LibreElec dual boot with any other Linux distro on UEFI.

openbaffle · September 28, 2020 at 12:31 PM

Hello hi to all,

I am stuck with a dual boot situation with LibreElec and Ubuntu, in UEFI mode. my hardware is 9th gen intel, with M2 ssd, there is no legacy bios in my B365 mother board.

I have manual partition in the following order

sda1 512mb /boot/efi. (fat32)

sda2 200gb for / (ubuntu installation) (ext4)

sda3 1Gb /System partition for LibreElec (ext4)

sda4 30gb /Storage partiton for LibreElec (ext4)

installed and boots to ubuntu. where in I copy the LibreElec target files to System partition.

as per the info available on Google and other forums edited grub file to add menu entry for LibreElec. whatever I do I am not able to see LibreElec and boot

when the system starts there is no grub menu for selection, directly boots to Ubuntu.

what am I doing wrong ?

how do we add LibreElec to EFI manager and grub menu to display the selection of OS

I have searched this forum for dual boot this thread followed the steps but to dismay, just doesn't work.

Due Diligence Complete - Still No Answer Re: Dual-Boot

experts pls point me to the right direction and solution.

Tx

**mglae** · September 28, 2020 at 4:15 PM

See: Help on Intel NUC6i7KYK

openbaffle · September 29, 2020 at 11:46 AM

Quote from mglae

See: Help on Intel NUC6i7KYK

okay let me try the method said above. will post here after testing

**Klojum** · September 29, 2020 at 2:08 PM Official Post

I'm using separate drives for Ubuntu and LibreELEC. But that shouldn't make a difference when setting up GRUB2.

Knoxwille · September 29, 2020 at 3:27 PM

You can use grub customizer with your ubuntu. It is a gui for editing grub. You can add your partition and required parameters even install boot menu theme, boot menu resolution/font change etc. Mount your LE partition. Find LE's boot parameters. Transfer them to grub customizer. It should work.

openbaffle · September 30, 2020 at 11:07 AM

Quote from Klojum

I'm using separate drives for Ubuntu and LibreELEC. But that shouldn't make a difference when setting up GRUB2.

Klojum will it be possible for you to post the method of dual boot and grub

**Klojum** · September 30, 2020 at 4:51 PM Official Post

Quote from openbaffle

will it be possible for you to post the method of dual boot and grub

Just enter the correct details in Ubuntu's /etc/grub.d/40_custom file.

Not sure exactly how I got multiple setups, I think I created the initial one and then simply copied the two partitions a couple of times using GParted. Entering the correct drive & partition numbers in the 40_custom file does the rest.

Three LibreELEC setups here, mind to use your own root, boot and disk settings.

Code

menuentry "LibreELEC Milhouse" {
set root=(hd1,5)
linux /KERNEL boot=/dev/sdb5 disk=/dev/sdb6 quiet
}

menuentry "LibreELEC 10.x" {
set root=(hd1,3)
linux /KERNEL boot=/dev/sdb3 disk=/dev/sdb4 quiet
}

menuentry "LibreELEC 9.x" {
set root=(hd1,1)
linux /KERNEL boot=/dev/sdb1 disk=/dev/sdb2 quiet
}

Display More

Then with the sudo update-grub2 , "things should work".(tm)

openbaffle · October 3, 2020 at 12:44 PM

Thanks to Klojum mglae for the pointers towards the dual boot, today I successfully dual booted to both Ubuntu and LibreElec.

For the benefit of beginners to dual boot LibreElec & ubuntu I am posting the steps involved.( should work with another Linux Distro)

as said earlier the hardware is UEFI.

Dual boot LibreElec & Ubuntu 18.04

first partition the SSD as below

sda1 512mb /boot/efi (EFI partition)

sda2 100gb / (Root Partition Ubuntu)

swap area twice of ram (optional)

sda3 512mb LE_SYS (System partition for Le)

sda4 100gb LE_DAT (Storage partition for Le)

install Ubuntu to sda2 / partition

install Ubuntu boot-loader to sda ( the ssd drive not the partition)

boot to Ubuntu

mount sda3 LE_SYS partition and copy LibreElec's Kernel and System files to the partition, keep it mounted till grub2 update

while in Ubuntu

create the below grub custom cfg file

sudo nano /boot/grub/custom.cfg

add the following lines to the file and close

====================================

menuentry "LibreELEC" {

search --set=root --label LE_SYS

linux /KERNEL boot=LABEL=LE_SYS disk=LABEL=LE_DAT quiet tty

}

=======================================================

after above steps do the below

sudo update-grub2

reboot the system, after bios menu pres ESC to Ubuntu Boot-loader menu there you will find Ubuntu and LibreELEC

select either of OS.

To make LE boot as default OS then edit the below file

sudo nano /etc/default/grub.cfg

GRUB_DEFAULT=3 or "LibreELEC" (the no corresponding to os starts from 0 or name of os in quotes "LibreELEC")

save & close the file,then,

Sudo update-grub

when you reboot LE will boot directly

while reboot if you hit ESC you will get boot-loader menu, where you can choose between the different OS.

Menu will appear if you press and hold Shift during loading Grub, if you boot using BIOS. When your system boots using UEFI, press Esc.

=======================================================

LibreElec dual boot with any other Linux distro on UEFI.

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