Windows partition will not boot after Linux installation.

**cohen990** · 10-31-2012

I installed linux mint 13 on my laptop and now my windows partition won't boot. On the grub boot menu I choose Windows 7 and then it goes onto a black screen with a flashing ' _ ' and stays there.

I'm starting to wonder if grub's MBR has overwritten the boot record for the windows partition.

MySatellite-C660 ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3ce82182

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 104859647 52428800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 104859648 556798388 225969370+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 556799998 625141759 34170881 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 556800000 617328639 30264320 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 617330688 625141759 3905536 82 Linux swap / Solaris

So here sda1 is my original windows partition which has the windows install and presumably the boot record for windows. It is still marked as the boot partition so I assume the MBR has been written there.

I have tried using a SUPERGRUB2 disk to boot into windows and this failed. I have tried using several boot repair tools in linux and have tried using the startup repair tool on the windows 7 disk.

Any ideas?

**yancek** · 10-31-2012

I'm starting to wonder if grub's MBR has overwritten the boot record for the windows partition.

Not likely but?? Which option did you select during installation of Mint? There should have been three options; Install alongside other OS, Erase and use Entire Disk (you obviously didn't use that!) and Something Else. The first one is the simplest, the last one gives the user the most control. The default on either is to install a small portion of the Grub bootloader to the MBR pointing to the boot files on the Mint partition. Most of the time in my experience anyway, the Grub bootloader detects other systems including windows and puts an entry for them. During the installation, you should have seen a window showing your partitions and in the lower part of the window an option stating: Device for Bootloader Installation. That would definitely be there if you used the Something Else option. I'm not familiar with the Install Alongside so it may not have been there.

To give specific instructions for you, we will need more specific information on boot files. The simplest way to do that is to boot Mint, go to the site below and read the instructions on how to run the bootinfoscript, download and run it and review the output - a results.txt file. If you don't understand the file, post it here as it will contain detailed information on your boot files and setup and someone should be able to advise you:

Boot Info Script | Free System Administration software downloads at SourceForge.net

One thing you might try before doing this is to open a terminal from Mint and try to update the boot entries with this command: sudo update-grub

**cohen990** · 11-02-2012

I attach results.txt

I have tried sudo update-grub to no avail :<

EDIT
Wrong file - I removed the attachment.

**rokytnji** · 11-03-2012

Code:

Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of 
    the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks 
    for (,msdos1)/boot/grub on this drive.
 => Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  Linux Mint 11 LXDE
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Mounting failed:   mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdc1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 4.03 2010-10-22 ........>..sr>........I.9...0...~.....~...f...M.f.f....f..0~....>E}.u......
    Boot sector info:  Syslinux looks at sector 2769904 of /dev/sdc1 for its 
                       second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the  directory. 
                       According to the info in the boot sector, sdc1 starts 
                       at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk, 
                       sdc1 starts at sector 1.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdc2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info: 
    Mounting failed:   mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1    *          2,048   623,069,183   623,067,136  83 Linux
/dev/sda2         623,071,230   625,141,759     2,070,530   5 Extended
/dev/sda5         623,071,232   625,141,759     2,070,528  82 Linux swap / Solaris


Drive: sdc _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdc: 15.7 GB, 15728640000 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 15000 cylinders, total 30720000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdc1    *              1    29,284,351    29,284,351   c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdc2          29,284,352    30,719,999     1,435,648  83 Linux


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 1e485ef1-57c1-416a-bf26-0d8b25d923bb   swap       
/dev/sda1        a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32   ext4       
/dev/sdc1        5D5E-139F                              vfat       PORTABLELNX

========================= "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: =========================

/dev/mapper:
control
cryptswap1

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/sda1        /                        ext4       (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=600)
/dev/sdc1        /media/PORTABLELNX       vfat       (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush)


=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
  insmod video_bochs
  insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_GB
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/linuxmint.png; then
  true
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
  if background_color 44,0,30; then
    clear
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/linuxmint.png ; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=white/light-gray
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
  if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
    if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
      if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
        set linux_gfx_mode=keep
      else
        set linux_gfx_mode=text
      fi
    else
      set linux_gfx_mode=text
    fi
  else
    set linux_gfx_mode=keep
  fi
else
  set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Linux Mint 11 LXDE, 2.6.38-8-generic (/dev/sda1)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32 ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 11 LXDE, 2.6.38-8-generic (/dev/sda1) -- recovery mode' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.38-8-generic ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32 ro single 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a8456806-a916-41d4-a05e-0f91327d9a32
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ "x${timeout}" != "x-1" ]; then
  if keystatus; then
    if keystatus --shift; then
      set timeout=-1
    else
      set timeout=0
    fi
  else
    if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
      set timeout=0
    fi
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda1/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
/dev/sda1       /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
#UUID=59a38d24-217a-4063-a741-06b9159a7188 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

  62.135078430 = 66.717032448   boot/grub/core.img                             1
  62.132980347 = 66.714779648   boot/grub/grub.cfg                             2
   0.631221771 = 0.677769216    boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic               2
  62.132591248 = 66.714361856   boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic                  1
   0.631221771 = 0.677769216    initrd.img                                     2
  62.132591248 = 66.714361856   vmlinuz                                        1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sdc2

