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Fix Windows' Master Boot Record with an Ubuntu Live CD
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 12:30 AM on January 18, 2008
If you've ever delved into the realm of Windows/Linux dual-booting, you probably know that the Master Boot Record can unexpectedly stop working, leaving you locked out of your Windows system. If you don't have (or just don't want to dig up) your Windows installation CD to fix it, ArsGeek has a handy tutorial on un-wonking the MBR with an Ubuntu live CD. The guide seemingly requires a working internet connection from inside the live session, but all should be well once you download the ms-sys application and run the right command. Except for the installation line, this guide could work for other Linux live CDs as well. For other live CD options, check out Gina's Top 10 free computer system recovery tools.
Tags: boot CD | data recovery | linux | live CD | ubuntu | windows
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
oneshot417
Posted 1:32 AM 18/1/08
but windows cd's are much easier and found everywhere
oneshot417
Confuzius
Posted 2:32 AM 18/1/08
Parted Magic
[www.partedmagic.com]
The advantage there is that it also has better HFS support if you screw up while working on a hackintosh.
Confuzius
Fierock
Posted 3:32 AM 18/1/08
Just yesterday I uninstalled Linux from an older PC I wanted to reuse (I gave Ubuntu a good try on it, but I never could get the wireless NIC issues sorted). Since it has a tiny 15GB hard drive, had 2 partitions (one for each OS) and I decided to keep using Win2K pro on it I wanted to recover the disk space that had been allocated to the Linux partition.
I ended up downloading Hiren's bootCD from torrent (yes illegal I'm sure) but it has so many great utilities - I was easily able to recover the partition using Gdisk then fix the MBR with SmartFdisk.
In the past I've also used the Gdisk included on Norton Ghost boot disk to fix a partition error on another machine after a failed ghost image...
Fierock
xjohnx
Posted 3:32 AM 18/1/08
I've had this problem before and it is easily fixed with a standard windows boot disk and fdisk/mbr....Although any non-Windows partitions will not be available anymore.
xjohnx
Dignan17
Posted 3:32 AM 18/1/08
I've actually done this exact thing before. I had a user who was instructed by some idiot at Symantec to alter his boot.ini file. I used an Ubuntu live CD to very easily alter the file back to normal.
And no, ONESHOT417, Windows CDs are NOT easier to find. Dell doesn't ship them with new systems anymore. Do you know why Ubuntu CDs are easy to find? Because it's FREE!
Dignan17
Kevin Purdy
Posted 3:32 AM 18/1/08
@oneshot417: Sarcasm?
Kevin Purdy
anonymii
Posted 10:28 AM 17/1/08
Gotta try this next time. Windows CD's take too long to load for me and it makes my dvd drive spin so fast it sounds like i'm at an airport.
anonymii
toddkravos
Posted 7:32 AM 18/1/08
This worked like a dream for me a few months back when I installed UBUNTU on a spare USB 120gb HDD. I couldn't boot the windows box unless UBUNTU was connected to the USB port.
toddkravos
chrishad95
Posted 12:35 PM 17/1/08
I have had similar problems and I used Super Grub Disk. Free to download, I believe.
chrishad95
webdesign
Posted 10:32 AM 18/1/08
Just tried this and it worked like a charm. glad I had it to reference. Thanks :)
webdesign
oneshot417
Posted 11:34 AM 18/1/08
lol i was being sarcastic dude, you can bu up in a Linux environment in under 1 min.
oneshot417
Auslegung
Posted 10:32 PM 21/1/08
I'm currently downloading the LiveCD and running through the howto so I can be familiar with it, and I came to the part that says:
Now you'll need to figure out what partition is the one hosting your Windows operating system. Back in the command line, type:
sudo fdisk -l
That will list the available partitions. You're looking for a partition that says something like
/dev/sda1 1 9327 74919096 83 NTFS
Problem is that I have sda1-5, and two of those are HPFS/NTFS, so I don't know which one to choose. I'm worried about having two and what that means, and that neither are simply NTFS, but rather HPFS/NTFS
Auslegung