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I am trying to boot from disk using the Windows Installation CD, and I always get the GRUB menu. Here is the boot-repair. Is there any other information you would need? Booting from a GParted disk or an Ubuntu disk works fine.

I usually select boot from the DVD drive using F12, and I've also changed settings in the BIOS, but I only get the GRUB screen, the same as if I was booting from the hard drive.

Also, some background information on Windows issues: Windows crashed and trying to boot in safe mode or normal mode simply restarted the computer. From the GRUB menu the Windows recover option brings me to a stock wallpaper and a mouse I can't move before shutting down. I recently deleted a Windows partition, but the problem existed before this. What would happen if I deleted other Windows partitions?

I do seem to be having trouble with the disk in another computer.

It was simply the disk. I was able to install Windows Vista, but I installed Ubuntu over it as I've come to enjoy the OS.

ubfan1
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user2034276
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  • A bad disk can waste hours of good troubleshooting. This is a major reason that people verify a file or disk's checksum - to make sure a copy is proper. See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checksum for more information. – Clayton May 13 '14 at 02:26
  • How to boot from a cd is dependent on your bios, and is unrelated to Ubuntu. – psusi May 13 '14 at 03:05
  • Welcome aboard! Don't worry about the disk, that happens much more often than I thought it would. – Clayton May 13 '14 at 23:17

4 Answers4

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If you are trying to boot a Windows CD, then you should change the boot device order in the BIOS. It has nothing to do with the GRUB boot-repair. If it's not booting then it's a problem with your Windows CD or the system hardware.

To change the boot device order in your BIOS, you should press Esc or some function key based on your system at the beginning of the boot process.

Peter Mortensen
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Sudheer
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  • I did do that, so I'm guessing it's a hardware issue. My computer did crash a while back and I've only been running Ubuntu since. Any idea why I would be able to run Ubuntu fine and not Windows? – user2034276 May 13 '14 at 01:14
  • Is you CD/DVD drive working fine – Sudheer May 13 '14 at 01:21
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    If you CD/DVD drive is working fine then its problem with the windows installation disk. If it comes to installing windows to a separate partition Ubuntu has nothing to do with that. There may be some mistake you are doing while installing windows. – Sudheer May 13 '14 at 01:26
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    I believe so, It runs any other disk fine and I can view the files of the windows recovery disk. – user2034276 May 13 '14 at 01:28
  • OK, I'll see if I can boot from USB. I'm not sure if the disk is the problem though. Windows did crash a while ago and any windows option from GRUB doesnt work. – user2034276 May 13 '14 at 01:30
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You might have damaged the Master Boot Record (which is what Windows uses, while Linux typically uses a /boot partition).

Windows is easy to damage if not shut down properly (such as a power outage). It might also be worth running a physical disk utility to check HD integrity.

If your CD/DVD drive boots other disks and can read the contents of your rescue disk - then I don't suspect that your drive is bad. But perhaps the rescue disk wasn't properly created (will it boot on someone else's Win8 machine)?

Lastly, resizing a windows partition can get tricky. But deleting a Windows partition is a sure way to break the OS. It may be much easier to purchase a second internal HD, and have each OS segregated for , but it is by no means required. Read through the Ubuntu forums and there are a few people who have had similar issues before you.

Clayton
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  • I really like this answer http://askubuntu.com/a/236230/89515 – Clayton May 13 '14 at 03:10
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    the MBR is 512 Bytes in size. the boot partition would not ever fit there. (that is only 64 ASCII characters!! --english royalty couldn't fit their names there!). The MBR is used by grub to start the chainloading process. – Scott Goodgame May 18 '14 at 02:43
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Make sure your Windows CD/DVD is bootable.

Check your BIOS screen to get into the Boot Menu (F8 for example for some boards). Press the identified key while the motherboard splash shows up.

You should see at least 3 to 4 options like boot from HDD, boot from CD, etc. Highlight boot from CD and press Enter.

If the above doesn't get you into the Windows installation screen, check the DVD in any other computer. I doubt the CD is not bootable.

Peter Mortensen
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Koushik
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  • It was not clear to me what your last sentence was supposed to mean. Please re-edit if my change altered your intended meaning with my apologies. – Clayton May 13 '14 at 12:42
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Try booting the windows CD/DVD on some other computer and see if it boots as it looks like the CD/DVD was not burnt correctly.

Also see if you can boot into Windows install wizard using a USB Drive. Use USB install media creator such as YUMI to do so.

Clayton
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Suhail Gulzar
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