Grub error: unknown filesystem
 

Hey

I recently got a new netbook. A friend installed Ubuntu, as well as Windows 7 on it. He split the hard drive into 3 partitions - I assume 1 for Windows of around 80GB, 1 for Linux of around 70GB, and another of around 3GB.

Considering I never use Ubuntu, I decided to delete the 70GB partition and format it to NTFS using the Partition Wizard in Windows 7. This was done successfully and I was able to access the partition from inside Windows.

However, upon reboot of my system I received the following error:

I've read around a bit and from what I understand my netbook is detecting that Linux boot files are missing and wants me to repair them. Is is possible for me to somehow stop it from attempting to boot into Linux, as Windows 7 remains on the the hard drive as it has always been, and I would like to boot into that somehow?

Please note that this is a netbook, so it does not have a DVD drive, meaning that I can't repair any files from a disk. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Just install Ubuntu again so that Grub has a home.

But that defeats the purpose of me deleting the partition :) I don't want to use Linux on the netbook.

You will have to either reinstall or recover from windoze media. The windoze bootloader needs to be reinstalled. AFAIK the only way to reinstall the windoze bootloader is from windoze media.

You will need to create a windows recovery disk on another windows 7 machine or if its available from Microsoft download one. I did a search on google with the terms "windows 7 recovery disk usb" and found these results they should get you on your way.

You can make a recovery disk inside windows 7 via the disk manager in control panel I think. I am not sure as I am not home to look. You can then use that disk and make a bootable USB flash drive to get into the recovery mode. There you can tell it to fix any boot issues and it should reinstall the windows boot loader.

Another solution is to make a small partition at the beginning of your drive like only 10mb and format it as ext2 and install the grub boot files into it. You can copy these files from just about any linux system or ask your friend to do the above procedure for you.

:)

I hope this helps you out.

You have made a decision sometime in the past to let a Linux boot loader into the MBR so that you could try it.

The only way to restore the Win7's MBR is to use a Win7 or Vista installation DVD which you decide not to try for not having a CD/DVD drive.

Your Win7 can be boot up any time if you have Grub, in a floppy or in a hard disk partition, on its own or with a Linux or Unix. However if you dislike Linux then the only way is to take your hard disk out to another PC, that has a CD/DVD rom, to restore the Win7 MBR.

The method to restore Win7 MBR is showed as Task B7 in the Just booting tips in my signature.

Thanks! That helps a lot.

I'll try it out and post the results here.