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How to change Windows 10 MBR (bios) to show Lubuntu as an option while booting?

ph flag

I wanted to install Lubuntu as an additional OS on my old laptop (bios mode only) which has Windows 10 already installed. So, created some free space on laptop after shrinking existing partitions (named C and D). Downloaded Lubuntu ISO, created a bootable USB using Rufus and installed Lubuntu (18.04-alternate-i386) from it. Towards the end of the installation process, I chose the option of creating boot record in /dev/sda1 (I don't remember other options clearly now).

On rebooting the machine, I expected to see a screen with choice of selecting Windows or Lubuntu. Instead the machine boots into Windows OS as before.

Is there anything that can be done in Windows to point to the boot record of the Lubuntu installed on the laptop? Or should I re-install Lubuntu and choose some other option for boot record installation?

Note: I edited the post to add the version of Lubuntu - 18.04-alternate-i386.

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
It should never be a partition! In BIOS mode the bootloader is to be installed in the MBR of the boot drive, that is, in your case /dev/sda. And, no, there's NOTHING you can do from Windows. You may try (1) disabling Fast Startup in Windows (a must for dual-booting) and then use Boot Repair: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair (2nd option in a live session, you can use the same USB stick with Lubuntu).
guiverc avatar
cn flag
You haven't provided any release details so we can only speak generically. As @ChanganAuto said; you put boot loader to sda1 which is a partition. The MBR is outside of partitions and must go to the first 512 bytes of the disk reserved for this exact purpose; ie. it's written to a drive in your case sda. You may have overwritten data on sda1 so check. I have made windows boot GNU/Linux before, but not in a long time (pre-win10 days) so I'd follow already provided advice. Please provide release details so we can be more precise in advice.
ph flag
@ChanganAuto Thanks. I realised that the version of iso which I used does not have allow for a live session - 18.04-alternate-i386.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
Are you aware that flavors of Ubuntu only come with three years of supported life (five years applies to Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server but not flavors), so you're asking about a release that is now EOL (*end-of-life*). See https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2020/08/14/ubuntu-18-04-5-lts-released/ https://lubuntu.me/bionic-5-released/ https://lubuntu.me/bionic-eol/ with support ending April-2021. Use `ubuntu-support-status` on your system to confirm the supported/unsupported packages & act accordingly (ie. how important is security to you, are you offline etc?)
guiverc avatar
cn flag
I wouldn't think you'd be able to get windows 10 to boot on a box that has <768MB of RAM (the reason for the existence of the alternate ISO, the default and better ISO requires 768MB of RAM to run in *live* mode & also operate the installer).... It's likely you've made a wrong choice of installer, also likely you didn't go to an official Lubuntu site & download from there, so I'd verify where you went & ensure it's legit & valid. (if you used google; it'll offer the legitimate site, along with *fan* and & *fake* site that offer Lubuntu for download.. https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours)
ph flag
@guiverc The laptop has 2GB ram. I have downloaded it from https://lubuntu.net/. It seems to be the official site.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
You did **not** use a site that is affiliated with either Ubuntu, nor Lubuntu, but used a *fan* site. You won't see that site mentioned on any official site (except in caution, eg. it's not on https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours which is a Canonical site (company that's behind Ubuntu). 2GB is *far* more than the 700/768MB requirement for a *live* ISO, and I use `lenovo thinkpad sl510 (c2d-t6570, 2gb ram, i915)` in QA-testing all releases up to current *impish* (ie. an old 2GB laptop) fyi: The links to the ISO you mention were removed on 30-April-2021 from Lubuntu
guiverc avatar
cn flag
the ISO you mention won't be removed until April-2023 from cdimage.ubuntu.com (an official Ubuntu site, therefore registered by/to Canonical just like Lubuntu's lubuntu.me is) so the ISO is still available, but isn't supported by Lubuntu hence removal 30-April-2021. Parts are still supported (you can use `ubuntu-support-status` to see which parts are), but it's not the GUI/desktop; though `firefox` still is.. ie. only parts in common with main Ubuntu Desktop are still supported. Verify your ISO using a checksum from an official site at least, but I'd recommend using a supported system instead
ph flag
@guiverc Thanks a lot. I will download it from the official site and go through the installation once again. Thanks again for your help.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
FYI & maybe useful; Lubuntu's manual can be read at https://manual.lubuntu.me/stable/ (change the word *stable* in the URL to *lts* to read the manual for 20.04 LTS; *stable* refers to latest stable release or 21.04). All Lubuntu links are found at https://lubuntu.me/
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