Grub bootloader rescue mode preventing me from loading windows after linux removal

MoonsBane · 01-20-2012, 07:51 PM

Hey there guys, quick insight on my problem:

-Installed Fedora 16, trying many distro's of linux to find which is the right for me
-Dual booting on laptop
-Deleted the partition Fedora 16 was on. Dumb mistake. Didn't think about the boot loader still being there...

So here's my problem. No matter what i do, i can't get into windows, to my recovery mode on my laptop, nor can i boot from any device (usb or cd) because Grub comes up in rescue mode. I cannot boot windows 7 or use my recovery disc (yes, i'm going into my bios to override boot priority) but Grub is still overriding that, and i cannot get out of rescue mode. Are there any commands that i can use to have grub delete itself or exit it so i can get into windows to find a way to remove it? i can ls it and it'll show me my partitions, but no other commands i can think of will work. I've googled this problem and people have said it was fine after using a windows disc to repair the windows boot process, but Grub is stopping me from booting from CD or Usb.

Any help available? Is there a way to uninstall grub from rescue mode?

colorpurple21859 · 01-20-2012, 10:17 PM

on most computers now adays holding down the esc or one of the F keys immediately upon starting when the computer is first turned on/restarted will give you a choice of devices to boot from

nmanx62 · 01-30-2012, 07:39 PM

@colorpurple21859: is that "any" F key, or one specific to the manufacture/BIOS for getting into the system setup?

syg00 · 01-30-2012, 08:48 PM

Not of that particular hue, however ....

Generally vendor specific - have a look at the bottom of the splash screen on startup. For (recent) Dells F12 usually works.

I have had a machine that would only boot a CD if you held the "c" key down during power-on. And that was only documented in the user guide, so YMMV.

colorpurple21859 · 01-30-2012, 10:36 PM

It would be one specific key usually it is either f10 or f11, however it could be anyone of the f keys or some totally different key.

TobiSGD · 01-30-2012, 10:53 PM

Grub can't prevent you from booting from a different device. Grub is loaded after the BIOS decides from which device to boot. You should see something like "Press F9 for boot menu" or similar when booting, if not you have to change the boot order in the BIOS.
If you are able to boot from your Windows CD see here how to recover the Windows bootloader.