Snippet: How to Create a Mac Boot Entry in Grub2

By Damien / / Linux, Mac

If you have just created a dual-boot system with Mac Snow Leopard and Ubuntu Karmic and find that the Grub2 does not boot up your Mac, you can follow the instruction below to add the correct boot entry in Grub2.

Boot into Ubuntu Karmic.

Open a terminal and type:

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/40_custom

Add the following to the end of the file:

menuentry "MacOS X Snow Leopard" {
        insmod hfsplus
        set root=(hd0,X) #change X to the Mac SL partition
        multiboot /boot
}

Save and close the file. Back in the terminal, type:

sudo update-grub

That’s it. You should now see an extra entry in your Grub screen. Scroll down to the last entry and it will boot into your Mac Snow Leopard.

Damien Damien

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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11 comments

  1. I was told that running Ubuntu on a MacBook could break its processor and stuff as it cant handle some lowlevel-things about the hardware. Is that true?

    1. The article was not referring to Ubuntu on a Macbook, but Mac on a PC (with Ubuntu). In another word, I am referring to hackintosh.

      So far, I have not been able to dual boot Ubuntu on a Macbook yet.

  2. Hello guys. I have Ideneb 10.5, XP and Ubuntu all on my HDD using Grub2. It doesn't see the Mac OS X on the boot screen. Can someone help me resolve this? I am new to Linux. Thanks

  4. Thanks Damien, I tried it and the list it generates in the terminal window still doesn't show the Mac OS X.

  5. my sl partition is on /dev/sdb2 so i add this :

    menuentry “MacOS X Snow Leopard1” {
    insmod hfsplus
    set root=(hd1,2) #change X to the Mac SL partition
    multiboot /boot
    }

    what is multiboot exact?

    this menuentry dont work for me:(

    perhaps, problem is for chamelone on sl?

  7. Thanx great fix!
    I had to use hd0,1 instead of hd0,2 which was where my mac snowleopard partition was located.

    Just out of curiosity, what does multiboot mean?

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