Grub broke Windows bootloader?

[N4RPS]

Hello!

I haven't had any luck with the 'boot repair' CDs. I usually just use an LL LiveCD, add the boot-repair PPA, install boot-repair, and run it from the Linux Live CD:

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && (boot-repair &)
The down side is that you lose the changes, since you can't write them back to the CD. Next time I need it, I think I'll install LL onto a big enough storage card, so that the changes stay there.

Since we're over 700MB now, perhaps boot-repair can be added to a future LiveCD release...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[rokytnji]

Here: The green button is working for me

http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/

or use wget

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http://iweb.dl.sourceforge.net/project/boot-repair-cd/boot-repair-disk-64bit.iso
My md5sum for the iso I downloaded before and burned a cd to was

9b01d5e16ca4e8c227b9382dc2519905  boot-repair-disk-64bit.i

I don't know if it will be good for the link I gave you till my download finishes in 30 minutes.
Don't procrastinate. It is just a wrench for a Linux tool box.
My md5sum is for the 64bit iso. Not the 32 bit one. I do not know the number for the 32bit one.
In case someone else wishes to post it.

Modify: Found it.

3d847e7b0a2703154eff21071a96e910  boot-repair-disk-32bit.iso

[Scott]

Hi Suburbandisposal

This Sourceforge link is working for me, post back if you're not able to get through.

http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair-cd/home/Home/

Scott

[suburbandisposal]

finally stopped being chicken long enough to try and download the dedicated boot repair live cd and wouldn't ya know it, the sourceforge link is dead on that howtogeek page

[rokytnji]

"I have access to the GRUB menu but my OS does not start" option is the accurate o

That would be what I would pick.

and as for "place grub into", is there anywhere in particular I should choose for that/avoid/leave it alone?

 If me. I would peruse the options presented and post back a screenshot when you get that far.
There should be some options you are not aware of yet because you have yet to boot the cd.

If I am not available. Maybe some other member can kick in here. I run my own shop so I am in and out
on forums from time to time. I try and be present but real world stuff keeps me busy also.

[suburbandisposal]

So I'm basically trying to convince grub to get my foot in the door then, got it. Also the "I have access to the GRUB menu but my OS does not start" option is the accurate one , is it safe to assume this is the correct option? Or is reinstalling GRUB all together better

and as for "place grub into", is there anywhere in particular I should choose for that/avoid/leave it alone?

thanks again for the info, I'm accident prone so I prefer to be over prepared if I can help it

[rokytnji]

is it a requirement that the PPA be added while running a live cd environment?

No. My grubrepair live cd was just boot and proceed with the repair. If I am understanding you right.
I never added the ppa and then install grubrepair through synaptic. I just bit the bullet and made a live cd.

I stumbled on this because of this
http://antix.freeforums.org/post37305.html#p37305
http://antix.freeforums.org/post37316.html#p37316


which caused me to burn the cd in the 1st place. AntiX had been using grub legacy till this new testing release when everything switched to grub2.
But the grub repair in AntiX was still for grub legacy through the Mepis Assistant. My job as a tester is to find out these things.
Anyways. After fixing AntiX boot. I was confronted with a Acer Aspire One zg5 I was mailing off to my father in law. It was dual booting
XP and MX-14. I deleted the MX-14 partition which of course broke grub on mbr because there was nothing to find.

I broke out the external dvdrw drive and used my grubrepair cd next.  Rebooted. Windows booted up like nothing had gone wrong.
I mailed that off and my father-in-law is a happy camper.

Same on that HP A350N Desktop I received. I had Puppy running on it to poke through Windows XP on it and was dualbooting with grub4dos
on it. I wanted to restore the Windows Bootloader on MBR and keep the Puppy on there and use a live cd to find the save files I made in Puppy.
That worked also. With that one. Windows would try to boot from the grub4dos menu. But would not make it. When I ran "FIXMBR" .
The error became corrupted mbr after that. I did not want to reinstall grub4dos because Windows would not boot with it.
So the grubrepair cd bailed me out of that corner also. Hence my original statement, "kinda sorta went through that".

I hope I understood your post OK. Happy Trails, Rok

Edit: in those images I show. Where it says the operating system I am using now under advanced options. You hit the drop down arrow to get to Windows.

[suburbandisposal]

@rokytnji
is it a requirement that the PPA be added while running a live cd environment? or can I just add it to my existing partition and be done with it. I'm assuming the article is written for someone who cant boot into anything at all and that's why it's suggesting making cd/usb? Not trying to be overbearing but there's a lot of music and video to be lost here so I'm trying to get my ducks in a row so to speak.
(not to mention I went out of my way to mod/theme windows and have had it the way I like for a few years now, so I guess I'm a bit attached. Not to mention passwords irresponsibly saved only on browsers and other such nonsense etc etc.)

and cheers on the new Dell, I've become quite resentful towards this ghastly CQ line by HP I'm near ready to throw it out a window. Here's to hoping the holidays might bring in some fresh tech that will undoubtedly have a linuxlite partition8)

[rokytnji]

is there an option on it to fix a Windows boot loader,

Yes. That is how I used it. I got rid of Grub on MBR and restored Windows  on front of MBR on Hard drive.




If you shoot yourself in the foot anyways. Here is Windows 7 recovery disc download
http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/
Here is Vista recovery disc download
https://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/
Here is XP recovery disk download
http://www.vista-xp.fr/forum/topic240.html >>>>>>requires google translate for the page if not knowing the french language.

And if still lost in the woods.  

