Add grub menu for OS X

Question

I installed Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop on my MacBook Pro, and cannot boot OS X now. My disk partition table is:

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1         40    409639    409600   200M EFI System
/dev/sda2     409640 392401823 391992184 186.9G Apple HFS/HFS+
/dev/sda3  392402944 490233855  97830912  46.7G Linux filesystem

I added menuentry in /etc/grub.d/40_custom as follows:

menuentry "OS X" {
        insmod hfsplus
        set root=(hd0,gpt2)
        multiboot /boot
}

and run update-grub, then reboot.

Now I can see entry for "OS X", but when I choose it, it says:

error: disk 'hd0,gpt2' not found.
Press any key to continue...

How can I fix it?

Solution 1

Adding the following codes to /etc/grub.d/40_custom file worked fine for me:

menuentry "OS X" {
    insmod hfsplus
    search --set=root --file /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
    chainloader /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
}

and then running

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Tested on iMac 17,1 (Macbook retina late 2015), Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Mac OS El Captain

Solution 2

Make sure, that the following command lists a /boot/efi partition: cat /etc/fstab If /boot/efi is not present, you will not be able to boot into Mac OS X, if it exists you have to add the menu entry in grub like this:

1. Open the file /etc/grub.d/40_custom with your favorite text editor as root. Example with the terminal: gksudo gedit /etc/grub.d/40_custom or sudo vi /etc/grub.d/40_custom

2. Then add the following lines at the end of the file:

   menuentry "MacOSX" {
     # Search the root device for Mac OS X's loader.
     search --file --no-floppy --set=root /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
     # chainload the loader, pass parameters like -v directly
     chainloader (${root})/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi #-v
   }
   

3. Save and quit

4. Update the grub configuration like this: sudo update-grub

I answered step by step so anyone who finds this answer can easily reproduce the steps. This was tested on Ubuntu 16.04 with Ubuntu installed in EFI-mode. Mac OS X: El Capitan, Mac mini.

Comments

[oldfred]

Did you install in EFI boot mode? askubuntu.com/questions/732611/…

[Rod Smith]

To elaborate: If GRUB is in EFI mode, it should be able to boot to OS X by launching the OS X boot loader, but the GRUB stanza you presented will not do that. Typing sudo update-grub should detect the OS X boot loader and add it automatically, but this seems to fail sometimes. Many Mac users prefer using my rEFInd boot manager to manage the boot process, rather than GRUB.

[soywod]

Worked like a charm for me, macOS Sierra v10.12.3, MacBook Pro Retina 15"

[Thomas]

This stopped working after a High Sierra upgrade. Now I get a prohibitory sign. I also tried a different path/file : /com.apple.boot.S/boot.efi but unfortunately that does not change anything (why this file? Because the timestamp on this boot.efi corresponds to my high sierra upgrade). There is something missing but I dunno what. In the mean time for desperate people, you can still boot MacOS via the Option key. After the Mac Sound, press option key until a menu appears, select "Macintosh HD" and your crappy high sierra will start. Unfortunate that the GRUB option stopped working.

[PapaSloth]

High Sierra uses APFS on SSDs by default. You might need to find apfs.efi online and add it to /boot/grub/x86_64-efi or wherever your other .mods or .efis are.

[Pablo Bianchi]

Could you please add more information about what is done on each step and why is necessary?