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I have installed Ubuntu as dualboot with Windows 7. Now I'm no longer using Ubuntu so i removed the Ubuntu partition and added the unallocated space to my Windows 7 partition. But after I restart my computer it goes directly to the error: 

error: unknown filesystem
grub rescue >

I don't have the original Windows CD to fix the MBR. Is there a way to fix this error without using the Windows CD?

Phoenix
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5 Answers5

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Try EasyBCD. EasyBCD is an advanced GUI application that makes it easy to modify the Windows bootloader and the entries in it.

Choose BCD Deployment, and write the MBR.

enter image description here

Mitch
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    Thank you so much! But how can I do to skip grub rescue > ? I can not use EasyBCD because I can not log in to windows. – Phoenix Jul 30 '13 at 17:24
  • Have a look at This, and This. – Mitch Jul 30 '13 at 17:29
  • Why recommend this solution ? For the recovery CD you have to pay a lot of $$ ? There are free solutions to the problem ! – snayob Jul 30 '13 at 23:30
  • @snayob Pay for what? EasyBCD is free. Plusere if you have windows 7 you had to install from somewhere, so someone would have an installation DVD. So again Pay for what? – Mitch Jul 31 '13 at 00:56
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    Use boot-repair instead. This tool MESSED UP everything for me and I threw 50€ out of the window. – hugo der hungrige Apr 27 '14 at 15:18
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I have solved this with a Boot-Repair disk (I put it on a USB flash-pen, but one can burn it on a disk if necessary). I had used the program mainly to repair the grub in linux, but it has an option to repair the MBR.

So, boot into the Boot Repair disk/usb, and check "Restore MBR" (instead of "Reinstall GRUB").

enter image description here

It works fine, the normal boot in Win7 is back in place.

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Check here: grub says unknown file system. what do I do?

Follow this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

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0R10N
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As documented in Ubuntu Help! First Run Ubuntu Live CD

If internet connectivity available, open a terminal and run these commands:

sudo apt-get install lilo

sudo lilo -M /dev/sda mbr

If no Internet connection: recent versions of Ubuntu include the file /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin which is 440 bytes in length and simply needs to be written to the beginning of the mbr with this terminal command. WARNING! Be very careful with this command and check for typos before running it.

sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda conv=notrunc

always use conv=notrunc if input file is smaller than output

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DimitriosP
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I had similar problem with my laptop .. I have been multi booted elementary and LXLE Linux along with win7 .. If you deleted the Linux portion you can either use live Win7 USB or CD to recover the MBR problem via Windows recovery option , but sometimes grub is corrupted , you won't able to boot from cd or usb . I used to remove the hdd from the system and connected to another system to fix MBR of win7 partion or hdd using partition software or try to format win7 partion and reconnect the hdd to your system and try to boot the live usb or cd from there. Good luck.

ARUN Madathil
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