[Boot-Repair] Graphical tool to repair the PC boot in one click

[wilburdee]

Was dual booting Win 7 & Ubuntu when an Ubuntu update made Ubuntu unable to boot.
Could still boot into Win 7.
I used YannBuntu's Boot-Repair-Disk to fix Ubuntu boot problems(which it did,very nicely).
So now I can boot into Ubuntu but not into Win 7.
I have run Win 7 Repair Disk to try to fix this problem but it does not work.
I know you linux guys will tell me that it's a good thing that I can boot into the CORRECT OS, but,
as a linux newbie, I still really need Windows.
Hope you can help.
thanks.
i did the grub update & still no luck booting into windows.
windows starts to load, but after 10 seconds, I'm back at the grub menu.
Just to provide a little clarification - I've been dual booting Lin/Win for about 9 months now.
I originally set my computer up to use the EasyBCD boot menu so I didn't usually see the grub menu
until I selected Ubuntu from the EasyBCD boot menu.
When I couldn't boot into Ubuntu & I ran the Boot-Repair-Disk, then I could boot into Ubuntu, but not into Windows.
Not really sure, but I think my problem lies with some conflict between the 2 diff. bootloaders.

[oldfred]

Grub only boots working Windows.
But if Windows is repaired then grub should chain to the Windows boot loader & then Windows takes over & boots.
Did you hibernate Windows? That always causes issues in the chain boot somehow.

Post the link to the Summary Report from Boot-Repair. But seems more like Windows issues.

[wilburdee]

oldfred - here is the link to boot repair disc log: http://paste.ubuntu.com/10820280/
I don't think Win was hibernated.
I'll also point out that I used Win repair disc AFTER that report to try & fix Win mbr.

[oldfred]

Is sdg an internal drive. Windows only boots from Internal drives.

You should install a Windows boot loader to the MBR of drive that is sdg. You can use Windows or Boot-Repair will put a Windows like boot loader into the MBR to boot Windows.
Then you can directly boot Windows from BIOS or when working reset BIOS to boot Ubuntu.
Grub will still boot Ubuntu in sdg5 from any of the other MBRs.

But I prefer when you have multiple drives, to have Windows & its boot loader on one drive and Ubuntu and grub boot loader on another drive.

[wilburdee]

oldfred - I have 2 internal hard drives. sda is a 1Tb data only drive. sdg is a 320Gb internal drive that has Win7 & Linux on it.
Win partition is about 70Gb & 3 linux partitions are 12Gb /root, 12Gb home, & 4Gb swap. Remainder of drive was previously a
data partition but is now unallocated space. What I want to do is to put Win7 on a 120Gb SSD & then use sdg as my linux drive with the rest of sdg used as a data partition.
How do I go about putting a Windows boot loader onto sdg. I currently can't get into Windows & nothing I have tried seems to work.
Reason I want to put Windows boot loader onto sdg is so I can 'get into' Windows & then once Windows is working again I will migrate it to my new 120Gb SSD.
I hope this makes sense to you & I really thank you for your responses & your patience.
Jim

[oldfred]

Boot-Repair's advanced mode will let you choose an operating system and which drive to install a boot loader into. Or you can use your Windows repairCD or flash drive.

With multiple drives do not run Boot-Repair's auto fix. That always installs grub to the MBR of every drive. And if Windows is on a different drive you want to keep the Windows boot loader on that drive.
How to restore the Ubuntu/XP/Vista/7 bootloader
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...ta/7Bootloader

[wilburdee]

oldfred - thanks for this info, it will be very useful. I finally managed to gain access to my Windows OS by using it's Repair CD.
Now when I 1st boot up I get a Grub menu with Ubuntu as default & Windows as the last selection, & I am able to actually able to boot into either OS from Grub.
When I select Win 7 from Grub, I get to the EasyBCD menu, which has Win 7 as default & Ubuntu as a selection.
If I click on Win 7, I then boot into Win 7.
If I click on Ubuntu, I end up back at the Grub menu, & I can boot into Ubuntu from there.
I won't call this solved just yet, but I believe your post has pointed me in the right direction.
So I have some reading to do & then I think I can sort things out.
Again, thanks so much for your help.
Jim

[oldfred]

Better to use grub2 or EasyBCD as main boot manager or menu.
But even with EasyBCD you have to have grub as a boot loader. And Easy forces you to install grub to the partition boot sector. If you have grub in both MBR & partition, after an update only one may work? Not sure where or which location grub may reinstall into.

This may show either the drive or the partition.
#To see what drive grub2 uses see this line - grub-pc/install_devices:
sudo debconf-show grub-pc # for BIOS with grub-pc
It will show drive model & serial number
to see drive info
sudo lshw -C Disk -short


#to get grub2 to remember where to reinstall on updates:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc or dpkg-reconfigure grub-efi-amd64
#Enter thru first pages,spacebar to choose/unchoose drive, enter to accept, do not choose partitions
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2189643

[wilburdee]

oldfred - thanks again for all the help.
Using your replies as a guide, I finally got everything fixed & set up the way I wanted.
You may consider this thread solved & close it.

[paul210]

Hello,
I'm trying to install Ububtu 14.04 on a USB stick (full install, NOT live, encrypted)
I did this a month ago and everything worked fine.
Yesterday I tried for a new one but the USB stick does NOT boot.
The installation procedure generates no errors.
I tried on two PCs (both install and boot) that I used to create the working USB I made one month ago.
I used the same type of USB (Sandisk 32 GB 3.0) as before
I also tried Boot Repar (result here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/11461929/) with no result.
I made different tests (with or without enctryption): same problem !
Help !!

Thanks