Windows wont load after installing 9.10 as side by side

[KinKiac]

Hello everyone. I have run into a bit of a problem. I have been using Ubuntu since 9.04 without any major problems, nothing I couldnt fix. Then I upgraded to 9.10, again without any real problems.

However, this past weekend I decided to show Ubuntu to my dad on his home PC. He's always been open to Linux although hadnt really tried any of the newer distros, so I thought Id let him try Ubuntu.

We tried out the live cd which seemed to work fine, so I decided to do a full install for him. He already had windows vista installed on a single 200g drive so we had to select to install Ubuntu side by side windows, where Ubuntu resizes the partition and installs grub for a dual boot.

After install Ubuntu worked fine, although my dad only has dial-up where he is living and so couldnt update or connect to the internet. This wouldnt have been a problem, as I was able to download Keryx on my home PC and was going to get all his updates plus some other software.

Unfortunately today he went to go into windows and when he selects the windows loader from the grub menu he gets an error saying "error reading disk". He can see the windows partition in Ubuntu fine and can even mount it and get into all the files fine, just wont load windows.

Is there anyone out there who might know what went wrong and/or how I might try to fix it? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[cariboo]

I don't know if this will help, but try running:

sudo update-grub2

to see if that solves the problem.

[KinKiac]

Will this command work on his PC if he has no internet?

[jamesrfla]

Yes it will

[KinKiac]

Ok cool, Ill give that a try, thanks a lot guys!

[KinKiac]

Well guys.... it looks like we will never know if that simple update command would have worked on my Dad's PC. Unfortunately he is like me, and just cant leave stuff alone, lol. Since I found out about the issue earlier today he decided when he got home form work to try to fix the issue. However, he knows next to nothing about linux, so he tried fixing things the windows way. He decided, after I told him it probably wouldnt work, to run his PC recovery disks for windows. In doing so he first killed the ubuntu installation, and then it killed his windows too, formatting the drive and then only doing a partial recovery. Im assuming it ran into issues when the recovery disk figured out the partitioning table had changed and then couldnt read the rest of the disk, so it stopped giving the same error as before "error reading disk"

So, again thanks a lot for the help, but we arent going to be able to go any further with this. Its a good thing my dad didnt have anything too important on his PC that he cant get back, and is actually taking things quite gracefully. He is not turned off Ubuntu at all even though he lost some stuff and now has to reload everything. He's decided to leave the PC as is for now(I hope), until I can get over there on my days off on the weekend, and then Im going to re-install either XP or maybe windows 7 for him. Only this time I am going to create the Ubuntu partition BEFORE we install windows, that way we wont have to deal with any issues regarding the partitioning table or resizing the disk or anything that would cause an issue with his windows(he still needs it for certain programs, although Im hoping to change that.)

Thanks Guys!

[crosspicker]

I just wanted to jump in here and give you a quick heads up on installing Ubuntu first and then Windows, be aware that if you're not carefull windows will re-install the MBR, then you won't be able to boot into ubuntu until you reinstall GRUB.

Just in case you weren't prepared for this before you start.

[Mark Phelps]

OK, so the next time you try this, do NOT allow the Ubuntu installer to shrink the Windows 7 partition! This runs the risk of corrupting the OS partition such that it will no longer boot.

If you had used the Windows 7 disk management utility to shrink the partition and then used manual partitioning in the Ubuntu installer -- you would have a working dual-boot system now.

[kinmye]

Emm .. I am reading Mark advice too late.
I have already installed ubuntu, as kinkiac. And vista does not boot.
Any advice? Do you recommend
sudo update-grub2
Thanks a lot!

[kinmye]

Reading my post, I don't know if it is clear enough.

I had a computer with Vista.
I have installed ubuntu 9.10. I have selected the partition size from the the ubuntu installer (not using windows tools). And as a result, now I cannot boot vista.

I am considering to follow the information on here:

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD

Basically: burn a CD that boots vista and allows to reintall vista loader (MBR).
If I succeed, I will try to configure the vista loader (using information in linux partition, /boot/menu.lst ) or just delete de ubuntu partition and start again in the proper way.

Thank you!