Can't remove GRUB to recover Windows 7 MBR

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I have a dual-boot system with Windows 7 and openSUSE 11.3. Right now I’m trying to remove openSUSE, and for that I need to recover the Windows 7 MBR so that Grub doesn’t load (I will take care of deleting the openSUSE partitions after I ensure Windows boots without problems).

I have previously performed the following steps to accomplish the same exact task to remove Kubuntu just a few days earlier, but they no longer work:

  1. Boot from Windows 7 installation DVD
  2. Choose “Repair Your Computer”
  3. A screen appears listing my Windows installation. Select it, click “Next”.
  4. Click “Command Prompt”
  5. Navigate to “boot” folder on Win 7 DVD and enter this command:
    >>> bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr

This removed Kubuntu’s GRUB, recovers the original Windows 7 boot record, and boots straight into Windows upon restart without any prompts.

HOWEVER, this process does NOT work with openSUSE because it seems like GRUB has now corrupted something. Using the steps above, I can only get as far as Step #2. In Step #3, the Windows 7 DVD no longer recognizes that any Windows installations currently exist, so I cannot select them. If I skip this step and get to the command prompt anyway and type in that same command, it claims that the volume was fixed but, upon reboot, GRUB loads as before. For the bootsect command, I have also tried substituting “c:” for “SYS”, but that didn’t solve the issue.

The next step I tried was booting into Windows 7 through GRUB (yes, it DOES work, there’s nothing wrong with my Windows 7 installation), downloaded and installed a Windows application called “EasyBCD” that’s supposed to open your boot configurations and let you change many advanced aspects in it (it is claimed to work for Windows, Linux, any combinations, etc). However, EasyBCD cannot find ANYthing to load, and thus won’t let me edit anything.

Can anyone tell me if there are any other steps I can try in order to remove GRUB and place the original Windows 7 MBR in its place, so that it does not load any kind of boot menus and instead launches straight into Windows every time?

NOTE1: This may be relevant: During openSUSE installation, when selecting partitions, it notified me in red letters about the fact that since the boot loader was going to be installed “above 128GB”, I may have issues with booting. I ignored this warning, and GRUB installed correctly and lets me load either openSUSE or Windows currently. Could this have something to do with it?

NOTE2: I’m looking for a permanent fix for this, not some work-around, because I intend to reinstall Linux and don’t want any future GRUB or similar installations to become confused with whatever I’m going to be doing now to it.

Thanks in advance!

#2

On the win7 DVD there is an automatic repair, did you try that.

or this thread may help you as Vista and Win7 share the same boot code
Winhoes no longer likes to boot after fresh install

#3

Stupid me! This should’ve been the obvious step for me to do before coming in here for help. I just did the automatic repair, and Windows discovered a broken partition table that it then fixed. The rest of my steps worked fine and I finally got rid of GRUB.

Problem solved. Thanks for your help.

Now, I wonder why openSUSE would break the partition table in the first place considering I let it perform the suggested default partitioning during the installation… But I guess that’s a question for another time.

#4

Now, I wonder why openSUSE would break the partition table in the first place considering I let it perform the suggested default partitioning during the installation… But I guess that’s a question for another time.

openSUSE did not break the partition table, if it did you would not have been able to boot anything, windows chose to see it as broken.

#5

Don’t worry about it.
It’s kind of complicated to start explaining if you already don’t understand it all.
Chances are SUSE had the boot flag on the extended partition and probably all you needed to do was switch that to the windows partition containing the boot code.