How to Recover From The “File Not Found: Grub Rescue” Boot Up Error [Linux, Quick Tips]

Sometimes, when you install a new Linux distro in your PC and you didn’t set the boot flag correctly, you will often end up with a unbootable machine with the following error message (as shown in the left image).

This happened to me while I were installing the Ubuntu 12.10 on my PC. The installation went fine, but when I reboot, the error message show up and I am not able to boot into my desktop. Since I am pretty sure I have installed the boot loader, the issue seems to be that the Grub can’t find the boot folder and read the necessary files. Here’s the fix.

1. Reboot my PC using the Ubuntu USB Installer and boot into the LiveCD.

2. Select the “Try Ubuntu” to go to the Live Desktop. Open a terminal.

3. Install Boot Repair. (For this to work, you have to be connected to the Internet)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install boot-repair

4. Run Boot Repair with the command

boot-repair

This is what you will see:

5. Click the “Recommended Repair”. This will reinstall Grub and set the pointer to point to the correct location. In most cases, this will fix the boot issue. If not, you can go to the “Advanced Option” and customize the options.

6. Lastly, when you see the following message, you can safely reboot the PC (and remove the USB drive).

You should be able to boot into your desktop now.

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.