Can't start Win7 in dual boot

[beew]

Wubi is not a dual boot. Just saying. I can't solve your problem as I don't know anything about Wubi, but I would suggest that you uninstall Wubi the minute you get windows running and install Ubuntu in a real partition if you desire a genuine dual boot.

[Telos3K]

In windows, after OK I get > system recovery option > select keyboard input method > Next > startup repair

which returns a message saying that Windows cannot repair the problem. I click OK and the machine shuts down.

If reinstalling everything is what I have to do, Im willing do to that (and as a real dual boot with a partition), but having spent a couple of weeks in a rough march up the learning curve, what can I do to make it easier the second time around? One problem is that while almost all of my data is backed up, my OS (including root.disk) is not. But can I even use root.disk if I'm not using wubi?

Suppose I just figure out a way to migrate over the last legacy apps from windows, and never go into windows? Or is wubi inherently more unstable than a dual boot, so I might as well get it over with?

[bcbc]

Why did you add the /host mount for /dev/sda2 in /etc/fstab? This happens automatically with wubi and it's set to sync writes immediately - to limit damage in the event of hard crashes. I'm not even sure you can override /host in this manner, but I'm curious what the reason was for adding it.

by the way, you can always access the root.disk from a live CD and copy data off it if you need to. The wubi guide shows how to loop mount it.

[Telos3K]

If I somehow managed to add a host/ mount I shouldn't have, it was in the beginning, when I was even more lost and under the impression that the way to access my Windows files from Ubuntu was via NTFS config. (Now of course, I just go in through DATA.)

I'm basically now seeing this as a straight wubi to partition migration, will review the docs and yell if (when) I need help....

[bcbc]

Here's a howto on migrating wubi: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1519354

[Telos3K]

This is very helpful -- but given that my windows is corrupted, will I be able to do the whole thing (including partitioning) from the LiveCD (it appears so...) and then reinstall Windows without damaging the Ubuntu side of the partition (given some discussion of how Windows installs can wipe out hard disks.....)