Linux install apparently destroyed my Windows MBR or Boot partition (Win7 on a separate hard drive)

colorpurple21859 · 01-01-2021, 04:20 PM

Quote:

I'm confused as to why it looks like I have UEFI? Where do you see that?

From your first post:

Quote:

(sda1) Fat32 labeled "Filesystem, EFI"

A windows 7 install wouldn't have created an efi partition. A windows 8 or 10 or a linux system installed in uefi mode would have. How big is this efi partition?. Yours isn't the first thread I've seen on here where windows 7 came installed on an efi system in legacy mode that linux was installed in efi mode. An efi partition is suppose to be a fat partition, if it is ntfs probably came from the manufacture that way.

Post the ouput of

Code:

sudo parted -l

edit: left off sudo

colorpurple21859 · 01-01-2021, 04:41 PM

post the output of

Code:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list

v00d00101 · 01-01-2021, 11:35 PM

So can you mount the ntfs drive and backup your files before you start fiddling with MBR fixes? It would be helpful to do so before you destroy anything.

Code:

su -
mkdir /mnt/ntfs
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/ntfs
cd /mnt/ntfs/
ls -la
cd Users/MYUSERNAME/Documents

Replace MYUSERNAME with your username. If you dont know it, it should give you a list of users on the previous list command, go through them all until you find your documents.

Also maybe plug a USB stick in to copy all your Documents on to. If it doesnt automount use.

Code:

su -
fdisk -l

The last drive is probably the USB stick and you can confirm by looking at the size of it. if its 16GB or 32GB or whatever size the drive was, then thats probably it. So lets make a mount point and mount it.

Code:

su -
mkdir /mnt/usb
mount /dev/sdX /mnt/usb
ls -la /mnt/usb

Ok so you should by now have found the location of your Documents and have a mounted USB stick copy everything to it.

Code:

su -
cp -R /mnt/ntfs/Users/MYUSERNAME/Documents /mnt/usb
ls -la /mnt/usb/Documents

If they are all there.

Code:

umount /mnt/usb
umount /mnt/ntfs

Now follow the instructions at this site to repair the MBR (or google and pick a random site that explains how to fix the windows 7 MBR using a windows cd).

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/h...r-on-windows-7

If you dont have the windows 7 cd you can get the ISO from Microsoft and make a new one.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...nload/windows7

If you dont know the windows product key its normally on the laptop somewhere, so have a look for the genuine windows sticker with a bunch of letters and numbers on it.

Hopefully that is helpful, if not I apologise and maybe someone else can help you.

ondoho · 01-02-2021, 05:52 AM

AnneF, please use CODE tags for all commands & their output. See my signature for how to achieve that.
Below, I edited your post #11. I think you'll have to admit this makes it much easier to find the information that will enable us to help you.
______________________________

Hi y'all, I'm back, but still with no joy. Here's what I've done so far today...

I changed my BIOS boot sequence back to (1) USBstick, (2) CD/DVD, (3) sdb-Ubuntu, (4) sda C:Windows

I tried to burn the boot-repair-disk-64bit.ISO to DVD:
I put a new DVD into reader...
Right-clicked .ISO file & chose the wrong item ( (these are not exact quotes, just what I remember)
Right-clicked .ISO file again & chose to OPEN WITH OTHER APP, and then from the resulting window, chose "DISK IMAGE WRITER" (A window opened Titled: "RESTORE DISK IMAGE, showing <disk boot-repair-disk-64bit.ISO> as source and asked me for destination, however CD/DVD was greyed out and not selectable.)
I have tried this with the ISO both mounted and unmounted.

I couldn't find any choice that offered Create or Burn Disk Image.

I tried again with an empty USB-stick inserted, but USB wasn't offered as a destination at all.
(I know the USB-stick has a Linux-readable file system because Linux shows it with the proper name in the left panel and I've written to it from Linux before.)

I'm assuming the new CD/DVD has FAT32 file system (Ubuntu shows it in left panel as "blank" CD/DVD), but I don't know how to tell if this is true, or not.

================================================================================================

TERMINAL:

I pasted my first try of doing this in the 4th post box from the top. This is my second try. If I made a syntax error, I can't see it.

...............WITH THIS TRY, i HAD A BLANK CD/ROM IN THE READER AND AN EMPTY USB-STICK IN A SLOT
...............(LEFT FROM TRYING TO BURN THE ISO, ABOVE)

Code:

xxx@YODA:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for xxx:
 Simple tool to repair frequent boot problems.

Website: https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~yannubuntu/+archive/ubuntu/boot-repair
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.

Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal InRelease
Err:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release
  Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognized by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs
Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease                                       
Get:5 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal InRelease [17.5 kB]
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [1,972 B]
Ign:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages                       
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Err:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
  Cannot initiate the connection to ppa.launchpad.net:80 (2001:67c:1560:8008::19). - connect (101: Network is unreachable) Could not connect to ppa.launchpad.net:80 (91.189.95.85), connection timed out [IP: 91.189.95.85 80]
Err:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
  Cannot initiate the connection to ppa.launchpad.net:80 (2001:67c:1560:8008::19). - connect (101: Network is unreachable) [IP: 91.189.95.85 80]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

................BEFORE I TRIED AGAIN, I REMOVED THE CD AND THE USB STICK:

Code:

xxx@YODA:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
 Simple tool to repair frequent boot problems.

Website: https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~yannubuntu/+archive/ubuntu/boot-repair
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.

........................HERE I PRESSED "ENTER"

Code:

Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal InRelease
Err:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release
  Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognized by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs
Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease                                       
Get:5 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal InRelease [17.5 kB]
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [1,972 B]
Get:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages [1,972 B]
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en                       
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Ign:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
Err:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en
  Cannot initiate the connection to ppa.launchpad.net:80 (2001:67c:1560:8008::19). - connect (101: Network is unreachable) Could not connect to ppa.launchpad.net:80 (91.189.95.85), connection timed out [IP: 91.189.95.85 80]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

...............EVEN THO THE FIRST SUDO LINE DIDN'T WORK, I RAN THE SECOND ANYWAY TO SEE RESULT

Code:

xxx@YODA:~$ sudo apt-get install -y boot-info && boot-info
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package boot-info
xxx@YODA:~$

.......... ideas?? ........... Thanks, Anne

X-LFS-2010 · 01-02-2021, 09:32 PM

.. ignore this

X-LFS-2010 · 01-02-2021, 09:53 PM

* in clear language:

1) are these 3 hard disks or USB thumb drives ?

3) you did mention changing boot order in bios but not whether or if you'd insured the Win7 partition is marked as "bootable" (the boot flag)

2) can you mount and read the windows drives from within UBUNTU ? if you can, i suggest backing up your WIN7 data before going any further.

(2b) if you cannot veryify access to data on the win7 drive and have unsaved files: seek an expert that has hands on the device

From my standpoint it might not boot because:

(0) you have either not told bios to boot off the "drive with only win7 on it" or it's been marked as "non-bootable" and will boot when marked bootable

(0a) the EFI in your bios has been hacked to have a resident ubuntu loader that ignores bios boot order, loads itself as the boot loader, and looks only for ubuntu compatible boot media (meaning not win7). Win7 and Win10 also like to take over EFI and be the loader. that's why i boot linux from USB even though my run-time is on hard-disk. i just "stay far clear of their bs war"

(1) the new boot loader has not been instructed to make Win7 option in the boot menu - but may be capable of doing this if instructions are read

(2) as you fear the boot loader has actually been removed off the win7 disk physically so selecting it in bios won't work (but in this case, the new ubuntu loader may or may not be able to boot Win7 - old documents say no - it was a boot war microsoft began, ubuntu couldn't boot it)

(3) you are right in thinking that inserting the OEM (USB/CD) Win7 boot media should restore the EFI problems on your actual PC / EFI memory that ubuntu might have hacked. you might even "push the nuke button" on your mother board (clear EFI memory, maybe first try restoring bios defaults, then insert Win7 CD you said you didn't have (sorry) and it loads the EFI right)

X-LFS-2010 · 01-02-2021, 09:57 PM

let me add this is historically backwards:

it's Win7 that had historically deleted linux partitions (before Ubuntu was born). so this post is ... strange but newly true but it was win7 and EFI wars that had originally stomped on linux.

AnneF · 01-03-2021, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

what happens when you run

Code:

sudo apt update

xxx@YODA:~$ sudo apt update
[sudo] password for xxx:
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal InRelease
Err:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release
Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognized by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs
Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Hit:5 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu focal InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
xxx@YODA:~$

Looks like it's still trying to address the CD. There is no CD in the drive.
.

AnneF · 01-03-2021, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-LFS-2010

* in clear language:

1) are these 3 hard disks or USB thumb drives ?
**Three hard disks 500GB, 500GB, 1TB

3) you did mention changing boot order in bios but not whether or if you'd insured the Win7 partition is marked as "bootable" (the boot flag)
** It was bootable before I installed Linux.
I don't know how to view the 'boot flag'

2) can you mount and read the windows drives from within UBUNTU ? if you can, i suggest backing up your WIN7 data before going any further.
** I CAN read documents on the windows drive from within UBUNTU. I already had a backup of data and system, but I backed up my data again (I had saved new docs there from Ubuntu). The Win7 system drive backup (different partition) was backed up with TrueImage, but even booting with TrueImage on a DVD, it apparently does not restore the boot loader (apparently).

(2b) if you cannot veryify access to data on the win7 drive and have unsaved files: seek an expert that has hands on the device.
** I CAN access the data on the win7 drive, and the data IS saved in more than one place.

From my standpoint it might not boot because:

(0) you have either not told bios to boot off the "drive with only win7 on it" or it's been marked as "non-bootable" and will boot when marked bootable
** I set the win7 drive as the first drive in the boot sequence and it was exactly the same result. So I have now put the USB/CD back into first/second position, with Windows7 in third place. Linux is in fourth place, and the boot falls thru to boot Linux, AFTER attempting to load win7.

(0a) the EFI in your bios has been hacked to have a resident ubuntu loader that ignores bios boot order, loads itself as the boot loader, and looks only for ubuntu compatible boot media (meaning not win7). Win7 and Win10 also like to take over EFI and be the loader..."
** It seems to be following the boot order. It does try to load windows files in what looks like safe mode with a 'Loading Windows Files' notification, but then falls on thru & finally boots Linux. I think I documented this better somewhere above.

I'm not sure what EFI is, but I don't think I have UEFI, if that's the same thing (when I googled EFI, all I found was UEFI), I have legacy BIOS. Also discussed above.

(1) the new boot loader has not been instructed to make Win7 option in the boot menu - but may be capable of doing this if instructions are read
** Since it attempts to load windows, but fails, it seems as though the Linux install did something bad to my windows boot section (overwrote it perhaps?). I am hoping the is possible, but I don't know how to do it.

(2) as you fear the boot loader has actually been removed off the win7 disk physically so selecting it in bios won't work (but in this case, the new ubuntu loader may or may not be able to boot Win7
** From the boot behavior, I believe this is the case. How can I fix it?

(3) you are right in thinking that inserting the OEM (USB/CD) Win7 boot media should restore the EFI problems on your actual PC / EFI memory that ubuntu might have hacked. you might even "push the nuke button" on your mother board (clear EFI memory, maybe first try restoring bios defaults, then insert Win7 CD you said you didn't have (sorry) and it loads the EFI right)

** I do have it, but I think they gave me the wrong CD, because when I try to use it, it says it is the wrong CD (it's labeled correctly, but labeled by hand).

I'm desperate, X-LFS & Purple - when I couldn't really use/learn Linux fully from a thumb-drive, my intention was to install it on a completely separate HDD, so I could take my time to learn Linux, while still being able to do my work in Windows, where all my working software is. I knew that windows didn't play nice with Linux, but I didn't expect Linux to completely kill my access to my windows installation by destroying it's ability to boot. Right now, I'm (literally) in tears for the first time in years, I so regret trying trying this and I feel so helpless. I have lost more than 18 days, trying to get this to work - I desperately need to get into Windows. I'm grateful for your taking the time to help me with this. --AnneF

P.S. I did read the manpage (pages & pages) you suggested, but I don't know enough yet to understand enough to be helpful. That's why I wanted to run the OSs in parallel, so I could learn Linux over time - I just don't have that kind of time all at once, when I can't work with my windows software. Honestly, I think this stress is making me ill.

**How can I view the "boot flag" on the win7 disk?
**How can I make UBUNTU boot Windows?
.

colorpurple21859 · 01-03-2021, 02:49 PM

as root you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list
It probaly looks something like this:

Code:

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse

put a # at the beginning of the line that has cdrom in it and remove the # from the other lines.
Then rerun

Code:

sudo apt update

If your not sure about it post the /etc/apt/sources.list for more accurate advice.

quickbreakfast · 01-03-2021, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnneF

xxx@YODA:~$ sudo apt update
[sudo] password for xxx:
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal InRelease
Err:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release

E: The repository 'cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200731) focal Release' does not have a Release file.

Looks like it's still trying to address the CD. There is no CD in the drive.
.

I agree. It seems to be looking for the cd-rom to update your electronic marvel, which suggests the install itself
hasn't been updated recently.

What you need to do is remove a hash (#) sign from the /etc/apt/sources.list file, so that when your electronic marvel goes to update it goes looking for a mirror.

The sources.list file will have possible hundreds of mirror sites listed, so pick a mirror site near to your abode (or at least in your country) for a reasonably quick update.

To edit your /etc/apt/sources.list type

Code:

 sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and remove a hash (#) sign from the beginning of the mirror you want to update from.

When you've done that type crtl-x to exit the file and accept the defaults in the following questions.

After you have done that your electronic marvel should accept the command sudo apt update.

Note for a fresh install, the update(s) may take a while.

Edit to add. Not being a ubuntu user I forgot debian divides it's repo's, so you might have to remove several # markers. Make sure they are all from the same location.

And thanks to colourpurple21859 for reminding me.

quickbreakfast · 01-03-2021, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnneF

**How can I view the "boot flag" on the win7 disk?
.

You can see where the boot flag on any and every HDD by opening Gparted. Chances are Ubuntu will ask for the root password to open Gparted.

It the top right hand corner is drop down which allows your to select /dev/sda/ dev/sdb etc. Select the right one for your windoze HDD and you'll see the partitions and which partition has what flag(s) attached and other information.

AnneF · 01-03-2021, 03:27 PM

I don't know how to delete this

AnneF · 01-03-2021, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

AnneF, please use CODE tags for all commands & their output. See my signature for how to achieve that.
Below, I edited your post #11. I think you'll have to admit this makes it much easier to find the information that will enable us to help you.

I do agree that it is easier to read, AND it takes up less space, but I don't know how to do it. I didn't see anything is the signature to help. How do you use a CODE tag? Thanks, --Anne

AnneF · 01-03-2021, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

as root you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list
It probaly looks something like this:

Code:

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse

put a # at the beginning of the line that has cdrom in it and remove the # from the other lines.
Then rerun

Code:

sudo apt update

If your not sure about it post the /etc/apt/sources.list for more accurate advice.

I appreciate this help. I see what you're talking about, that everything is commented out except the CDRom line. But I don't know how to even LOOK at the sources.list, much less edit it. I didn't expect to need so much help, I thought I would have time to learn Linux at my own pace without this time crunch Linux has gifted me by killing my access to my windows installation so I can't work. I am SO stressed-out about this. How do I edit the sources.list? Thanks, --Anne