Win7 fails to boot on a dual-boot system after partition move

[okok]

I have both windows 7 and ubuntu 12.04 (dual boot) on the same HD. I moved my windows 7 partition alightly to the "left" using GParted in order to solve a partition misalignment problem.

The operation was completed succesfully, but now when I choose windows7 from the grub menu, I get a a windows message saying "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause." It also says "the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible". It suggests that I boot from the windows installation DVD and choose "Repair your system".

When I choose Ubuntu from the grub menu it loads normally. I can also access the files on my NTFS (win7) partition. I don't think any information was lost there.

What would be the right way to fix the windows 7 boot problem? If I use the repair option from the windows DVD, is it likely to prevent me from loading ubuntu (and require fixing the grub menu)? Is there a risk it might harm with my linux partitions?

[Kalma]

Likely, grub is pointing to a different partition after moving them.

First, be sure the Windo$ partition is a Primary one, or it won't boot.

Second, try to reset grub, using:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub

If still not working, try this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[fantab]

What do you mean by " I moved my Windows7 partition to the left"? Did your action change the partition number?

Try from Terminal:

sudo update-grub

And try again to boot into Win7.

[Jonny87]

Try the following from your Ubuntu;

sudo update-grub

Then try booting Windows.

[okok]

Thank you all, but it is likely to assume that the problem is with grub if the message presented is a message of the winodws OS? The order of partitions didn't change, and it is the windows loader, not grub, that gives the error message and can't find what it is supposed to find.

What I meant by "moving the windows partition to the left" was this. My first partition is a small fat16 partition containing diagnostics utilities that came pre-installed with my computer. The next primary partition is the NTFS one on which windows is installed. Then I have a linux-swap and a linux partition. What I did was to shrink the fat16 partition from 100mb to 99mb and move the NTFS partition to the point where the fat16 partition ends so that there is no unused space between them. (Then I also expanded the linux swap, the 3rd partition, to fill up the small space created by moving the 2nd partition.)

[Kalma]

Sorry, I made a mistake when copying the command. The complete command is (assuming you have GRUB2):

sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

[okok]

As I suspected, updating/reconfiguring GRUB made no difference. The problem has nothing to do with grub, because the message I get is from the windows boot manager, not from grub, and thus belongs to the internal workings of the windows OS.

From what I read in other places, running "repair" from the windows 7 DVD is supposed to fix this. However, I am still no sure whether this may mess with my non-windows partitions, or with grub, and prevent me from loading ubuntu.

[Jonny87]

I'd still try updating grub if you haven't already. because yes, if you use the Win 7 recovery you will lose grub and have to reinstall it by booting to a live CD and issuing a series of commands to reinstall it which while it is possible, its just tedious and more time consuming especially if update grub happens to work.

If fix up the grub boot loader doesn't work then I would have to say use the Win7 Recovery to reinstall the windows boot loader.

[Jonny87]

As I suspected, updating/reconfiguring GRUB made no difference. The problem has nothing to do with grub, because the message I get is from the windows boot manager, not from grub, and thus belongs to the internal workings of the windows OS.

From what I read in other places, running "repair" from the windows 7 DVD is supposed to fix this. However, I am still no sure whether this may mess with my non-windows partitions, or with grub, and prevent me from loading ubuntu.

Ignore the first part of my last post sorry. Yes, the grub will be replaced. but it can be reinstalled from CD.

[Topsiho]

I think that it is Windows that is confused by the new HD situation that it finds when booting. You changed a partition, and Windows discovers it was changed and complains about it.

Not sure how to solve this, but in the future you can prevent this by applying changes to the partitions that Windows uses in Windows itself.

I read somewhere that possibly you should give Windows time to sort things out when booting Windows (probably it checks the disk, and this takes time).

Topsiho