How to Fix GRUB Boot Issues on AlmaLinux (BIOS & UEFI) Without Losing Your Data
Introduction
If your AlmaLinux VPS fails to boot — showing a black screen, stuck at grubrescue>, or errors like no such device, not found or unknown filesystem — the GRUB bootloader might be broken or misconfigured.
This guide will help you reinstall GRUB from Rescue Mode, whether your VPS uses BIOS (Legacy) or UEFI.
Before You Begin
Log in to SolusVM
To access Rescue Mode or the console, first log in to SolusVM:
🔗 How to manage your KVM VPS via SolusVM
Backup Your Data
Some steps below modify your system disk — including filesystem checks, GRUB reinstallation, or kernel reconfiguration. Always back up your VPS beforehand to avoid data loss:
🔗 How to use Rescue Mode in SolusVM
Step 1: Boot into Rescue Mode
-
From SolusVM, enable Rescue Mode
-
-
Reboot the VPS
-
Open VNC or Console
-
At the rescue shell prompt, choose Skip when asked to mount the system automatically
Step 2: Check Your Boot Mode (BIOS vs UEFI)
bootctl status
-
If it shows Not booted with EFI → the system uses BIOS (Legacy)
-
If it shows UEFI firmware info → the system uses UEFI
Step 3: Reinstall GRUB
1. Identify the root partition
lsblk
Look for the disk with your Linux system (e.g., /dev/vda1)
2. Mount and chroot into the system
mount /dev/vda1 /mnt mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt
You may ignore any setlocale warnings.
3. Reinstall GRUB
For BIOS (Legacy Boot)
grub2-install /dev/vda grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
For UEFI Boot
grub2-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=almalinux --recheck grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/almalinux/grub.cfg
4. Exit rescue mode and reboot
exit reboot
Conclusion
Once you’ve completed the above steps, your AlmaLinux VPS should be able to boot normally. If the system still fails to boot, check:
-
Whether the correct partition was mounted
-
If the boot entry exists (efibootmgr)
-
Disk integrity using fsck
