Windows Bootloader

L'prof · 10-11-2009 2:14pm #1

I recently installed Fedora on my laptop and am now using the Grub bootloader, which is great. The thing is, when I select Windows 7, the Windows bootloader pops up and asks me to choose between 7 and Vista. Vista isn't installed on my laptop (anymore...messed something up and it was the only thing I could think of as I had a Vista disk, but not a 7 one) so is there any way I can get rid of it as an option?

I've tried running msconfig and looking for boot.ini, but I can't find it.

Biggins · 10-11-2009 2:40pm

Under win 7, have you gone into "msconfig " and gone to the "Boot" tab and tried deleting the Vista mention in there?
It might help.

RoadKillTs · 10-11-2009 2:57pm

You can do it through using MSCONFIG as Biggins has said or you can edit the boot.ini file manually.
It's usually on the root of the C: drive and is hidden.

L'prof · 10-11-2009 3:32pm

Biggins wrote: »

Under win 7, have you gone into "msconfig " and gone to the "Boot" tab and tried deleting the Vista mention in there?
It might help.

I've tried that and when I look there, I can't do anything at all and it seems to be empty.

RoadKillTs wrote: »

You can do it through using MSCONFIG as Biggins has said or you can edit the boot.ini file manually.
It's usually on the root of the C: drive and is hidden.

I found this saying that 7 doesn't have a boot.ini file, is that right?

RoadKillTs · 10-11-2009 3:41pm

I found this saying that 7 doesn't have a boot.ini file, is that right?

Well you learn something new everyday! Right well sorry I don't know then.

L'prof · 10-11-2009 3:44pm

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Well you learn something new everyday! Right well sorry I don't know then.

No worries, I don't know anything about it so that information may be wrong!

RoadKillTs · 10-11-2009 3:49pm

No worries, I don't know anything about it so that information may be wrong!

No it's seems to be right.
TBH you could use a 3rd party bootloader tool which might work but I'd be worried it might mess up your Linux setup.

Maybe someone else can advise.

Biggins · 10-11-2009 4:13pm

jasonorr wrote: »

I've tried that and when I look there, I can't do anything at all and it seems to be empty.

Empty???
Well thats downright weird. At the very least there should be mention of Windows 7!!!
Here is a screen grab of what mine looks like:

L'prof · 10-11-2009 4:24pm

Biggins wrote: »

Empty???
Well thats downright weird. At the very least there should be mention of Windows 7!!!
Here is a screen grab of what mine looks like:

Yeah, empty...none of that there! Maybe it's because I'm using Grub as my bootloader?

I'm in Fedora now, but I'll reboot and post a pic!

L'prof · 10-11-2009 4:31pm

Yup, empty:

Bodan · 10-11-2009 4:34pm

The easiest way to edit the windows 7 boot-loader is with Vista Boot Pro or EasyBCD. I would recommend Vista boot pro as it is a great little program.

The hard way is to use the bcdedit command built into windows 7 and vista. Here is a guide. Link. Just make sure you have the right identifier if you go down this path, otherwise you might end up losing windows 7:)

L'prof · 10-11-2009 4:45pm

Bodan wrote: »

The easiest way to edit the windows 7 boot-loader is with Vista Boot Pro or EasyBCD. I would recommend Vista boot pro as it is a great little program.

The hard way is to use the bcdedit command built into windows 7 and vista. Here is a guide. Link. Just make sure you have the right identifier if you go down this path, otherwise you might end up losing windows 7:)

No joy there:

Bodan · 10-11-2009 4:50pm

The best thing to do would be to restore the windows 7 bootloader , delete the vista option through vista boot pro and then resintall the Grub bootloader.

L'prof · 10-11-2009 4:51pm

Bodan wrote: »

The best thing to do would be to restore the windows 7 bootloader , delete the vista option through vista boot pro and then resintall the Grub bootloader.

How do I go about restoring the vista bootloader?

Bodan · 10-11-2009 5:01pm

jasonorr wrote: »

How do I go about restoring the vista bootloader?

You want to restore the windows 7 bootloader rather than vista's, if possible. Put in the windows 7 dvd and select startup repair. Here is a guide .. Link. When you get to option 6 below select Startup repair and that will reinstall windows boot-loader.

edit, just to add that you need to boot from the windows dvd in order to get into the systems recovery disk. I should have made that clear earlier.. depending on what system you have you might have to go into your bios and select boot from cd; or you may have it in a boot menu option just after you start your computer.

