Attempted dual-boot setup = Installed Ubuntu - Vista has now disappeared!

Depending on the choices you made during install, it is possible to overwrite windows. That is why it's always suggested to back up anything important. However, based on the info you have given it looks like Ubuntu is only on a 10GB partition so windows is probably still there. The GRUB boot loader may simply have not found or properly set up the menu for booting windows.

In order to help you fix this, we need a bit of info. Boot into Ubuntu and then open a terminal (apps - accessories - terminal) and type the following (or just copy-paste)

sudo fdisk -l

That last letter is a small L. Paste the output here. Basically, we are looking for something like this:

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 8093 65000000 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 8094 27538 156191962+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 27539 30152 20996955 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 30153 30401 2000092+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Notice the NTFS partition? As long as you have something like that you are good to go. We need to know the device name to set up a menu item to boot windows.

Next, open the file /boot/grub/menu.lst. You can open it with the file browser or just dump the contents into the terminal with

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

In any case, paste the contents here. With these two pieces of info we should be able to get GRUB set up to include an option to boot windows.

One last comment/thought. Windows is not going to run very well with just 5GB of free space and doing a defrag with that little will take a very long time. Even 15GB is a bit tight. Since this is a laptop you don't have a lot of options but it might be worthwhile to move some of your data off to an external drive. If that's not an option, oh well. It's just a thought.

Thanks, Heres the info gathered:

--
sudo fdisk -l
--

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 62 497983+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2 63 1342 10281600 83 Linux

--
cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
--

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=a14c9cff-8cec-40ff-8073-e3e89ff9e0cd ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,1)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=a14c9cff-8cec-40ff-8073-e3e89ff9e0cd ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=a14c9cff-8cec-40ff-8073-e3e89ff9e0cd ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=a14c9cff-8cec-40ff-8073-e3e89ff9e0cd ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=a14c9cff-8cec-40ff-8073-e3e89ff9e0cd ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

--

Thanks for your help. Can you provide a solution now that you have the above info?

Regards, akadir.

Now you have 3 partition

Device: /dev/sda0 -> Ntfs Vista
Device: /dev/sda1 -> Dell Recovery partition
Device: /dev/sda2 -> ext3 Ubuntu

I think you must first reinstall Grub bootloader:
this can help you http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351

1) - Booting from Ubuntu setup cd
2) - Start Ubuntu
3) - Open a terminal session from menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal
and then type:

sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage1

grub will answer with a value like -> (hdx,y)
Type in the following commands replacing the hdx,y with the value founded by Grub:

root (hdx,y)
setup (hdx)
quit

Shutdown Ubuntu, remove the Ubuntu setup cd from drive.

After restoring Grub bootloader start from your installed Ubuntu.

Press ALT+F2 key and write:
gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Add the following lines at the end to the Grub menu.lst:

title Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Reboot the pc.

HTH

elart,

Done exactly as you instructed me. When booting up, it gives me the option to hit "Esc" to view the menu.

The menu displays Ubuntu (available in different modes (generic, recovery, etc)), and also lists Microsoft Vista Ultimate at the bottom. I selected Microsoft Vista Ultimate, and was then presented with the following error message:

"Error 1: Filename must be an absolute pathname or blocklist. Press any key to continue. "

Please assist!

akadir

elart,

Upon checking the changes I made into the menu.lst file, I noticed a small typo error by myself. However, upon fixing this and restarting the laptop, I am given the same options; Ubuntu (available in different modes (generic, recovery, etc)), and also Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate at the bottom. I selected Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, and was then presented with the following error message:

"Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format. Press any key to continue. "

Please assist!

akadir

Based on this info you provided....

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 62 497983+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2 63 1342 10281600 83 Linux

There is no windows partition. you have only two paritions. sda1 set up as a linux swap partition and sda2 set up as a linux partition (where ubuntu would be installed). If that is all that was output from the sudo fdisk -l command then you do not have a windows partition.

Jim,

So I guess my only option is to re-install Windows Vista on a new partition? There's no other way of recovering the "lost partition" to which Windows used to belong to?

If so, how should I install Vista without messing up my Ubuntu partition?

Thanks for your help guys.

akadir

One more thought. What is odd is that the amount of space used for those two partitions does not add up to 160 GB. At least I don't think it does. Therefore, there must be some more space somewhere but the fdisk command should output that. To be honest, I don't know what is going on here.

I'm not sure that windows is gone. There is a mismatch in the data. There is a tool called gparted that will give you a more graphical description of what you have. It may not be installed so install it.

sudo apt-get install gparted

Once installed run it

gksudo gparted

See what it shows you. If you can't interpret it, take a screenshot and send it to my email (found on my launchpad page) or post it somewhere like flicker or something. There is a screenshot tool under apps - accessories.

Once we determine what is going on, we can advise you on a course of action. If a reinstall of windows is necessary I'd just reinstall it and overwrite ubuntu and then install ubuntu. Be sure to save everything you want to keep. Don't do this yet, however. Let's try and find out what is going on.

Jim,

Here is the screenshot as requested: http://download.yousendit.com/A73B7EB83C6EB5DB

Thanks for all your help.

akadir

Thanks. That clarifies things. I don't know how you installed but it seems you deleted the whole original partition and then setup about 10gb for Ubuntu leaving the rest unused. It's probable that a good amount of your data is still sitting on the hard drive but recovery of it is beyond my skill. You would probably have to take it somewhere and pay someone to extract what they can. It could be expensive but if you really want it back some at least is probably still there.

The next decision is how you want to proceed either after you recover the data or if you give it up for gone. In any case, when you are ready I would reinstall windows via whatever method you have at your disposal. Be sure to delete all partitions and let windows install to the full drive. You could repartition it ahead of time but it's extra work and not necessary. Trying to install windows without messing with Ubuntu is a pain and if it's a new install not really worth it. Once windows is reinstalled, reinstall ubuntu being sure to use the option to resize windows in step 4. The "use entire disk" will overwrite windows again and the manual partition is for advanced users. If you are going to primarily use windows it's not the best option. Chances are that when you reinstall Ubuntu using the "resize" option it will automatically detect windows and set up GRUB to give you a dual boot. If not, post back and we can fix that.

Good luck.

From your first message:

"I've tried using the Vista boot DVD, but it only offers me the option of installing a new copy of Vista (losing all my of data, settings and programs!). The repair options aren't much help as it cannot find a system-restore point to use. I've tried the Repair which Vista offered, and it DID find a partition table error which it "successfully" fixed. Upon restarting the machine, I ran the Vista boot disk again and attempted to repair the Vista installation, but there was no Vista OS detected upon which the repair install could be carried out on!"

Some of previous actions have marked the 160GB as free space, i think the Repair of Vista.

At this point you have 2 quick solution:

1) Reinstall Vista choosing the 160 GB free space partition and redo the Grub Installation as before...
    ( i regolary do this if a must reinstall Windows on dual boot pc )
2) do as Jim Hutchinson wrote reinstall all: in the order 1 vista on entire HD and after Ubuntu.

If you are in trouble, post here...

HTH

HTH

Jim Hutchinson,

"I don't know how you installed but it seems you deleted the whole original partition and then setup about 10gb for Ubuntu leaving the rest unused" - This is very strange. I was so careful about the options I chose, and I selected "Manual" when it came to the partitioning to ensure that I don't select the entire drive, and I followed the instructions on the howtoforge.com link. In any case, I guess I will now have to run a Vista installation from scratch, and then try Ubuntu again. My main question here is; are you sure that Ubuntu Installer will a) detect Vista and not overwrite it? and b) how do I know whether Ubuntu/GRUB has or hasn't detected Vista? How would I know whether or not to proceed with the Ubuntu Installation?

" It's probable that a good amount of your data is still sitting on the hard drive but recovery of it is beyond my skill.. " - The good news is that my external hard disk had run a backup of ALL my personal data/documents and media files a few nights before. So I'm pretty sure that its safe to run a complete Vista installation. The only disadvantage is having to re-install all of my many programs, and reconfigure the settings again.

elart,

If some other actions, other than the Ubuntu installation, have marked the extra space as "free", then this might help to explain it as I am sure that during the installation process, things went according to plan. Anyway, better move onto Vista now.

Guys, if you could just provide me with the answers to my first set of questions on this post, then I can proceed with the Ubuntu install, after I have done Vista again!

p.s. I'm using the Ubuntu setup CD to come online. If Vista takes a while to install/setup, then it'll be a while before return to post any update.

Thanks for all your help, it is much appreciated!! :)

akadir

Too many changes, make some confusion to me.

Please repost here the new partition status after Vista install.

To get partition status using Ubuntu setup cd please from a terminal window you can do a:
sudo fdisk -l <---(-l is a lower L)
copy and paste the result here.

We will continue better and shortly answer you from new hard-disk status and your new scenario...

HTH

OK guys, I've installed Vista Ultimate now, and its fully working (and I even got ALL my data back using my external hard disk! :)

Using the Ubuntu setup-CD, I entered the sudo fdisk -l command into a terminal window to bring up the following:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19458 156288000 7 HPFS/NTFS

--
I have also uploaded Vistas view of the HD using Disk Management utility. It's a screenshot whilst running on Vista. (Just in case there was a disparity between the two views).

http://download.yousendit.com/A0DC00A831E14372 .

I'm not sure why Vista is only showing 149GB capacity, when it is actually 160GB! (as Linux correctly displays). I'm guessing that the 10GB "missing" in Vista, is the partition for Ubuntu? When I installed Vista, I deleted ALL existing partitions to install Vista, so not too sure about this... (perhaps not important anyway).

--
Take a look at both screenshots please, and if possible, provide a full breakdown of how I should proceed with the install of Ubuntu, so that I can dual boot between Vista and Ubuntu each time I boot the laptop.

Preference: I'd like the laptop to ask me which OS to boot, rather than to automatically boot into either. If this is not possible, then I would like Vista to be the default "primary" OS and Ubuntu as secondary.

Thanks!!

akadir

Sounds like you are ready to reinstall Ubuntu. If you go through the standard install and choose the "shrink windows" option (I believe it's the first one) you will get a traditional dual boot setup and it should offer you the option to choose. The reason you didn't have that option before is that vista didn't exist anymore so it wasn't an option.

As for the missing 10 GB that is probably due to how drive makers and OSs read and report space. Is 1GB 1000MB or 1024MB? Drive makers go with the first one so you never actually get 160GB you get 160 * 1000 / 1024. Even Ubuntu uses 1000 and 1024 in different situations. If you reinstalled windows and deleted all partitions you just have the one big windows one (as your output above shows).

So, you are ready to once again install Ubuntu. Boot from the CD and start the install. On step 4 chose to shrink windows (I'm not sure it actually says that but you get the idea). Do not choose the "use entire disk option" and don't mess with the manual bit unless you feel comfortable doing manual partitioning. Even then, I don't think it's necessary. Just drag the slider to give Ubuntu the amount of space you want and it will do the rest automatically. The installer will set up the grub boot loader to give you a choice at boot. Depending on your set up, grub doesn't always act the way you want. If that happens post back and we can fix it.

Hope that helps. Post back if you need any more info on the install.

When i install Feisty in dual boot i prefer to do first a shrinking of NTFS partition using:
System ->Administration->Gnome Partitition Editor
before start installation.

And after i tell to install process, i don't remember the step number, to automatically use the just created free space.

HTH

Firstly Ubuntu 7.04 does not support Windows Vista. If you want to transfer your documents to ubuntu try 7.10

You have just lost your win vista boot files nothing else.
to repair it, it is very easy
1) just enter your win vista bootable dvd and restart your computer
2) When it loads select repair computer.
3) Select your windows partition
4) On the next window select Command prompt
5) Inthe command prompt type:

cd boot
bootsect /NT60 All

6) And there your win vista will load.

If you want win vista and ubuntu to to load together with dual-boot you can go to my site for futther details:

http://beacompsavvy.googlepages.com/installubuntu22

Your problem will be solved (I wish).

If you want Ubuntu with vista i recommend you to install Ubuntu 7.10. the installation Process is given at my site:

http://beacompsavvy.googlepages.com/instubuwiwinvipreinst

Well I have the same problem as i try to dual boot my desktop I got my vista formatted i dont know what happend but it somehow got formatted, I dont want my vista back i dont care for vista all i need is my other important files that were on my harddisk back, is there any way i can recover those files or not any software any other option:

pirani@Pirani:~$
pirani@Pirani:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for pirani:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x10000000

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 29638 238067203+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 29639 30394 6072570 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 29639 30394 6072538+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
pirani@Pirani:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=194f6fb6-42d6-40a5-8480-83d4c52c3a06 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=194f6fb6-42d6-40a5-8480-83d4c52c3a06 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=194f6fb6-42d6-40a5-8480-83d4c52c3a06 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
pirani@Pirani:~$

Try this:

To get vista back and recover your files just follow the steps given:

1) just enter your win vista bootable dvd and restart your computer
2) When it loads select repair computer.
3) Select your windows partition
4) On the next window select Command prompt
5) In the command prompt type:

cd boot
bootsect /NT60 All

6) restart your computer
7) And there your win vista will load.

Hope this works

Abhinav