Boot-Repair-tool for Ubuntu is Updated with Lots of New Features!

Boot-Repair is a bloody excellent little utility that lets you recover your boot-loader configuration (GRUB actually) related settings which seems to be pretty common with MS Windows 7 and Ubuntu users since when you do updates in MS Windows and if the OS core files are updated, then sometimes Windows just update/over-write (errrr :D) MBR thus breaking GRUB boot-loader files, completely or partially.

Although when it was released few months ago some of the advanced options were not shown to the Ubuntu users but I don't know when it happened, but the author has released a new version/updated of Boot-Repair which brings a lot of very useful, advanced features such as ...

*. A simple welcome screen from which now we can choose either:

1. "Recommended Repair": If you choose this option, then you don't have to do anything the Boot-Repair will take care everything for you.

From checking the partition to removing your current installed/broken GRUB to re-installing it... everything is automatic (few minutes ago I successfully reinstalled my GRUB and everything went really well, hey I'm still here!).

2. "Create a Bootinfo Summery": This is another very useful feature. For instance, say that you have a partially installed GRUB, wait!, what the heck does that mean!?

Well lets just say that you have a GRUB menu without anything but a blank screen .... and you went to an online community of Ubuntu experts and the geeks out there asked you whether you could give them a "log-file" related to your current GRUB settings or something similar.

Then you can use this second option that will create a full summary about your GRUB boot-loader and in my case it took like 40-50 seconds. Boot-Repair even uploaded that log-file in the Ubuntu Paste-Bin service which makes sharing it a breeze!.

But if you want additional controllability, then simply click on the "Advanced" button which will let you do things like...

*. Reinstall the GRUB (with or without replacing MBR).

*. Show/Hide the boot-menu after few seconds (that you can define manually).

*. Repair File Systems.

*. Install the GRUB loader into a different location (other than your MBR which is the default location) such as on the Ubuntu 11.04 partition, USB drives, etc.

Don't worry if you don't see your MS Widows 7 or Vista here since it only shows the OS that you're currently running...

*. Add additional initial boot-functions such as ACPI on/off, disable APIC, ATI Readon GPU related settings, etc.

Watch out for Pride! :P...

*. Enable/disable ATA disk support.

*. Restore the original MBR (the one that came with MS Windows which was there before you install Ubuntu). This however will only be available if it's not deleted by the Ubuntu OS installer.

*. Manually edit the GRUB file using a text editor (ahh, the good-old-days :D).

You can install Boot Repair in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, 10.10 and 10.04 by using the below three command in your Terminal window.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install boot-repair

After installing, you can run it by pressing "Alt" + "F2" keys and entering the below command.

boot-repair

Remember, I think before going into the advanced section, you should try the Recommended option that'll solve many known GRUB boot related problems with Ubuntu 11.04 and MS Windows 7/Vista, etc.

And lastly, please don't try to enable advanced Kernel settings (above mentioned ACPI, etc) unless you know what you're doing.

Update: You can also visit this new official Boot-Repair Ubuntu Wiki-page for more (thanks Yann for the update!).