I am setting up a tripple boot on an old Mac Mini (mid 2010) and have sucessfully installed macOS and Windows 7. I am trying to add Ubuntu as a third boot option and have hit a snag. The issue is not so much about booting Ubuntu form the hard disk as it is the USB installer won't boot any more.
Before I installed Windows I was able to see my USB in rEFInd and boot from it to stand alone mode or to the installer. I had issues with Windows being on the third partition so I reinstalled on the second and am now trying to boot the Ubuntu USB installer to install linux.
I select the USB in rEFInd and it starts to boot (blank screen) but then it starts booting Windows.
I placed the USB in a different machine and it boots fine so I know the USB is fine.
I've looked in the help to see if there is a log file generated but I can't find anything on that topic.
How can I work out why the USB won't boot properly?
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Chances are your Windows installation is in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode. My suspicion is that your USB drive has been prepared in such a way that rEFInd is trying to boot it in BIOS mode, too, and that this is somehow causing the Mac to mistakenly boot Windows from the hard disk instead. If so, then setting up the USB drive with a proper EFI-mode boot loader for Linux and using that should work around the problem. See this page of mine for more information on this topic.
Note that the Ubuntu installer is likely to wipe out the hybrid MBR that your Windows installation probably requires. Thus, you should be prepared to re-create that hybrid MBR with gdisk, gptsync, or some other tool.
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The usb was prepared using the ubuntu ISO converted to a DMG. I then used "dd" to stream it to the USB.
I have an update on this - and maybe a bug???
I wiped the hard disk and rebuilt from scratch. Set up four partitions at macOS inatall time in the following order:
macOS: 200Gb Primary
Windows: 200Gb Primary
Linux: 200Gb Primary
Swap: 40Gb
I installed just macOS and then Linux. Post linux installation when I try and boot from the USb it always boots linux. It appears that if there is a second OS the USB boot defaults to it. So same problem with a different OS.
So I think I have worked out the pattern of install for this mac needs to be macOS -> Linux -> WIndows (as that uses a DVD). But I am yet to get to install WIndows because Ubuntu has an issue with what is doing with grub. (I think.) Am busy debugging that one... But being unable to boot linux from usb and mounting drives manually is making it a little tricky.
I'll read up on your references tonight. Thanks!
Bryon
Last edit: Bryon Baker 2017-03-08
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Please read the pages I referenced in my earlier reply; that should help your understanding. Googling terms you don't understand may help, too.
I'm surprised that going from .iso file to .dmg file and then using dd would work at all, since .dmg is a weird Mac-specific format. Using dd to write the .iso file to a USB flash drive directly should work, but that creates a "Frankenstein's Monster" sort of disk format.
If you're using rEFInd, you can omit GRUB entirely from an Ubuntu installation by booting the Ubuntu installation disk in its "try before installing" mode, opening a Terminal window, and typing ubiquity -b. This launches Ubiquity (the Ubuntu installer), with the -b option telling it to not install GRUB. If rEFInd is already installed, it should detect the kernel and enable you to boot Ubuntu directly. (There are a couple of caveats, though. If you use a separate /boot partition, you must specify ro root={whatever} to identify your root [/] filesystem. You can do this on a one-time basis by hitting F2, Insert, or Tab twice, rather than Enter, to launch Ubuntu from rEFInd. Once booted, run the mkrlconf script that comes with rEFInd from Ubuntu to create a /boot/refind_linux.conf file. Also, rEFInd uses minimal kernel options when you launch Linux in this way. If you want the usual Ubuntu splash screen, you must add quiet splash to the kernel options, too.)
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I am setting up a tripple boot on an old Mac Mini (mid 2010) and have sucessfully installed macOS and Windows 7. I am trying to add Ubuntu as a third boot option and have hit a snag. The issue is not so much about booting Ubuntu form the hard disk as it is the USB installer won't boot any more.
Before I installed Windows I was able to see my USB in rEFInd and boot from it to stand alone mode or to the installer. I had issues with Windows being on the third partition so I reinstalled on the second and am now trying to boot the Ubuntu USB installer to install linux.
I select the USB in rEFInd and it starts to boot (blank screen) but then it starts booting Windows.
I placed the USB in a different machine and it boots fine so I know the USB is fine.
I've looked in the help to see if there is a log file generated but I can't find anything on that topic.
How can I work out why the USB won't boot properly?
Chances are your Windows installation is in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode. My suspicion is that your USB drive has been prepared in such a way that rEFInd is trying to boot it in BIOS mode, too, and that this is somehow causing the Mac to mistakenly boot Windows from the hard disk instead. If so, then setting up the USB drive with a proper EFI-mode boot loader for Linux and using that should work around the problem. See this page of mine for more information on this topic.
Note that the Ubuntu installer is likely to wipe out the hybrid MBR that your Windows installation probably requires. Thus, you should be prepared to re-create that hybrid MBR with
gdisk,gptsync, or some other tool.Hi,
I understood about 10% of that Roderick :-)
The usb was prepared using the ubuntu ISO converted to a DMG. I then used "dd" to stream it to the USB.
I have an update on this - and maybe a bug???
I wiped the hard disk and rebuilt from scratch. Set up four partitions at macOS inatall time in the following order:
macOS: 200Gb Primary
Windows: 200Gb Primary
Linux: 200Gb Primary
Swap: 40Gb
I installed just macOS and then Linux. Post linux installation when I try and boot from the USb it always boots linux. It appears that if there is a second OS the USB boot defaults to it. So same problem with a different OS.
So I think I have worked out the pattern of install for this mac needs to be macOS -> Linux -> WIndows (as that uses a DVD). But I am yet to get to install WIndows because Ubuntu has an issue with what is doing with grub. (I think.) Am busy debugging that one... But being unable to boot linux from usb and mounting drives manually is making it a little tricky.
I'll read up on your references tonight. Thanks!
Bryon
Last edit: Bryon Baker 2017-03-08
Please read the pages I referenced in my earlier reply; that should help your understanding. Googling terms you don't understand may help, too.
I'm surprised that going from
.isofile to.dmgfile and then usingddwould work at all, since.dmgis a weird Mac-specific format. Usingddto write the.isofile to a USB flash drive directly should work, but that creates a "Frankenstein's Monster" sort of disk format.If you're using rEFInd, you can omit GRUB entirely from an Ubuntu installation by booting the Ubuntu installation disk in its "try before installing" mode, opening a Terminal window, and typing
ubiquity -b. This launches Ubiquity (the Ubuntu installer), with the-boption telling it to not install GRUB. If rEFInd is already installed, it should detect the kernel and enable you to boot Ubuntu directly. (There are a couple of caveats, though. If you use a separate/bootpartition, you must specifyro root={whatever}to identify your root [/] filesystem. You can do this on a one-time basis by hitting F2, Insert, or Tab twice, rather than Enter, to launch Ubuntu from rEFInd. Once booted, run themkrlconfscript that comes with rEFInd from Ubuntu to create a/boot/refind_linux.conffile. Also, rEFInd uses minimal kernel options when you launch Linux in this way. If you want the usual Ubuntu splash screen, you must addquiet splashto the kernel options, too.)