Can't Boot Windows after dual-boot installation with Lubuntu

[arius88]

A bandmate recently gave me a computer with Windows 7 Professional (BIOS) on it. I need to keep Windows because a) my bandmate may want the machine back some day, and b) it contains the professional version of a recording program that he uses to record and mix our songs.

However, I prefer Linux, so I decided to turn the computer into a dual-boot machine. I was able to partition the drives and install Lubuntu. Lubuntu works great. However, now I can't boot into Windows. If I press F12 on startup, a menu comes up with an option to boot Windows 7. I click on it, and I get an error. "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause." It then prompts me to install a Windows installation disk, which I don't have. It gives me two other potentially useful pieces of information:

Status: 0xc0000225

Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

Obviously the Lubuntu install changed something that is causing Windows not to boot. But I have no idea what.


Q1: Any idea what's going on or how to fix it? Is there a way to undo this and get Windows back?
Q2: Can I acquire any old copy of a Windows 7 installation disk and use that to try to fix the issue, or does it have to be the exact system disk from the original install (which I am confident I will never be able to track down)?

Thank you for reading and any advice or ideas.

P.S. Edited to add that I googled the status error code thingy "0xc0000225" and this link came up: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...evice-variable. Looks useful but unfortunately I have no idea how to do any of it. It seems to assume I can load DOS or something and tells me to enter a bunch of commands... but how can i do that if i can't get Windows to load?

[oldfred]

Please copy & paste the pastebin link to the BootInfo summary report ( do not post report), do not run the auto fix till reviewed. Use often updated ppa version over somewhat older ISO with your USB installer or any working install.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair &
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

BIOS installs on one drive, only have one MBR for boot loader. So you now have grub as your boot loader.
If Windows is working, you should be able to boot Windows from grub, if both systems are installed in BIOS mode.
If Windows needs repairs, you need your Windows repair/recovery flash drive.
You may be able to temporarily install a Windows boot loader to MBR, fix Windows, then restore grub to MBR.

With dual boot systems, you need both a Windows repair flash drive and Ubuntu live installer for current versions of installed systems to make repairs.

[yancek]

The link below gives several options which you should be able to use to download and use a windows 7 recovery disk.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...f-32a0ff98d25d

The best way to get help is to use the boot repair tool suggested above, use the 2nd option explained on that page using the ppa and when you run boot repair, make certain to select the Create BootInfo Summary option and do not try any repairs. I'm guessing you installed Lubuntu UEFI in which case it will not boot a Legacy install of windows 7 (the default). If that is the case, you would need to reinstall Lubuntu in Legacy mode. The boot repair output will give this information.

[arius88]

Thanks for the responses. Ran the boot-repair thing Fred suggested!
Pastebin is here: https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/63yHTTwF58/

Did the suggested repair but upon reboot, the same error occurred. ("Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.")

Any thoughts on what I should do next?

[oldfred]

Grub only boots working Windows.
Windows in BIOS mode only boots from partition with boot files and boot flag, your sda1. But you have boot flag on sda4, so Windows fixes will not work. Move boot flag back to sda1, and then your Windows repairs may work.
Boot-Repair copied boot files to sda2, just as backup. Many users do not know Windows in BIOS mode has boot partition with boot files & delete it. Then very difficult to repair.

Boot-Repair used to have syslinux boot loader as option. That is a Windows type boot loader that uses boot flag & will boot Windows.
If in advanced mode you select the Windows install, and sda, it may offer to install syslinux boot loader. It only installs the part in MBR, not full syslinux configuration files. Boot flag still must be on sda1 first.
If Windows boots or needs repairs with F key, then reinstall grub with Boot-Repair's advanced mode, selecting Ubuntu and sda.

If Windows does not boot, then you have to use your Windows repair/recovery flash drive.

[arius88]

Thanks for your help, Fred. I have a lot of questions, mostly about your second paragraph. But it seems the first order of business is to move the boot flag from sda4 back to sda1. I found some instructions here: https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-set-o...-flag-on-linux. Will try that and report back.

