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I had a windows 7 machine working fine. Then it crashed and wouldnt boot, it wouldnt even post. So I assumed the motherboard went so I bought a new one and replaced it. Still nothing (i gave the old motherboard to a friend and we used it in an old machine and it worked). Then I booted from a usb with ubuntu which worked. So something must be wrong with the drive. I cant do a repair because I can not find my windows 7 disk and I can not download the iso from microsoft because it is oem. I do have another windows 7 machine. Can I use that to make a repair disk? I do have a windows 10 disk but I do not want to upgrade that machine to 10.

Can I install ubuntu and then edit something to dual boot? I've been working with windows for many years but have done very little with linux. Or is waiting until i find my disk the only safe option?

John Maher
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    If the computer doesn't do POST, how did you boot Ubuntu Live? – harrymc Feb 14 '21 at 19:57
  • it would not post with the old motherboard. I installed a new motherboard. – John Maher Feb 14 '21 at 20:42
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    Since you already can boot with Ubuntu, and since Windows 7 is *far* out of support, why not switch to Ubuntu? It comes with most tools you'd use in Windows, such as LibreOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird mail reader, and Ubuntu is *free*. BTW, if it's a 64-bit machine, try Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (32-bit development ended at 18.04). – DrMoishe Pippik Feb 15 '21 at 00:10
  • @DrMoishePippik Ubuntu fails to support windows 7 applications. And if you don't support software that the customer uses, you lose a customer. Plus theres a whole slew of other problems with Ubuntu, like no support for Visual Studio. Besides, I can load Ubuntu on any machine with my bootable usb, so I don't need a Ubuntu machine. – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 03:26
  • Ubuntu supports *some* Windows applications with *wine*. IrfanView, for example, is my favorite image browser and quick editor, and it works well with *wine* (and is also now available in Snap). Whether it supports applications critical to you is another question. – DrMoishe Pippik Feb 15 '21 at 21:40
  • @DrMoishePippik It does not support what I need. You can not develop windows applications on ubuntu. Your suggestion would increase the complexity and be a very, very bad idea. I'm glad you like ubuntu, but it does not help to make windows boot by pushing your preference. Please stay on topic. – John Maher Feb 16 '21 at 00:07
  • @JohnMaher, do you develop Windows application on unsupported Win 7? Why not move to an OS that Microsoft has *not* put to bed? https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/windows-7-end-of-life-support-information – DrMoishe Pippik Feb 16 '21 at 00:13
  • @DrMoishePippik Its quite simple really. If the software product the customer has purchased does not run on windows 10, the customer must use OS the software works on. Businesses don't have thousands of dollars to shell out for every single upgrade. And that is just the cost of the software. Implementing it is another cost plus the cost of lost production. On top of that, a large program like an ERP system has multiple components that may need upgrading or replacing, adding further to the cost. Sometimes hardware may need to be replaced. – John Maher Feb 16 '21 at 12:24
  • The software industry is not as simple as it appears on the surface. I know one company that used XP until a few years ago. The special label printer cost over $1000. And that doesn't include the software rewrite. Just for labels. They finally upgraded to windows 10 saving a substantial amount of money by skipping the vista, 7 and 8 upgrades. If a business upgraded every time a new version came out they would fail against the competition who saved tons of money but upgrading only when needed. Think ROI. – John Maher Feb 16 '21 at 12:24

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Do not try to fix windows booting issues with Ubuntu.

Try doing these:

  • First, try hitting F8 repeatedly when Windows boots.
    If this gets you into the "Repair Your Computer" menu:
    • Try Startup Repair
    • If this doesn't work, in the same menu try Command Prompt, then enter the command bootrec /rebuildbcd and reboot if it succeeds.
  • Try Easy Recovery Essentials. You may create its boot USB on the working computer.
  • You may also create a Windows 7 installation media to do Startuo repair. See the post
    Where can I download Windows 7 (legally from Microsoft)?

If nothing works, some questions:

  1. How exactly does the boot on Windows fail and at what stage of the boot?
  2. Is the new motherboard different from the old, for example in using AHCI?
harrymc
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  • Thanks for your reply, but I cant try any of your suggestions because windows doesn't boot. The new motherboard is UEFI. The old motherboard might've been BIOS, I don't recall. The machine goes directly into the UEFI screen. I do not know what AHCI is. – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 03:17
  • I visited the second link you provided, which led me to the German mirror. I downloaded a couple of isos and copied them to my esb with rufus. They all failed. Then I tried etcher which informed me that the isos do not have a bootable image. So my machine still fails to boot windows. – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 03:21
  • Failed how? Check the BIOS settings to disable [Secure Boot](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/disabling-secure-boot) and enable [Legacy Boot](https://neosmart.net/wiki/enable-legacy-boot-mode/). – harrymc Feb 15 '21 at 07:40
  • The machine goes directly into the UEFI screen. <- This is the failed boot. Secure boot is off. I don't see a legacy boot option. Does this mean my mobo is incompatible with win 7? – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 12:32
  • I created a USB from the windows iso on the German miror. The USB will not boot either with "An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data. \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 13:14
  • Which ISO have you used? – harrymc Feb 15 '21 at 13:34
  • Windows 7 pro 64 sp1, windows 7 pro 64, windows 7 starter, none work. I found my windows 7 disk which wont even try to boot. I can read the disk from Ubuntu. I am trying WintoUSB now to create a bootable usb, I also can try WinFE and MistyPE if Wi toUSB fails. – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 15:05
  • Can you find in the UEFI screen the options of Secure Boot and Legacy Boot? They might be called differently. The previous motherboard was BIOS and the new one is EFI. This is usually not a problem if these configuration switches are set correctly. – harrymc Feb 15 '21 at 16:51
  • I see nothing that resembles legacy boot. But if that is the issue then why does a UEFI USB fail to boot? – John Maher Feb 15 '21 at 18:27
  • I don't know. What is this motherboard? – harrymc Feb 15 '21 at 19:11
  • asrock J4105M. I emailed support and they emailed back saying call my dealer. Useless! i posted to their forum, don't know if that will do any good. I bought a motherboard from them in the past and their support was helpful and it worked well. Now it seems they went to crap. Thanks for your assistance Harry, I really appreciate it. Thank you for sticking with this. I left the "starting windows" screen up since last night and its still there, frozen. Unless you have any ideas im going to add a 250 GB hd and try installing to that. Maybe then I can alter the boot.ini or something. – John Maher Feb 16 '21 at 12:39
  • Sometimes a hardware problem affects one operating system but not another. If the new disk solves the problem, then the old one may have some issues. – harrymc Feb 16 '21 at 13:01