00000000  cf 4d ec f1 e3 c7 d5 6b  86 7b 9c e7 3c 6f 4b 9c  |.M.....k.{..<oK.|
00000010  19 8c 34 dc e7 8c 32 18  e1 ab d3 4d de 3c a8 78  |..4...2....M.<.x|
00000020  98 66 5c 3b 82 23 db 76  1a 42 4d d8 e0 d6 09 9d  |.f\;.#.v.BM.....|
00000030  7c 7d de 9e 5a d6 7a 55  46 b1 42 8f 30 24 d8 98  ||}..Z.zUF.B.0$..|
00000040  69 7f e4 da 42 7e b8 29  ea ad 24 f4 56 7c 48 fe  |i...B~.)..$.V|H.|
00000050  c7 84 05 31 c1 90 fc f0  28 80 e6 33 42 12 da a1  |...1....(..3B...|
00000060  53 c4 8f 5d 68 6e 40 a3  9d 1d b8 19 e1 b0 4f 0e  |S..]hn@.......O.|
00000070  09 5f 3f 2c 8b 2f 45 1f  cd c4 2f 9d e6 93 2a 01  |._?,./E.../...*.|
00000080  b9 dc e8 46 ae c7 bf b5  a4 9c 14 c5 58 57 5d 0c  |...F........XW].|
00000090  81 1d d9 ae e1 6a ad b3  d5 8e aa 7d 6e bc 09 f3  |.....j.....}n...|
000000a0  e6 1c f3 a7 e2 87 91 7a  ff 22 02 39 95 f8 fa 19  |.......z.".9....|
000000b0  65 87 34 6a be ab 80 6e  67 05 74 e8 c0 b9 2f 7a  |e.4j...ng.t.../z|
000000c0  1a 76 7e 00 cd 5e e9 34  f9 c9 64 74 f5 f8 d8 16  |.v~..^.4..dt....|
000000d0  8a 7b 91 77 84 cf 0c de  c0 c8 09 73 f9 d9 f8 63  |.{.w.......s...c|
000000e0  6d bf 60 51 4e 6d 04 43  ce 78 94 f7 99 a6 fe e1  |m.`QNm.C.x......|
000000f0  9a e3 f0 cd ff 7b de 14  37 cf bd e7 d2 67 bf 87  |.....{..7....g..|
00000100  d5 fb 86 52 21 bf 0c fc  77 ae 11 bb 9d 37 c3 13  |...R!...w....7..|
00000110  08 8e bc bf 52 14 81 13  77 a2 be e5 95 ca ad 7b  |....R...w......{|
00000120  d1 1a 85 46 74 8d 52 2d  21 4c 98 fb d6 9d 2e 77  |...Ft.R-!L.....w|
00000130  ae 2c e2 e4 4e 19 4b b9  c1 90 66 99 78 e8 7a 5c  |.,..N.K...f.x.z\|
00000140  4a f8 34 4f 84 01 92 a3  e6 86 4a 5c e7 3c 63 74  |J.4O......J\.<ct|
00000150  e3 bd 34 9d e3 4a 20 ec  93 dc 32 f2 fd c8 c4 24  |..4..J ...2....$|
00000160  27 87 da 27 67 b3 e7 8f  08 6f c3 43 e5 20 5d ea  |'..'g....o.C. ].|
00000170  11 10 fc f0 55 cb dc ad  cf f3 c0 d5 88 d2 57 e2  |....U.........W.|
00000180  0c 1b 69 e5 6a b1 fe 23  e3 f3 d0 2c 03 e0 99 a4  |..i.j..#...,....|
00000190  74 d4 bc 42 fd 52 5c ab  e5 75 fa 7d b1 b5 b4 53  |t..B.R\..u.}...S|
000001a0  d3 85 c3 80 36 a7 ec 84  6a 87 de da 7e e2 bd da  |....6...j...~...|
000001b0  57 5c 8e 28 a8 9f 48 a0  0d b0 fa 60 d8 e3 5e 21  |W\.(..H....`..^!|
000001c0  3f 8f 55 6b a4 3c 7d 03  6a f4 36 3b 94 f5 0c 77  |?.Uk.<}.j.6;...w|
000001d0  1c 7a 02 6d df 70 6d 42  bb 1f 5e 06 e7 fd e7 3b  |.z.m.pmB..^....;|
000001e0  8f 5c 5a f8 4b 82 7d fb  c0 21 45 19 89 a6 00 8e  |.\Z.K.}..!E.....|
000001f0  f6 1f c1 64 43 af 7c 4d  fa 2c 0c 8c 2c ee bd d0  |...dC.|M.,..,...|
00000200


========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdb 

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt

Just posting this so other members can see how screwed up your install went. Because I don't see Windows 7 NTFS anywhere in your readout.

Dualbooting Windows 7 And Linux Mint 12 | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

**cohen990** · 11-03-2012

I attached the wrong file. I'll update with the correct one later.

**xuancong** · 11-12-2012

One thing I feel fishy about your partition table from fdisk is that /dev/sda4 is missing, any reasons?

upon finishing installation, the installer prompts you to write boot loader, where did you write it to? MBR or /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda5 ?

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