Recreating a deleted Windows 7 boot partition. Possible?

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi,

I used to have a two-drive boot setup: a small SSD (sda) with openSUSE 13.1 in it; and a bigger HDD (sdb) with Windows 7. Recently, however, I had to do a series of openSUSE reinstalls and I accidentally obliterated the partition where Windows 7 had its boot – and I make a note here: It was indeed deleted using the own Windows Disk Management utility before reinstalling openSUSE (please don’t ask why I did that, I think it’s pretty clear I’m a noob).

This is what openSUSE Partitioner looks like:
http://i.imgur.com/n8uKVAf.png

Windows 7 files are intact in the sdb node but, because I deleted the boot partition, the Windows CD startup repair tools cannot see there’s a Windows there. So I was wondering, is it possible to recreate a Windows 7 boot to use the files in sdb, so I can dual boot from grub’s menu?

If there’s a relatively easy way to do this, it might be worth the try, otherwise I think I’ll go with WINE. I have a pretty nice working openSUSE install now and I don’t want to start messing with it by reinstalling Windows.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

#2

I think you need that partition to boot Windows. So You need to look to Windows for repair options. If you either have no Windows Install media or some Image from the maker type install media there may not be much you can do but back up your data and start from scratch. If you have or can obtain a true Windows install media then maybe you can fix it but you need advise from a Windows source. BTW Installing Windows will almost always mess up the Linux boot so that will have to be redone.

#3

You could try http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk which is included in the http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage.

#4

I figure this question doesn’t really make sense in this forum, especially not the way I worded it anyhow. I guess I wanted to check if there was something that could be done GRUB-wise to fix the boot, but that sounds quite silly even to me now that I think of it. Luckily I don’t have anything worth saving in the Windows disk, other than the time I spent installing it, that is. So, WINE it is for now, hopefully forever.

Thanks anyway for the help and for taking the time to answer, guys. Thumbs up to you. Those links actually look pretty good, I’ll keep them handy.

#5

Put it in a VM unless you want to run high end games VMs do fine

#6

On 2014-04-17 12:16, davvelsan wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I used to have a two-drive boot setup: a small SSD (sda) with openSUSE
> 13.1 in it; and a bigger HDD (sdb) with Windows 7. Recently, however, I
> had to do a series of openSUSE reinstalls and I accidentally
> obliterated the partition where Windows 7 had its boot – and I make a
> note here: It was indeed deleted using the own Windows Disk Management
> utility before reinstalling openSUSE (please don’t ask why I did that, I
> think it’s pretty clear I’m a noob).
>
> This is what openSUSE Partitioner looks like:
> http://i.imgur.com/n8uKVAf.png
>
> Windows 7 files are intact in the sdb node but, because I deleted the
> boot partition, the Windows CD startup repair tools cannot see there’s a
> Windows there. So I was wondering, is it possible to recreate a Windows
> 7 boot to use the files in sdb, so I can dual boot from grub’s menu?

I don’t understand something. If you were installing on sda, why did you
delete the windows boot partition, which I assume was on sdb as well?

Or is your machine one of those with both a big rotating hard disk and a
smaller flash “disk”, combined for faster access, in the manner Windows
does this?

If your boot partition was in sda, then testdisk will not be able to
recover it, I guess.

> If there’s a relatively easy way to do this, it might be worth the try,
> otherwise I think I’ll go with WINE. I have a pretty nice working
> openSUSE install now and I don’t want to start messing with it by
> reinstalling Windows.

Not via grub. You need to recover Windows, which is something Windows
people will know best.

I can tell you what it should contain:


/other/windows/boot
├── BOOTSECT.BAK
├── Boot
│   ├── BCD
│   ├── BCD.LOG
│   ├── BCD.LOG1
│   ├── BCD.LOG2
│   ├── BOOTSTAT.DAT
│   ├── Fonts
│   │   ├── chs_boot.ttf
│   │   ├── cht_boot.ttf
│   │   ├── jpn_boot.ttf
│   │   ├── kor_boot.ttf
│   │   └── wgl4_boot.ttf
│   ├── cs-CZ
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   ├── da-DK
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   ├── de-DE
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   ├── el-GR
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   ├── en-US
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   ├── es-ES
│   │   ├── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   │   └── memtest.exe.mui
....
│   ├── ko-KR
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   ├── memtest.exe
│   ├── nb-NO
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
....
│   ├── zh-HK
│   │   └── bootmgr.exe.mui
│   └── zh-TW
│       └── bootmgr.exe.mui
├── System Volume Information
│   └── tracking.log
└── bootmgr

26 directories, 38 files

I guess that all the files are generic, except the BCD*, maybe bootmgr
and tracking.log

One way to recover it might be to:

  • backup entirely the existing Windows.
  • reinstall Windows in the same manner as the original one.
  • overwrite the /windows partition with your backup.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)