Windows won't boot !

[PinkPanda]

I installed Ubuntu 12.04 from a bootable USB stick on a computer that also has windows 7 x64. During the installation I was asked to partition my harddrive which I did. My intention was to have 70 GB for windows and the rest for Ubuntu (125GB SSD harddrive).

After the installation (which went fine and Ubuntu is working perfectly well) I can no longer use Windows 7. When I restart my computer I get something that looks something like this:


GNU GRUB version 1.99-21ubuntu3.1

Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-26-generic
Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-26-generic (recovery mode)
Previous Linux versions
Memory test (memtest86+)
Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 11520)
Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda3)
Windows Recovery Environment (loader)


When I choose the second to last option (Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda3)) I get the following message:

error: invalid EFI file path

Press any key to continue...


Is this something that is fixable without having to reinstall windows all over again? I don't have a recovery DVD and I couldn't run the Windows Recovery Environment either, but I have a backup saved on an external harddrive. Anyway that would be my very last option and I'm not even sure how I would do that.

[drs305]

PinkPanda,

Welcome to the Ubuntu Forums.

Please click the Boot Repair link in my signature line and try the "Recommended Repair" once you have installed the app. BR is a great app that can solve a wide variety of boot issues.

If that doesn't work, run the boot info script from Boot Repair and post the link to the report.

Aside: I don't know this from experience but on these forums it's generally recommended to partition the drive from within Windows when that OS is present on the drive. It's not required, it sometimes just eliminates certain problems.

[PinkPanda]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I tried to do the repair but I still have the same problem.

This is the script:

http://paste.ubuntu.com/1089005/


I should also mention that when I did the repair it also asked me (and I should have written this down in detail)

*SOMETHING* BIOS boot on sd1/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi file!

[VH-BIL]

Did you partition your drive that already Windows on it?

If you did you may need to reinstall Windows. After installing Windows you will need to put the grub boot loader back on.

[PinkPanda]

Yes I did but I got the impression from reading the installation guides that it this was no problem for the ubuntu installer (but a backup was recommended anyway)

[drs305]

Edit: Since this is an EFI system I'll defer to someone who uses it.

[PinkPanda]

Alright, cheers

[drs305]

In this thread Boot Repair and EFI are discussed:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2003442

I thought Post #17 might be of use to you. Especially the part of the post that begins

- If you don't know which method you need (grub-pc or grub-efi)

If the Boot Repair recommended option didn't work, perhaps this explains why.

[oldfred]

The grub entry is a typical BIOS type entry where it bypasses the MBR. But with UEFI I am not sure that works the same.

You are missing the Windows boot files in the efi partition. There was a bug which I thought they fixed where grub overwrites the Windows/Microsoft efi files.

find /boot/efi -name "*efi"
/boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgr.efi
/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/memtest.efi

Not sure how to repair or if Windows repairs will restore those boot files in the efi partition. I would try Windows repairs to see it that works.

If efi partition has the correct files these are entries that others have posted on chainloading Windows from grub2. You would have to add one of these to 40_custom.

Chainload entry - adjusted partition & UUIDs to yours:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/807801
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1934773
menuentry "Windows 7 UEFI" {
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
insmod search_fs_uuid
insmod chain
set root='(hd0,gpt2)'
search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root 4f84-ee2e
chainloader (${root})/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

menuentry "Windows 7 UEFI" {
search --file --no-floppy --set=root /efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
chainloader (${root})/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lof...ex.php/t186440
menuentry "Windows 7 UEFI" {
search --file --no-floppy --set=root /efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
chainloader (${root})/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

[PinkPanda]

I used the simplest option and reinstalled windows. However the partition that was created during the Ubuntu install is still there for some reason (even though windows was supposed to delete all partitions from the hard disk drive).

So now I have a partition of GB and one (roughly) 75 GB and one of 20 GB. Before the install I had over 100 GB so almost 10 GB is missing.

Since I want to give this another try, is there anyway to make sure the old Ubuntu OS is completly removed? I had to remove it from the boot priority order even though nothing happened when it was chosen (error and restart), And should I be safe from the same problem now that there is a partition available?