[arius88]

Actually, before I start messing around with fdisk, l could use a bit of guidance. Mostly just want to confirm my action plan:

1. Move boot flag from sda4 to sda1 using fdisk
2. Reboot and see if that worked, or nah? I'm wondering if just moving the boot flag will fix everything, but I'm concerned that if it didn't work, then I won't be able to boot back into Lubuntu to do any further Boot Repairing. Should I move the boot flag and then run Boot-Repair before rebooting?
3. Use Boot-Repair in Advanced Mode to... a) select Windows install + sda(1, or 2?) b) er... after that, you lost me. Do I want to install syslinux boot loader? Is it a problem about the lack of full syslinux configuration files or whatever you said there? I apologize, but I really don't know what most of this means.
4. If windows boots or needs repairs with F key... not sure what this means. I also have no idea how to reinstall a gub, but am assuming Boot-Repair has an option for that.... but again, Ubuntu and sda what? I have four partitions: sda1, sda2, sda3, and sda4. The first one (sda1) is for windows system stuff (100MB); sda2 (265.5GB) is for windows storage; sda3 (512MB) is for Lubuntu system stuff; and sda4 (199.7GB) is for Lubuntu storage.

To be clear, I did not delete my Windows boot partition (sda1).

Thank you. Just want to make sure I don't mess up my system any further by doing the wrong stuff.

[oldfred]

Moving boot flag does not change grub. Grub does not use boot flag.
Windows & some older boot loaders like syslinux (generic MBR) use boot flag.

With MBR, only the code in the MBR controls booting. Or you can either have grub in MBR or Windows in MBR. Windows will not boot Linux, so you normally want grub in MBR as it can boot Windows, but only boots working Windows.
With newer UEFI, you can always boot either system from UEFI boot menu, but with BIOS, it only jumps to MBR and code in MBR then starts boot process.
The syslinux boot loader is a full boot loader, and uses boot flag. But you do only need the tiny part of syslinux that is in MBR, so system jumps to the partition with boot flag to find more boot code. So syslinux in MBR will boot Windows. If using syslinux with Linux install, you would need the rest of the configuration files.

Because you only have one MBR, you have to sometimes install Windows (or syslinux) boot loader to MBR to boot Windows & make repairs or turn off fast startup. Fast start up is a Windows default setting (since it is slooow). Windows will even turn it back on, with some updates. But fast start up sets hibernation flag & then the Linux NTFS driver will not use the partition to prevent damage to the NTFS partition. And then grub will not boot Windows and you have to put in the Windows type boot loader, fix Windows & restore grub.

Boot-Repair can restore grub. Its default fix is either update grub (menu) or reinstall grub. But you can use its advanced mode, choose an operating system and choose a drive to have it install a boot loader to MBR.
If Boot-Repair does not see the Windows install, then you have to use your Windows repair/recovery flash drive to repair Windows and/or install Windows boot loader.

I find it easier to move boot flag with gparted, but you can use any of many Linux tools or Windows to move boot flag. Some will remove boot flag when you add one to another partition. But I have seen some systems with two boot flags, so not all tools will remove the incorrect boot flag.

Boot-Repair Advanced mode screens
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

[arius88]

Thanks for explaining all that, Fred.

I am going to move that boot flag and then try using Boot-Repair in advanced mode.

Two quick questions before I do that:

1. What drive do I want to install the bootloader to MBR on - sda1?
2. Is that safe, or is there a risk of nuking whatever Windows 7 bootloader was on there before I did all this dual boot stuff in the process?

Update: I figured out how to turn on the sda1 boot flag in KDE partition manager, but now I have a 3rd question...

3. Is it a problem if there are 2 boot flags enabled? ie Should I turn off the boot flag on sda4, or can I leave that on and just turn on the one for sda1? (It's currently greyed out in KDE partition manager, so I'm not even sure if I actually CAN turn the boot flag off on sda4.)

[oldfred]

Only one boot flag per drive, otherwise mass confusion.

You always install grub (or Windows) boot loader to a drive like sda, never to a partition like sda1.
If you install grub to a NTFS partition you break Windows as it has essential boot info in the partition boot sector.

I thought these commands only allowed one boot flag.
set boot flag on for sda2 (off on others)
sudo sfdisk -A2 /dev/sda
sudo parted /dev/sda set 2 boot on

I used to use gparted, but I thought KDE was similar. But cannot easily see settings for flags in my copy.