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Question

Windows 10 not Booting after Attempted Ubuntu Installation

Feb 28, 2018 3:52AM PST

My laptop was setup with a dual boot of Windows 7 and Windows 10, each in a different partition. I wanted to also install Linux as a 3rd boot option, so I created a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu on. During the Ubuntu installation process, I attempted to shrink the partition containing Windows 10 to free some space for Ubuntu. This resulted in a partition that the Ubuntu installer recognised as unusable. I think this has something to do the laptop manufacturer (HP) setting a limit on the number of partitions allowed.

Anyway, at this point gave up with the Ubuntu installation and decided to maybe try again some other time. Everything was fine for a day or two, then Windows 10 stopped booting up. Now when I boot the laptop I get "Preparing automatic repair" then "Diagnosing your PC" then "Automatic repair, your PC did not start correctly" messages.

I want try and fix the Windows 10 not booting problem then if possible complete the Linux installation as a 3rd boot option.

There are some advanced options available after the "Automatic repair, your PC did not start correctly" message ;

1.) System restore ; No restore points available so no use I think

2.) System image recovery ; No image available so no use I think

3.) Start up repair ; Just takes me back to "Preparing automatic repair" then "Diagnosing your PC" then "Automatic repair, your PC did not start correctly." messages.

4.) Use another operating system ; I can still load Windows 7 by using this option. In Windows 7 I can access the file system / drive for
Windows 10, and at a glance all the files seem to be intact / no problem.

5.) Command prompt ; This takes me to x:\windows\system32. I tried entering some commands here that I read could help ;

bootrec /fixmbr ; Said "The operation completed successfully"

bootrec /fixboot ; Said "access denied"

bootrec /rebuildbcd ; Said "Total identified windows installations: 0" then "The operation completed successfully"

I navigated to the Windows folder in the Windows 10 drive in this command wndow, and ran the same commands and got the same messages back. When I restarted the machine, I still get "Preparing automatic repair" then "Diagnosing your PC" then "Automatic repair, your PC did not start correctly." messages.

6.) Start up Settings ; Allows me to start in safe mode and some other options. All the options seem to just give me the "Preparing automatic repair" then "Diagnosing your PC" then "Automatic repair, your PC did not start correctly." messages.

7.) Go back to the previous version ; Could be the last resort. All my important files are backed up so I could try this, however I fear it may take me back to Windows 8 which is the OS that came with the laptop, this wouldn't be great because I am not sure I would be able to upgrade back to Windows 10.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

Post was last edited on February 28, 2018 3:56 AM PST

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: no booting
Feb 28, 2018 5:24AM PST

Use the Windows Media Creation Tool to download the Windows 10 installer and "copy" it to a bootable DVD or USB-stick. Then use that to reinstall Windows 10. Since it already was installed, there are no license issues.

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Windows Media Creation Tool
Feb 28, 2018 5:32AM PST

If I do this will I be able to keep my existing Windows 7 partition / installation / dual boot option?

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Windows Media Creation Tool
Feb 28, 2018 5:35AM PST

Also, will I have to enter a licence key at some point during the Win 10 installation? I am not sure if I still have that / where I would find it.

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Re: questions`
Feb 28, 2018 5:43AM PST

1. I suppose you would keep the dual boot if you do it the same as when you installed Windows 10 the first time.
2. No need to enter a license key. It's safely stored inside a Microsoft database.

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The selected disk has an MBR partition table
Mar 2, 2018 3:07AM PST

I created a USB boot stick with the Windows Media Creation Tool and began the Win 10 installation process. After selecting the advanced installation option I was taking to a window allowing me to select which partition to install on. I selected the old Windows 10 partition, used the format option and attempted to install. This gave me an error message ;

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks"

I then used shift & F10 to get to the X:\ and typed diskpart, but after using the listdisk command only one option was shown, DISK 0 which seemed to be the entire hard drive. I was going to try and use the "clean" then "convert GPT" commands , but am afraid it will apply this to the entire drive and wipe out my Windows 7 installation.

Any advice ?

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Re: convert
Mar 2, 2018 3:31AM PST
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AOMEI Partition Assistant
Mar 2, 2018 6:52AM PST

I tried using the free edition of AOMEI Partition Assistant from the link to convert the disk to GPT, but it gives me a message "suggesting" I upgrade to the professional edition to perform that operation. I am not prepared to spend money on that.

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was this a disc from another computer
Mar 2, 2018 4:10AM PST

...which you then transferred into a newer EFI BIOS type computer? Also, if you use EFI computer, then when installing a Linux distro, you MUST use a 64 bit EFI capable one. You can install older 32 bit on EFI, but ONLY if using the Legacy/CSM mode which is available in the BIOS settings.

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Disc not from another Computer
Mar 2, 2018 6:53AM PST

The disc is not from another computer, it's the one that came with the laptop and was working fine until I tried to install Ubuntu.

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you wrote;
Mar 2, 2018 9:24AM PST
"I was going to try and use the "clean" then "convert GPT" commands , but am afraid it will apply this to the entire drive and wipe out my Windows 7 installation."

Was the W7 installation a 32 bit version or a 64 bit version. If the latter, then converting to GPT shouldn't be a problem. An EFI BIOS computer should use GPT (a partition sheme other than MBR) and use only 64 bit operating systems, except 32 bit can be installed when BIOS is set to Legacy/CSM mode.

Here's some things you can read about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_table

With Linux

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFI_System_Partition

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning#GUID_Partition_Table

The general rule today to avoid problems is to use GPT with only 64 bit operating systems, and use MBR with 32 bit operating systems. Only use 64 bit operating systems with EFI and computers/motherboards with the newer UEFI-BIOS.