L'prof · 10-11-2009 5:32pm

Bodan wrote: »

You want to restore the windows 7 bootloader rather than vista's, if possible. Put in the windows 7 dvd and select startup repair. Here is a guide .. Link. When you get to option 6 below select Startup repair and that will reinstall windows boot-loader.

edit, just to add that you need to boot from the windows dvd in order to get into the systems recovery disk. I should have made that clear earlier.. depending on what system you have you might have to go into your bios and select boot from cd; or you may have it in a boot menu option just after you start your computer.

I've set my bios to boot from cd/dvd already...took me a while ti figure out why my freshly burned Fedora DVD wouldn't work.

I saw a couple of guides online when I searched, but I don't have a windows 7 dvd!

Bodan · 10-11-2009 5:39pm

jasonorr wrote: »

I've set my bios to boot from cd/dvd already...took me a while ti figure out why my freshly burned Fedora DVD wouldn't work.

I saw a couple of guides online when I searched, but I don't have a windows 7 dvd!

You can create a system recovery disk inside windows 7... this has all the tools you need, as explained earlier, to reinstall the windows bootloader.

# In Control Panel, click System and Security (System and Security), and then click Backup and Restore (Backup and Restore).

# In the left pane, click Create a system recovery disk (Create a system recovery disc);

# Insert a blank CD in the DVD, and then click Create Disk (Create Disc).

L'prof · 10-11-2009 5:41pm

Bodan wrote: »

You can create a system recovery disk inside windows 7... this has all the tools you need, as explained earlier, to reinstall the windows bootloader.

# In Control Panel, click System and Security (System and Security), and then click Backup and Restore (Backup and Restore).

# In the left pane, click Create a system recovery disk (Create a system recovery disc);

# Insert a blank CD in the DVD, and then click Create Disk (Create Disc).

I'll give this a go, thanks. I think this is different to the recovery disk I set up already (factory default or something).

L'prof · 10-11-2009 7:16pm

I presume system repair is the same as recovery?

L'prof · 10-11-2009 8:30pm

This is the best I've managed so far...might try one of those programs again:

Bodan · 10-11-2009 9:09pm

jasonorr wrote: »

I presume system repair is the same as recovery?

Yeah it is, the screen shot i posted above was from a beta of windows 7, but its practically the same thing.

This is the best I've managed so far...might try one of those programs again:

It looks like you have managed to fixed it, and that's all thats left to do is, reinstalled the grub boot loader.

L'prof · 10-11-2009 9:11pm

Bodan wrote: »

It looks like you have managed to fixed it, and that's all thats left to do is, reinstalled the grub boot loader.

It never overrode the grub bootloader and I'm still getting the ghost operating system...really annoying!

Bodan · 10-11-2009 9:43pm

IIRC, Grub dose not have an uninstaller, and the way to get rid of it is by over writing it with a windows boot loader. If the startup repair did not work, boot into the system repair DVD and open the command prompt. Type FIXMBR and press y, and then, FIXBOOT and press y.

That should restore the windows bootloader.

L'prof · 10-11-2009 10:06pm

Bodan wrote: »

FIXBOOT

Not recognised.

10-11-2009 10:08pm

Bodan wrote: »

IIRC, Grub dose not have an uninstaller, and the way to get rid of it is by over writing it with a windows boot loader. If the startup repair did not work, boot into the system repair DVD and open the command prompt. Type FIXMBR and press y, and then, FIXBOOT and press y.

That should restore the windows bootloader.

This only works for 2000 and XP. The correct command for Vista or 7 is: bootrec /fixmbr

Bodan · 10-11-2009 10:12pm

jasonorr wrote: »

Not recognised.

Karsini wrote: »

This only works for 2000 and XP. The correct command for Vista or 7 is: bootrec /fixmbr

Yeah, my bad. It's bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot

L'prof · 10-11-2009 10:17pm

Right from EasyBCD:

There is one entry in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 3 seconds.
Default OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

Entry #1

Name:  Windows 7 Home Premium
BCD ID:  {default}
Drive:  C:\
Bootloader Path:  \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory:  \Windows

Windows 7 is an entry in the Vista bootloader???

L'prof · 10-11-2009 10:37pm

Bodan wrote: »

Yeah, my bad. It's bootrec /fixmbr successful and bootrec /fixboot can't remember the error

Seems to have worked...straight into 7, no mention of Vista...now to recover Grub

L'prof · 10-11-2009 11:01pm

Thanks lads...I think the problem was that in my menu.lst file for grub, it should have pointed to (hd0,1) and should have pointed to (hd0,2).

Still no idea why I was able to boot into Windows with that setup!

Windows Bootloader

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