Windows 8.1 Dual Boot - boot repair doing nothing

[Kevinfallas01]

My first post, im going to try to keep this simple, bought a HP laptop about a year ago, windows 8.1 came preinstalled, i went ahead and installed Elementary OS on another partition, (it was a pain in the ass because of UEFI and it being the first time i ever used linux, i managed to get grub to work and was able to use windows 8 for school.
fast foward a few months, im out of school, decide to install Linux Mint 17.2 over Elementary, grub gets damaged, not showing windows 8 anymore, decide to rainbows it because i berely ever used windows 8, however, now i need to use windows 8, i tried running boot repair (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair) it did nothing, got a windows 8 live USB and ran boot repair, it damaged grub, i got grub running again, booted linux mint and ran grub update and now i have a entry in grub that says MS-DOS 5.x/6.x/Win3.1 (on /dev/sda6), if i try to boot from it, it goes onto the windows boot manager telling me the boot files are missing.
how do i proceed? i need to get windows 8 to boot up again

sorry if this is a noob question, im only starting to learn linux

[Reorx]

Please get a Gparted screenshot of the HD and post it here.

[Kevinfallas01]

its a mess, im not even sure why theres all that unallocated space

Screenshot.png

[austin.texas]

Please post the results of the Boot Repair, or the Boot Repair url, preferably.

[Kevinfallas01]

Please post the results of the Boot Repair, or the Boot Repair url, preferably.

forgot to mention, after i used the windows boot repair, if i try to open the ubuntu boot repair it gets stuck at "scanning systems. this might take a few minutes"

[austin.texas]

now i have a entry in grub that says MS-DOS 5.x/6.x/Win3.1 (on /dev/sda6), if i try to boot from it, it goes onto the windows boot manager telling me the boot files are missing.

According to your screenshot, sda6 is not the right one - at least it does not have the boot flag. The boot flag is on sda4
Please post the result of

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sudo os-prober

[Kevinfallas01]

According to your screenshot, sda6 is not the right one - at least it does not have the boot flag. The boot flag is on sda4
Please post the result of

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sudo os-prober

kevin@kevin-Mint:~$ sudo os-prober
No volume groups found
/dev/sda6:MS-DOS 5.x/6.x/Win3.1:MS-DOS:chain
/dev/sda9:Windows Recovery Environment (loader):Windows:chain
kevin@kevin-Mint:~$

[Reorx]

its a mess...

You are correct sir!!! And because of the long and winding road to where everything is now, it's difficult to know the status of many different aspects of this situation. As a result, my best recommendation would be to salvage the data from both Win and Linux - do what you have to do to accomplish this before doing anything to the HD that could alter partitions.

Next, that recovery partition might be accessible at boot time via a special key sequence and if you are lucky, you will be able to restore the machine to day 0 status. If you can accomplish this, the next step will be to boot the Mint Live medium and evaluate the HD architecture. Make plans to adjust the partitioning and then install Mint in the space that you create for it. After that, all you have to do is restore your data and you're off to the races.

That's my $0.02 worth...

Best!

[Kevinfallas01]

best recommendation would be to salvage the data

how would i go about doing this? all my important files are in /sda7

is there a way i can use that recovery on /sda9 to basically restore my system to only windows 8.1 but keeping /sda7?
i say this so that i can later make a proper install of linux mint in a new partition and get my dual boot suited out

[Reorx]

my best recommendation would be to salvage the data from both Win and Linux - do what you have to do to accomplish this before doing anything to the HD that could alter partitions.

how would i go about doing this? all my important files are in /sda7

is there a way i can use that recovery on /sda9 to basically restore my system to only windows 8.1 but keeping /sda7?
i say this so that i can later make a proper install of linux mint in a new partition and get my dual boot suited out

I redid my quote and have provided some additional emphasis. If there is no important data on the Windows side BE SURE that you back up all the data on SDA7 BEFORE attempting anything that COULD change the partitioning in any way. Clear?

In addition, be thankful that you did not encrypt your /home partition as that would have added another level of complexity to the project...

I believe you CAN use that recovery partition but I don't know exactly what the result will be. If you have documentation that came with the computer, that might be helpful to consult. Failing that, I would call the manufacturer to ask how to access the recovery feature and what it will likely do to the partitioning. Free advice - DO NOT RELY on their statement that SDA7 will not be touched (if they make such a statement).

[Kevinfallas01]

If there is no important data on the Windows side BE SURE that you back up all the data on SDA7 BEFORE attempting anything that COULD change the partitioning in any way. Clear?

I believe you CAN use that recovery partition but I don't know exactly what the result will be. If you have documentation that came with the computer, that might be helpful to consult. Failing that, I would call the manufacturer to ask how to access the recovery feature and what it will likely do to the partitioning. Free advice - DO NOT RELY on their statement that SDA7 will not be touched (if they make such a statement).

I do not have the documentation with me, and since this computer was bought in the USA and sent to me here in Costa Rica, it would be a pain to call HP

how ever, i decided to dig out an old HDD from a broken laptop and use it to back up all my files from SDA7 and any other files that i consider important

now my focus will be to rainbows everything and try to get the computer to a day 0 point, i dont care if i lose my mint install or anything anymore, i just want to get this nightmare over with. so that then i can do a proper Mint install

[Reorx]

1) HP doesn't have any local support in Costa Rica?... Google to the rescue >>>

hpcr.png

2) If you don't care about Windows, it would be a simple matter to wipe the drive (except for SDA7) and install Mint and them migrate the data if you wanted to.

3) Back up first = universally good idea!

[trytip]

boot to your mint and then run

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sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub

if windows doesn't start because of some kernel botmgr fail it's because your drive is PUBAR (partitioned beyond all recognition meaning you have more than one microsoft bootmgr) and you need to boot from your windows 8 disc thingie to get the advanced startup options restored

[austin.texas]

Please post the complete menuentry you have for Windows.
To do that, open /boot/grub/grub.cfg in a text editor. Post everything that is in the 30_os-prober section (near the end of the file).
That section goes from:
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
To:
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

Also, post the result of the command:

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inxi -pou

[Kevinfallas01]

decided to wipe everything, installed windows 10 for school and now i have a fresh install on mint 18 running nicely and dual boot working perfectly.

thanks for the help

New install.png

[Reorx]

That Gparted screenshot of SDA is a "Thing of Beauty". Nicely done!!! Enjoy the Mint!

[kukamuumuka]

The solution with HP -> viewtopic.php?f=42&t=230390

PS. This solution works if you have Windows 8 pre-installed and the GPT-partition table with EFI is used.