Help Please, Problem installing Ubuntu...

SlyConvict

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this as well as reply (if you do).

So, I'm new to Linux. Well, relatively, I haven't used it since the early 90's but now I'm pursuing my Engineering degree in computers and electronics so I figured it's time to start refreshing my memory as well as learning the system all over again.

Anyway, the problem:

I downloaded, created a cd and installed Ubuntu on my 3rd drive (it's an 80 gig that was basically wasting space). The install process went fine but after reboot, I got an error that I'm sure is not uncommon (based on the internet searches I've done) but I think my problem is somewhat unique since I can't find the resolution to it.

I received the treacherous "no such device..... grub rescue" message after my first reboot and have not been able to dance around it other than by telling my BIOS to disable SATA-0 & SATA-2.

I have 3 hard drives installed on my computer. 1 is Windows 8.1 pro, 2 is Windows 7 Ultimate and 3 is currently unoccupied. 3 is where I had it installed but since then I have removed Unbutu from it via deleting the partition and wiping the disk. So I am prepared to redo the process but first I need to fix the current damage to my computer from this install.

As I stated, I have 3 hard drives with 2 different operating systems. I cannot access one of them. Even though I have removed the partition for the Unbuntu and wiped the disk, when I allow my BIOS to run SATA-0 (the Windows 8 disk) I get the same error message and am not able to run Windows. I do have multi-boot set and it used to work fine, until this error. I did not receive any ill-effects to my Windows 7 hard drive and it boots fine but my Windows 8 hard drive will not boot.

I have, yes, loaded the elevated recovery mode on Windows 8 via the Win8 install disk and I have run the Bootrec procedures. No luck resolving the issue. I have deleted the original BCD file (on both the Win 8 and Win 7 disks) still no luck resolving the issue.

Is there something I can do to bring back my Windows 8 disk? If so, is there a way for me to install Umbuntu back onto my 3rd drive without having this issues occur again AND STILL be able to have the multi-boot (or commonly known as dual boot) option show all 3 hard drives aka all 3 operating systems?

If the latter cannot be done, I am fine with disabling the other disks in the bios when I want to access Linux, and vice versa for accessing my Windows -- but first I need to repair the damage done to Windows 8 - then install Umbuntu back on that 3rd hard drive.

Everything I've read so far indicates that my 80 gig hard drive will be more than sufficient to run Umbuntu -- but if it won't be large enough, please let me know that too.

Thanks,

Dan

sandeep4774

Start up your dilapidated computer with the USB or DVD Windows 8 recovery media in the system. You want to get to the Advanced options screen so you can open the beloved command prompt.

When the computer boots off the recovery media, pick the Troubleshoot option

Then choose Advanced Options and head on over to the Command Prompt.

The computer should reboot and then ask you for the account. Click your account to continue.

Then login to get started

We’re going to use the built in partitioning tool called diskpart to confirm that:

We have all the right partitions
EFI partition is formatted correctly.
In the black screen that looks like a dark abyss, type:

diskpart

and enter this command:

sel disk 0

Now that the first disk is selected we need to view all the partitions

list vol

Verify that the EFI partition is using the FAT32 file system then select the volume and assign a drive letter to it.

1. Assign the Drive Letter

Let’s say your EFI partition is on Volume 3, the next thing you would type is:

sel vol 3
Then assign an arbitrary drive letter to the parition. Let’s use v.

assign letter=v:
You should see a message saying: DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

Exit the diskpart tool by typing:

exit

You should still be in the command prompt but outside of the DISKPART> prompt

2. Repair the Boot Record

We need to repair the boot record. We can pull that off like so:

cd /d v:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
bootrec /fixboot
The CD command tells the command line interpreter to change the directory to the volume label that has the EFI boot record.

Then the bootrec /fixboot command attempts to repair the selected volume.

3. Rebuild the BCD store

Now we need to recreate the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store, so let’s backup the existing store first

Type:

ren BCD BCD.old
Now that we backed it up, let’s recreate the BCD store:

bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-us /s v: /f ALL

The /f ALL thingy updates all the BIOS settings.

Now remove the recovery media and reboot and you should be all set.

SlyConvict

sandeep4774 wrote:

Start up your dilapidated computer with the USB or DVD Windows 8 recovery media in the system. You want to get to the Advanced options screen so you can open the beloved command prompt.

When the computer boots off the recovery media, pick the Troubleshoot option

Then choose Advanced Options and head on over to the Command Prompt.

The computer should reboot and then ask you for the account. Click your account to continue.

Then login to get started.... (etc)

Thank you VERY much for your reply, it is truly appreciated.
I had already followed those steps and found no resolve (exclusive of the partition steps since I already verified them via a 3rd party partition utility) -- but as it turns out, for whatever reason the fixboot option that wasn't working required an extra step I was not aware of... I needed to do a fixmbr command first. After doing both the fixmbr and fixboot command (in that order) I was able to boot into windows 8.1 pro... Of course, I opted to return to the command prompt and perform the required bcd repairs needed to get both of my operating systems listed... Even though I did not need to go that route, I felt most comfortable with that route.

None the less... What I am trying to do now, and have not yet been able to do, is tell Windows 8.1 to recognize the Linux (Ubuntu) disk and add it to the operating system choices at the multiboot screen.

Is there a way I can do this via the Windows platform or am I going to need to perform some procedures in my Linux platform? If so, either way, what steps should I take to accomplish the mission of making my multiboot screen register I have 3 hard drives, each with a different operating system? Well, partitions, actually - but still.