[SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

Intruder89 · 2012-07-22 23:16:47

Hey ppl,

first I want to thank all of you who will try to help me with this issue. I`m Google-ing for the last 3 hours trying to repair this mess but so far - no luck. So what exactly happened? I downloaded ISO today (NetImage) and started installing it following this guide. When I tried to install syslinux on "System reserved partition" it issued an error that it can`t install it on current filesystem. So I got "bright" idea to format it (/dev/sda1) with mkfs.ext4. After that syslinux installed like a charm and it is working perfectly - except this "small" issue: I can`t boot Win7 anymore since I formated his BCD so there`s nothing to chain (or at least this is what I figured out so far - tell me if I`m wrong?).

Question is: is there a way to make syslinux boot Win7 that is installed on /dev/sda2 without reinstall of Win7 (or using Win RE /fixmbr)?

Last resort would be to fix MBR with WinRE, then again use my boot USB to get Arch console and install GRUB instead of syslinux (since syslinux won`t install on System Reserved partition where Win7 BCD is) - thing is I would really like to avoid this.

Thanks,
Nemanja

Last edited by Intruder89 (2012-07-23 22:54:50)

quasifilmie · 2012-07-22 23:26:08

If you have overwritten System Reserved you have almost certainly screwed up your Win7 installation. Anyway, if you need help repairing or installing Windows 7 you'll have to go to a different forum.

Last edited by quasifilmie (2012-07-22 23:27:21)

Intruder89 · 2012-07-22 23:45:21

quasifilmie wrote:

If you have overwritten System Reserved you have almost certainly screwed up your Win7 installation. Anyway, if you need help repairing or installing Windows 7 you'll have to go to a different forum.

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes I`m aware that it is pretty much sure there`s no way back (reinstall won`t be needed anyway - can be fixed over WinRE) but still I wanted to check here if someone had same issue and if there is a way of making syslinux to boot Win7 without BCD.

Intruder89 · 2012-07-23 22:25:48

Since I didn`t managed to restore BCD without Win7 reinstalation I decided to format all Win partitions and simply configure Arch so I can do all my work here This topic can be closed if you ask me

nomorewindows · 2012-07-23 22:32:56

grub2 can boot bootmgr directly, but if it's not there probably won't help.

Intruder89 · 2012-07-23 22:36:18

@nomorewindows:

Like you`re nickname Anyway - no I didn`t installed grub2 although it should work to rewrite /boot partition again and install grub2 instead of syslinux? It won`t look for windows BCD chain like syslinux?

DSpider · 2012-07-23 22:50:26

Did you try from a Windows 7 install disc to choose "Repair" ? Then, I think, from the command prompt, you needed to type:

fixboot

I don't consider using GRUB2 over Syslinux to be an upgrade. Quite the opposite.

Here's how you boot Windows with Syslinux:

LABEL windows
        MENU LABEL Windows XP/Vista/7
        KERNEL chain.c32
        APPEND hd0 1

(using it myself, and it's on the wiki as well)

Note: Syslinux starts counting partitions from 1 and drives from 0. Same for GRUB2.

Note: For Windows 7 you need to point it at its 100 MB "System Reserved" partition (if you use one).

PS: The [CLOSED] tag is system-reserved: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … ow_to_Post

If you fixed it by reinstalling Windows, mark it as solved and move on.

Intruder89 · 2012-07-23 22:57:53

Tnx for pointing that out to me (regarding [CLOSED] vs. [SOLVED]).

My syslinux.cfg is ok - the problem is after I loaded Arch from my boot USB - I reformated "System reserved". If I do what you proposed with /fixboot (or /fixmbr) over the WinRE then it`ll destroy my syslinux boot system which means I will need to reboot from USB and install syslinux again (this time on another partition). I don`t want to do that so I was just asking if there is same way to make syslinux boot Win7 from partition /dev/sda2 (this is my "C:") without Windows BCD record in MBR. Obviously it`s not possible so I decided to format Win and leave only Arch

DSpider · 2012-07-24 06:47:50

You can install Syslinux on the Arch partition. I don't have a separate /boot or /home and it's been working great for years. IMO, a separate /boot is useful if you have more than two operating systems on the computer, especially in case you decide to get rid of one at some point - it can help with not having to reinstall the bootloader. But that's about it, I think.

Anyway, I'm glad you found a solution. I rarely boot into Windows myself. VirtualBox ftw.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-22 23:16:47

[SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#2 2012-07-22 23:26:08

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#3 2012-07-22 23:45:21

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#4 2012-07-23 22:25:48

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#5 2012-07-23 22:32:56

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#6 2012-07-23 22:36:18

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#7 2012-07-23 22:50:26

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#8 2012-07-23 22:57:53

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

#9 2012-07-24 06:47:50

Re: [SOLVED] Missing BOOTMGR for Windows 7

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