than reinstalling it. The operation completed without any errors or warnings. Then I tried the installer again, but it failed in the same way.

Then I tried to execute BOTH of the commands above and then tried to reboot into the installed version (i.e., not the Live-USB). The computer wouldn't boot at all. It just came up with a blank screen with a blinking cursor in the upper right hand corner. Did I misinterpret something that you said above?

[figueroa]

But the 'tell the installer where to put grub' bit of the installer is more or less the same, I could have sworn. That part hasn't changed.

Credit where credit is due, if anything, the GRUB installer is somewhat improved and on a screen by itself making it more difficult to mess up.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Then I tried to execute BOTH of the commands above and then tried to reboot into the installed version... came up with a blank screen with a blinking cursor in the upper right hand corner.

Normal. Because the 2nd one zeroes the first 440 bytes that means no grub (actually "no bootloaders": neither Linux nor NT (Windows) ), but just a blank MBR with only "Disk Signature" (for Windows) + Partition Table.
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Since it's caused by "Acer" in your case, something in Bios might be re-writing that thing into that sector (#18) (or maybe even randomly, next time to #32 etc.) every boot (or so). Maybe there's a setting for that to enable/disable, something like "Acer Registration Service" etc. ...
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Till then just do this: Apply the 1st command (or both) then directly MX Boot Repair, then reboot into installed MX.

[j2mcgreg]

This may be an off the wall suggestion and I apologise if it is. Your first GParted image does not display an EFI partition and it should. I'm wondering if when you originally set up your dual boot, you used MBR partitioning. If you did, you are going to have configure your usb install drive for an MBR install and you may have to select MBR as the location for Grub on the Grub install screen.

[Falcon]

I executed the two commands above, and then started MX Boot Repair and ran "Reinstall GRUB". Then I powered off, removed the Live-USB from the computer, and powered back on again. What I got was a GNU GRUB screen with a grub> prompt. Then I got the idea to run MX Boot Repair again, but this time I executed "Repair GRUB". That completed successfully, and then I was able to restart the computer and boot up both MX and Windows from the SSD. So it looks like things are working.

Is there any way that the Installer could be set up to do the GRUB install and repair automatically? I don't have any problem with having to fix some issues like this, but a person who is a long-time Windows user who is thinking about switching to MX might become discouraged by a problem like this and just give up and go back to Windows or some other OS. That would be unfortunate because MX is one of the best distros out there.

As an aside, I looked in the BIOS settings and there was no mention of any Acer registration or the like. The Windows 7 OS from Acer seemed to be configured such that if the machine failed to boot, another utility would start automatically that allowed the user to reinstall the operating system. For some reason, this would come up occasionally and I would just exit out of the utility and then do a restart. Nine times out of ten, the system would restart normally and run fine. This utility may be what you are referring to.

[fehlix]

Is there any way that the Installer could be set up to do the GRUB install and repair automatically?

The installer might not like overwriting automatically any "wrong" placed win-app registration info within the post-MBR gap, like in this case at sector 18. Also user can always run MX Boot Repair from within the same live session.

[Huckleberry Finn]

... able to restart the computer and boot up both MX and Windows from the SSD. So it looks like things are working.

... MX Boot Repair again, but this time I executed "Repair GRUB".

You could also try the chroot way :)

... This utility may be what you are referring to.

That's it .

Glad to say: