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Running a duel boot system with Windows 10 64 bit and XUbuntu Linux v 20.04, 64 bit. Using Grub and Windows-10 was the default boot. Had upgraded the XUbuntu from 18.04 to 20.04 early in 2021 and it had some important programs on it.

Windows kept insisting on an update and although I disabled these I would let major ones thru. After the update my computer was found non-bootable. I forget the exact message but it probably was just a missing GRUB.

I made a Xubuntu DVD from an iso (v 20.04) and was able to boot into it. It did not find any previous XUbuntu installations and presented me with the following partition table. As you can see, everything seems to be formatted NTFS.

Disk partitions from xUbuntu 20.04 boot

I should mention that this PC has only one HDD, which is apparently 1 TB. It has Windows-10 & was running XUbuntu 20.04 in a EXT3 or EXT4 partition with Linux Swap space. The Linux partition had some critical engineering programs in it.

So is the Linux really gone? Can I just reinstall GRUB & how can I recover the Linux partition?

======================================================================= This thread has moved here where it addresses how to restore GRUB and reboot my computer. I still haven't been able to do this but am working on it.

Stack Exch: How to Restore Grub to partition

Nicholas Bourbaki
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    I'm afraid Linux is gone indeed. That sometimes happens with installation in MBR/Legacy("BIOS") installations. Is it so old that you had to install in BIOS mode? If not that was a huge mistake. – ChanganAuto Jun 03 '21 at 18:35
  • I have no idea what a Bios installation is. The Linux installation is not that old: maybe 2019 or 2020 and updated to version 20.04 in early 2021. The PC itself is a bit old tho. I plan to see if I can reinstall Grub and at least boot to the Windows partition. Then I think I'll install XUbuntu on it's own Harddrive. If I need a Windows update then I'll just unplug power from that Harddrive so it can't be erased by Windows. – Nicholas Bourbaki Jun 04 '21 at 00:05
  • Thanks ChanganAuto. Have everything working now. I did indeed have to reinstall Linux as the various partition tools could find no evidence of my EXT4 partition. A company; minitool is offering a program to convert a MBR OS disk to a GPT one. I may go for that + add a second 2TB HDD which will be only for Linux. – Nicholas Bourbaki Jun 29 '21 at 19:22
  • Quick update. Although I changed motherboards to a better one (able to support 16GB instead of only 8) I still have no capability to boot UEFI. MB is circa 2010 or 2011. Installed a 2nd harddrive and make that entirely Linux. – Nicholas Bourbaki Jul 20 '21 at 13:48

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