How to Fix the GNU GRUB Bootloader After Accidentally Deleting Ubuntu in Dual Boot Setup
- Thread starter toofaan
- Start date
Regrettably, it is likely to need a reinstall, unless you meet one of the following criteria -
- You had Timeshift installed on Ubuntu and have a current snapshot stored on a different drive
- You have or make a rescue disk or USB stick with something like Christophe Grenier's TestDisk and PhotoRec included on it. If using TestDisk, it may well require a deep scan (time-consuming), and prospects of success will be reduced if data is written to the area Ubuntu was on
HTH
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
You can boot your windows recovery media & execute the command to fix the boot of windows. It's the same command (can vary on windows version/product) you should have run before you removed the OS that controlled your machine boot (
bootrec etc)
I presume this be a recent-ish laptop...
Using BIOS:
(F2, F10, Del -- depending on make/model -- when you reboot)
Option 1:
There should be an OS recovery option in the BIOS menu (9/10 times).
Option 2:
Alternatively your BIOS may let you browse to boot the Windows EFI instead of GRUB. You're looking for this:
/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi on the main/only drive
Using the GRUB prompt:
Alternatively, from the GRUB prompt, find what partition Windows is on:
1. List all partitions:
Output will look something like:
2. Search paritions for 'Windows' directory.
So it may look like so:
Keep searching each of the partitions you got from step #1 until you find you a partition with a "Windows" directory.
3. Then set that partition as root partition:
4. Set up for loading MS bootloader from current bootloader (sounds fit for a meme)
5. Boot:
Using a LiveCD:
If you have a second PC, download antiX and use the boot recovery menu. https://antixlinux.com/download/
(The reason I don't suggest a rescue CD is antiX is bloody useful as a portable USB OS for all kinds of tasks. I use it in place of system rescue disks as I can boot it on other people's Windows machines and get a Linux environment
)
You can also also reinstall GRUB if you wish.
Final notes:
As for your Ubuntu install, it's toast. You killed it with Windows Disk Manager. The data itself still exists, but the partition is gone (if I understand your post, "deleted" ubuntu). Nothing can bring it back (well, nothing feasible). Your data may be retrievable via forensic tools, if you didn't format it or overwrite it with data, so you could boot into a live forensics Linux CD and see what you can do.
Using BIOS:
(F2, F10, Del -- depending on make/model -- when you reboot)
Option 1:
There should be an OS recovery option in the BIOS menu (9/10 times).
Option 2:
Alternatively your BIOS may let you browse to boot the Windows EFI instead of GRUB. You're looking for this:
/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi on the main/only drive
Using the GRUB prompt:
Alternatively, from the GRUB prompt, find what partition Windows is on:
1. List all partitions:
lsOutput will look something like:
(hd0), (hd0,msdos1), (hd0,msdos5)2. Search paritions for 'Windows' directory.
ls (hdX,msdosX)/ -- where X is a number for the disk("hd" -- you probably only have one) and partition.So it may look like so:
ls (hd0,msdos1)/Keep searching each of the partitions you got from step #1 until you find you a partition with a "Windows" directory.
3. Then set that partition as root partition:
set root=(hdX,msdosX) -- where X matched the search for 'Windows'4. Set up for loading MS bootloader from current bootloader (sounds fit for a meme)
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi5. Boot:
bootUsing a LiveCD:
If you have a second PC, download antiX and use the boot recovery menu. https://antixlinux.com/download/
(The reason I don't suggest a rescue CD is antiX is bloody useful as a portable USB OS for all kinds of tasks. I use it in place of system rescue disks as I can boot it on other people's Windows machines and get a Linux environment
)You can also also reinstall GRUB if you wish.
Final notes:
As for your Ubuntu install, it's toast. You killed it with Windows Disk Manager. The data itself still exists, but the partition is gone (if I understand your post, "deleted" ubuntu). Nothing can bring it back (well, nothing feasible). Your data may be retrievable via forensic tools, if you didn't format it or overwrite it with data, so you could boot into a live forensics Linux CD and see what you can do.
