Windows 7 won't boot after Ubuntu Linux Install

Question

I installed Ubuntu on a free partion on a computer which had Windows 7 installed first, and Windows 7 won't boot. Usually installing linux after windows is recommended, but Windows 7 complains about there being a problem with its boot process.

How do I repair Windows 7 to boot correctly while maintaining grub to boot Ubuntu?

Answer 1

Windows 7 likes to be the main OS on a dual boot system. Your boot manager is the problem. Either use the Windows CD or your Ubuntu CD to go and rebuild your boot manager.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Use Seven recovery disk to repair MBR, then you could repair GRUB.

Answer 3

Results may vary. Using GParted I resized my windows partition (C:\ - /dev/sda2). I also moved it to the end of the drive. I then resized my "windows-boot" partition (/dev/sda1). The one that Windows 7 made during install. I don't remember why I resized this partition, but I did.

And then I proceeded to install Ubuntu 9.10 with one swap partition and one ext4 partition for root. Both of these together used up the space on my harddrive between my windows partitions.

Finally, when I tried to boot into windows, I got the error message that I believe you are describing. Unfortunately I cannot recall its exact wording. I simply put the Windows 7 CD in as it requested, booted with it, and followed the on-screen instructions to run the repair. After doing so I still had grub, Linux and Windows both worked.

Answer 4

We have a similar problem, only with Windows Vista and Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu 9.10).

We had Debian Lenny installed on our laptop, along with the original Vista installation, without these problems before. After frustrations with hardware incompatibility, we decided to give Linux Mint a try. This fixed most of the hardware issues. Unfortunately, Vista said something to the effect that recent hardware or software changes has caused problems. We tried the restoring Windows to an earlier restore point option, and that works occasionally, but the problem comes back upon reboot, whether we use Linux in between that time or not. We tried using the system restore disk option. That worked also, but again the problem comes back upon reboot.

So, how exactly do I "rebuild my boot manager"? (simple, step-by-step instructions that don't make assumptions of any preexisting knowledge would be nice.)

Thanks!

Answer 5

You can use the windows 7 cd and go to Repair, then go to Command Prompt.

If your windows is in your C: drive, You can enter these commands

"bootsect /nt60 C: /mbr" and hit enter

or

"bootsect /nt60 SYS" if you're unsure of which disk has windows in it. This command will search for the system files.

After you're done, type exit. Then reboot the computer. It should reinstall the NTLDR which is the bootloader for windows.

Answer 6

I just entered "bootsect /nt60 C: /mbr" and hit enter, now I have no grub or anything, just a blank screen with blinking prompt which before only happened when I tried booting windows after the ubuntu install.

Answer 7

I do not recommend using fixmbr! It has completely screwed up my partition tables multiple times in the past. That thing is awful. Why not just grab a new bootloader such as Lilo? This ships with Slackware, but should boot any kind of Linux or Windows.

Edit: Well I guess your thing worked. I've had a bad experience with Window's mbr fixing, though.

Good luck,

-Tom

Answer 8

Have a look at this article, it might help you.

Answer 9

This has been a known problem since MS Windows 95.

There are step-by-step instructions here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

This will probably never be fixed as long as Bill Gates has anything to say about it. Mr. Gates will not allow Microsoft to fix it, as it would be contrary to his goal that he publicly announced in the mid 90's, which is to take over the entire computer industry (through any means, legal or illegal, ethical or unethical).

He just plain does not want you to install another OS on your computer.

--Steve