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1014708

scroll down to

How to restore the Windows Vista or 7 bootloader

There. I hoped I covered all the bases. I'd fix Windows 1st. Then move on to fixing Dual boot after that.

[gold_finger]

@goldfinger.

My take on this thread was that when Windows was selected. Grub would point to Windows grub bootloader and Windows bootloader would take over from there. But. Windows would stop booting. Due to a malformed boot loader situation inside of Windows.

That's exactly what I was thinking too, but when OP sets the Win8 drive to boot from BIOS (instead of Mint drive) then it does boot correctly.  That's why I'm confused.  I would think that if the Win8 boot code was messed-up causing boot to fail when grub passes on to it, that it would also fail when BIOS set to the Win8 drive with that same code.  Am I wrong about that?  Doesn't make much sense to me to work one way and not the other, but I haven't messed around much with Windows in last 5 years -- so I could be wrong.

Edit:  Scratch everything I wrote above.  Got my posts mixed up.  Above applies to another post on a different forum.  Sorry.


@rokytnji,

Regarding Boot-Repair utility -- is there an option on it to fix a Windows boot loader, or to replace grub with Windows boot loader?  I've never used it myself, so not familiar with the options.  Like you said, the Windows boot code is messed up; so reinstalling grub won't fix that.  If OP has a Windows recovery DVD or something, that could be used.  Otherwise, I think running the

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sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdacommand will work.  Not 100% sure of that, but pretty sure.[/pre]

[rokytnji]

@goldfinger.

My take on this thread was that when Windows was selected. Grub would point to Windows grub bootloader and Windows bootloader would take over from there. But. Windows would stop booting. Due to a malformed boot loader situation inside of Windows.

That was what I ran into on 2 laptops. The repair live iso I recommended will put Windows Bootloader on the MBR of the hardrive.
Replacing grub. It won't touch /etc/default/grub or any other internals on Linux Lite.

Then reboot. It should boot into Windows only. That will fix the Windows Issue. Then a bootloader like was mentioned previously can be
tried again. Kinda like starting from scratch. I perceive The Windows install is what is priority here. Make sure it works.
Then move on from there. I did a FIXMBR in the recovery of Windows and ended up in the same situation with Windows not booting
afterwards. The live grub-repair iso fixed that.

At least that is my take in this thread. Now off to the off topic section to post about how I just played musical hard drives (swapping)
between my Linux Lite Compaq CQ57 Laptop and My newly arrived Dell E5500 laptop.

[gold_finger]

Can you still boot into the installed Linux Lite, or do you have to use the live CD?

Are you seeing a grub menu that offers choice of LL and Windows, but the Windows choice doesn't work?

Did you try running sudo update-grub once up and running in installed LL?

The only thing that sounds like it's messed up is the boot loader, so as long as you don't start deleting partitions, nothing bad should happen by you just booting into LL.  That won't affect the Windows partitions, assuming that they really are still on the drive and didn't get accidentally deleted during one of the install attempts.

Boot installed LL (or live CD if necessary), open a terminal and enter these commands:

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sudo os-prober
sudo parted -l(Last command ends with a lowercase letter "L".)

Copy entire output from terminal.  Hit the "Insert Code" button on the forum reply interface (top right, 3rd button in), then paste the output within the code box that appears.

[suburbandisposal]

thanks for the replies folks, sorry I haven't responded with an update sooner. I've been pretty apprehensive to attempt to remedy the situation since I assumed booting into either OS would be a risk.

I do indeed keep my handy LL live USB at my desk at all times in case anything happens, and indeed I do not have a spare external hard drive or a USB stick that can hold all of my media at hand. I'm a bit of a music junkie

once I look over these methods and get the courage to perform them I can certainly post back with the results, and if I don't report back well..I'm sure you can guess my demise

[gold_finger]

suburbandisposal,

I'm assuming you can still boot into your installed Linux Lite with instructions below.

Going to describe a method that might work to restore Windows booting.  If it does work to boot Windows, you will lose ability to boot LL, but should be able to use EasyBCD again to add back ability to boot LL.  If it doesn't work, you won't be able to boot into either of them and you'll need to repair booting to LL.  You can install Boot-Repair to your live LL installation CD/USB and use that to repair booting if that happens.

*  Make sure you still have a bootable LL installation disk handy in case ability to boot into both Windows and LL is lost.

*  Make backups of any important data on both LL and Windows partitions before proceeding, just in case something really gets messed up.  Should be able to copy off whatever you want from Windows partitions when using LL.  (If need help with that first, post back before proceeding.)

*  Boot into installed LL, open a terminal and enter following command to attempt fixing Windows boot:

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sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
*  Close terminal and reboot computer.

*  If lucky, Windows will boot and you can use EasyBCD to add LL back to boot menu.

*  If lose ability to boot either OS, use your live CD/USB to boot computer again.

*  Follow instructions (for Ubuntu 14.04) shown here to install Boot-Repair to the live environment and run the "Recommended Repair".  That should get LL system booting again.

*  Try looking on Windows 7 forum for other solution to repair Windows booting -- I don't know enough to advise further on that.

[rokytnji]

Having just gone through something kinda sorta similar.
The title of this thread should be.

Windows bootloader with my help broke Windows

How I fixed a broken Windows MBR

http://www.howtogeek.com/114884/how-to-repair-grub2-when-ubuntu-wont-boot/

I've repaired 2 Windows computers with that cd so far.

You can also download a dedicated Boot Repair live CD.

Then you can start over with Easybsd or grub4dos or lilo or whatever.