grub loader detects Windows 7 but would not boot it

[snitz2]

I have 2 HDDS.

1: SSD 240GB on which Windows 7 is installed
2: HDD 1TB for storage that I shrinked and created a separate 100GB partition from with swap.

I installed BackBox 4 on the 100GB parition while leaving the SSD and windows intact.

I installed BB's bootloader on Windows 7 recovery partition (I don't know if that was the correct choice)

Now on the boot menu, I get "Windows 7" option but when I select it, it just reloads the boot menu and asks me to choose again.
It won't let me into Windows.

/dev/sda4/: BackBox 4
/dev/sda3/: Swap
/dev/sda2/ Storage
-
/dev/sdb1/: Windows

I edit grub.cfg and replaced

menuentry 'Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows -

With /dev/sdb1/ and ran --sudo update-grub and restarted.

Still the same error.

I also tried adjusting the "hd0" to whatever number my HD has.

I tried from 0 to 3, none worked.


menuentry 'Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sdb1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-0886FE9886FE858A' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 0886FE9886FE858A
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0886FE9886FE858A
fi
parttool ${root} hidden-
chainloader +1
}

On windows partition it says "hd0.msdos1" while on the rest it says "msdos4"
Is it somehow related?

[yancek]

I installed BB's bootloader on Windows 7 recovery partition (I don't know if that was the correct choice)

Nope, definitely not. You might have overwritten some necessary information on that partition.
Use a terminal in Backbox and run this command as root user: fdisk -l(Lower case Letter L in the command) If that doesn't produce any results run: sudo fdisk -l
Post that output here as well as the output of: blkid or if that doesn't work: sudo blkid
That will give us some idea of which partitions are windows as well as their uuid.

[snitz2]

This is the output of "fdisk -l"


root@Base:/# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0e092a46

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 206848 3679698943 1839746048 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 3679700990 3698130678 9214844+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda4 3698130944 3907025475 104447266 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 3679700992 3698130678 9214843+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 240.1 GB, 240057409536 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 29185 cylinders, total 468862128 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6a33ae40

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 468858879 234428416 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT



And this is the output of "blkid"

root@Base:/# blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="System Reserved" UUID="0886FE9886FE858A" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="948CA6D08CA6AC64" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda4: UUID="3b8e1432-345b-4166-af34-90c550313950" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Windows" UUID="7C626A1E6269DE00" TYPE="ntfs"

[oldfred]

Moved to Other OS since not Ubuntu.

With two drives and installs on separate drives, you should have Windows boot loader on SSD and grub2's boot loader on the MBR of your hard drive.
You never install grub2's boot loader to a NTFS partition. Windows has essential boot info in the partition boot sector. Your probably cannot boot into recovery partition. But if you made the recovery set of DVDs already as recommended as soon as you start computer, then it does not matter. If not you may be able to use testdisk to restore a backup of the partition boot sector.

[snitz2]

Ok, so I understand there's no way to fix this.

At this point, I have made a backup of everything and I do not mind formatting and reinstalling Windows 7.
I just need it to be able to run Photoshop and Premiere.

My concern is Windows will overwrite ubuntu's grub loader and would not detected BackBox.

[oldfred]

If you want to be sure, you can always disconnect one drive and do an install to it. Then only connect the other drive and do an install to it.
Grub2 has os-prober which runs with sudo update-grub which when both drives are plugged in should find Windows.
But with the version you use, I do not know if all the software is there, with Ubuntu it rarely is an issue.

[grahammechanical]

For information: with Grub

hd0 = first hard disk. What Linux would call sda.
msdos1 = first partition.
msdos4 = fourth partition.

So, hd0,msdos1 = sda1 and hd0,msdos4 = sda4. Grub uses a different naming system to Linux.

Regards