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This seems to be a fairly regular question, but I've searched through most of the posts and tried pretty much every solution but it's still failing. This may be beyond repair due to my own idiocy. The short version of events to get here was:

  1. Windows 10 Laptop
  2. Partitioned and installed ubuntu.
  3. Deleted linux partition

  4. Restarted, stuck in grub GNU

    screenshot

  5. Restart, F3 to boot menu.

  6. bcdedit /delete to remove ubuntu loader, somehow managed to delete the windows one...
  7. cursed loudly
  8. Downloaded windows 10 disc to USB
  9. Repair computer simply brings me back to the troubleshoot menus

Troubleshoot menu options:

- Use a Device
  - ubuntu
  - UEFI: KingstonDataTraveler, Partition 1
- Troubleshoot
  - System Restore  (Fails)
  - System image Recovery (Fails)
  - Startup Repair (Fails - Startup repair couldn't repair your pc)
  - Command Prompt
  - UEFI Firmware Settings
  - Go back to the previous version (Fails - "We ran into a problem and won't be able to take you back to the previous build")
- Turn Off

I've tried following a number of solutions such as this or this, as well as just about every version of bootrec / bcdboot I can, but they all fail. I'm either misunderstanding how it's meant to run, or have gone beyond all hope. Here's exactly what I've tried:

# set boot to USB, with win 10 disk USB connected.
X:\Windows\system32> bootrec /rebuildbcd
> Successfully identified Windows installations.
> Total identified Windows installations: 1
> [1] \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume5\Windows
> Add installation to boot list? Yes(Y)/No(N)/All(A): y
> The system cannot find the file specified.

X:\Windows\system32> bootrec /fixmbr
> The system cannot find the file specified.

Current partition/volume setup:

Partition ###  Type           Size     Offset
-------------  -------------  -------  -------
Partition 1    System         300 MB   1024 KB
Partition 2    Reserved       128 MB    301 MB
Partition 3    System         221 GB    429 MB
Partition 4    System          15 GB    221 GB
Partition 5    Recovery       900 MB    237 GB

Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
Volume 0     F   Audio CD     CDFS   DVD-ROM      617 MB  Healthy    
Volume 1     C   DATA         NTFS   Partition    911 GB  Healthy    
Volume 2         BIOS_RVY     NTFS   Partition     20 GB  Healthy    Hidden
Volume 3         SYSTEM       FAT32  Partition    300 MB  Healthy    Hidden
Volume 4         OS_Install   NTFS   Partition    221 GB  Healthy    Hidden
Volume 5                      RAW    Partition     15 GB  Healthy    Hidden
Volume 6     E   WinRE tools  NTFS   Partition    900 MB  Healthy    Hidden
Volume 7     D   ESD-USB      FAT32  Removable   7444 MB  Healthy    

# in diskpart
sel vol 3
assign letter = V
exit
cd /d V:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
bootrec /fixboot
> The system cannot find the file specified.

ren BCD BCD.old
bcdboot C:\Windows /s V: /f UEFI
> Failure when attempting to copy boot files

I'm not hugely attached to my windows setup, but if there's any way I can get it working it would save me a lot of hassle! Failing that, I'll salvage what I can and wipe the lot. Anyone able to help?

Donald Duck
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MattRickS
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    May be install Ubuntu again and let GRUB find Windows bootloader? – MiniMax Jun 29 '17 at 21:35
  • Ah yes, this was one other step I tried. I loaded into ubuntu from a usb key and tried to set the boot from there but couldn't get it to work. I'm not overly familiar with ubuntu so I'm not sure where to begin there. It looks like the windows bootloader has been properly deleted – MattRickS Jun 29 '17 at 22:17
  • Don't know, how to do it from usb drive. But full installation must work. Windows bootloader still on its place, i think. GRUB overwrittes the Windows bootloader address to himself, it shouldn't remove other bootloaders. You removed GRUB, but address still point to it. Try full Ubuntu installation. GRUB should find all systems on HDD. – MiniMax Jun 29 '17 at 22:47
  • I'll have to partition the drive and reinstall, will give that a go when I get the chance tomorrow, I hope you're right! Would be great if it was an easy fix. – MattRickS Jun 29 '17 at 22:52
  • I don't think a full Linux installation will solve anything since the issue lies in the Windows boot sequence which Linux can detect but not (re)create. Did you give https://superuser.com/questions/460762/#504360 a shot? Tried it on a VM and it works fine (TBH, I didn't try the others you linked though). – Ginnungagap Jun 30 '17 at 06:48
  • The problem seems to be that bcdboot will always throw the error "Failure when attempting to copy boot files." which is extremely uninformative. I'm not sure what could cause that error to happen and pretty much every solution I find uses it and expects it to work. – MattRickS Jun 30 '17 at 07:29
  • @Ginnungagap Purpose of full the Linux installation - get Windows 10 bootable again, through GRUB. Now it unbootable and any tried ways doesn't work. Then will think further. – MiniMax Jun 30 '17 at 10:04
  • General FYI: with dual-boot Linux setups, Windows' `bootrec` cannot be used it will overwrite GRUB; instead, a Linux utility must be used in order to preserve GRUB _(@harrymc has an answer on Superuser that covers this, which can be found with search)_ – JW0914 Apr 23 '22 at 12:33

1 Answers1

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Get Kyhi's bootable rescue disk at TenForums.com, and build a bootable flash drive with that image (here's a helpful tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/software-apps/27180-windows-10-recovery-tools-bootable-rescue-disk.html) When you boot to the rescue disk, run Macrium Reflect, and then use its boot repair facility. This may render your Linux boot inoperable, but it should restore Windows to bootability.

Ramhound
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Ed Tittel
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