[Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

Aishuh · 2012-06-02 19:14:55

so I decided to install #! on my desktop, now that i got my laptop squared away.

I had ubuntu 12.04 dual boot with win7. I deleted the ubuntu partition with the windows disk management utility (as i dont know any other way to uninstall linux... seems a little hacky to me) and then rebooted using the win7 install cd to run bootrec.exe /fixmbr, then bootrec.exe /fixboot.

the uninstall of ubuntu went off fine, rebooted straight into win7 with no problems. I then downloaded the #! iso, burnt it to a disk and rebooted using the disk. after that i went through the #! gui installer.

heres where it started to go wrong i guess. it didn't seem to pick up win7, but since it left the win7 partitions without touching them figured grub would detect them later, and just proceeded with the install. the install finished without giving any errors or messages.

so when i took out cd and rebooted, grub didn't have anything but #! to choose from. I did get into #! alright, but then when i went to reboot (thinking it might auto fix the win7 detection) all it gives me is "GRUB loading." then under it theres a flashing underscore that keeps flashing forever. no harddrive noises from pc, and have let it run like this for a few hours, tried rebooting several times.

so situation now is i can't get into #! or win7 at all.

when i had got into #! on first reboot, I went into gparted and it gave a ! mark next to the windows partition. clicked, gave a bunch of errors at the bottom of which said to run the win7 install cd and do a chkdsk /f. that gives an error about write protection. tried doing a diskpart commands to take readonly off the disk, and though they say it doesn't have readonly on it and chkdsk /f does run now, it doesn't have any effect on letting me into #! or win7.

does anyone know how to fix this? i've got literally years worth of data on my win7 that i need to keep, as well as i'd like to be able to use my desktop... being that the #! install on my laptop went so smoothly i'm surprised the desktop install has gone this badly.

also sorry if its a bit rambly, wanted to say everything i did in case some of the smaller details were important.

Last edited by Aishuh (2012-06-03 16:48:30)

pidsley · 2012-06-02 19:26:33

Sorry to hear you had that kind of problem. Be patient; someone should come along shortly with a good solution for you. Did you have any backups? Do you have a backup USB drive? If nothing else comes along I could probably show you how to get your Win7 data off the machine, but hopefully there's a better solution, like reinstalling grub.

check out this topic: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … -via-grub/

Aishuh · 2012-06-02 19:40:31

followed that post, worked until the "sudo mount --bind" lines at which it kept giving "mount: mount point .... does not exist" errors. guessing thats why when i got to the grub-install line the command isn't found.

and not really worried about it getting done quick, faster replies on #! forums than anywhere i've tried smile

*edit* and no, no backups. ironically was going to backup right after i got the desktop tweaked like laptop.

Last edited by Aishuh (2012-06-02 19:42:35)

xaos52 · 2012-06-02 19:42:05

Lets see if we can get you in #! first:
I would try to re-install grub to the MBR, by booting from live media and then chrooting into #!:
See this wiki entry for instructions: http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/howto/r … ith_chroot

If you are then able to boot into #! on HD, run this in a terminal window

sudo update-grub

This should pick up your Win7 install.

Good luck.

Aishuh · 2012-06-02 19:50:18

tried that from the other forum link from pidsley... this is the results from the terminal

crunchbang@crunchbang:~$TARGE/media/sda1
baskL TARGE/media/sda1: No such file or directory
crunchbang@crunchbang:~$ TARGET=/media/sda1
crunchbang@crunchbang:~$ sudo mkdir -p $TARGET
crunchbang@crunchbang:~$ sudo mount /def/sda1 $TARGET
crunchbang@crunchbang:~$ sudo mount --bind /dev $TARGET/dev
mount: mount point /media/sda1/dev does not exist
crunchbang@crunchbang:~$ sudo mount --bind /dev/pts $TARGET/dev/pts
mount: mount point /media/sda1/dev/pts does not exist
crunchbang@crunchbang:~$

etc... the chroot line gave "no such file or directory, and grub-install gave command not found, same with update-grub

the updating / reinstalling grub does seem like a usable solution, just not sure why i cant get terminal to where the commands would work

excuse the errors in the terminal output, typed it by hand on an unfamiliar keyboard.

Last edited by Aishuh (2012-06-02 19:55:30)

xaos52 · 2012-06-02 19:58:40

Probably a typo in one of the commands.
Restart from the beginning and copy/paste the commands one by one.
If there is an error, stop and publish the command + the error - use copy/paste again.

Tuber · 2012-06-02 20:01:42

Download the Super Grub2 boot disk. It will show you your bootable partitions and let you boot into one directly from the CD.

