OMG! My Boot Loader Was Corrupted! I Can’t Log into My Linux System!

What will you do if your Grub Boot Loader was corrupted? The most probable answer will be “Hitting my head in my keyboard ‘n’ number of times”. Most of us think that, if our boot loader get corrupted, we are doomed! So, we re-format our systems! But, don’t you know that, sometimes we can fix a corrupted boot loader?

As I said earlier, for most of us, the answer for a corrupted boot loader is “format” (earlier, this is the answer for most of my questions! please don’t be like me!). But, there are more easier ways to solve it without committing suicide!

Why is this happening?

Most of the time, the Grub Boot Loader can get corrupted because of :

• Installing Windows on your machine. When you install Windows, it will overwrite the Linux boot loader in the MBR, and install their own version.
• Installing another version of Linux. Some times, the new Linux version may fail to detect the existing one.

Now, lets see how to fix this. Its really easy :

• First, if you have another Linux distribution on your system you can log into it. If you don’t have one, you can use a Linux live CD and boot from it as shown below (Boot from the live CD, Do not install it) :

Boot from Live CD

• Next, open the terminal and enter the following command :

sudo update-grub

This will update your Grub settings. If you have installed Windows or another version of Linux, this command will detect them, and add them to your boot loader!… Enjoy!