Member Avatar for zalax

Have a Toshiba Satellite Pro, that had a dual boot (WIN 7, and WIN 10 Tech preview). Setup a separate partition called Unbuntu, and installed Unbuntu 14, on that partition. Now Unbuntu boots first to a Grub menu (I’m a newb Linux user), and it gives me choices, see below

The menu looks like this:
Ubuntu with Linux 14.0 generic
Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/SDA1
Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/SDA2
Memory test (memtest86+)
Memory test (memtest86+, serial console)

If I pick the first Windows loader (SDA1), I get the Windows Boot Loader, with choices for Win 7, and Win 10 tech preview. Win 10 load perfectly, but if I pick Windows 7, I get the Windows splash screen, then my computer shuts down, and reboots to Grub. If I pick the 2nd Win 7 loader (SDA2), neither one works. I know I didn’t overwrite the Win 7 OS, because I can see all files, etc, in either Ubuntu, or Win 10. I really need to get Win 7 back on its feet.
Any help is appreciated

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Little Relhok1

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Short expert summary and a safe plan of attack: because GRUB shows the Windows Boot Manager and Windows 10 boots while Windows 7 does not, the fault is much more likely to be the Windows boot store / boot sector or a firmware-mode mismatch (UEFI vs legacy) than GRUB itself. was right that GRUB can be a factor, and pointed you toward Boot-Repair — but since you say GRUB2 was freshly installed, first confirm firmware mode and where Windows actually keeps its boot files. See how Ubuntu/GRUB treat UEFI vs BIOS and chainloading. (askubuntu.com)

Quick checks to run from a working Ubuntu session or a Live USB (identify partitions, then inspect the system/EFI partition):

sudo lsblk -f
sudo fdisk -l
[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "UEFI" || echo "BIOS"
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/winboot && sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/winboot && ls -la /mnt/winboot
# look for /mnt/winboot/bootmgr, /mnt/winboot/Boot/BCD or /mnt/winboot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

If you prefer a one-click start, create a Boot-Repair live USB and run the Recommended repair (it also generates a BootInfo summary which is very useful to paste in follow-ups). Boot-Repair is the standard rescue tool for these mixed-boot problems. (sourceforge.net)

If Boot-Repair does not solve it, repair the Windows boot store from Windows Recovery Environment (or WinPE). Typical sequence (from WinRE admin prompt) is to back up the BCD, run Bootrec to fix MBR/boot sector and rebuild BCD, or use BCDBoot to recreate EFI boot files if Windows is UEFI-installed. Back up first (bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup) and then follow the Microsoft Recovery workflow. Be careful: bootrec and MBR repairs apply to legacy/MBR setups, while bcdboot/ESP edits are the right path for UEFI systems. (support.microsoft.com)

Priority: gather and post the Boot-Repair BootInfo summary and a short sudo lsblk -f output if further help is needed. That will show whether GRUB is pointing at the right partition and whether Windows 7’s BCD/boot files are present; avoid running MBR fixes on an EFI system until you confirm the firmware mode. Also note ’s WinPE/bcdedit/bootrec hint — that is exactly the Windows-side path to follow after the Linux-side inspection.

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Member Avatar for Slavi

try upgrading your grub or repair it

Member Avatar for JorgeM

What are you going to do with the system when you are done with the tech preview? This multi-boot option is really a legacy approach to having more than one system installed on your computer.

You should consider virtualization. Products like virtualBox or VMWare allow you to run virtual machines (VMs) on your host computer. One benefit is that when you are done with a VM just delete the 1-5 files associated. No more partitioning or boot loaders.

Another great benefit is that, assuming enough computing resources, you can run all three operating systems at the same time and they can all interact with each other or you can keep them isolated from each other. Another great thing is that these VM applications are free.

I can't think of any benefits to setting up a multi-boot system. It's complicated and painful to make changes on the host computer.

In your case, I recommend you pick your favorite OS either windows or Linux, run that on your hardware, install virtualBox and then create all of the VMs you wish.

Member Avatar for zalax

JorgeM, Thank you for responding to my post. I have used virtual machines almost since their inception, in fact have Windows 3.1 on one virtual machine, it truly is the way to go, What I should have said, was this is an academic exercise mandated by my professor. As such, I specifically went to Daniweb and this forum (Linux and Unix) to get help. What I believe I got was a sermon. This is my fault for not explaining things better. Now with that said, can you help me solve this problem? More info, its NOT the grub loader, as my version 14.0 is using Grub2, fresh, ziplock fresh!--Thanx

Member Avatar for cgeier

Maybe next week's lesson from your professor is how to fix it?

You might try researching the following:
-WinPE
-bcdedit
-bootrec

Edited by cgeier
Member Avatar for Little Relhok1

I have a dual boot on my Toshiba with Kali & Windows 8.1. I was playing around with the partitions and corrupted grub so it only booted to Windows. ( No more Linux!). I repaired grub and now, I have both back. Check out this site. it worked for me. Hope this helps

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