[SOLVED] Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Questions about Grub, UEFI,the liveCD and the installer
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Roab

[SOLVED] Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by Roab »

Hello everyone,

I am new to Mint and have fallen in love with it! However, I have an installation issue that I would like to get some information on. More so than just a solution, I really want to understand what is going on "under the hood" so to speak. Any and all information or links to documentation will be appreciated.

So, what's going on: I have a laptop with a fresh Windows 7 install. I then made a Mint live USB and booted from it, no issues there as I was able to hop back and forth between it and Win7. I then installed Mint onto my hard drive, and it boots fine. I was so taken by Mint I stayed using it for a few days, however today I attempted to boot Win7 from the linux boot menu, which automatically pops up, and was unable to do so. Specifically, grub *does* display Win7, however when I select it, it goes to black and reloads grub.

So now here's all the information I have gathered.
-I have run the boot info script, the results.txt file is here: https://pastebin.com/3WvAKPhn
-I can see my windows files all present in the Files folder (Users, System32, etc.) and can access them! I suppose it is because it is mounted? What exactly is going on here? Again, looking to learn as much as I can.
-I am still able to do all the regular boot options before grub loads, for example selecting the boot order and other misc. things. No problems there.
-I went ahead and put in the Win7 installation disks to try to recover the install, however it tells me Win7 is working fine and installed correctly. Can I assume Win7 is fine, I just cant access it?
-I know a little about MBRs, however not much about how Mint affects it when it installs itself. I used a Partition Recovery Disk I had laying around to look at my hard drive, and low and behold it allowed me to "repair" the MBR for the partition. This did nothing.
-Lastly, I do not see anything labelled "Linux Mint" in my partitions in the Disk section of Mint, which I will include a screenshot of. In fact, I see roughly 100Gb of unnallocated space that I thought I had designated for the Mint download. Did I make a mistake? Where exactly is Mint installed?

I apologize if this is a lot of information, however as I said before I am very happy with Mint and Linux in general and really want to understand what is going on. I already had all of my important data backed up and am in no rush to access it (yet), so I am always capable of wiping my hard drive completely and reinstalling Windows 7 and Mint again if I need to (hopefully this time the right way!). However, if the issue is just regarding grub finding exactly where the Win7 loader is, maybe I can resolve this without the need to do all those reinstalls. Also, I dont want to make the same mistake again.

Regards, and thank you for taking the time to read this!
-Roab
Screenshot from 2018-02-06 23-38-11.png
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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Pierre
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Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by Pierre »

start with the obvious thing:
- boot back into LinuxMint and type into Terminal

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub.
it should update the Grub Boot Menu - - then re-boot & try win-7 again.
:)
does the Grub Menu display only one win-7 OR does it display two win-7's ?.
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
Roab

Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by Roab »

Hello Pierre,

I went ahead an updated grub, restarted, then tried to load Windows 7, however this did not fix the problem. I am able to select Win7, however it goes immediately to black and returns to grub.

There is only one Windows option available, specifically: Windows 7 (Loader) /dev/sda1

Thank you for the reply and I will try any other suggestions you can think of.
kukamuumuka

Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by kukamuumuka »

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99)
You have installed grub to the windows-partition, which makes Windows unbootable. The fix is to use Windows Recovery disk and run

Code: Select all

bootrec /fixboot
https://neosmart.net/wiki/bootrec/
Roab

Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by Roab »

Thank you, I will try this and see if it works. Thank you for the explanation and link.
administrollaattori wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2018 1:37 pm
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99)
You have installed grub to the windows-partition, which makes Windows unbootable. The fix is to use Windows Recovery disk and run

Code: Select all

bootrec /fixboot
https://neosmart.net/wiki/bootrec/
mrmajik45

Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by mrmajik45 »

Linux cuddled with windows and windows did not like linux so he left. :P
Sir Charles

Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by Sir Charles »

Have a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=263424&p=1427458#p1427458
The solution presented by Elizine might work for you as well.
Roab

Re: Windows 7 will not boot after Mint install

Post by Roab »

Yes! This solution worked for me as well! I see nothing was corrupted in the boot loader, it just wasnt able to finish grabbing the Windows loader. Problem solved, thank you everyone for your help and advice.
Marziano wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2018 7:45 pm Have a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=263424&p=1427458#p1427458
The solution presented by Elizine might work for you as well.
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