-1

I realise this sounds like an extract from "thedailywtf" but hopefully someone can point me the right way here. I would like to know if I have any way of getting back at my Windows 7 install.


Summary: I had Windows 7 Ultimate running. The primary partition was encrypted using TrueCrypt.

There was also a logical partition D: drive

I partitioned the D: drive to create F: as a primary partition, with 40GB for the purpose of installing Windows 8 preview.

Went ahead and installed windows 8...

Booted up, logged into W8 no problem.

However now I don't get the option to load windows 7, either using the Windows 8 "Choose Operating System" screen, or selecting O/S


Of course I realise now that I should have decrypted my original C: (possibly removed TrueCrypt) first on Windows 7 before doing any of this...

The bottom line is now I cannot get into Windows 7 at all now. I suspect this is because the W8 installation installed over the bootmgr on the encrypted drive. Now I can't of course use the encrypted drive through Windows 8.

Do I have any way around this?

I attach a screen shot of what I see in Windows 8 using BCD Editor. I have also tried EasyBSD... no joy. I also installed TrueCrypt on Windows 8 to see if I could mount the original Windows 7 partition, but I can't.

I have my Windows 7 install cd, but not the TrueCrypt restore.

Thanks very much in advance for any assistance here.

enter image description here

enter image description here

Edit/update: By miracle I found the truecrypt rescue CD. Booted off it, and managed to get into the Repair Options. I have selected "Permanently decrypt system partition/drive". This should allow me to make the change I need to launch Win 7.

1
  • All you can do is attempt to use the recovery console for Windows 7.
    – Ramhound
    Jun 14, 2012 at 11:07

1 Answer 1

1

The reason you can't get into your Windows 7 partition is because the Windows 8 installer overwrote the TrueCrypt bootloader. You were right to then use your rescue CD as it contains the bootloader code which can detect and mount your encrypted 7 install, but what you really want to do is reinstall the TrueCrypt bootloader and set up chain loading, so you can exit the TrueCrypt prompt and go on to boot the Windows 8 installation.

This can be achieved using something like Grub4DOS.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .