Unable to boot back to Windows 7
 

My friend recently introduced me to Linux (Ubuntu) and I decided to try the operating system out. I downloaded the 12.04 iso file and burned it to a disk. Then I installed the OS on my 16GB Flash drive. I tried it out and I really liked it.

So whenever I turn on the computer and the flash drive is in, it boots to Linux, but when I try taking it out, I get an error message saying the device is out. I went to the boot menu by pressing F8, and my old hard drive does not appear as a bootable device, but for some reason I can acsess files as the hard drive appears as an ejectable device. I know that I did not Install Ubuntu to the hard drive as I installed with the option to erase and install, and all my files are still on the hard drive.

The reason I'm trying to get back to windows 7 is so I can use programs that linux does not support.

Hi:

While your 16 GB flash drive is plugged in and your done using Ubuntu shut down your computer.
Wait about 30 seconds and with the computer shut down unplug your flash drive.
The next time you boot up your computer it should boot to Windows 7 (Unless) you have it set in your BIOS to boot to usb first.

If you decide to install Linux Ubuntu on your computer you can do so in a dual boot.
In other words when your computer starts you will have the opportunity to choose Windows 7 or Linux Ubuntu.

You can tell your BIOS to boot to usb first or hdd or cd/rom drive.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstr...otusbflash.htm
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bios-boot-cdrom
http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/chang...rder-xp-vista/

After looking all over the internet, I put these commands(in quotes) into command prompt and it fixed my error message and booted right to windows. "bootrec /Fixmbr" and "bootrec /Fixboot"

That's good news. :)

I'd suggest that the Ubuntu install on the USB stick has written the grub boot loader to the stick, so the MBR on your hard drive is pointing at the stick. If you remove it... There's nothing to boot from as the MBR is now pointing at a non-existant device! Hence your error message. Tah Dah!

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

did you mean to install to the usb or create a live-usb ?

according to soadyheid it seems like you did an install which messed with the pc's internals (mbr). a live-usb leaves everything untouched.

As per schneidz...

If you make a live USB you can boot from it without disturbing your system as the BIOS, (providing it can handle USB and has the boot list configured correctly), will boot the USB before looking for a hard disk.

Just adding a USB stick as storage and installing to it is NOT the same thing. The hard disk's MBR will be changed to point at Grub which is installed on the stick during Ubuntu installation. Removing the stick and booting will therefore try to access a non-existant file; the Grub or Grub2 boot loader which is on the stick and would be used to redirect the boot sequence back to Windows on your hard drive. (With Ubuntu as first choice/default)

Play Bonny!

:hattip: