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this is what just happned. I was talking with my girlfriend on Skype, trying to save her old computer. Basically, she had Windows installed and it didn't boot anymore. Also not in SafeBoot mode. Her computer didn't react to her CD-Drives, which is why we couldn't reinstall it.

So, I asked her to use a Linux Mint Live USB Thumb Drive to check if it boots. Basically I wanted to check if the computer still works. Linux started just fine.

Okay, here's the tricky part. My plan was to install Linux Mint on this computer. Download Windows with it and put the iso per dd on the thumb drive we've used to install Mint with.

But this is what happened and keep in mind, I have walked her through the steps in Skype. I didn't see the system and she chose to install the system in Russian and I gave her the walkthrough in English, so she might have chosen the wrong option. But I don't know which one could have been wrong.

She had Linux Mint running via Live System, got the option of installing it side by side with Windows, but chose to delete it instead. The installation ran through, I saw the installation bar filling through Skype. And when it was done, she told me it said successful and restart. She did restart, but not remove the flash drive and therefore it started into live mode again. I told her to turn the computer off, remove the flash drive and Windows was starting again. Nothing was deleted.

And I don't get what just happened. Can somebody tell me how this could have been. I am not looking for the exact explanation, only one that would make this reasonable. Because it looks completely random, almost magic to me. And therefore I am quite startled.

UPDATE: Grub wasn't installed. The hard drive owns just one partition. The one with Windows.

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  • UPDATE: I don't have any access more to the computer. Since I need my girlfriend to help me out. It is a country away. And she's kind of content with 'it's working again'. I have tried to reproduce this inside a virtual machine without any success. I guess I need to accept this as unsolvable.
    – TheCommoner282
    Jun 14, 2015 at 10:52

2 Answers 2

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Sounds like grub (the linux bootloader got hosed OR it chainload-ed.

Did Windows load up with the usual routine or with something like enter image description here

If like in the picture you chainload-ed and Both OSes are still useable and boot-able if the former case (booted into windows normally) your girlfriend never installed the boot loader (system is still installed but the boot loader was never installed you can use bcdedit (from windows to correct both entries) or from the mint usb chroot into the install and re-run update-grub

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  • Can you explain how to accomplish these solutions? If anyone already knows how to do it, they don't need this answer. Thanks.
    – fixer1234
    Jun 6, 2015 at 17:35
  • Grub isn't installed, strangely enough. Should be automatically installed in /dev/sda I guess. But she didn't relate any question about it to me. And also, we chose 'erase and use the whole disk'. If there is only one disk present, I think there is no inquiry...
    – TheCommoner282
    Jun 6, 2015 at 18:03
  • @TheCommoner282, run the linux mint live and run the last command I gave in my answer the "sudo update-grub" from within a chroot environment (chroot is a CHangeROOT where you mount the partition(s) in play and mount it in a way much like the installer installs to the drive)
    – linuxdev2013
    Jun 6, 2015 at 21:56
  • I will try, but I don't think that's it, since there is only once partition on one hard drive on the computer.
    – TheCommoner282
    Jun 7, 2015 at 6:48
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Your windows is not responding because of your Windows GRUB is not working and without GRUB you can't boot, after installing the Linux Mint you installed the Linux GRUB so you are able to start your windows also "The best part of windows is it get detected in any GRUB" so, after installing the Mint OS your windows is also started.

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  • No, that can't be. No Grub is installed. Just one partition. Mint wasn't installed. I will update my question
    – TheCommoner282
    Jun 6, 2015 at 19:51
  • Mint OS was not installed but you followed some steps of installation.
    – K K
    Jun 6, 2015 at 22:12

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