How do I know which grub version is used and how to configure it?

[Bo Berglund]

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:24:42 +0100, Bo Berglund <bo.berglund at gmail.com> wrote:

>I am struggling with my Ubuntu server system, which is now dist-upgraded to
>24.04.1.
>
>But there is also another Ubuntu desktop 20.04 on the disk and it was shown
>earlier on the boot menu, but now gone.

To make a re-start concerning grub:
-----------------------------------
I want to eventually move the server to a new device (an ASUS NUC 13), which
right now has a 1TB drive and has not been started yet.

So in order for the new device to get a working grub boot system can I proceed
as follows?

1) Install a desktop Ubuntu from a source usb iso file after making it possible
to boot from USB in BIOS. Probably booting a Ventoy USB drive and then select
the server iso for final installation.

I assume that I will be able during that installation to limit the size of the
partition it will create on the drive and also that the installer will create
the necessary EFI/UEFI data on the disk for grub to work in a multi-boot
environment.
I basically want to have the drive initialized for multi-boot using UEFI and to
install Ubuntu desktop on a limited size partition, say 30 GB or so.

Can one select the desktop type during install? In that case I want a basic
GNOME type desktop. Or else Cinnamon.
Can the desktop type be changed later on?

2) Next, after starting Ubuntu Desktop I want to copy the partitions holding my
newly upgraded Ubuntu Server 24.04.1 to the NUC drive. I will attach the backup
drive from the current device via USB2.
There are several partitions involved: system root, home, svn-data and possibly
one more.

After this the drive should contain 2 Ubuntu systems both at 24.04.1 level:
- the newly installed desktop
- the copied server from the now running machine

QUESTION:
---------
How do I make the copied server visible on the boot menu?
It has settings on fstab which connects the home and svndata partitions via
their respective UUID:s, so since they are also copied over I believe all will
be properly connected after server boot.

If I did the partition copy using GParted in the desktop Ubuntu just installed,
then when done can I simply run this to get grub to work:

$ sudo update-grub 
$ reboot

And now there will hopefully be two ubuntus to select from on the boot menu.

Note:
I need the server operating system to boot after a 5s timeout on the boot menu,
because this device will be headless once built. Access to the Desktop Ubuntu
will be via VNC (TigerVNC).

But during installation I will have a monitor and keyboard attached.

If this works then I do not have to bother with why the grub menu is such a mess
in the current system. I assume that a newly installed Ubuntu will set it up
correctly for multi-boot...

Any suggestions, please?


-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden