Windows – repair Win XP MBR using WIn 7 CD

mbrmulti-bootwindows

I have a dual boot machine (ubuntu 12.04 and xp sp3) and now I want to get rid of ubuntu.
After searching over the internet I found that I should first remove the grub (by fixing the MBR) so that the system directly boots into windows and then the ubuntu partitions can be deleted/formatted without trouble.

The problem is that I have a Windows 7 installation CD. I was wondering if I could use it for this purpose? Is is mandatory to use a win xp CD?

Best Answer

Yes.

Boot into the Windows 7 installation CD, and when you reach the screen with a "Start Install" button, press Shift + F10 and a command prompt should show up.

Now you should identify the drive that boots Windows (see below). Let's say it's X:, for example. You would execute the following command(s):

bootsect.exe /nt52 X:
bootsect.exe /nt52 X: /mbr

Now, the MBR should be restored to a Windows XP-compatible (NTLDR) format.

To identify the drive that boots Windows, you would type the following command first:

notepad.exe

After that, a Notepad window should appear. Now click "File"->"Open" to show an Open File dialog. Go to "Computer" and you should be able to identify the drive letter of the boot drive according to the size and/or drive label.

If you still can't identify the drive, you can first select to show All Files, then look for NTLDR and boot.ini on the root of the drives.

I myself had done this a few times before.

DISCLAIMER: The content contained in this answer is for reference only. I am NOT responsible if this answer causes any hard drive failures, data loss, loss of property, injuries, or even deaths. Remember, all actions involving hard drives are extremely dangerous. For every single (nano)second the drive is powered, it is one step closer to its own death and data might be lost from it. So if you are absolutely worried, do NOT use a hard drive at all.

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Ubuntu – Grub2 MBR vs. Windows MBR

On systems with such a recovery partition, usually the active partition is the recovery partition. The recovery partition displays the "Press F11" message, and if not pressed, forwards over to the main OS partition.

The MBR is essentially dumb; all it does is choose one of the partitions, and forwards over to that partition's VBR.

If you wanted a linux/windows dual boot, then the recovery partition would need to be forwarding to the GRUB partition, which would then allow options, and would forward to Windows if Windows got picked.

I'd not waste time with the recovery partition -- you can get all the drivers there from HP's web site, and if you've already got 7 on the box I think we can both agree wanting to revert back to Vista is unlikely.

So, to your specific questions.

Yes, your understanding is correct
Answered above
Not sure specifically what GRUB does when installed to the MBR. To my understanding it didn't really put business logic there, but I could be wrong.

Hope that helps :)

Linux – Kali Linux & Windows 7 : Switching Grub to MBR

Before reinstalling the whole operating system you can try to update Grub manually.

Boot your Linux distribution, open a terminal and switch to root. Take a backup of this file in case something goes wrong /boot/grub/grub.conf by doing something like this cp /boot/grub/grub.conf /root.

Now edit the grub.conf file by adding the following at the bottom:

title Windows 7

rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

I am assuming that your windows partition is on hd0,0 since it was installed first, but that might not be true so you will have to find this out yourself. At the end you have to update grub with the new configuration by running update-grub as root.

Hope this works for you.

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Grub2 MBR vs. Windows MBR

Linux – Kali Linux & Windows 7 : Switching Grub to MBR

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