Trying to Restore Windows Boot after Dual Booting

[oldfred]

Better to just copy & paste terminal output into Forum's Go Advanced editor and add Code Tags with # icon to preserve formatting.

Windows Boot Manager VenHw

When you see an UEFI boot entry with the VenHw type entry, that seems to be from a drive that was disconnected.
Most UEFI systems, seem to find the ESP & add a Windows UEFI entry. They never add a Linux boot entry.

Did you run the efibootmgr command to add a Windows entry as in post #2?
It should look like this, but have the GUID/partUUID of your ESP.

Windows Boot Manager    HD(1,GPT,c3b854b4-f01c-485b-83b8-915bbbe8750c,0x800,0x64000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.

[tea for one]

I will point out that I am fairly certain windows is NOT on the Samsung SSD (nor has it ever been). That's just a hard drive I have for extra storage. I am pretty sure that my Windows OS is on the Seagate FireCuda SSHD.

This implies that Windows was installed in Legacy mode because dev/sda does not have an ESP.
Line 6 of the boot-repair report states "Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda."
As I mentioned previously, boot-repair found 0 (zero) OS, therefore we are still trying to discover exact details.

The boot problem may have presented itself because you tried to install Ubuntu in UEFI mode on your nvme disk.
Mixed mode dual boot systems should be avoided.

Boot into a "Try Ubuntu" live session and backup your Windows and Ubuntu data.
Power off the PC
Remove the nvme (extra storage) SSD and other peripheral devices.
Does Windows boot?
Which version of Windows is installed?

[oldfred]

You show your Windows boot file in your NVMe drive which is the Samsung.
Line 39 & 46
nvme0n1p4 /Windows/System32/winload.exe

Not sure how you got a grub.cfg in nvme0n1p4 and that should not happen.

I believe syslinux can boot UEFI, but you have it in the MBR & partition boot sector of nvme0n1p5. That would normally be a BIOS boot entry.
Have not seen this before, but not familiar with syslinux anymore.

The integrity check of the ADV area failed.

[mlloyd22]

Oldfred,

I did run the efibootmgr command in post #2. I am beginning to wonder if I was wrong and my operating system was originally on the samsung SSD. I took out all my drives from my PC and to my surprise when I took out my samsung SSD, I wasn't even able to load up Ubuntu. I am sorry I am not able to give accurate information, know that I am trying and genuinely appreciate your help.

[mlloyd22]

Tea for one,

This afternoon I tried removing my samsung SSD while leaving only the Seagate FireCuda. Windows did not boot. Without the samsung SSD, I wasn't even able to "Try Ubuntu" which surprised me as I thought the Ubuntu partition was on the Seagate... Right now I've got the SSD in and Windows still won't boot, which isn't a surprise considering you identified there's no OS on the samsung ssd. I will admit I am having trouble following some of the lingo in this thread. I apologize if I am not giving enough helpful info, like I said earlier I am growing painfully aware that I bit off WAY more than I can chew. I really appreciate the help. Is there anything else you can think of for me to do?

[oldfred]

I know when you remove external drives that have an UEFI boot entry, UEFI removes or changes the entry.
So you may have to reinstall grub and Windows boot loaders into UEFI when you reinstall drive.

[mlloyd22]

Tea for one,

To answer your previous question, my PC was running windows 10.

Oldfred,

I ran the command on post #2 on this thread on nvme0n1p4, which I think accomplishes "reinstall grub and Windows boot loaders into UEFI" from post #16. It didn't seem to work.

Oldfred and Tea for one,

It seems like we've tried a lot and now a few changes have been made. Are there any commands that I should run/rerun in the terminal to give both of you the most amount of helpful information to what my drives currently look like? I feel like I am not giving either of you adequate info, which is just plain rude considering all the help you're giving!

I am not sure if this is relevant, but in the BIOS menu of my machine there are 3 blank entries... which weren't there before I got too big for my britches and wrecked my windows partition. It seems like we are successfully making new boot entries but not valid ones? At this point I am beginning to fear the worst. I'd even be willing to do a zoom conference with one of you for live support as crazy as that is to ask two total strangers. Let me know how I can help you help me. Again, thanks so much for all the continued effort. It's incredibly kind.

[tea for one]

You haven't yet confirmed that you have data backups
This is your first priority.
Create an external bootable USB stick with Ubuntu 22.04 or 23.10.
Boot into a live "Try Ubuntu" session and back up your personal data.

[yancek]

Creating backups as suggested would be the absolutely necessary first step. You have some major problems which are going to be difficult to overcome. You seem to think you have installed Ubuntu on one of your drives but there is no indication in anything you posted or in the boot repair output indicating that is the case. The sdb entry would be the flash drive you are using with the Ubuntu install media.

You show Syslinux installed in the MBR of /dev/nvme0n1 and this drive is GPT so that will not boot windows and there is no Linux install so why that is there, I don't know.
Boot repair also shows Windows code is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda but that drive is also GPT so that won't boot windows. There is no efi partition on that drive which is extremely unusual for a windows install but you have 3 vfat partitions on the SSD?? No logical reason for that. You only need one efi partition for the computer and they are generally on the same physical drive on which the OS resides, particularly if you have a windows OS preinstalled in EFI mode. You also show nvme0n1p4 is a windows partition but it has grub files which have likely overwritten or at least corrupted the windows boot files. This may be what was your system partition for windows.

If your windows boot files are corrupted, you will need some windows software or an installation/repair DVD/USB to fix that problem. Were these two drives preinstalled with the computer when you purchased it?

[oldfred]

If you have made a lot of changes, best to see an updated Boot-Repair Summary Report.