I would recommend booting into #! and then running

sudo update-grub

to fix your grub issues.

I have also found that a new install of #! frequently fails to find the Win7 partition at first boot. But if you run the above command it fixes it.

Or if you think your grub is really hosed you could run

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

and substitute "/dev/sda" if that's not your boot drive.

xaos52 · 2012-06-02 20:02:44

Or, and that is more probable, sda1 is probably your windows install. You will have to replace sda1 in each command by the correct device.
After booting from live media, post output of

sudo fdisk -lu /dev/sda

pidsley · 2012-06-02 20:10:06

xaos, does it matter if he has boot and root on different partitions? I have boot on sda1 and root on sda6 and I get the same errors if I try to --bind /dev to sda1 (media/sda1/dev does not exist) unless I mount /dev/sda6. Then I can chroot, but it looks like /boot is empty (because it's on a different partition?)

(just trying to understand how this works)

Last edited by pidsley (2012-06-02 20:11:20)

wuxmedia · 2012-06-02 20:14:25

i had multiple probs a bit like this....
have a read through here it's a bit of a botch.. used grub4dos in the end.

i -did- have the same 'blinking cursor of death' as i said i got it all running ok, DONT PANIC you will get your data back, it hasn't gone anywhere its just in limbo...

PS chrooting is a bit tricky, but, i have followed xaos list of cmds to the letter (for this similar issue) didn't help...

good luck

wuxmedia · 2012-06-02 20:15:47

@pidsley as far as i understand it the MBR is reserved regardless of the partitions... i'm no expert

xaos52 · 2012-06-02 20:15:57

@pidsley You should replace sda1 with the device that holds the root partition of your #! install.
If you have boot on a separate partition, then you will have to mount the boot partition on /boot after you have chrooted.

Last edited by xaos52 (2012-06-02 20:16:34)

pidsley · 2012-06-02 20:17:04

^ OK thanks. Perhaps this should be added to the instructions (or is it obvious to everyone else?)

machinebacon · 2012-06-02 20:18:16

xaos52 wrote:

Probably a typo in one of the commands.

Definitely. I have tested your instructions before making the wiki and they work perfectly. It's just important to get the drives right (blkid or fdisk -l).

pidsley · 2012-06-02 20:19:25

^ or he has boot and root on different partitions...

xaos52 · 2012-06-02 20:21:49

Yes, I mention it before listing the commands, but perhaps it should be stressed more.
And the case of separate boot partition should be added too.

Aishuh · 2012-06-03 03:11:04

Apologies for the very slow response, I went to log onto forums on my desktop and since it was logged on laptop ended up getting a CAPTCHA, then every time i hit the link for login it'd send me to the Crunchbang main page. (Really long timer on that resetting i guess.)

Anyway, using the Grub boot CD and re-installing Grub solved it. Just updating Grub didn't work. Thanks goes out to all the people that helped.

I'll keep the Grub reinstall in mind for when I upgrade to crunchbang 11. (I'm sure i could use the testing version with minimal issues, I just have enough stuff that I still want to tweak. I'd rather get it all done and then move it over when it gets officially released.) smile

*edit* Not sure how to mark as solved, or if it needs to be. If it does, would someone do that? TY

Last edited by Aishuh (2012-06-03 03:14:02)

machinebacon · 2012-06-03 06:02:44

^ scroll up to your first post, hit edit, and add [solved] to the subject line, then submit.

Tuber · 2012-06-03 06:07:50

Aishuh wrote:

*edit* Not sure how to mark as solved, or if it needs to be. If it does, would someone do that? TY

Just edit your original post and put (Solved) in front of the title.

In other words, change the title to "(Solved) Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems" in your first post.

EDIT: Oops, too slow. sad

Last edited by Tuber (2012-06-03 06:08:27)

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#1 2012-06-02 19:14:55

[Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#2 2012-06-02 19:26:33

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#3 2012-06-02 19:40:31

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#4 2012-06-02 19:42:05

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#5 2012-06-02 19:50:18

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#6 2012-06-02 19:58:40

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#7 2012-06-02 20:01:42

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#8 2012-06-02 20:02:44

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#9 2012-06-02 20:10:06

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#10 2012-06-02 20:14:25

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#11 2012-06-02 20:15:47

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#12 2012-06-02 20:15:57

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#13 2012-06-02 20:17:04

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#14 2012-06-02 20:18:16

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#15 2012-06-02 20:19:25

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#16 2012-06-02 20:21:49

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#17 2012-06-03 03:11:04

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#18 2012-06-03 06:02:44

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

#19 2012-06-03 06:07:50

Re: [Solved] Dual boot install with Windows 7 causing problems

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