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Okay, I did something really sly, thinking I knew all the ins and outs.

I got a great school laptop with Windows 7 Pro on it. Didn't like it. So I installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit onto an 8GB flash drive (Sandisk). No problem.

I wanted this to be CLEAN CUT and UNNOTICEABLE for when I return the laptop on January 1st when I graduate.

Having the USB drive in means I go to Grub2 bootloader. Not having it in (trying to just boot into Win 7) gives me a Grub rescue. That's pretty noticeable.

I'm not necessarily saying I want to "delete/uninstall" Grub2.

I just want this laptop to boot normally if the USB drive isn't found. To just go straight to Windows and boot from the internal drive.

If I do need to end up uninstalling Grub, can I have a simple, dumbed down answer? I'm pretty good with computers, but I chose Ubuntu because it's what my one friend calls "easy" Linux. It's more user friendly. So when it comes to Grub, I'm pretty lost.

I tried doing this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto/ChangeDefaultOS

I get the following error in the terminal: "cp: cannot stat ‘/boot/grub/menu.lst’: No such file or directory"

Please help! I love Ubuntu, and that's why I'm using it for school and work purposes instead of Win 7. I just would like to return the school's laptop without any "damage" done to it. I've obviously never experienced this issue before because I've never had to return any of my computers that I put Ubuntu onto.

Help is greatly appreciated! I know it's a while until January but I didn't want to wait until the last minute for this.

RickyAYoder
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1 Answers1

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The easiest thing to do is probably use a Windows Reapir CD to "fix" the boot loader. This should kill grub and replace it with the windows default.

TheSchwa
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  • Since this is a school laptop, I don't have any CDs...I do have a Windows 7 installer CD that I used on my desktop...that does certain repairs, doesn't it? – RickyAYoder Aug 09 '14 at 05:25
  • Yes that should work fine. Check here for more detailed instructions if you need them: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html. – TheSchwa Aug 09 '14 at 05:26
  • Thank you. I will check and try this out ASAP. Now, if I do this, can I still boot Ubuntu by going to "Boot Options" or whatever it is called for my BIOS and choose the USB drive at will? – RickyAYoder Aug 09 '14 at 05:27
  • I get Grub rescue when I select "Optical Drive" to boot from. :( – RickyAYoder Aug 09 '14 at 05:37
  • Specifically, it says "error: no such device: 9cece9c4-afe8-42a6-9f50-5e04c81f117b. Entering grub rescue mode..." I cannot change boot order from BIOS. Is there a command I can execute withnGrub rescue to go and boot from the DVD? – RickyAYoder Aug 09 '14 at 05:52
  • That is very odd. My only other suggestion would be to try boot-repair (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair) using the LiveUSB to fix grub, then attempting the Windows Repair again. For grub rescue perhaps look here http://askubuntu.com/questions/197833/recovering-from-grub-rescue-crash. Otherwise you'll have to wait for another answer, as this has exceeded my expertise. – TheSchwa Aug 09 '14 at 05:55
  • Maybe using EasyBCD from Wine? – RickyAYoder Aug 09 '14 at 07:07