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I have a HP dv6000 laptop which originally (5 years ago) came with Windows Vista. The 250 GB hard disk is divided in 3 parts. One partition carries only data (A: 140 GB). Other partirion has Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bits, that contains all my programs and personal configurations (B: 40 GB), and which I've been using since a couple of years (because Vista sucks). The third partition carries the old original Windows Vista (C: 70 GB), which I never use. Then every time I turn on the computer the system gave me the double boot option for Windows Vista or Windows 7. Yesterday I decided to start with Linux, so I burn a DVD containing Ubuntu 14.04 64 bits and installed it on the partition that contained the old out-of-use Windows Vista, of course formating that partition. After that, the Ubuntu boots and works fine, but sadly I can not boot from Windows 7 anymore.. All my precious programs were in that operating system, so it would be beautiful to recover the Windows 7 boot and even better to achieve a doble boot option (Ubuntu or Windows 7).

Things I've alredy tried unsuccesfully:

  • Burning an ISO with "Repair-Boot Disk" and running it twice (once with the automatic option and another choosing the advanced options -> restore MBR and selecting the partition with Windows 7 in it (sd5 in my case)
  • Also tried the Repair option after booting from my good Windows 7 DVD, but it doesn't even detect that there is any Windows in any partition...

Is there any way to recover my Windows 7 or I have to reinstall Windows 7 in that partition?

Volker Siegel
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Juan Díaz Carrasco
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1 Answers1

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Test this:

Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the DVD drive and restart the computer.

If prompted, press any key to boot from the Windows 7 installation DVD.

Select your language preferences and click on Next.

Click on Repair your computer.

Select which operating system you want to restore and the click on Next. If Windows 7 is not listed here, or it is blank, then it is ok. Click on Next anyway.

Select the system recovery option you want to do:

Startup Repair

System Restore

System Image Recovery

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Command Prompt

If you managed to recover Windows 7, will have lost Grub should reinstall.

Insert the Ubuntu Desktop live-disc into the DVD drive and restart the computer.

Select Try it.

Open a terminal.

Run it:

sudo -i
fdisk -l
#Suppose fdisk informs your partition / is /dev/sda3, continue running
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev 
mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
chroot /mnt
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
umount /mnt
reboot

That's it.

Sources:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-are-system-recovery-options#what-are-system-recovery-options=windows-7

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB

kyodake
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