Snippet: How to Create a Mac Boot Entry in Grub2

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.

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  • http://uxul.wordpress.com/ dasuxullebt

    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?

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien

      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.

      • Acidmtb

        I am running ubuntu on my 1st gen macbook and it works just fine. :)

  • http://uxul.wordpress.com/ dasuxullebt

    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?

    • http://maketecheasier.com Damien

      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.

  • johnnyhamer at yahoo

    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

  • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

    Try the following command in your terminal:

    sudo update-grub

  • johnnyhamer at yahoo

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

  • erghezi

    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?

  • Wouter2512

    It load Chameleon fine but that fails to load Snow Leopard.

  • Acidmtb

    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?

  • Alexey Kuznetsov

    how to build grub2 on mac os x?

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